Promotions and Happiness
How do you become a firefighter?
Go to college, says your high school counselor. Study firefighting. Get a degree or a diploma, then hand in your resume.
Wait, says the recruiter from the Fire Department. Go learn a trade. You'll be more useful to us.
Good, says the Chief. Now go get married or something. Get some life experience, and check back in a few years.....
This isn't a public process, but it's usually what happens for young adults trying to become firemen or police officers. As it turns out, a 98% on your final exam in Police Foundations doesn't really make you a great cop.
Let's consider some things that we know to be true:
- A great student doesn't necessarily make a great athlete.
- A great athlete doesn't necessarily make a great coach.
- A great coach doesn't necessarily make a great 1-on-1 Trainer.
- A great 1-on-1 Trainer doesn't necessarily make a great Head Trainer.
- A great Head Trainer doesn't necessarily make a great General Manager.
- A great General Manager doesn't necessarily make a great Partner.
- A great Partner doesn't necessarily make a great student.
Each of the above jobs - call them 'levels' - requires separate training, motivation, and desire. If a CrossFit Coach loves coaching classes, but doesn't educate himself beyond the Certification weekends he attends, he may not be a great 1-on-1 Coach. And that's fine.
If your Head Trainer loves finding new information and sharing with your other Coaches, great. If they like organizing the Coaching schedule and helping to determine the programming at your Box, fantastic. If they don't care to think much about cash flow, they're not going to help you as a General Manager. And THAT's fine, too.
When people are happy - fulfilling the tasks that give them joy - it sometimes seems as if a promotion is a nice reward. It's not. Adding unfamiliar tasks for which staff aren't properly trained will be exciting at first, and then demotivational and frustrating. Money won't bridge that gap.
The other solution, of course, is to train the person doing the managing.
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