The Family Entertainment industry welcomed me with open arms 6 months ago when I joined TrainerTainment after 2 decades in non-profit and higher education work. In both of those industries, I attended many regional and national conferences and never experienced anything as unique and special as Amusement 360 put on by Creative Works each spring and fall. For those who are unfamiliar, this event brings together current operators with those with big dreams of opening their own Family Entertainment Center. The sessions highlight experts from all areas of the industry to provide a look at the joys of the industry and advice on how to make your life easier.
I had the pleasure of presenting this year and discussing how to transition from supervising to coaching your staff. When the first spark of inspiration hits on opening your own Family Entertainment Center – I would bet that very few dreams include the real-life struggle of hiring, training, and retaining staff. Staff that, more often than not, are starting their first job. After 2 decades of working with staff in the 15-25-year-old age range, it can be easy to get frustrated at the perceived knowledge, work ethic, and habits of our youngest and greenest staff. You consistently want the struggle with staffing to be over. The trick, however, is to embrace the cycle and enjoy the process of training the leaders of tomorrow.
In my presentation, I discussed 5 tips that will help shift the focus from supervising to coaching staff.
Tip #1 – Train Them
We often forget this step because we are busy, understaffed, or even thought we had it handled. When a staff member is not doing what they are supposed to do, your first question should be – Have they been trained properly in this? It is easy to take things we think are obvious for granted, such as taking out the trash. You can tell your staff to take out the trash, but that task is multiple tasks. Do they know where the garbage bags are? Do they know where the dumpster is? Have you shown them your specific expectations? You need to ensure they know how to do the job as you expect before you hold them accountable for it.
Tip #2 – Be Curious
Your job as a coach, in any sport or context, is to find the flaws in your game plan and fix them. When something goes wrong on the field, coaches take a look at the tape. What went wrong? How can we do better? What are we missing? Do we need to practice more? The best coaches have a team around them to help analyze and troubleshoot issues. As a coach of staff, you should do the same. Ask questions and be curious about what is going wrong so that you can find the root cause of the problem and fix it.
Tip #3 – Ask the Right Questions
It is vital that you think about the questions you are asking your staff and if they are prompting the best answers. When we ask yes or no questions, we only get yes or no answers. For example, if your staff needs to clean a popcorn machine at the end of the night and you ask, “Can you clean the popcorn machine?” – they can easily say yes. If you ask an open-ended question like “What is preventing you from cleaning the popcorn machine?” – You get a better answer that leads to a real-life solution. They can clean it but don’t know how, or they will miss their bus if they don’t take the time to clean it each night.
Tip #4 – Start with Yes
As supervisors, when a staff member comes to us with an idea, it can be easy to say no. We are busy, and we’ve been doing this longer. We’ve figured out every angle of an issue, and our method works best for each. When we start with no, we discourage our staff from coming to us with great ideas that may be better than what we are currently doing. Our practice might even be outdated because it feels like we just created it 5 or 6 years ago. Our last summer season pre-pandemic was 5 years ago – a fact that regularly blows my mind. A coach changes their approach and starts from a place of “How do I make this a yes?” Ultimately, you may or may not accept the change or idea, but you did it by thinking of ways to empower your team instead of shutting them down.
Tips #5 – Delegate and Trust
Give them the checklist and let them get it done. Let your staff be in charge of an initiative, change things, and find their way. You will still hold them accountable through regular checks and corrections when needed – assisting them in solving problems. You will always be there to support them, but you need to delegate tasks to them and trust that they will get them done. They need to learn through experience and feel empowered by you as their coach.
When we coach instead of supervising, we build the confidence and trust of our team. By switching your mindset, you will build the leaders of tomorrow, resulting in better-quality staff, a stronger staffing pipeline, and a reputation from the community that your center is a great place to work as a young employee.
If you are looking for a way to get started transitioning your team from supervising to coaching, we are here for you! And hey, if you need a hand, we’re here for you! At TrainerTainment, we’re all about growing people to grow your business. Together, let’s elevate your business with effective leadership training. Schedule a growth call with us today to learn more.
If you are looking for this and other opportunities for inspiration while connecting with those in the industry – you should check out Amusement 360. We hope to see you there in September!
