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Scientists Vs Technicians

When Mel Siff (who wrote Supertraining) was alive, we used to interact through his blog/list almost daily. That's a bit like saying, "when I was an altar boy, I used to chat with the Pope every morning." 

 

Now, this guy was way above and beyond most thinkers in any field - if we put him on the Jaques chart, he'd probably be around an 8. One day, he's responding to a post about how "science" exists not to prove, but to disprove, and he says that it's our CULTURE that has that all wrong. In most cultures, a 'scientist' is regarded as an artist: they're creative, have big ideas...they're like dreamers. The TECHNICIAN is the guy doing the experiments and charting the progress over months and worrying about sample size. In our culture, 'scientist' means experiments and math and charts, and 'technician' just means "junior scientist."

 

Several months ago, one of my most popular posts here - The ADD Advantage - dealt with the upside of a scrambling mind. Entrepreneurs, ER doctors....and scientists can all benefit from the ability to multitask; to turn a situation around and around and inside out quickly. Good leaders, too.

 

The key: if you're going to be led by a Level Four (or even Level Five, to which I'd never claim to hold title, though there are up to 12 Levels in Jaques' table) you need one or more great Level Threes.

 

I've been lucky enough to see both sides of the Genius Leader - with and without solid Executors.

This is a story about what happens when a Scientist is without backup:

In 1998, I worked for the Man Of The Mountain. Rolling into town in a station wagon full of chickens in the 1960s, MOTM quickly established one of the very first KFC franchises in Ontario. He bought up land around the store, eventually building a massive hotel. In the 1980s, he became the principal shareholder in a ski resort. That's where I met him: when he hired me, fresh out of school, to run half his entire indoor operation.

The first time I met MOTM was on my first day in the Repair shop. I was learning to wax skis - having never done it before - and as such was wearing old clothing with new burn holes. My pants were a little baggy for the early 1990s, I guess. He asked me to sit; began drawing a revenue chart on an old paper flip-chart; stopped; ripped his phone cord out of the wall, and told me to use it as a belt.

 

ADD? Absolutely. Brilliant off the charts, however. MOTM had ideas so crazy that the staff took weeks to sort them out....and by then, he was on to the next. We had 170 workers: some excellent Level 1 workers; some terrific Level II jobs, including mine. And only one Level III, who was tasked with managing everything.  He tried to draw us, as managers, up to Level 4, but we just didn't get it.

We were running a multimillion-dollar enterprise each, and thought we were shift managers at KFC.

 

Two years after I resigned, I ran into MOTM at his own bar. "Who you here with?" he asked, slurring slightly. I responded that I was with my boss and coworker. "Boss? You NEVER have a fucking boss!" he yelled. "I taught you better than that!" 

 

I finally got it. I knew why he'd hired me. I didn't understand his frustration yet, but I would, in time: he was angry because I wasn't living up to the expectation he'd tried to build for me.  He may not have known about Jaques' chart, but he wanted me to think like an entrepreneur.

 

The ski resort fell apart. A huge head at the top, a very skinny neck, and weak shoulders means you're in for a huge headache.  But I wonder: what would have happened if he'd had three people at Level III, who were willing to step up and Execute his ideas? What if he'd had fewer Technicians, and a couple of other Scientists along with him?

Copyrights and CrossFit Boxes

One of my favourite writers in the CrossFit world - and there are many - is Lisbeth Darsh. But the first memory I have of one of her essays is, oddly, a reprimand:

"...I'm Lisbeth Darsh, and that is MY essay." A non-CrossFit Affilate had copied, verbatim, one of her greatest posts...substituting their own business name wherever 'CrossFit' appeared. This is an obvious theft - at least, morally. Legally, too, as it turns out.

On the internet - and in print, and any other media - 'copyright' is the default setting. Post a picture online? It's automatically your copyright, and you can stop others from using it. Doesn't matter if there's a little symbol next to the word or picture: it's legally your property, and can be defended as such.

See a GREAT picture of kids doing CrossFit on your Google search? I've definitely been guilty of the 'Save Target As....' right-click. But it ain't yours, pardner, and you can't use it without permission. I've also been lucky enough to get published on the A-blog, and have thousands of hits and a few dozen links. Sometimes, other Affiliates reprint the whole thing on their blogs. I know how it feels from the other side. On the one hand, you're elated that anyone would want to reprint your stuff, and when they link to your site....awesome! On the other, when an Affiliate reprints your essay without giving you credit, and you find it by accident....

Next problem: the CrossFit world is full of art. We either self-select, somehow, or CrossFit triggers the imagination (as we're fond of arguing in Ignite!) So, here's my proposition to other Affiliates, based on the best of what I've seen so far from others who are doing it well:

Excerpt the first paragraph. Put it in quotes, italics, or a different font/colour. In other words, make it clear that the paragraph is not a continuation of  your OWN thoughts.  Then, link to the site of the writer with a "Read more here!" link. It's also critical to give clear credit to the writer, either with a separate link, or as an aside to the link to the essay.  This is the BEST case. If you care enough to quote it, you care enough to give credit.

WORST case, you copy the essay verbatim and paste on your site with a clear link (and full credit, even if you haven't asked permission) to the writer. That way, at least SOME of your clients will click through to the writer's site.

NOT acceptable: "Hey, the guys at CrossFit Catalyst wrote this:...." and then a full-on copy of someone's essay. No link, no contact info.  This isn't really theft....but it sure ain't paying.

After reading Lisbeth's original post, I was inspired to ask Lis and four other CrossFit writers for permission to re-post 5 of their essays. Each. For over a month in 2009, our members get a real treat each and every day: 25 of the best essays written, to that point, on the CrossFit lifestyle. We had Gilson in there, and Petranek, too. Many of our members started following the writers' blogs every day, in case another savoury nugget appeared. Many have since quoted from those essays on facebook. We used most of Gilson's essay, "Don't Quit," on the backs of our T-shirts for Catalyst Games 2008.

Moving your clients from your site to the blogs of other Affiliates doesn't mean that you're relinquishing their attention. What you're really doing is reinforcing the social argument: that you're part of a worldwide movement, full of people just like your client, some of whom like to do art. It's win-win-win. Just give credit where it's due, please.

Smart Money

"Hi, I'm Jennifer MacDonald, and my product is an Omega-3 Salad Dressing."

That's not exactly what she said, but that's the gist. Pitching on Dragon's Den, Jennifer had only a few minutes to convince Venture Capitalists to invest in her Salad Dressing company, Cenebal Gourmet Organics.  This is her story, as told by Sean Wise (the show's host) to me and a few others on Wednesday:

Jennifer's son has an eczema requiring him to eat more Omega-3s than the average [editor's note: the average sucks anyway.] He hated the taste of nearly every source, so Jennifer began to add Omega-3 supplements to a homemade salad dressing. It tastes great; so great, that her friends started asking her to sell it to them....

Jennifer's problem: she can only make 21 bottles per week. In her kitchen. On Sunday afternoon. Every week, rain or shine, requiring the whole family's help.

Jennifer's "ask": $200,000 for a 50% stake in her company. And yes, she got it.

But...here's the thing. Jennifer didn't NEED cash money. Jennifer needed SMART money. She needed the Capability Capital that the Dragons could bring....not dollars.

One of the Dragons - Jim Treliving - happens to own Boston Pizza. He also happens to own a bottling plant in Northern Alberta...which shuts down for 8 hours at midnight. Every night. He offers her an 8-hour run on her product, every night, as part of his investment. Not bad...the Delivery side is covered. What about the sales side?

Treliving also happens to golf with the Founder of Whole Foods, Inc. They, um, do a bit of a business with Organics products. Treliving closed the deal, made a cell phone call to his buddy ("Hey, Jim here. I've got an organic salad dressing. It's good. How many cases do you want?") who answered, "All of them!" THAT is SMART MONEY.

When you're looking for a partner, or even an 'arm's length' sponsor, it's worth considering what they're really bringing to the table. Money is great, no doubt. But a cell number, sometimes, is priceless....

How's she doing now?

Dragon's Den Winner Triples Sales - from TheStar.com

Salad Dressing Spells Success - from the UWO's Engineering News

Grad Snatches Victory From Dragons' Jaws

Dressing Up A HomeSpun Dipping Product - from the Globe And Mail

The Elevator Pitch : Lessons From The Den

In Canada, we have a very popular show called, "Dragon's Den" (it's starting to catch on in the States, too, where it runs under the name "Shark Tank" and now features Mark Cuban.) In a country where 19.8% of the population reports itself as "entrepreneurial," people seem to love to armchair-CEO along with the Dragons, who are venture capitalists.

In a nutshell: you've got a business idea. You need funds to expand your Box, or just get rolling. The banks won't lend to you. You can't scrape up 20k to get started in the facility YOU want. Where do you turn?

One of the toughest things about selling CrossFit is that it's tough to do an Elevator Pitch - a quick summation of the service. While you're more likely to have to deliver that short summation on the street, to a potential client, it's also critical that you can get your idea across quickly when you're trying to borrow money.

On Thursday, I spent 5 hours in sessions with IP lawyers, Patent specialists, and another colourful character - Sean Wise, the host of Dragon's Den. I did my Ignite! exercises first, so that I could retain as much information as possible. I turned by brain into a sponge. When it was over, I wanted a nap. Only now, two days later, am I starting to slowly turn that sponge over in my hands and mull over what I learned.

First: Wise's Elevator Pitch.

 

Wise knows of which he speaks, because he's a Venture Capitalist himself. His message is aimed at the Box owner who's trying to raise funds through an investor, but your REAL investors are your clients (and future clients.) You still need to sell them, too...

His four keys to a good elevator pitch:

1. Pain statement - what's the problem you're trying to solve? (Hey, isn't it so boring to work out on machines all the time, doing 3 sets of 8?)

2. Easy to understand (Our workouts change every single day. You rarely do the same things twice.)
3. Irrefutable - this is the challenging part in our industry. In this case, you're better to use social evidence (I know a guy whose deadlift went from 150 to 350lbs!) than to try and invoke The Hand Of Science.
4. Greed-inducing. (It can get YOU there, too! I never thought I'd run 5k in my life, but now I'm doing a marathon in July.....)

Identifying The Best

Yesterday, I did a little ditty about Elliott Jaques and his stratified system of staffing needs. It was a better post than it sounds, I promise.

Now, you've got a great Box. You're building a Family, and some of the members show great promise as athletes; some as Mavens; some as supporters; some as grinders; and some as Coaches.

Alternately, you could be hiring from outside your Box. It's not my favourite method, but it's occasionally necessary. Let's imagine that you're hiring a General Manager - not a coach, but someone whose job is to handle the Delivery of your service, with a little bit of insight into the future of the company.

What will you consider? For most, their Education (Skills) and Experience are the biggest factors. However, in a meeting with our Consultant on Monday, he suggested that we're only looking at a quarter of the whole picture. There are four 'Lenses' through which to view potential staff:

 

BRAIN POWER – do they have the intellectual capacity to do the job?	Skills and Knowledge – acquired education and experience.
Value/Commitment – Do they recognize the value in what they're doing? Would they do it for free?	The 'X' Factor – Personality. Debatably defined as the absence of NEGATIVE traits.

The first square, BRAIN POWER, is likely going to get me in trouble. There are those who may find the idea that smarts=good to be discriminatory. It is: you're smart enough for this job, or you're not. (Without trying to pander to my audience, I've found that the vast majority of CrossFitters and Affiliates are much smarter than a slice of the average population. Have you noticed the same? Does CrossFit self-select toward the more intellectual...or do I just know a LOT of people who are smarter than I am?)

Frankly, without enough Brain Power, all the charisma ('X' factor,) commitment (if they don't get the job, they don't eat) and education in the world won't get the job done. I think we can agree that education and intellect aren't the same thing. I'm also not talking about IQ here: 'BRAIN POWER' means the ability to draw on experience and education to extrapolate a course of action.

Skills and Knowledge :the bulk of a person's resume, but probably least important. You can teach a person anatomy; you can't teach charm. When I was returning to Canada after a few years of coaching in the States, I applied for a job at a local ski resort. Interviewees were screened in one room; if they passed, they were sent through to the second room, where the 'real' interview took place. What was the screening process? "Stand on your chair and sing, 'Happy Birthday'." Luckily, I'd done a similar interview in Wisconsin a few years before: finalists were taken to a restaurant to 'celebrate.' Before the meal - or any drinks - each was egged into doing a Karaoke solo onstage. The shy folk were eventually turned down, education and experience notwithstanding.

Value/Commitment: I have a Coach who would do this CrossFit gig for free. That's rare. However, the trick is not to devalue the financial part of the job, but rather to increase the value of what the Coach GETS from doing his job. Trust me: money is not the principal motivator for people. This guy is motivated by the ballet of the barbell; he lives to see people sweat. He's well paid, of course, but he's not committed because of the money. If the staffer VALUES their work - and sees how important it really is - they're closer to self-actualization than the highly-paid Coach who hates their job. Maslow got that part right.

The 'X' Factor: Charisma. Radiance. That stuff's all great, but your concern is primarily the absence of negative habits: does the interviewee talk a lot about drinking on facebook? Do they have a bad habit of swearing in front of kids? Are they overtly sexual with other members? Weed out the negative traits first - they're easier to quantify than the positive ones.

The big question: how do you measure this stuff in advance? Luckily, you're smart. You're going to recognize BRAIN POWER when you see it. Evolution has provided us tools to identify the smartest of our species, as borne out through a ton of psychological research.  The 'X' Factor is nearly obvious, too, but requires a bit more digging (for instance, if the email address on their resume is 'rearmountie69,' you can probably move on.) Ontario Police now require recruits to relinquish their facebook password, so that the employer can search their friends, comments, and likes....

Skills and Experience - most of that is coming from you, friend. But if they've coached elsewhere, they've got some. Heck, maybe they've got an Olympic-level snatch, but if no one can stand to be in the room with them for an hour, they're not going to succeed.

Working backward, if you take yesterday's post about Scaling Staff and apply these four Lenses when hiring, you'll be in better shape.

Scaling Your Staff

Fourty years from now, this will be accepted logic. It will also still be controversial.

It took Elliott Jaques nearly 50 years to develop his theories around stratification of job tasks. I'll try to sum it up in five minutes. If we can do it with a split jerk.....

Disclaimer: this is not a commentary on anyone's intelligence, potential, or raw brain power. To the contrary: the purpose here is to identify friction and cognitive dissonance. If you're using people to their full potential, they'll be happier, love their work, and attract more people.

We're going to arrange the jobs in your Box by level - that is, by the brainpower necessary to do the job.

Level I - analog. "I do THIS and THIS and then I do THIS." Step-by-step. No further processing required. In our Box, we've been lucky enough to hire Sean to do the cleaning. Sean loves a good checklist: first, I sweep the 'big room.' Then I sweep the hallways. Then I mop the big room. Then I mop the hallways. Sean LOVES to clean. He's passionate about it. He's loyal to a certain brand of toilet bowl cleaner. He doesn't question his wage, or dread coming to work. He's excited to be part of our 'Team,' and if you give him a new t-shirt, it's like a slice of sweet Mango.  This is a front-line worker.

Level II - binary. "I do this. IF this happens, THEN I do this." The algebra of the task expands, but the paths are still linear. Decisions are automatic (predetermined in your staff handbook) but enforced by the Level II worker. This may be a Shift Supervisor for Level I workers, or a call centre employee with a large textbook on their lap. No need to see the big picture, just fill in the gaps. All the answers are before me; no need to question them, or their motives, or their origins.

Worth noting: most McFit gyms consider their Personal Trainers 'Level II' workers. IF Mary wants to lose weight, THEN she must walk on the treadmill. IF Jimmy wants to gain muscle, THEN he must do 3 sets of 8-10 reps on the bench press. However, some gyms (Curves?) may even treat their staff as Level I workers: To lose weight, Mary AND Jimmy must do the circuit AND dance when the bell chimes AND buy these supplements AND do this low-calorie diet.

Level III - more algebraic. This is where a great Personal Trainer lies: they see the long tail. They recognize the long-term plan that dictates the short-term programming. This would be the General Manager of most businesses, responsible for not just scheduling and tracking, but also some forecasting and planning. At this level , most of the Delivery portion of your business is managed (or should be.) This is where a great Personal Trainer is most happy: if I take care of my client's needs, the business owner will keep getting me more clients, and do the administrative planning stuff that I don't like.

Up to this point, the system has been mostly algebraic. The transition from Level III to Level IV, however, is like the transition from ice to water: the Entrepreneur is quite different from the great Coach who wants to make a living at coaching.

Level IV - the business owner. Planning, long-term forecasting and oversight. A view of 'the big picture.' An understanding of HOW and WHY.

Example: a client is dissatisfied and wants their money back.

Level I: "Not my job. Ask my supervisor."

Level II: "Our policy says no refunds."

Level III: "I want to keep you happy. If I keep you happy, you'll tell your friends. Maybe you SHOULD get your money back...."

Level IV: "If I give this person their money back, it sets a precedent that may hurt ALL the Trainers in the next few years. We want to grow out AND up, and we need a solid foundation and rules from which Levels II and III can draw, so they don't have to stress about this stuff."

Jaques' levels actually go up to 12, but for your business, let's end there.

Now, the most important part: making sure people are where they SHOULD be. How often have you seen one of these?:

• The Coach who loves his job (Level III) so much that he decides to open his own Box (Level IV.) He's miserable for the next three years, because he hates bookkeeping and scheduling and lawyers and cash flow and overhead. Worst of all, he coaches less than ever, because he doesn't have time.
• The Coach who's so great at showing up on time and cleaning up after their groups that they're put in charge of all other coaches. NOW their job is managing people and doing math, instead of doing the job at which they shine.
• The Coach who's asked to stay after the gym closes and handle the mopping every night. This is a tough one, because mopping needs to be done, and if you don't have Sean....

All of these are examples of Cognitive Dissonance. There's a 'best' place for people in your organization. Can we all avoid the trap of mandatory promotion? Can we please stop moving gifted Coaches into positions where they're frustrated and less effective?

Putting a person in a job that's below or above the level at which they're comfortable and most happy is not going to end well.

Sales Vs. Delivery : The Answer Key

On Monday, I posted a little exercise for you: track Sales vs. Delivery on a time-spent basis. If you did the exercise, you're probably dreading the rest of this post. Last week when I did it, I was pretty shocked, because the 'Sales' side was virtually empty.

There was nothing proactive listed. There were a few reactive sales (requests for quotes, replies to emails, bookings) but only one where I'd approached a client to buy.

Your business NEEDS sales. You probably don't like doing proactive sales (I sure don't,) but luckily, there are people who DO.

The answer most commonly accepted in the business world: 30% of your staff should be engaged in selling, and 70% in delivery. Let's say, now, that you tallied up the hours worked by ALL staff in your Box. Divide it by ten. Are you actively engaging in this much time selling each week? And that's only 10% - a THIRD of the recommended dose!

Let's say that you had an athlete competing in the Open. Would you let them show up once per week to compete, with no other training for the next six weeks? Of course not.  So where is YOUR practice time - the time that actually makes the difference in the performance of your Box?

Like everything else in CrossFit, start quantifying your time. 30% of the total should be devoted to creating new business, thinking about new business, identifying WHO the 'new clients' will be, and matching new products to existing AND new clients.

My homework for this week: to cut my total time spent at our CrossFit box to 20 hours' coaching time. That includes PT, group, and 'practice' clients. Since that total is currently over 60 - at only one of our locations - it's a tough task. But so is Murph, and I've done that five times.....

Sampling The Local Wares

Five years ago, I posted an interview on my site that still affects the way I do business.

Jim Liguori, owner of a Dahn Moo Do academy, visited and shared his philosophy. He's wise beyond his years; I was barely smart enough to run a video camera while he talked for a half hour. He was talking about allowing outside influence into the world of Traditional Martial Arts; he recommended that I seek more collaboration, not competition.

As the message begins to sink in, I find myself lowering a lot of walls to people I once believed were 'competition.' And this week, the owner of a Pilates studio hit me with a great idea:

A swipe card that works for CrossFit. And Pilates, at her place down the street. And that hot yoga place on Queen. And the other yoga place, right across the road....

She calls it her 'passport' card. The best part of all: MindBody can already do this trick.

Old belief: that a dollar spent on Pilates was a dollar that should have been spent on CrossFit.

New reality: a lot of our members are really, really smart. They can go to Hot Yoga on Wednesdays, and hammer power snatches on Thursdays.

Great idea: why not make it easier for them?

These 'smart folks' - let's call them the Green Army - are great recruiters. "Hey, great class tonight! What're you up to tomorrow? We're going to CrossFit.  Come with us!"

In Switch, Chip and Dan Heath outline a study, previously discussed here, where patrons of a gas bar were given either a 10-punch card for car washes, or a 12-punch card with two holes already punched. The second group was far more likely to fill their whole card (buy 10 car washes,) and faster, too. Why? They were already started!

Why not come to CrossFit with me? You've already got the swipe card in your hand......

Reception

If you've been married once or twice, you'll know this drill: The Counting Of Plates.

How do you know who your friends are? Well, when it costs $25 per plate to feed them, lines get drawn. No one likes to choose one over another; unless you're paying. Then, maybe, they're not that close....

If you're like Robin and me, you wind up with concentric circles on a drink napkin in the reception manager's office.

Circle #1, smallest: close family. About 20 people.

Circle #2, medium: friends. Cousins. About 100 people.

Circle #3, big: coworkers, cousins of grandparents. Great-aunts. Another 200 people.

Here's the thing: if you invite one person from Circle #2....you invite everybody in Circle #2. We did. But take another step, and invite everyone from the office....well, Great Aunt Debbie gets out her cocktail dress.

In your Box, you grow by meeting people in Circle #1, and telling their stories to Circle #2. Slowly, people in Circle #1 get closer, and it grows. There's a joke around our gym that "Coop can't keep a secret," but really, I have about 70 close confidantes.

HOW, though, do you reach Circle #3? How do you tell them to come to the party? How do you get their invites into their hands...and entice them to attend? THIS is where the advertising salespeople are left: trying to sell you better invitations, or at least better envelopes, to better encourage Circle #3 to make the leap.  These folks are trying to convince you to expand your wedding to include 500 people - "gotta get your name out there!" - at your expense. Up front, please.

But what if you could invite everyone - even Uncle Larry - for free?

The wedding analogy is dragging. But for tomorrow, consider this question: Would you rather have $45 from each of your current clients, OR $5 from every client of every Personal Trainer in town? 

Exercise: Sales vs. Delivery

In my last post, I asked you to do something for me: to divide up the services you're selling (and will be selling) and the markets to which you're offering the same.

Today, we're going to try something. Find a clock. Get out your schedule.

Definitions:

Sales - time spent talking to current clients about new products, new clients about current products, or new clients about potential new products. Includes: newsletter writing, phone calls, answering emails with 'Free Trial' in the subject line, faxing quotes. Does not include: inventory/ordering, scheduling, paying bills, designing marketing products.

Delivery - time spent actually coaching. Personal Training, CrossFit, other groups.

Other - administrative stuff. Everything else. Don't worry about this category for now.

Total the number of hours you spend on Delivery first (just count up PT sessions, groups, etc. on your schedule.  Using MBO  makes this really easy....)

Now, set up your stopwatch next to your computer. Every time you do a Sales-related task, start the stopwatch. Stop it at the end of the call; when you hit 'send,' or when you fax the quote.

Each day, total your hours. Here's a handy spreadsheet to help:

Download Hoursspentsheet

...I think you know what's coming, right? Hours spent working IN your business, vs. hours spent working ON your business. I heard about it 3 years ago from Gerber; it took The Consultant to put a clock on it. Next week: the answer key.