By Shawn McQueen, Mentor for Two-Brain Group Coaching Course
This is the sixth post in our ongoing series covering the differences between good and bad coaches. If you want to catch up on the other parts of this story, do so here:
Good Coach was assistant coaching Bad Coach in a class that evening and received a message from the Owner of the gym who had just flown down to North Carolina. After class was over and everyone had left, Good Coach listened to the voicemail that was left on his phone. “Call me as soon as you’re free, I have some big news,” the owner spoke over voicemail. Good Coach called him back, curious as to what it could be. “There is a pretty good opportunity for me down here, I’m going to buy a gym and re-build and brand it and I’d like to offer you the role of running the gym up there while I’m down here, would you like that?” the owner asked Good Coach. Good Coach, nervous and excited, gladly accepted.
When he told Bad Coach the exciting news, Bad Coach’s first response was “what about me?”
It was Good Coach running the show at the gym now with Bad Coach and three other part-time teammates, Half-serious Coach, Over-the-Top Coach and Creepy-Coach. They all were given their jobs from the owner, friends of his before opening his gym. It was a unique team for sure. At the time, all Good Coach could see or care about was improving other people’s lives and creating an atmosphere and environment unlike anything people have ever experienced.
Half-Serious Coach would drive down 45 minutes every Saturday to coach a class. He had a full time job as a first responder and coached at another gym. He “checked in-checked out” for his hour and people could feel that. Like dogs, they were able to sniff out when one was not like the other in terms of level of care.
Over-the-Top Coach was a very loud, abrasive female who got a lot of significance from being in a coaching role. She never seemed quite sure of herself and she was always drawing attention to herself, and acted well, over the top. She was loud, outspoken and led like a boot camp instructor who never took herself too serious.
Creepy-Coach was an older middle age male who was friends with the owner from a previous gym.He had a mystery to him that most people just couldn’t quite put their finger on. He was, however, too hands on with the female members. He gave most of them the hee-bee-jee-bees just simply by the looks and stares he would have.
With Good Coach as the team leader now, and membership growing, it was becoming more clear to Good Coach who needed to stay and who needed to go on the team.
One day after a 10am class, a female member came up to Good Coach and expressed how uncomfortable Creepy-Coach made her feel in class. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard this. It wasn’t even the second. It was a pattern. Good Coach knew Creepy-Coach was not a right fit for his team and for his members. Creepy-Coach was the first person Good Coach fired.
But it wouldn’t be his last….
Stay tuned for our next post to talk about who is walked out the door next!