organizations is one of the driving forces that’s going to prompt societies to reexamine the hierarchy, and the distribution, of power. Social media platforms also pres-


ent a world of new realities. It will be critical for people to use them as a way to increase communication and devel- op healthier relationships, rather than as something that distorts reality and damages human connections. Ideally, these platforms will be used to empow- er others and to solve social issues.


PA: Talking about generational issues— the fitness industry is now undergoing a related change. The folks who founded IHRSA in the early 1980s are beginning to retire, and the next generation is tak- ing over. How is the culture of clubs likely to change?


SM: Because the line between work and life has blurred, younger genera- tions will try to achieve greater bal- ance, and flexibility will be key. A Deloitte study found that 70% of mil- lennials prefer independent to tradi- tional business structures, so expect


because millennials have a strong interest in corporate responsibility. They’re savvy consumers who support brands that impact the world in posi- tive ways.


PA: What sort of skill sets does collabora- tive management require? And will cus- tomer service also become more collab- orative in nature?


SM: Old school command-and-control doesn’t demand empathy and commu- nication. You bark orders and lever- age fear and intimidation to get the job done. Collaborative leaders, on the other hand, need to leverage a high emotional quotient (EQ) to inspire people to feel committed to the orga- nization’s mission and vision, and to encourage a feeling of ownership and accountability—not just to the leader- ship, but also to each other. Still, collaborative management isn’t


the result of consensus. Leaders will still make difficult, sometimes unpop- ular decisions. However, the key is to create an environment where people feel as though they’re being heard, and


“True leadership is about raising up other leaders—not about making yourself indis- pensable. …It’s about coaching, mentoring, and developing the very best in people to help them get where they want to go.”


businesses to increase an employ- ee’s ability to customize their work experience. Leaders will be more likely to have


an open-door policy, encouraging em- ployees to drop by and discuss their concerns, and they’ll wander around the club to find out how things are going. Engagement research also shows


that millennials crave opportunities to collaborate with their peers, so mil- lennial leadership will look for ways to support this. As old hierarchies are reexamined, these new leaders will create feedback and information loops that involve the entire team or organization. Finally, businesses also will give


back to their communities, support nonprofits, and become more involved,


have a sense of why decisions are be- ing made and actions taken. As for customers, clubs should keep


in mind that, today, consumers are seeking brands and service providers that embody transparency, and, yes, that employ a more colloborative ap- proach.


PA: It sounds as though collaboration calls for “leading from the center.” How can you do that,and still maintain control and steer the ship?


SM: True leadership is about raising up other leaders—not about making your- self indispensable. It’s focused on the “we”—not “me.” It’s about coach- ing, mentoring, and developing the very best in people to help them get where they want to go. If you feel that


you need to maintain control and steer the ship, then you’re a manager—not a leader. What would happen if, every day,


you showed up with the intention of developing the people around you, so you could entrust them to steer the ship? That’s leading from the center!


PA: What else do leaders need to do to adapt to, and thrive in, this new world of rapidly morphing relationships?


SM: We see three “mind shifts” that leaders are going to have to make—the growth mindset, the humble mindset, and the abundant mindset. With the growth mindset, you push


yourself to learn new things, and un- derstand that failure presents an op- portunity to grow. With the humble mindset, you’re willing to say, “I don’t know,” admit when you screw up, and ask others how they would have done things differently. With the abundant mindset, you assume that, instead of scarcity and hoarding, there’ll always be enough time, budget, resources, ideas, and support to go around. To create that sense of abundance,


I suggest that, for the first five min- utes of every meeting, you focus on all of the things that your team has to be grateful for—before you move on to problem solving. Bottom-line, the question we need


to be asking is, how can we make the workplace more humane? The answer is, by adopting the


growth, humble, and abundant mind- sets, and managing in a more collab- orative way. If we do that, we’ll radically alter the culture of our organizations. FBC


Seth Mattison, the founder and chief movement officer of FutureSights Labs, Inc., a manage- ment consulting firm based in West Hollywood, California, will speak on “Relationship Revolution: Building Better Connections in the Digital Age,” on Wednesday, March 8, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., during IHRSA’s 36th Annual International Convention & Trade Show in Los Angeles. His appearance is gener- ously sponsored by MYZONE. For more information or to register, log on to ihrsa.org/convention.


January/February 2017 Fitness Business Canada 35


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