If you could read their minds, your wellness coaches, fitness directors, yoga teachers and team leaders would tell you that they’d love to have a boss like this.
Shares business information
Good managers share financial and non-financial information about how your wellness business is doing and where it’s headed.
Employees in small and medium wellness businesses often worry about how the business is doing. They want to know how the projects they work on pay off. They’re also on the front lines every day and see what’s really working and what’s not. Keep them informed about the business — how’s it performing, where is it going — and they’ve got the context to contribute good ideas.
This article explains why you shouldn’t be afraid to share business information with employees and helps you get started.
Makes and sticks to decisions
Employers want bosses who make decisions and stick to them.
Many bosses frequently postpone or flip-flop on major or minor decisions. Common examples include:
- Delaying final approval on the new employer wellness brochure you asked your marketing manager to create
- Delaying a final decision on which treadmill to buy after staffers have thoroughly researched the options and given you a recommendation
- Leaving a vacant position for a clinical exercise specialist open for months while you occasionally interview candidates
- Setting a new business priority but waffling when it’s time to commit energy or money
Sometimes it’s hard to make a decision because you’re genuinely not sure what would be best for the business. This business checkup tool helps you set big-picture goals .
Use this questionnaire to set sales and marketing priorities.
And if you suspect that you’re really just stalling, get quick tips to help you overcome procrastination.
Addresses serious performance issues
Employees want bosses who’ll take action when a member of the team is a disaster. This isn’t occasional gripes about peers. We’re talking about a pattern of seriously disruptive behavior recognized and reported by numerous respected and trustworthy people with no self-serving ax to grind.
One of our clients — a big regional fitness center – had a senior customer service manager who poked his nose into other departments’ responsibilities while ignoring his own team’s major problems. He routinely blew off his own responsibilities, viciously bad-mouthed and undermined other department heads and much more.
The president heard about these problems for over two years from all of his direct reports. However, he hated confrontation and failed to resolve this poisonous situation, seriously damaging his own credibility and authority.
The result: a major hit to trust, performance and productivity across the company, including the loss of four great employees who left as they concluded that no action would ever be taken.
Here’s a refresher on getting the most from employees – and dealing with those who have reached the end of the road.
Stands up for employees with abusive customers
Employees want to know that you’ve got their back and will stand up for them with toxic customers.
Wellness businesses sometimes seem to attract high-maintenance customers. These individuals or businesses can be very demanding and require lots of extra attention and handholding.
Abusive customers take their demands to a whole new level, however. These customers may yell at your front desk personnel or say truly nasty and hurtful things to your billing clerk.
You shouldn’t tolerate this treatment. It’s perfectly acceptable and appropriate to fire abusive customers.
Keeps promises
Employees want to know that they can count on their bosses to do what they say they’re going to do, when they say they’re going to do it.
Do any of these ring a bell?
- I know I said we’d raise your salary in six months, but memberships aren’t as high as we hoped…
- I need to cancel our one-on-one meeting again because I’ve got to…
You probably think you have good business reasons for these actions. But employees see them as evidence that you don’t keep your promises and can’t be counted on.
