Build Consensus
I’m going to write a really bad word………”change”. Definition: transitive and intransitive verb to become different, or make something or somebody different.
The second Principle of Academy Leadership is Build Consensus.
2. Build Consensus-You must invest time in articulating the vision in order to build consensus. If it’s just YOUR vision…when you leave, the vision leaves with you. If you build consensus and share the ownership, the vision will remain. Do not script the vision…sell it! Let those around you fill in the details of how to get there. You must keep talking about the vision…from many different aspects…until everyone understands it in their own way.
Most people do not embrace change simply because they do not have enough information to fully understand what or why something is being changed. This is why as gym owners (leaders and managers of our organization) it is imperative that we build consensus for our vision. Now that we have a strategy (build consensus) how do we implement it (the tactics)?
Drawing from my experiences in the fire department, I look at building consensus as a very important part of small unit leadership. Stay with me, this will all tie in together shortly………We have a growing organization, about 400 people when we count members, staff and owners. I manage/lead one “battalion” (Impact Newberg) along with Dewey Nielsen and within Newberg we have several “divisions” (membership, marketing, finance, gym programs, etc). Although we have a small staff handling several divisions or parts of divisions, everyone knows where their boundaries lie.
You must invest time in articulating the vision in order to build consensus. Dewey and I know everybody’s job list and everyone knows our vision, so when it comes to changing a program, system or the direction of the gym we go to the staff personnel (the small units) the change will affect and we start informing (remember why I said people do not embrace change?). You must keep talking about the vision…from many different aspects…until everyone understands it in their own way. This informing period may be long or short, either is o.k. This is where we take the time necessary to do the job right; because if we push this on our staff (the small units) and they don’t fully understand it then they won’t embrace it (embracing it does not always mean agreeing with it).
Alright, with all that said here is the key element in all this business of change and building consensus. If you build consensus and share the ownership, the vision will remain. If you remember, our vision is based off of our Mission Statement and Brand Promise. We give our staff responsibility and authority to carry out the vision, which breeds the feeling of ownership in the directions Dewey and I have charted.
Dewey’s and my job is to keep our vision in the front sites and we accomplish this by getting everyone pulling in the same direction; making sure we don’t have a human tug o’ war within our organization. Same energy just applied in the correct direction.