IHRSA UPDATE
“The four most important words in the English language are:
‘What do you think?’ Listen to your
people and learn”
Here’s what we’re going to focus on.” And it shouldn’t be more than three things, because as research shows, most people can’t remember more than three things day-to-day. Simplicity also fosters innovation, because
it motivates people to tackle problems and challenges collaboratively. Without priorities, people tend to labour in their own sandboxes.
In your book, you describe two of the other drivers as ‘passionate curiosity’ and ‘team smarts’. What are these? Curiosity is important because, with the business landscape changing so quickly – and with so many industries grappling with disruptive innovation – no CEO can have all the answers, even if that’s the impression they have to convey to customers and investors. Inside the company, their role is to ask smart questions, so they have to have a relentlessly questioning mind. That’s a characteristic of a lot of the CEOs I interview. Team smarts involves recognising that the
real hierarchy and power structure within an organisation often has little do with official organisational charts. You have to understand who has influence, how to get things done, and be able to read a room – like people’s body language in meetings.
Failure is a common theme in your columns. What role does it play in a CEO’s, or company’s, success? You have to have a healthy relationship with failure if you’re going to succeed.
Hear more from Adam
Bryant will discuss ‘Quick and Nimble: Lessons from leading CEOs on how to create a culture of innovation’ during IHRSA’s 34th Annual International Convention & Trade Show, which takes place on March 11–14 in Los Angeles, US. His keynote address will take place on Friday 13 March, 9.00–10.30am. For more information or to register, log on to
www.ihrsa.org/convention
52 All staff need to know how their own performance can impact the club’s KRAs
The ability to deal with failure is critical to innovation, for instance. You have to create an environment in which people are willing to try new things, and if they don’t work out, to wring insights and lessons from the experience and then move on quickly. People shouldn’t be penalised for their failures.
Your book tells the whole story, but in a nutshell, if you were to offer the CEO of a health club company your advice on how to be an effective manager and create a healthy, productive culture, what would you tell them? I put trust and respect at the top of my list of key qualities for effective leaders. You have to be trustworthy in all senses of the word. Meanwhile, the best way to show respect on a consistent basis is to really listen to people. That doesn’t mean you always have to agree with your employees, but they have to feel their input matters. If the CEO practises that behaviour, others will follow. Next, I think developing a clear and simple scoreboard – similar to
Subramaniam’s three KRAs – is important, because it creates a sense of shared mission and fosters teamwork. Without such a simple plan, people find themselves working in silos, and that’s deadly for an organisation. Third, codifying your company’s values is important too, but the list of values has to be short: three is best, and no more than four. They have to be specific and capture the DNA of the organisation. You have to live by these values every day, and make them part of your hiring – and firing – process. If your club doesn’t live by its stated values, people become cynical.
Does anyone you’ve interviewed in the hospitality or health club industries particularly personify the qualities and skills you feel are conducive to business success? The person who comes to mind is J W ‘Bill’ Marriott Jr, the executive chair and chair of the board of Marriott International. He shared a particularly memorable insight with me. “The four most important words in the English language are: ‘What do you think?’” he said. “Listen to your people and learn.” ●
This feature first appeared in the January 2015 issue of Club Business International, IHRSA’s magazine for the health and fitness industry.
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
Health Club Management is IHRSA’s European Strategic Media Partner
February 2015 © Cybertrek 2015
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WWW.SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/WAVEBREAKMEDIA
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