Episode 96: Mentoring Your Staff

Episode 96 – Mentoring Your Staff with Ken Andrukow Ken Andrukow, a senior Two-Brain Mentor and owner of Reebok CrossFit Ramsay, joins us on the show today.  Ken's gym one of the top gyms in the world, and he attributes his success to his staff. As we identify the "gold standards" in the gym industry, Ken is at the top of the leaderboard in many categories (including profit). One of these gold standards is staff retention. Ken's metrics are great because his relationships are great. We all know that money alone does not keep a staff member satisfied. You must also find out how to deliver on their perfect day to keep them around. In this episode we talk about how to mentor your staff, how to setup goals with your staff, make sure they are on the right track, and how to make sure they can see a clear path to their perfect day.   Ken has done a remarkable job growing his gym from 300 members when he started as a TwoBrain client, to now reaching 500. His metrics (ARM, LEG and profit) are even more impressive. But from a staffing perspective, this can present quite a few challenges for a gym owner. At about the 200-member mark, Ken realized that he could not manage the gym alone anymore. It was at this time that Ken had to step away from coaching and focus on growing his businesses full time. Ken also realized that he had to completely replace himself in all roles to have time to grow the gym. According to Ken, “It’s about making sure all of your staff react to every issue the way you would.” Ken's core values include integrity, empathy, loyalty, and tenacity. Ken puts every one of his prospective employees through a training program on these core values to ensure they match up and will be a good fit.  One of the ways that Ken conveys these core values to his employees is through stories. Stories about his childhood and life challenges are really important and meaningful in showcasing these values. Another key item to have when operating a large gym is to have systems in place for your staff to follow. As Ken’s gym grew he assumed everyone else could read his mind and know what he wanted. He soon found out, however, that this was not the case. As more and more members were asking Ken directly for help, he knew that systems must be developed for his staff to handle. It wasn’t until he put systems in place and gave people the authority to solve problems that he had the time to grow his businesses. Above all else, he says,  staff really want to know they are making a difference in people’s lives. A large part of success is about mindset and if your staff can have the same positive mindset that you have the opportunities are limitless. Join us today as we dive into staffing questions and much more! Timeline: 2:53 – Ken Andrukow Introduction 4:38 – Ken on growing his gym from 300 to 500 members 8:32 – The core values are important to Ken and his staff 12:42 – Mentoring your employees through one on one meetings 19:41 – How often should mentoring meetings be taking place? 23:05 – How does a typical mentor meeting go? 27:20 – What is it that truly motivates staff and keeps them around? 30:52 – What it is like to lose a team member to another gym? 34:03 – Helping another team member start out at a new gym 38:34 – How to properly give feedback to your staff 42:18 – The people that got us here are not going to get us where we want to go Contact Ken: https://www.reebokcrossfitramsay.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO6WJ_wZsiprvV5JldxapnQ https://www.instagram.com/reebok_crossfit_ramsay/ https://www.facebook.com/CrossFitRamsay