Who's On Your Bus?

This one goes out to the business owners in our industry who burned the midnight oil this past year keeping their studios open or just trying to. I see you. I applaud you. I cried with you and for you. We needed each other this year more than ever and I’m so proud to have gotten to know so many of you through this time. Right now though, I wanna talk about your “bus”.

Alycea Ungaro with Heather Shalabi (Flex HK)

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As Covid-19 comes into a less intense phase in the United States - I see myriad colleagues reflecting on profound life changes made over this year. It's inspiring to see people kick down doors, trample over barriers and demolish emotional blockades. I feel lucky to witness these victories and even more lucky to have undergone our own team transformation here at Real Pilates as we navigate this special year - our 25th anniversary.

Years ago I read the book Good to Great by Jim Collins and put a plan in motion. Collins analogy that your business was like a bus landed like an explosion in my nascent entrepreneurial brain. He wrote passionately about gathering and cultivating your team naming the strategy “first who, then what”. He theorized that having the right people on your “bus” was the single most important thing. Where the bus was headed - was less important because with the right people in it - they would drive towards meaningful success.

I knew full well from decades of running studios that people will ultimately self-select out of a position or a company. (If you haven't yet internalized that as a business owner - you should). But I wasn't quite sure how to design my own team from scratch. The old advice to "hire slow, fire fast" can only take you so far. Growing and forming a team, a tribe or group of like minded people who share a belief system and operate from a place of integrity is a tremendous endeavor.

Working with a business coach a few years back I laid it on the line and called up anyone who wished to get on the "bus" with me to come forward. A few did. And I felt a real pang of joy. Businesses don't make people happy. Other people do. And as an owner, the crew of folks merely clocking in and out function as little more than an emotional drain. Hearing that a handful of my team wanted to get on the bus with me - to wherever we decided to go was euphoric.

I spent the next few years building that up - expanding the management team and identifying the future partners in my admin and especially the teaching crew.

Until Covid-19 shut us all down.

And suddenly the bus ..... was more full than ever.
Oh, you thought it would empty out?
Yeah, so did I.

Instead I found out that there’s an extraordinary group of professionals in my midst who want to share the same bus with me.

Some folks did drift off. Some followed their own passions and dreams and made life changes.

Your bus isn’t for everyone. In fact, there isn’t a seat for everyone. It’s for the group that share a single vision and a shared mission. There are different busses for other folks - the ones not interested in mine - or yours.

And that’s exactly the way it should be.

Who’s on your bus?

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Let me know how you weathered Covid-19 with your team? Link to the title of this post to leave your comments.