Chris Stevenson

Tonight on Navigating Neva, Wes and I sat down with Chris Stevenson for a conversation packed with practical leadership insights.

We discussed what separates organizations that thrive from those that struggle, how strong leaders create culture, the importance of clear expectations and accountability, and why recognition matters more than many people realize. Chris shared real-world strategies for building stronger teams, setting meaningful goals, improving communication, and creating an environment where people want to succeed.

Whether you're a business owner, manager, entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, coach, or simply someone looking to grow as a leader, this episode offers actionable takeaways you can apply immediately.

Join us for a conversation about leadership, culture, vision, team development, and the habits that help organizations move from surviving to thriving.

#NavigatingNeva #Leadership #ChrisStevenson #TheEmpowermentGroup

Transcript

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SPEAKER_04 0:44

Okay, welcome back to Navigating Liva. And I am your host, Eva Nicole, with my co-host, Wesley.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Hello.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

And today's special guest is Chris Stevenson. And I have left to tell me all about him.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Put it right on the T for me, Nicole. Yeah. Chris Stevenson's somebody who I've gotten to see grow and build his career in education and speaking and fitness and wellness through the Athletic Business Conference, through medical fitness, and somebody I just always valued. And so to have him here as a guest, it's kind of exciting. He may talk to us about how he has morphed his career into different things from a mixed martial arts to owning a personal training business to become a great business owner and helping teams build their culture and leadership and having a great understanding of your roles and your responsibilities. And so that's why Chris is here. And so I won't take much more of the time up, but really this is kind of a different episode for us, I hope. We're not going to talk about people at the bottom of the pool. We're not going to talk about scanning. We're not going to talk about the ratios of CPR. We're going to talk about, I hope, things that are much more meaningful in the way that we think about how we build a team and meaningful in how we look who we're hiring. And so that's why Chris is here. And again, you know, whether we go through all the different colors of red or blue or karate kicks or stunts, hint, hint, hint, audience, I would encourage you to check out the Empower Group. And I'll leave it to you, Chris, and then we'll start our dialogue.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Yeah. So welcome. Yep. Thank you. I really appreciate being here. And I will tell you that throughout my career, and I know we'll get into this, one of my most recent clients that I was working long-term with was my first experience working at a facility that I had to deal with the pool. And the things that you all do in this industry, I thought being just the gym part of everything was crazy. But to manage the women who want to do the aqua robux class versus the serious lane swimmers versus the children who just want to have fun versus the swimming lessons, then maintain the pump room and then the heater breaks, and then something, and then there's a code brown in the hot tub. And I mean, just all of the things that you have to manage is just beyond difficult. So, you know, thank you to both of you for doing such wonderful things because the benefits of a good pool and lessons and classes and you know are endless. So for for y'all to do what you do and then to put out content like this to support the industry is really commendable. So thank you for all of that.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Well, that was great.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I think you already have West Crying and you had to put I had to put I had to go on mute from laughing.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

I'm sorry, go ahead and you definitely did your homework because I think you nailed every single thing that we we do. I don't think you missed one of them. Um that was so true, so true.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Well, go ahead, Nicole, because I'm I that is not fair, dude.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

That was that was so good. So for our audience and our listeners tonight, tell us a little bit about who you are, just the tip of the iceberg, because we are gonna go deeper.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Gotcha. So, you know, the quickest version is I was a competitive martial artist growing up in Ohio. And uh throughout college and high school, I competed. I ran a small studio, I trained other competitors. So I didn't have what most would call the typical college experience of some of the memorable stories or maybe stories you forgot, right? So I decided, you know, I was wrapping that up. I was gonna move somewhere warm, which ended up being the West Coast, and literally just kind of have fun for a few years before taking life seriously. And I was very uh doing a very good job of that. I got a job at Fridays, and you can imagine as you get to know me, uh, all the flair and the suspenders and the stripes.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, office space.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yeah, people would define me as either awesome or annoying, and both were probably accurate. But I was still training and working out at a couple different facilities, and I get a call from a friend one day that I was training with, and he happened to be in the stunt industry. And he said, Hey, we just lost a performer. We're about to go on a year-long tour of North America. Is there any way you can come down and audition? So I quickly took off my buttons and my 15 pieces of flare and my suspenders and uh put on some sweats and went down. And I had the worst audition in history because I had no idea what I was doing, but they were so desperate for a performer, they had to hire me. I've never seen a look of relief and being upset at the same time. They were happy to have someone, but they were like, This guy stinks. That's who we got. Yeah, and and that show, as as Wes knows, uh was for the kids show Power Rangers. So year-long tour of North America turned into about 15 years of on and off performing for them, doing Make a Wish Foundation, hospital visits, live shows, all sorts of cool experiences. And that kind of rolled over into doing other stunt work on different movies and television shows. Um, but through that process, you get pretty beat up. And I got involved in fitness as sort of a side hustle when stunts were slow. Started teaching classes, started training people, fell in love with that part of the industry, opened up the studio that Wes mentioned earlier. From there, we had some success. We were approached by an investment group that wanted us to open a full service facility. So that was our big step where we we literally moved across the street because that's where the plaza was, and opened up a full service facility. So over the course of 20 years, we ran award-winning facilities, very customer experience driven. And throughout that, started getting invited to speak at different events. You speak, people hear you, they ask if you can help with their organization. And I basically started consulting by accident and then had the chance to move full into the speaking consulting workshops and training uh back in 2020. So that's the turbo version of my history.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

And for those listening, many swim instructors have the same dream. You just did it on land, right? I have a small business, I grew my business, I got my business to a permanent location, I got my business, and so again, another reason why I'm excited for the audience to hear your story and the philosophies you have behind how you grew and how you lead, because in the aquatic industry, a lot of people struggle with some of those business decisions and staffing and culture, but they know how to do what you do. They know how to teach, they know how to manage, but some of that in-between stuff. And I think that's where you really excel. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

So behind you says the empowerment group. What part of that story is the empowerment group? Is that the counseling or yeah?

SPEAKER_00 6:57

So that's our that's our consulting firm. And basically we have three buckets. One is the speaking. We do keynotes. I I have the honor of keynoting the athletic business show this year, which has been a long-term dream to share the stage with some of the other great keynote speakers that have been before me. So I'm really pumped about that one. So, you know, we do speaking, keynotes, breakouts, and then we do workshops and training on everything from time management to dealing with difficult people, which definitely applies to the aquatics world. Um I've never seen a place where you have to manage so many different types of people sharing one space. So there's definitely challenges there. Um, and then customer experience, leadership, employee engagement workshops. And then our strategic advising is basically custom source for organizations that need it. For example, uh, there's a rec center that we've been working with for over two years, from breaking ground to helping with layouts and equipment selection to creating SOPs, looking at their financial modeling, to we help them hire their key roles, and then we train their staff, we did their pre-sale. So that's more specific. We worked with a lot of health club studios, uh, rec centers, those type of organizations on a strategic level.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Well, and I I'll just do two things because I don't mind name-dropping. Uh, Chris is sharing the stage with people like uh Jesse Cole, who owns Savannah Bananas, and Magic Johnson, and Lou Holtz from University of Notre Dame. They were all keynote speakers. Uh you and I have referenced Ruby Newell together. Um, those of you that are listening that are in Parks and Recreation, Ruby is very big. And so my point is it's not just the message and the speaking, but then you bring it back to what you talked about in strategic planning and you talked about building the team. Would you mind giving some more insight? Because I think all of our audience members, maybe they don't struggle with it, but they've experienced it. Whether their boss says, Hey, you got to meet this budget through swim lessons or et cetera, or they look and say, I need to hire like five people to do a bunch of stuff. Um, would you mind talking the audience through some of those decision-making processes and how you build the structure so that you can have a plan and that you can implement your great ideas?

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Sure. I mean, culture is a buzzword. Everybody talks about it, everybody swears they have one, but certain organizations do and certain don't. Certain fill it out because it's part of a mandatory part of a business plan. But of course, this, you know, it starts with your culture, right? You've got to have your vision, your mission, and your values. And those have to be authentic and actionable and true, and something that's communicated through your job posts and when you're trying to hire, right? Um, you see plenty of job posts out, because I believe this is where it all starts. Well, first of all, build a reputation is a great organization, like you know, both of you have done. Um, so when people see on social, you look like the you got to market yourself as the place that people want to work. Yes, right. So so everything you can do, whether it's you know getting reviews on Glassdoor or getting employment, you know, you can apply for awards like greatest places to work, um, what you put on social, you know, show everybody that this is a great place to work. That's the first thing. And then it's all about the job postings, right? Because far too often, especially what I've seen in aquatics, is lifeguard, here's the hour, here's the hours. But just by starting with the culture in those job ads, saying, want to uh, and by the way, I'm making yourself on the fly, but want to be part of a team where we help children be safe and learn safety skills and and the ability to survive, you know, as opposed to just the logistics, right? So creating job ads that attract the type of people you want, that's the first step. Then taking them through a hiring process where you always start with culture-oriented questions, right? So uh we we would always slide the mission vision values in front of a candidate and say, start by reading this. And if this sounds like something you could get on board with, then we'll move forward with the interview. If not, no harm, no foul. Maybe it's just not a good fit, right? Because you got to get the right people in there. Um, once you get that, that type of person, we ask culture-oriented questions to make sure. Um, just as an example, we are so experience driven. One of the questions we would ask in an interview was tell us about a time you recently had a great experience as a customer, right? Which by the way, most people will tell you 10, 15 times they had a bad experience, right? But we want to know that you recognize what a good experience is like. Because if you recognize it, you appreciate it and you can deliver it. And that was part of our culture. And it was interesting. So somebody with more life experience sometimes would say, like, Oh, I went to the Ritz-Carleton and they used my last name and they agreed to be my name and they had my favorite coffee in the room. But sometimes younger staff, which we call aquatics, but things like answers we would get was I remember one young gentleman that was going to work our welcome desk, which is what we call a front desk, because we thought, why name it after location? Let's name it after purpose, because even driving purpose gets people more involved and shows that what they do matters. Um, but he was like, you know, I got a nail in my tire and I went to the tire man, which actually was the name of the business in the area. Yeah, is that better? Called the Tire Man. Oh, so you know exactly what they do. Um, but when he got there, he goes, they took the nail out and they passed it really quickly, and they go, We're not gonna charge you. That was an easy fix. But when you need new tires, we'd love for you to come see us. So even at that young person who didn't have the life experience, that's somebody I hired, right? Because they knew it. So figuring out questions that fit the culture, because it's hard to mess up, or it's I'm sorry, it's hard to fix a bad hire, right? So that's one of our things. And then when we get to that point, and I know this is a lot of information at a high level, but uh our rule was always it's a hell yeah or a hell no when we hired, right? Because we can all go back in our heads where we had that desperation hire or we hired somebody that we had reservations about, and we're like we can make the it never works. So that became our rule. It's either a hell yeah or a hell no. And if you don't like the word hell, then it's a yes is a yes, a no is a no, and a maybe is a no. That's just another way to say it. But that was our that was our rule, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

It's spot on, so many nerves are being hit, and Nicole's gonna probably text me on the side saying, Wes, let me answer. And she should. Chris, the nerve that hit the most for me personally is aquatics. We need lifeguards. We need you to work the shift. And so, even in my career as a consultant, I've often encouraged people to say, well, hire for the shift, hire for the time slot. Well, that solves one problem, but it doesn't lead to what you're getting at. And I've even started to just shift my mentality of saying, yeah, you need the shift covered, but what type of human is going to do more than that? Because this is just the problem we have now. And I think that's what aquatics people really need to keep in mind of what you're saying is am I solving today's problem or am I putting a solution in place that can help me solve a problem I don't even know I have? And if it's the heck no, then we drive that towards. And so often, and I think Nicole and I promise I'll I'll stop talking by the time you know uh Chris is done. Well, um, but is we see the problem we have in front of us. We see the empty chair, we see the empty shift, we see the graduation clock, we see the end of summer. We don't see how that human is going to be with us for a long term. And so I just really respect and appreciate and hope other people can start to feel this and go, wait a minute, I have an empty chair, I have a lifeguard, but once I bring them on board, I have to keep them. They're with me. They're like a child, they don't go anywhere. My son turns 13 today, by the way. We're all now parents of teenagers, um, as my son is in that mode. So, but they're with you forever. And so I again I think it's a great perspective. Um, where are you at with that, Nicole? What'd you take away?

SPEAKER_04 14:21

What did I take away? Um, I took away that our so my son's all has the mention that we educate the community.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 14:31

Well, our vision is a good idea. We want to educate the community. What separates successful, whether it's a fitness or an aquatic facility or any facility. What struggle, what separates the businesses that struggle? Is it that they're that they're lacking that vision, that they don't put the mission in the vision first? Is that what you would say is what's giving them their struggle?

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Yeah, because that's your DNA as an organization. It helps you make the right decisions on um what new program are we going to have? Does that fit that? How I'm gonna handle a member complaint or dispute. It it all like you should be able to answer all the difficult questions if you really have an authentic mission, vision values, right? It's just that so so organizations that don't have that tend to get confused and make the wrong decisions. Um, so I think that is you know really crucial. I'll I'll tell you this. The second thing is in in conjunction between businesses that do well versus those that fail, we all talk about the customer journey, right? We look at all the touch points and how do we make this a great experience. But organizations that are killing it, that sustained, are sustainable, that they're successful long term, also look at the employee journey. Oh, yeah. And they treat employees the same way. Yeah, same way. So we're looking at what are my touch points? How is this experience for my employees? Because obviously, happy engaged employees create happy, engaged customers.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Right. Which is like your glass door comment. You want, you can get awards and people, which everybody looking for a new job, they're they're looking, they're looking at what other people say about the company before they join. Yes, Wes.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Well, that brings me to two things. One, uh humble brag, humble plug on the aquatic hero, right? I have a program called a hero, hiring, engaging, recruiting, and onboarding. The idea of building that sustained. The other thing it made me think of, and uh, Chris, I'll reverse this. I think you might know where to go with this, in aquatics, we often get told we're in a fishbowl, right? We are the fish, and everybody else has that big googly eye like finding Nemo. And really trying to understand that we're always on show, we're always on display. And I think, Chris, you've had experience with a coach or uh something in a right? Tell the audience about how you have used that same analogy of being on display with our teammates because when you hire somebody, it's not just hiring a lifeguard doing a job, it's somebody that is being watched by perp on purpose all the time. And they we have to think about that when we put that person in the chair.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

But I know you've got some thoughts on that too, and that mindset. One of our previous conversations, I was telling Wes that I had a mentor from the fitness industry who used the term stage coach. And what was ironic is he was from Texas, he's like the ultimate cowboy guy, boots, you know, and everything. So I assumed it was a Texas reference, but it wasn't. He just said, listen, leaders always think stagecoach. You are always on stage because everyone from employees to customers is watching everything you do, and you have to coach all the time. When you see a behavior that's good, you've got to reward it and celebrate it. When you see something that needs improvement, you've got to do that improvement in the moment. So just remembering that term stagecoach is, I think, very powerful to remember as a leader because perception is reality. We always told that we we had a saying in our facility, uh, both of our facilities, if you're leaning, you ain't cleaning. Now, does that mean the place was dirty? No, but if a member were to see, take a lifeguard, for example, if they were just slouched over and they weren't paying attention to body language, even if they were doing a good job, perception is reality because you're in that fishbowl, you are on stage. So your body language, everything has to, you've got to be in uniform. Everything has to be there because everyone is watching you at every second. And that's that's people are judging those moments and they're you know, nowadays they're writing reviews. They're doing more than judging now, yeah. Yeah, posting on social. So, you know, reminding your step man, you are on stage all the time, and then as a leader, you are on stage all the time as well, and you're you've got to coach in that moment.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

I think that's one thing that we I've gotten the habit of. People I a mentor get in the habit of is well, I've told him twice. Well, I showed him once. Well, it's in the manual. And I think again, one of your approaches, Chris, and I know Nicole does this is we're never done teaching you. Just because I've told you doesn't mean you're gonna remember. Just because I remember right? That's why Michael Jordan hated being a coach. He loved being a wizard's owner and can school the players, but he hate because they couldn't do what he was doing. But it's not about that. Go ahead, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Well, as a Chicago guy, uh, I know you're Michael Jordan fan, and he is the second best basketball player of all time. Since the Clevelander. I mean, it's gotta be LeBron. Oh no, I thought you'd talk about Travis Telsi or somebody, but I know you were gonna say as long as the Cubs didn't uh the Cleveland didn't beat the Cubs, we're okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

So really LeBron. Wow. And I think we all liked Chris before that. Um, but even LeBron still coaches, right? To give us credit. He takes every player and every communication, every discussion, even their podcast he does is constantly telling somebody you're doing your job. And I'll and I'll go to you with this, Nicole. How often in aquatics, we always do our audits, right? In aquatics, Nicole, we always do our drills. But how often do we test for positive? How often do we say, hey, good job holding your slack, or great job rotating? Like it's just not something that's common. Am I right in that?

SPEAKER_04 20:07

It it is less common, yes. You have to look for it.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Fair fair, fair. And I think that's something that, again, as people in aquatics who maybe only do the pool for the summer or have other responsibilities, these general concepts of if I see it and it's good, say it out loud so that people get in the habit of doing it. And especially again, I'll go back to aquatics. It's 105 degrees out. We're sweating. And what Chris was describing is rescue ready position. You might not know the term rescue ready, Chris, but that's what you're describing. And when we see it, oftentimes we're, hey, you're not looking great, you're looking tired. But on the opposite end, for the last 20 minutes, you really look like you're ready to make a rescue. So I just great things that we can carry over.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Yeah, I know, and you know, it's important as leaders, and you bring up a good point. Um, when you look at an employee file, generally what you see in there is the three things they did wrong and they have to get enough. Leaders should, first of all, all Gallup research and employee engagement research shows the positive the positive impact that recognition, sincere recognition has. So I tell people as leaders, we're scrambling to do a million things. I mean, Nicole, we were talking pre-call. I I think you're a human hat rack with all the different hats you wear. So sometimes we forget as leaders, but you know, recognition needs to be frequent, timely, specific, and authentic. Say that again. Frequent, so go ahead. Timely. So frequent, you know, a gallup will show you in the research at least once every seven days, they've got to hear something positive. Timely in the moment, right? When you see the behavior to your point, you know, uh being grateful and recognizing in that moment, specific. Some things might seem so boring, but when you're specific about why it's so important, then people realize okay, this does matter and they're more likely to do it. And then authentic. You can't fake it, right? It's gotta be real authentic gratitude. But when you do those things, and and and I always say mix it up how you do it. Sometimes do it at a staff meeting, sometimes do It face-to-face. Sometimes put it in the text, put in email. But those are things when it's an email, print it out, put it in their file. You know, take a screenshot of the text, put it in their file. So then you have an accurate thing when you're doing e-valves or you're thinking about giving someone a raise of promotion. You got an accurate picture, not just the handful of negative things which tend to be in that employee file.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Absolutely. I have um, I'm gonna cry, and here you go, Nicole. Um, to your point of authentic in real time. Number one, I've told people to think of yourself like a husband. Every husband loves when their wife says nice things. We're just too full of ourselves to say it out loud. So think of yourselves as a husband. We need to cater to the husbands. But the second, here's where I'm gonna cry is it this was 15 or 20 years ago, but none of our staff liked emptying their garbage because the dumpster was so far away. I took pictures and like on an old phone because I found all the garbage is emptied. And I and it was nobody cared but me. Nobody, but I knew how hard it was to get to that point. So I took all the pictures and I put them up the next day on. I mean, this phone, it was not maybe iPhone. I don't know. The point is, is we're scratching things. What is this? It's like this is progress. This is people doing, but because they didn't understand if I didn't get into the dumpster, that it wouldn't get carried over and have to do all the things. But to your point, to them it's just why emptied the garbage, bro. Yeah, but for like eight weeks you didn't. So anyway, to that, it could be the to your point, Chris, it could be the smallest thing, but to us, it carries so much weight. So that I'm just thinking about empty garbage cans now. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 23:30

So my question is, what are you most passionate about right now? I hope it's not empty trash cans.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

And if it is, we are okay with that.

SPEAKER_04 23:41

We are if it's empty trash cans. We just want to hear the story behind it.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Fair. No, I think for me, um, you know, I've always out of all the things that we do workshops on and we strategically advise on, um, I do love customer experience. I think it's that one thing that, you know, it's not just a swimming lesson. It's not just open swim, it's not just the class of the pool. It's it's likely the best part of somebody's day. And I always, you know, reminded my staff that, like, especially at the at our at our gym, right? You know, a lot of people hate their jobs and you know, they and the gym is their escape for the day. And when you you when you create a high level of customer experience, you use the name, the world stops, and you focus on somebody, they get an authentic warm welcome. Um, you engage, I mean, you own questions. You have the chance to literally be the best part of somebody's day. And I think I don't know, I just think it's the most fun topic uh you can you can work with people on. And it makes a difference, it makes people happy, it's meaningful, and it has positive return on your business. People know that, man, when I go to Nicole's swim class, it is different than the other swim class. It is a great experience from the minute I interact with it to the minute I leave. Right. So I I just I would say that's that's probably out of every and I like a lot of things, but that just I and and I always looking for ways to reinvent and take it to the next level. And um, you know, just just how can we I always said at our gym, I wanted people to leave going, I can't believe they did that in a good way. Because Lord knows people leave an aquatic center sometimes going, I can't believe they did that, or a gym going, I can't believe it. But when they leave going, I can't believe they did that at a gym, it was amazing. That that that's the kind of stuff that drives me. So I just think you know that that customer experience in in any industry can truly be your differentiator.

unknown 25:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

If that's not swim lessons, now we're both gonna cry. If that's not a swim instructor, I mean, put a picture of a blank swim instructor in what you just said. I mean, as people know, my wife does it full time, Nicole does it, but I think Chris, what you bring to the table, and I think sometimes we forget is we're in that water with for 28 minutes or 18 minutes with that student, and they look up, and that parent wants to see that expression. They want to, and if we're having a bad day, and I know Nicole, you've experienced this too, it just takes one kid, one lesson to turn your day around. And I think what we can learn from this is how do you then extenuate that onto the deck in the handshake, in the greeting, in the grabbing of the towel, all of these small things parents see. We all love teaching kids. What I love about Chris and Nicole too, and so many other people we work with is the ability to go beyond that and and understand the impact that when I'm in the locker room and the kids comfortable and they went underwater the first time. We celebrate that, but bringing it beyond that to the overall service experience is just um is just next level.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

And you know, one thing I learned early when I was teaching martial arts. So, you know, I would teach a class and there would be 30 kids there. And uh, I don't remember if I went to like a martial art conference or I don't know where I learned this, it's a million years ago. Um, but they're like, never forget that there might be 30 kids, but there's only one you. They all came for you. So even though you're seeing everybody, they are all there for one person. So you, you know, that always was my quest to have at least one, you know, when you have a group, have at least one sincere interaction with everybody in that group. But just that mentality going into it. So to your point, if you're a little tired, that we're all tired, we're all burnt sometimes, or we're worried about something else that's going on. Those people are all there for you, and you really can be the best part of their day. So it's that and just put, you know, you're on stage. It is back on stage.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Yeah, yeah. So many lessons learned. I know we have to run, but um, Chris, would you mind sharing with the audience? Um, because I think this happens to a lot of us, especially that maybe have done this for a while. What could happen if maybe you make some comments that you shouldn't make and somebody overhears it, or you have a new employee that maybe you think you could do better than? Or I know you, and I'm not asking to be too vulnerable, but I've heard you talk about this experience before where you mentioned that, hey, I would just I could do better, or what are they doing? And I think in aquatics, that happens so often where I know how to do this swim lesson, or I know how to do this lifeguarding, and we don't realize that people are hearing us. Would you mind sharing that? Would that be okay?

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Yeah, so uh I'll kind of share it in two parts. One is we have a rule, it's one of a so we have 12 specific customer experience strategies that we train and we teach that we use at our clubs. Um, I'm actually my my the current book I'm working on, my second book uh is in the editing process right now. And this is one of those 12 things. But when we hire, we teach something called protect the house. And we said it's okay to have a difference of opinion, it's okay to think things might be done differently, and we're always open to have those conversations. However, the house comes first. It is we, it is us, it's never I or them. And in an aquatic situation, in a gym situation, in most situations, uh especially if you've got like a parent, for example, that that doesn't like something that's going on, it's easy for that instructor to go, I know, right? Or I know that, but but that's what they do. So for us, that was one of the first things we taught was we will always talk to you about it. We will always engage, we can talk through things. And by the way, sometimes your frontline staff might see something a little different where you can learn from it. I know we had uh uh some cleaning protocols, and our our staff just wasn't getting it done like they were supposed to. And I said, you know what? Let me work a shift. And I was like, after doing it, going, This is impossible. The task load was too much. So we made those adjustments. So there are times at the high level, um, but as a good leader, always open to feedback. And and let's say in front of the customer, you are on stage, and you we never disagree, we never talk bad about another customer. Because that's another one where you know one of the parents will come up and say, uh, you know, that other parents always getting involved. Oh, yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

You should see this room team, mom. You should see this room team.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah, sorry, sorry. So that stuff happened behind closed behind closed doors, never in front of customers, never in front of staff. We don't talk down, we don't complain. It's always us, it's always we. And that's just the standard that we would remind the staff of all the time, held them accountable to it. That was one of those things we took very, very seriously. That if we saw it happen, we'd sit you down and say, listen, what don't you understand about this? Because this is one of our like deal breakers, right? So that protect the house is an important thing to teach, I think. Um, and then the one thing too with leadership, I always tell people, as leaders, there are three things you do with feedback. So if your staff doesn't agree with something you're doing, you have that conversation. And and there are three things you do. Either one, you change it. So let's just say, for example, they did have a good point. You're like, you know what? Never thought of it that way. We can make that change. That makes sense. Two, there's some sort of compromise. You know, you say, well, okay, I hear what you're saying. It's gotta be like this for certain reasons, but we can make some adjustments you know, so sometimes there's a compromise. The third is I hear you and I appreciate what you're saying, but we can't change a thing because this has to be here because of safety and because of this and because of our customers, you know. So some people are afraid of feedback, but if you handle it in those three ways, it's really just a way to engage, build better relationships, build trust. And those are the three things you do with feedback. But that protect the house is I would if somebody was opening a business to meet today and they said, Hey, I want to come up with one thing for my staff, I'd say teach and protect the house.

unknown 30:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

So great lessons for aquatics. I know we got to run. So, Nicole, if there's any last things, we just we're gonna ask two questions.

SPEAKER_04 31:06

Yeah, we're gonna ask you the name of your book.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Okay, so the first book is called Fitness Facility Management, and it's a textbook that's being used in dozens and dozens of colleges for anybody that's studying. So if you're in that industry, it's incredible. If you're not, you will be bored to tears. Um, the current book, the the operating title, and this will not be the title, is Empowered Experience. We're coming up with a better title, but that book is like a personal storytelling on why I fell in love with customer experience, and then tactically how to create a culture of it. Yeah. Uh, data behind why it is actually important to invest time and effort in, and then the 12 strategies, and then how you lead with those strategies. So it's kind of a comprehensive, story-driven, um, how-to-do it actionable book, where if you read it, you're like, I can do this stuff. So I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

And then where can people find you? Where's the best place? Is it LinkedIn? Is it Facebook? Do you have your own website?

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Yeah, so uh them power group, te g firm.com. Anybody can go there and and you know, contact me. Also, my email is Chris at TEG Firm. So um, you know, you can contact me that way on social platforms, just search Chris Stevenson. I will tell you on Instagram, uh, I am the Chris Stevenson, not because I'm important, but because apparently there's a lot of Chris Stevensons, and it was either that or like Chris Stevenson 20489. So I'm like, I'll go with the Chris Stevenson. But um, and I think I might have mentioned this to you before, Wes. I did put up some highlights, and there's a Power Ranger highlight, so you can see a bunch of Power Ranger stuff, and there's also a stunt highlight where you can see me almost get hit by cars, get blown up in an explosion. And so there's a fun highlight, and then some books I recommend. So there you go. I get blown up, I'm a Power Ranger, and here's some good books I think you would enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

And it's fun to call you the Chris Stevenson, even if that's the reason why you did it, uh, just to give you a hard time. So we enjoy it no matter why you do it.

SPEAKER_04 32:57

Well, this has certainly been a pleasure. I think we might have to have you back. I think our audience is gonna love everything you shared, or you know what, we can just send them your way. We can be like you could call them yourself.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

So yeah, and I am happy to, you know, like I said, you know, obviously we have services we offer, but if people have basic questions and I've had a lot of experience, so I'm always the guy who will answer your email, answer your text, answer your call. Like if I can give you quick advice, I will always do that. I think we all are lucky to work in the industry we do where we make a difference and an impact. And there's a lot of industries that don't do that. So whenever I can help somebody else, I've had plenty of help along the way. I I always do that. And as far as coming back anytime you want, I love these conversations. And if they have benefit, then anytime you want, count me in. So fun.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Thank you so much. And a great resource. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, my pleasure.

SPEAKER_04 33:46

All right, guys. Thank you for joining in until next time. Stay safe.