Ep 15 - Top Tips for your next Staff Training

We know that our staff are the most valuable asset that we have in our business. Investing in our staff to make sure they're upping their skills and knowledge in the styles they teach is important. But is it the most important part of their staff training in our studios? We think not!

Join Bec on today's Podcast as she breaks down the 'behind the scenes' training that all staff in her studio do Every. Single. Year. And why investing in this type of training has been a big part of her studio's success and growth over the last 5 years.

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Show Transcription: 

Hello, everyone, I hope you are amazing. Thank you so much for joining me on the dance principles, United podcast. It's back here, I'm on my own today, the beautiful Amanda is having an amazing day with her family, which is much, much deserved. And I'm excited to talk to you guys today because I wanted to bring up something that I'm very, very passionate about, and that is training our staff. And I don't necessarily mean upskilling our staff or teaching them how to teach dance or Acro or whatever it might be that they do in your studio. But I actually mean teaching them about your school about the things that we do in your school, and letting them know, you know, how your school runs. And we don't tend to do this in our industry, we kind of employ a teacher and bring them in and they start teaching classes. And that's it. And it baffles me that we do that. Because if you think about any other business, I mean, let's imagine McDonald's, for example. Can you imagine someone being coming a new employee McDonald's, and they get the interview, and yet we really love you come on in. And then they walk into McDonald's. And they're like, Alright, here's a burger off you go. Flip it. Like, it's crazy. But that's what we do. So I got to ask the question, Why aren't the majority of us onboarding or training our staff, I do staff training religiously at my school. So every single term, every school holidays, we do staff training. And look, some of my staff have been with me for 15 years, and they still come to every single staff training. Now, some things I want to tell you about staff training is I pay my staff to be there, not all of them get their hourly rate, some of my staff are very high hourly rates, so I'll negotiate a day rate for them, located the event, so I always have lunch there for them, and coffees and any other drinks that they like, and that makes them feel valued. And I think our staff need to feel valued. And in my opinion, your staff are the most important part of your business. Because if they aren't doing what you need them to do, if they're not, they're making those clients and kids have the best time ever, your attentions not going to be great. So I guess I have to say like, do your staff know your values? Do they know what your business is about? Do they know what the aim of your school is? Do they know what they're reaching for? Do they know what the enrollment processes? So do they know how to bring a student in how to enroll them? What they're supposed to do? Do they know how to close a sale. And I know that a lot of people don't like talking about getting some money in it's closing a sale, but it is closing a sale? 100%. And I think you know, when you ask yourself those questions, and look, I used to be someone who didn't do staff training in my business. And I know the difference between when I didn't do it, and now is so huge. We're a team now. You know, my staff, I even meet individually with my staff, and we do appraisals, which isn't a scary thing. It's literally just me sitting down with them and going okay, how are you going with this, this, this and this, and how can I support you better. So I think that's really important that staff feel supported. So I want to talk you guys through today. And I hope it's helpful as to how I would run a staff training session, and just give you some tips and tricks on that. So the first thing that I always do, and I do go into other studios and do staff training, as well. So I have the same format, whether it be my studio or the studios, same sort of format the whole way through. First thing I always do is talk about their goals and wins and make it about them. And I think that's a really great icebreaker. And it's a great way to start it rather than starting it, you know, why are people putting your props away, start out, you know, let's talk about your goals and when so I do their biggest win of the last six months, three personal goals and three work goals and they write that down. And then we do a share session. So everyone shares their when everyone shares one goal for work and one goal for personal and look, I found with this, that you find out a lot more about your staff, and also sometimes their work goal, you have no idea and you're like, Wow, that's a really cool work goal. I once had a teacher who said her work goal was to develop a preschool music program. And I was like, okay, cool. Let's

totally do that. And then we started this whole new musical program within this preschool department of our school. And that was great. It was an extra revenue stream for the school. So you just never know what those goals are. And sometimes that can be super exciting. Then I talked to them about what is the most important part of their job. And you know, why do they do what they do? Why do they teach dance? What do they love about it just gives you an insight into how passionate they are and they're all always really passionate of course, but it also It makes them self reflect and think about that. And the reason that I do that is because I want them to realize that they are changing lives. And what I say to my staff and to other staff is, you know, if that child comes in for their very first dance lesson, and they have a bad experience, and mom's like, okay, stop this, let's go to netball. Instead, this dancing things terrible, they wouldn't have had the amazing journey that you've had three days, I wouldn't be sitting here right now, learning about staff training, they wouldn't understand that journey. And we have to value every single person as if they you, if that was your first experience, you wouldn't be here. So make sure that you value every single person that match that you want them to stay at the studio, because you know, they're going to have a wonderful time. And once I've done that, and explained to them how important their job is, in that sense, I start to talk to them about the business side of things. So first of all, I talk to them about marketing, and how getting a new student in is actually pretty expensive. Like it's, it's not an easy thing to do. When we pay for social media marketing, maybe you've done some flyer drops, maybe you've, you know, your admin team has to talk to those people to get them actually in the door. So it can cost sometimes between 50 and $100, right to get a student in. And then imagine then that they don't do a great job of bringing that student in, or they don't close the sale. And that 50 or $100 just goes out the door, you just burning money essentially. So I think it's important for them to understand a business. And I also, I remember when I was teaching, and I still have, you know, quite big classes, teaching for other people, I mean, and I'd have like 30 kids in my class. And back in the day, though, probably charged about $10 Each, I was like 30 Kids $10 each $300 I'm charging her $40 She's making a fortune of me. And I think that's the mentality that staff have like that, you know, businesses are making so much money. So I always tell my hot lemon taste, or I'm going to tell it to you guys, and definitely feel free to use it. So I was at a cafe with my friend and I ordered an almond milk flat white, which is my coffee of choice. And she ordered a hot lemon tea. So she literally just ordered hot water with a bit of lemon in it. And we went to pay and the guy at the front was like, Okay, that'll be 575 for the hot lemon tea. And she was like, what? I'm not paying $5.75 for a hot lemon tea. It's literally water and a slice of lemon. That is ridiculous. And he was like, Yeah, cool. Well, just to put it in perspective, I've paid for the premises that you and your friend have sat down out for the last hour and chatted, I've also paid a waitress to bring that to you. And I'm now going to pay someone out the back to wash that up so that it's ready for the next person to come in. I'm also paying myself to meet and greet you when you come in and sit you down. And then to for you to leave now and say thank you to you. So now do you think it's so much. And I tell that story because then he can go into more detail of you know, the electricity to make the hot water and all that sort of stuff. But I tell that story. Because I think people who don't own a business don't understand the overheads. I know I never did, until I actually owned my own business, that's when you really start to realize how much overhead there is. So I always tell them that story. And then I do this thing called jump in. Now jump in is a really fun game. And it's it's a role playing game. So we actually act out parts. And I know a lot of you are like my teachers would never ever act out parts. But I've even been to some really full on serious, you know, ballet schools and stuff like that. And they will still act out the roles. And they actually get a laugh out of it. It's funny, but I take them down, for example to my waiting area. And one of them will pretend to be a child and mum, and there'll be people at the front desk and the front desk is really busy. And then there'll be two teachers standing there. And they're just talking to each other and the child or mum walking in and everyone ignores them and they just feel awkward and have no idea what to do. And then I'll say Stop jumping. And then I'll be like, Okay, someone fix this. And then one of my staff will go up to that person and go Hi, I'm, I'm Shea and you know, what are you doing today? And so it's just teaching your staff to approach that client no matter what, because it's awkward to go into that new situation.

I know, as an adult, it's awkward, like if you go to a new gym or something like that, and you walked into a class and no one said hello to you, including the instructor, you'd feel really awkward. So it's about helping them to feel comfortable in the space. And then we talk about going into the classroom. What sort of things are you going to do with a child who maybe won't join in or with a child who's clinging to mum or whether, you know there's so many different situations that you can think of? I always like to throw really fun stuff at them like at the end of class the child. The teacher goes up to the child and says oh, did you enjoy the class and The child says no, I hated it. Like, how do you deal with that situation? Obviously, we want them to onsale a class, but they get really like, oh, I don't know what to say here. And then the most important part, the closing of the sale, so then we take them back out to that waiting area, if that's what you do, maybe you enroll online, maybe you everyone has something different. It's just about your staff, knowing what it is, and then saying, Okay, well, here's a uniform, go and try it on. Or I'll get you to talk to our front desk person. Now, what if the front desk is really busy? And she can't talk to that person? What are you going to get them to do, that's where I say, maybe try the uniform or, and maybe do this. So all of those things are so important. And you know, getting them to close that sale is so imperative that that happens, then and they're absolutely then in there, if you can make that happen for your school. So jumping, it's a super fun one. Another thing that I do with my staff is goal setting. And when I talk about goal setting, there's four things. So there's setting the goals, there's measuring the goals, celebrating the win and sharing. And so I say to them, All right, let's set some goals for our class, or classes, whatever it might be. And obviously, they're going to set those goals. Let's just do a really simple one. Okay, they're doing a technique class. And their goal, that term is for the kids to get more flexible. How are you going to measure your goals? How are you going to show that those kids have got more flexible? easy example? Take photos in week one, and then take photos again in week 10? And compare the two? How are you going to celebrate the win? Okay, so the Celebrate of the wind doesn't have to be anything massive? It might just be saying to the kids, okay, we're going to have a fun lesson or a fun 10 minutes at the end of week 10. Or whatever your school does. Some schools go really out and are like, Yeah, we're gonna have a pizza party or whatever. You don't have to do that. You might give them a certificate, you might whatever the celebration is, okay? And then how are you going to share it. So this is a big one, to me, I'm a big believer in we need to share what these kids are doing with our clients, the parents, and I think especially through COVID, and even still, now, the parents of our schools are very disconnected because you know, they're not coming in, they're not, they've been away for so long. And also, if they were on Zoom, they were very connected, because they were seeing exactly what their kids were doing. So we've got to be aware of that. And we've got to think, Alright, how can I show parents exactly what these kids are doing. I'm a big believer in band, it's an app, it's a free app. And we use it and I know a lot of our tribe members now use it. And I think it's a game changer in any school. And every single lesson on band, my staff post, what they've done in that lesson, so the clients or the parents at my school are constantly seeing what their kids are doing in class, and they love it. We put band into age groups. So you know, there'll be an eight and under age group, and all the eight and underclasses go into that age group. So not everyone's seeing what every age group is doing. We have a preschool band, but it's, it's a game changer. And parents absolutely love it. They love seeing what they're doing. And especially if you think about those preschool parents, that's what they get. Now, my little boys at preschool, and he has an app. And every single day, I see what he's doing with photos and updates and talking to me or he did this today. And it's an expectation of those preschool parents now that they get to see what's happening. So I think that's a really, really big one. So think about those goals for them. And make sure all four things are in there. And then the last thing I'm going to talk to you guys about is just making every child feel special. I think that's a really important thing for them to do. I always talk about it in staff training, I get them to commit to it, but I just talked to them about you know, it's very easy for all of us to make that center front amazing dancer in your, in your class, whether it be a rec class or a trip or whatever it is, of course that child feels special and you know is we love them. But what about the quiet kid in the back? What about you know, the

other kids in that class? Are they all made to feel equally as special? Is your are your staff on board with helping everyone to reach goals in that class, not just those amazing kids in the front? Because I think that can be a real issue and the forgotten ones in the back don't feel connected? Don't feel like they're hitting goals. And so the retentions not there, they're gonna leave. You know, I as you all know, probably I'm a bit of a gym addict. I love air 45. And if I didn't feel like I was hitting goals, every time I went there and getting better and better, I'd probably stop but I'm lucky enough to be somewhere where they're like okay, back you've lifted 12 and a half kilos in each arm today. Let's try with 15 so they're always upping me and I will relate that back to kids, kids want to feel like they're achieving things. That's why they stay. So we've got to make sure that every child feels like that. So it might be something as simple as you know, setting individual goals for every child, it might be something as simple as saying to people, to your staff, you know, every single child's name has to be said in a positive way, every single lesson, maybe they have to tick it off. Maybe they have to give feedback to the parents, about four or five kids every lesson, some positive feedback, there's so many different ways you can do that. But I just think we need to make sure that every single child feels that now I know as your own is, you totally get that. And you're like, Yeah, that's so obvious back. But your staff maybe don't. And it's not until you actually pointed out to them that they realize that that's something that they need to do. Obviously, there's other things you can do. Such as you know, the expectations, talking about coming 15 minutes early to class, that's an expectation, no phones in class, maybe that should be an expectation that they shouldn't be messaging people back in the middle of class, right. turning things off and packing up neatly. I know this sounds really obvious. But have you actually told your staff that that's an expectation, looking professional, I think it's really important that they can be looking the part my staff or were complete uniform, at my school. And that's just our thing, because I do uniform the whole way through. But maybe your staff don't wear uniform, but do they still look professional, and what you'd like them to look like. And here's the thing, it's, it's really easy for us to get cranky with our staff when they don't do what we want. But I a lot of the time, I think we're not really telling them exactly what we want. And sometimes we've got to self reflect and go, Okay, I'm cranky about the fact that you're not inappropriate attire, but I've actually never told you what the attire that I expect you to come in is, again, like go back to McDonald's, they would know exactly what they're supposed to wear from their shoes, to their uniform to everything. And I'm sure if they walked in out of uniform or out of that, they'd be pulled up straight away, we are the same, your your business is the same. You want it to have a certain feel and look about it. So if your staff aren't living up to that, you need to pull them aside and say, hey, the expectation of uniform is this or the expectation of what you wear is this. Can you make sure that you're wearing that next time, please? But make sure you're giving them the expectation as it's like I said, you know, do they actually know that? Do they know that they are supposed to not be on their phone? I know in your head, you're like, well, they should just know, they should. But if you actually say to them, it's a non negotiable that there's no phones during class until the end, when you're feeling filming for band or Instagram or whatever it might be. Then that said, and it's much easier for you to then go up to them and say, Hey, remember, I told you, that's an expectation, I noticed you were on your phone in the middle of class, I'm just wondering what happened to there. Always support your staff as well, I'm so big on saying to them, Look, if you mess up, if something goes wrong, one, just be honest with me, and we will work through it together. I made so many mistakes as a teacher at other schools. And you know, I know my staff are going to make mistakes, we all make mistakes, it's how we deal with it. That's the important part. And I think if staff feel supported in your school, and feel like you know, okay, I've I've messed up, but she's got my back, or he's got my back, I think that will be a game changer for you as well. But constantly checking in with them is really important. It's it's, it's like a classroom, you know, if you just let that uniform go, and then you don't do anything, don't do anything. And then you turn up one class and everyone's out of uniform, because you haven't actually bothered to do it the way through your staff are the same. If you just let it go, let it go, let it go. And then it probably gets to a point where you're going to explode. And then there's this big blow up, if you just actually said it to them in the very first place that you very first saw it, then it would be fine.

So last thing I'm going to say is, and I say this with love, stop avoiding confrontation. Like I think a lot of us have studio arenas, and I can put my hand up and say me included, we avoid that confrontation. It's definitely something I used to do. I've worked really hard on it within myself and I deal with things straightaway. Now, I don't sift over it. I don't go and talk to other people about it. The second it happens, I just go and deal with it. And I think that's the key. You know, if you see that thing and you're not happy about it, just go and talk to them. You don't need to be cranky, to say, Hey, I noticed this. What, what how can I help you to change that? Essentially, if you look at it in a different way, instead of going, Hey, you're on your phone, and that's really rude. You know, what happened? How can I help you to not do that? Anyway, so I hope that has helped you guys a little bit with staff training. I'm super passionate about bout it. Thank you so much for joining us on dance principles United podcast. If you're not on our Facebook group, our closed Facebook group for studio owners, please jump on we always doing lives in there. There's a lot of action in there and we absolutely love having new studios in there. And we'd love giving value and I know Amanda and I are so passionate about all of you achieving the studio of your dreams. I hope you guys have an amazing week and we will be chatting to you all soon.