Over the years working at different gymnastics gyms, they all run differently as long as all the staff are on the same page of their philosophy and goals. Parents are paying your bills and you want to be the best out there. Parents don't pay for staff to talk and socialize while their child is running around the gym and not being properly supervised or not learning what you say you provide. There is no right or wrong how gyms runs as long they promise their services and the program runs safely and smoothly. So how does a gym make sure their program runs smoothly and be able to keep the clients coming back for more or gaining new clients? I see it as knowing the 4 W's.
The 4 W's are Who, What, Where, and When.
1. "Who" is the person in charge of the program and normally its a program manager that over sees the class or team programs. In most cases the program manager it is the owner of the gym. In some gyms they hire a program director to overlook the class programs and another director to over look the team programs. The director should have the same vision and goals as the owner.
"Who" is also the staff that teaches the classes or teams. The staff should be reliable to show up to work on time and every time. The program can't be consistent if you have to keep changing the staff all time. Its important that your staff is reliable and not taking off work on a regular basics. So who is in charge of the program and teaching classes or team?
Whoever running the gym program, should have good quality of leadership skills.
2. "What " is your lesson plan, your objectives, and your expectations. The parents are expected their child to learn gymnastics and of course have fun at the same time. In most cases I have seen kids have more fun but they really never learn gymnastics. This makes it dangerous because you are not providing the services you say you offer. You should always have a lesson plan set. You can do that by using a rubric or skill sheet to keep track of the child progress. Having a lesson plan prepare you to help keep the classes or teams organized. A lesson plans should be based on the student's needs and introducing a new skill.
3. "Where" is your rotation schedule. You should have a schedule of where to go such as floor, tumble track, trampoline, bars, beam. vault, rings, pommel horse, etc... When doing a rotation schedule you should make sure the traffic pattern is safe to move around so you are not crossing over some one's class or team. Without knowing where to go, it can cause a lot of problem among staff talking to each other trying to find out where to go. In most cases I have seen staff fight over the event! So have a rotation schedule to know where you are going. Having a rotation schedule of knowing where to go can help organized the traffic pattern and keeping the students safe. The students should always be lined up behind the instructor to the next event to avoid the kids roaming around the gym to the next event.
4. "When" is your time management. Every event should have a time frame of how long you should be at that event. In most cases you can go to an event for 7-10 minutes (pre-school classes), 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or 45 minutes. Time management is depends on how long your classes or team practices are and the level of the classes and teams.
When managing you should always have who. Without what, where, and when, whoever is teaching the class will have no idea how to manage or don't have good leadership skills. What, where, and when must interact with each other. If you don't know where to go then you don't know what you are doing and don't know when you are going. When putting all this together, communication, leadership, and working together is a must. I believe the work place is more enjoyable when everyone is on the same page and working together as professionals.
I hope you all have a great 2012-2013 season! I'm looking forward to a great one!
Good Luck!
Tom
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