Why Mission and Values are so Important at your Gym

[00:00:00] Hey friends, Ben here with Business for Unicorns. And today me and Pete are diving into why mission and values are so important in your organization and how to deal with mission and values, even if you don’t have a team that’s Really open to that type of a little bit softer conversation. Pete gives the example of that’s a thing that might not be past the vibe check with his team as Cresci sports performance, but how you can approach that even when you’ve got X athletes as your clientele.

So learn more about mission values and how you can make your business better. Enjoy.

Welcome to the business for unicorns podcast, where we help gym owners unleash the full potential of their business. I’m your host, Michael Keeler. Join me each week for actionable advice. expert insights and the inside scoop on what it really takes to level up your gym. Get ready to unlock your potential and become a real unicorn in the fitness industry.[00:01:00] 

Let’s begin.

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So Mr. Dupuis, we were chatting before this and we were talking about something we haven’t talked about for a long time, I think on this [00:02:00] podcast, which is the importance of mission and values. In your organization, because it’s something that I think we both feel is incredibly, incredibly important when it comes to like setting a North star, but it’s different depending how you go on it.

So I’m curious, I don’t know, what’s the short version of like why mission and values matter in an organization? Well, you use the term North star. They are, they, they help your team understand why you show up to work every day for starters, and then in theory, if you are leading, they’re going to follow your lead.

But part of the reason this conversation was interesting to me is because I was voicing to you, I think I was kind of lamenting the fact that mission and values is a tough concept to throw at teams and clients and performance training facilities because they don’t always do so well with like the kind of fluffy stuff.

You know, they don’t, they don’t want to put all the time and energy into sitting down and thinking critically [00:03:00] in that way when they’re like, Hey, my job is to get out there and. And move that weight as fast and as explosively as I can. Every minute that we’re not doing that is wasted time. And so it’s, it’s an interesting dynamic of integrating this into the narrative in my business, because I said to you, people like myself and Mickey, we hire almost exclusively former athletes and they don’t stop having that athlete mentality when they joined the workforce.

And so I’ve had to kind of continuously get over that hurdle of like, how do I tell the story of the importance of mission and values? Without maybe using the kind of click baity cliche terms like mission and values. Like I need to trick them into having those conversations if that makes sense. Yeah.

Cause cause every, every person latches onto a person or a purpose or a mission, call it what you want to call it. Purpose, mission, vision. I’ve heard you have your internal and your external, like we’re going to leave that all aside for now, but like we all follow things that align with who we want [00:04:00] to be.

And we all have like. Now, the easiest example I can think of of like, if you haven’t defined your core values yet is think of the shit that drives you absolutely bananas, why that drives you bananas. The opposite of that is your core value. If it drives you absolutely nuts that people are late to stuff, like maybe one of your core values is like punctuality.

If it drives you insane that somebody doesn’t do what they said they were going to do, aside from the potential negative outcomes of them not doing that thing, maybe integrity is a core value. If you don’t like when people. Say one thing but they really mean another maybe transparency or candor or honesty is a core value So like values the point I’m making here is values and missions are things that like I think humans inherently have but you’re right There’s a certain type of person that is like really jazzed up about like, all right guys Let’s talk about our core values in our mission today and there’s other type of people who are gonna walk into that same room and just like put their head in their hand and be Like can we get to fucking work already?

But you’re oh, I love what you just said and I’ve never I’ve never positioned it this way but [00:05:00] If somebody is struggling conceptually with the idea of like putting time aside to sit down and talk about who you are and what you’re about. That person will have no problem telling you who they are not.

Imagine, imagine if I asked someone like, tell me about your political stance. And those people are like, I’ll tell you what I’m not. They’re so quick to tell me who sucks politically. They don’t have any problem articulating who they are by telling us who they are not. And so it’s a, it’s a great starting point.

I need to use that with my team and with my people, because Ben, we don’t. We don’t sit down and write down our core values here. It would be very easy if John and I were to, I’m sure we’d be in lockstep and agree on all these things because we, we kind of live by a code and we all, we all move with a certain degree of intent and integrity and, and we, we model the behavior that we expect of our peers.

And that’s how this works. But I know that. There’s tons of value in the exercise of sitting down and saying, what’s the mission statement and what are the values that drive it? [00:06:00] No, I mean, I’m sure I stole that from somebody. I think I know, I know many things, but most of them I did not create myself. So I’m sure I got that somewhere.

So feel free to steal it and use it. And in a recent podcast episode with, with Fisher, I pulled a quote that I absolutely loved from a book where they were quoting Carl Sagan. And he basically said to, to make an apple pie from scratch, you essentially need to start by inventing the universe. And that was pretty much the, the perfect way of putting this.

None of us, not one of us at Unicorn Society has had an original thought, but we’re really good at identifying interesting insights and applying our two cents and relating them to our experience. Yeah, there’s a, there’s a quote I love that I can’t remember who it’s from, and I’m gonna butcher it a little bit, but the paraphrase is as.

The most interesting thing isn’t like what’s it’s the overlap of two Venn diagrams. That middle part is the coolest thing. It’s what can we learn from the business world as a whole that we can apply to fitness? Not like, how do we just get better at [00:07:00] fitness? Like that is actually how you do it. You bring in these other concepts and try them out.

So when you’re. Talking about a sports performance team that might not resonate as much with core values. It’s like, how do you reframe it? Maybe one of the, one of the approaches is like, tell me what you’re not about. And that pretty much identifies those values. Yeah. Well, you just described the entirety of my information consumption strategy.

I mean, I can’t, it’s great. All of us in this little fitness circle, like to list the 10 books that we all love and we’re all excited about and are must reads. But I can’t extract anything to overlap on my own little Venn diagram that’s going to catch someone by surprise if my entire audience read that book cover to cover twice and then listen to it on Audible.

So I have to look outside of the mainstream feedback if I’m going to put out anything of value for the last 10 years. Or at least that’s my mindset. Well, maybe let’s hit like why are mission values so important because you’re right They are this kind of ethereal thing that are relatively easy to skip and I can say for myself that even [00:08:00] when you have them written down Like, I don’t reference them every single day, so maybe I’ll give my take on why it’s important and I’m interested to hear yours from the sports performance lens.

Yeah, well, they’re, they’re our guiding light, and so if I do feel like we lose our way as far as training environment or culture goes, it would be nice to be able to come back and point at these things. I think part of the, let me bring you back to the quote that I highlighted in a book recently that spoke to me, because I think I’ve always been a little bit conflicted in how to schedule this meeting without people rolling their eyes.

And, and an author finally pointed out the fact that that’s not that unusual and addressed it. And he said, perhaps you’re not a fan of quote unquote values. Some leaders are not. If you fall in that category, let me reframe the question and I’ll give you a few options. And they went on to ask these three simple questions.

What commitments are you expecting your team to make to you in the organization? How do you want people to work in your organization? And what are the behavioral norms that you want to see demonstrated [00:09:00] as people do their jobs? That is simple to me. I can wrap my head around that. I can drop those three questions in front of my team without hesitation and not feel like they’re calling bullshit on the exercise.

Because those are normal people questions. And they really do establish what your value structure is. If you can answer them with any degree of specificity. And so I could very easily answer those three questions for my operation. And it’s kind of the outline for the next more strategic, creative thinking meeting that we might have.

Yeah. I’d be interested to hear how that resonates. Cause I bet there’s other sports performance gyms out there. They’re like, yeah, my ex athlete coaches like really don’t want to have a kind of a touchy feely meeting. They want to like slam weights and figure out how we’re going to get more clients and how we get them better results.

It’s too bad because I’m making us sound like a bunch of rock heads. I mean, these are people who are, who are passionate about continuing Ed. Like I, I watched them in an in service discussion this morning, get into it about programming strategy and [00:10:00] like really laboriously argue about the merits of certain sprint mechanics and things being built into programming as we’re in the home stretch of the off season.

And, and I don’t. I will not say that like it wasn’t fascinating and inspiring to watch like the the nuance of what they’re talking about They’re so passionate about it that it’s like, of course people pay us for this These guys care they give a shit continuing education is really important to them But they just haven’t discovered a passion for business like we have and yeah as much as they’re all in positions of leadership They don’t realize it sadly like the performance training coaches Aren’t there the younger ones at least because they’re like want to be inspirational leaders They’re there because they’re like, yeah, I think the writings on the wall I’m not gonna do this professionally, but I loved the process of chasing it I could see myself helping other people like helping facilitate the [00:11:00] chase with other people And so let’s do this.

And so as much as they are doing a selfless job, they’re doing it for selfish reasons. Does that make sense? That makes perfect sense. I, this is a little bit of a tangent, but yeah, I’m not sure. I believe altruism is a thing. I think our selfishness actually, and I don’t even love that word, but. Doing things for our own benefit, we then find a way of those things we like to share them with other people because like, we’re probably not alone in the things that we love.

One of your coaches who the writing was on the wall and maybe isn’t going to do that professionally probably isn’t the only person to have walked that path and realized that outcome, but they have a lot of things to give. So yeah, selfless, selfish, selflessly, it’s kind of like an interesting thing, but I bet you those are some of the best coaches because they’re just so damn interested in it.

Exactly. They are by, I mean, absolutely definitively the best coaches are the ones who were serious about it when it was part of their career, [00:12:00] kind of like facilitating an athletic career. They, they just studied the art and, and the craziest thing is that I never see it coming. The, the people who come back to us and they’re like, Hey, when I hang up the cleats, I think I’d like to be an intern for some reason.

I never in the moment in working with an athlete and like this one’s totally going to apply for an internship someday. But then when they do hindsight 2020 and I’m like, it makes so much sense. Now they were so into this, they were drinking the Kool Aid of course. And I, I just finished a conversation with one of our members, Jorge.

Who’s like, I’m in a little bit of a bind for coaching right now. I’m losing a staff member, but I honestly believe that a month from now, he’s going to realize he made a mistake and he’s going to circle back and I want to keep that fire burning for him because he’s great and I want to let him chase the thing he’s chasing, but I also don’t want to fully give up on the idea.

What do you suggest I do? And I was like, if I were you, I would elevate a client. I’d find someone who’s still chasing that dream. [00:13:00] But they’re a good cultural fit, and you know that they know just enough to be dangerous. And I’d make them a little more dangerous in the next month and give them a shot. And, and keep, you know, keep the door open for the guy that you really like.

But it came back to coming back to the client who, like, you kind of have to do that audit right then and there. Who’s someone who might apply for an internship someday if they had an injury that ended their career, like, full stop? And there are a lot of them out there in these performance training gyms.

We are all comprised. Of former clients. It’s amazing. Uh, yeah, it’s a really good point. I mean that kindness back to mission and values that again, that’s values in practice. And even if you don’t have them all written down, we all like have them like or, Hey, wanting to leave a spot for that person. I think he’s made a mistake.

I want to be able to have them come back with open arms. Like there’s organizations out there and I’m not saying this is good or bad. It’s just the other side of the coin where it’s like. We’re here to fucking kill. If you don’t want to kill, like, see you later, we’ll get the next person in line. They probably pay really good, push you really [00:14:00] hard, you might burn out, but like, I don’t know, it’d be like the Wolf of Wall Street equivalent of how a gym could run.

It’s like, dog eat dog, and that’s okay. It’s, hey, we’re gonna put you all in the ring together and see who comes out alive. Yep, survival of the fittest. 100%. That scene from The Dark Knight where the Joker breaks the pool cue and throws it in, like. I’m not suggesting that’s a good leadership approach, but like the Joker has different values than us.

That’s why we’d feel that friction with that. And that’s why when we have team members, I guess that’s when you’re bringing people on, you can often tell what their values are, even if you can’t label them. And I think if you can get your values and mission clear and make it not just a written statement that you have, you know, a sticker on the wall, but it’s something that you actually like model the behaviors, like you said, you and John do.

It makes it a really easy yes no for people to self select in or out of your organization, but it also makes it a really easy yes no when things are coming up. A coach who just like rubs you the wrong way a little bit. where something’s a little bit [00:15:00] off or they’re not doing that thing that’s driving you nuts, but there isn’t really like a perfectly observable behavior that you’re like, that’s the thing that’s driving me nuts.

Like my hypothesis is that’s a misalignment of values and somewhere along the way that wasn’t made transparent. Yeah. And someone asked me recently, like, how do you think about firing clients? What do you do when you’ve got someone who’s an asshole and you don’t want them in the gym anymore? And my answer is always, Oh, they self select out.

It takes almost no time for an asshole to realize this isn’t my place, these aren’t my people. And when they don’t renew and we don’t chase That’s by design. Now, Ben, I admittedly have a month to month situation here. I don’t have someone signing a 12 month contract and having me realize in week six, like, oh, oh shit, we messed up.

But there are, there are routinely people who come through to observe in our space and we’ll have fitness professionals who come through to be a fly on the wall and interact with the staff during downtime. And whenever they come, I say, try and [00:16:00] come on a Wednesday when we’re doing in service, because we’d love to have you sit in the room and hang out and.

You know participate in the conversation and they’ll do that and they’ll spend a couple hours with us And it’s really common for people to be like I you know what I love about this place There’s just no assholes. Everybody seems to like each other and the reality is that’s just because there are values Whether we’ve discussed them or not.

We we behave them and the way the community moves and interacts with each other dickheads. We don’t have to write on the wall. No dickheads It’s just like, it works in that way, but you, you mentioned the killer be killed. And it brings me back to a quote that we talked about off air. Cause I, I heard an awesome quote the other day to show just how much I’m like, I live in sports performance and you don’t, you live in Canada and you hunt.

I quoted an athlete named Anthony Edwards, who is like, maybe the fastest rising star to be the next Michael Jordan, depending on who you ask. But he’s a immensely talented. wildly [00:17:00] arrogant, self assured athlete whose talent is undeniable to me, but I don’t love my kids modeling his behavior. Let’s just say that I don’t need my kids taunting people on the floor after dunking in someone’s face, whatever it may be.

But he came off a court recently and he was asked what his mindset was during like a big comeback in say the fourth quarter of a game. And they, they wanted specificity. What were, you know, what was your strategy? And he said, every time I step on the court, my only intention is to kill everything in front of me.

And part of me was like, uh, this guy again, but part of me was like, that is awesome. That is, that’s some Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan stuff right there. Like I, I love that intent. I love that self confidence. That’s a place where I can get behind it, but that’s the world that all of our athletes are coming out of.

It’s, it is kill or be killed. There are only so many spots on the varsity roster. There are only so many scholarships. That’s a dwindling number. And the [00:18:00] kids who, you know, have the great values and the, and the mission statement, sure, like they, they can be captains and they can be great. But they know that they still need to kill or be killed mentality when they’re on field and in, in dugouts and on courts or on the ice.

And they, they live in this kind of alpha world, whether we like it or not. And so when they come in here and I’m considering them for future employment, those are some habits that are kind of hard to break. And yeah, I don’t really need it to carry on to the training floor. If I’m being honest, it doesn’t bring a lot of value to our gym.

A bullet of China shot can work really well to win. Championships, but night not might not be the best thing in the team based environment But like the way you win is actually to coach the clients to success like you You don’t, you went in directly, I guess, that’s what I’m trying to say. Yeah, it’s very true.

Well, and the bull, there’s kind of an adjacent to the bull in the Chinese shop and that’s the energy coach. I’ve hired a couple of them over the years. The ones who you’re like, they have so much charisma, they can’t fail. They’re technically, they might not be like [00:19:00] the most advanced from a competency standpoint, but they’re just such enjoyable people to be around that they bring good vibes.

And I was having this conversation this morning and I said. Their, their highs are immensely high, but when they burn out, it happens fast and it’s not fixable. They just, they run out of gas and there’s only so long that they can play that character. And it’s an interesting dynamic, but you can’t be a bull in a China shop in this setting for long.

Yeah, that’s fair. Well, and that’s a perfect, again, bring it back to mission and values. That’s a perfect example of like. The values in one organization or even in different levels of organization, you mentioned like this guy’s the fastest, arguably the fastest rising star in the NBA, but he’s also not someone who you want your children to model those behaviors.

So like, yeah, if you’re training the best of the best in the NBA, you know, strength, conditioning role, like might want to adopt some killer be killed. But if you’re training 10 year olds, you know, inclusivity and teamwork and not taunting each other after dunking them, dunking in their face might be [00:20:00] things that are.

a little bit more value and these are the things that I think we set whether intentionally or unintentionally just by the fact that we basically built her everyone built their gym around themselves unless you’re getting a franchise your business’s values are probably pretty mere image of your personal core values yeah one of the probably the best performing tweets I ever put up Was a quote where I said, people don’t, parents don’t love us because we write exceptional programs.

They love us because we’re running a leadership development academy masquerading as a strength and conditioning facility. And Ben, I was, I was paraphrasing a quote I heard from an executive at Chick fil A when I said that, but I loved it. Loved it when I heard it. And I was like, we’re doing that. That that’s what we’re doing.

We’re building like decent human beings and we’re teaching kids how to be adults and how to, how to take ownership of their shit, handle their own scheduling. And a killer be killed. Doesn’t really live in that world. Yeah. [00:21:00] Well, maybe like kind of put this into action as we wrap this up next step. So like, if you don’t have a mission and core values.

And you’re, whether you’re in the gen pop or sports performance space, like a suggestion would be to just start. And I always recommend the same thing I said to you, which is if you have a hard time labeling them, because this isn’t like a three hour exercise, this is like a 15 to 20 minute exercise. If that, the things you detest, the opposite of that is your values.

And then simply by having them and sharing them with your team, whether it’s through an actual, Hey guys, we’re going to talk about our mission and values or through the quote that you shared, where it’s a little less warm and fuzzy. It becomes the thing that you reference when you have to make hard decisions.

When Jorge is not sure what to do in that coach is leaving. Like I bet his values, whether they’re written down or not regarding him. When that coach is driving you nuts, when that client is being challenging, like it’s like, those are the ways that you want the people in your organization to show up, whether you’re there and paying attention or not, they’re doing it on your behalf.

And I think having those as a reference point is really, [00:22:00] really valuable from like, uh, I don’t know, maybe an integrity standpoint to just be like, even if we don’t know, we can’t control the outcome, but we can at least control the process and how we show up within it. If those become the guiding principles.

It’s not about whether you win or lose the situation. It’s about like, whether you made the choice that you can sleep at night and having them literally written down as nice as like a reference point to be like, why do I feel that way about that? Oh, it’s directly conflicting with customer service. All right.

We need to have a conversation about customer service. And that then becomes a team training. I can’t put it better than that. Let’s leave it there. Beardy have core values, everybody. Even if you’re in sports performance and you got kill and be killed people on your team. Yeah, well, I, I’ll tell you what I am going to do though.

Who are we definitively not exercise with the team? I really liked that one because it allows them to kind of. Shake out the negativity that kind of lives inside of all of us. When we look at other people’s stuff and we’re like, that’s stupid, that’s stupid, that’s stupid. Now, some of us have the self restraint [00:23:00] not to say that on the internet or in a public forum, but those conversations can take place behind closed doors with your team.

And if you’re in a gym, like mine, that can be a way to backdoor into these values. Yeah, perfect. Well, let’s leave it there. Thanks for your time, Pete. Pleasure as always. Talk soon.