How To Be A Superstar Employee

Today's episode looks at another facet of being a great Pilates teacher: being a stellar employee at the studios you teach at. Many factors contribute to being a superstar employee, and we explore how being reliable, being punctual, and being a team player will make you a valued asset at every studio. Tune in!

I want to hear from you! Share your thoughts and follow the podcast on Instagram and Facebook @pilatesteachersmanual. Full show notes, episode transcription, and chapter markers can be found on the podcast website here: http://bit.ly/pilatesteachersmanual. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast for updates, and rate and review wherever you listen!  Episodes now available on YouTube: *https://bit.ly/YouTubePTM*

Email pilatesteachersmanual@oliviabioni.com with your feedback.   

Support the podcast:    

Visit https://links.oliviabioni.com/affiliates to take advantage of some sweet savings!

Episode Music:

Tracks: Tobu - Good Times, Tobu & Itro - Sunburst 
Tobu Official YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tobuofficial
Itro Official YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/officialitro
Released by NCS 
https://www.youtube.com/NoCopyrightSounds

Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. I'm Olivia and I'll be your host. Join the conversation and the Pilates community on Instagram at @pilatesteachersmanual and visit buymeacoffee.com/OliviaPodcasts to support the show. Today's chapter starts now.

[00:00:56] Hello, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. [00:01:00] As we all know, being a great Pilates teacher is about more than just being great at teaching Pilates. There's your people skills, there's customer service skills, and another part of teaching Pilates is that you might be working at a studio. And so part of being a great teacher is being a superstar studio employee. 

[00:01:22] Being an excellent teacher and doing a great job teaching at your audition will definitely get your foot in the door at a new studio, but what keeps you there is being reliable, being punctual, and being a team player. Today's episode is going to be going over those particular facets of being a superstar employee and all the ways to make yourself a really valuable member of the team at the studios that you work at. 

[00:01:52] Being reliable, AKA being consistent, can make or break your success at a studio. [00:02:00] Clients come to see you as the instructor to take your class in particular, and if you aren't there to teach your classes, it damages your ability to build a following, and it stops you from being the superstar that you can be. Other teachers also need to rely on you to show up on time and teach your classes, so they aren't scrambling to cover for you last minute. 

[00:02:27] Most of us know that when you work in a studio, if someone needs time off, another instructor in the studio is picking up those classes to teach them so that the schedule can continue. So being reliable, that means posting your shifts in advance. That means getting your classes covered when you know you're going to be out of town is all a piece of that. So it takes a lot of time and really consistent effort on your part to demonstrate that you are a reliable employee. 

[00:02:56] I've had people who have come to my classes and have told me, like, [00:03:00] a year after I've been teaching a certain class, that they were so surprised that I was teaching a class at that time, even though I had been showing up for a year. Everyone's lives revolve around themselves, and, uh, as Pilates teachers were kind of like an NPC or a non playable character in a video game in other people's lives, you know, like they aren't thinking about what we're doing every moment of the day. They're totally wrapped up in themselves. So being really reliable, teaching your classes consistently can take months of showing up for people to notice that change or notice that new part of the routine, but you as the instructor have to keep showing up over and over and then people will notice. 

[00:03:45] Asking for subs can be different at different studios. Everyone has their own policy and procedure for how that's going to work. But oftentimes there is a limit to the amount of time that you can request off. There is a point where studios [00:04:00] will find another teacher who can teach those classes more consistently because consistency is such an important part of running a business and having a set schedule. 

[00:04:11] It's totally fine if there are classes that you can't teach, like there we've all had classes on our schedule that like were not our favorite, or we're really difficult for us. And it's fine, but sometimes it is better to let another instructor teach those classes if they can show up for them week after week.

[00:04:28] Where I teach at CP Chicago, Club Pilates Chicago, we have a big focus on community. So we want our teachers to teach their classes like the overwhelming majority of the time so that it becomes part of our members kind of thought process, they know who's going to be teaching those classes. And by overwhelming majority, I mean like 92 percent of the time and before you gasp and you're like, oh, my gosh, like, That's the equivalent of taking four full weeks of teaching off every year, which is more than generous [00:05:00] and more than doable around holidays, vacations, and other time that you'd like to take off. 

[00:05:05] The idea behind that policy and why we want our instructors to teach their set classes 92 percent of the time is we want our clients and our members to rely on those instructors and build those relationships with the instructors, really trust that the instructor is going to be there when they say they're going to be there.

[00:05:23] We find that teachers who teach their set schedule the most regularly have the biggest following, are the most popular, have loyalists who follow them not only at one studio, but at multiple studios that they might teach at. They also have full classes with waitlists, which is rewarding as an instructor to always have a full class, but also that the studio succeeds when those instructors succeed, and this is just an ingredient in that success.

[00:05:48] In addition to being consistent, being reliable, not requesting off a bajillion classes is also being punctual. And that's something that you might take for [00:06:00] granted, but it's always something to prioritize as a Pilates teacher. Not only do you need to be there to teach your classes at your set time, you may also need to be there to set up the studio or change the equipment around or open the studio. There may be other responsibilities in addition to teaching the classes that you want to be there on time so that you're able to do. 

[00:06:24] Again, studios have different policies around this. Some say you might need to be 10 minutes there before your class or 20 minutes before your class. And maybe the additional responsibilities that you have, whether you're opening it up, whether you're also acting as the front desk, that also takes time and you'll need to be there in advance of your class to be able to do that. But whatever is outlined in your employment contract that you have with your studio, you want to make sure to follow that to the letter. 

[00:06:52] I also want to say that there's a personal comfort level when it comes to being punctual. The policy at the studios I teach at is you have to [00:07:00] be there 15 minutes before your class in order to set up the equipment, open everything up, turn on lights and music and all of that jazz.

[00:07:07] But for me personally, arriving just 15 minutes before class is not enough time for me to feel comfortable and settled into the studio. I also don't drive, so I'm relying on public transportation, which is spotty in terms of exactly when you're going to be places. So if I set myself up to only be there 15 minutes before class, like, one bus that's delayed, one train that gets stalled, you know, that can really throw off my whole day. That could make me late for class. So that is not in my personal comfort zone. 

[00:07:41] For me, I like to be there 30 to 45 minutes before my class, and I like to have everything set and ready to go so that when people start coming to my class 15 minutes beforehand everything is set and I can spend time connecting with those people and really seeing how they're doing, what's going on in their life, and not be worried [00:08:00] about setting up the equipment at 15 minutes beforehand. It's already set to jet. That makes me personally feel ready to teach, relaxed, at ease, and my best self, instead of frantically trying to set up as people are also arriving for class. 

[00:08:17] Now I understand that coming that early may not be feasible or desirable for you as an instructor. The time that I'm at the studio before my class starts is also not paid time. I am there on my own time, making sure that I'm my best self, which is valuable to me, but is not something that I am compensated for. But what I found for myself as a teacher to feel good and feel ready to teach that that's what I need to do. So I arranged my schedule in a way that allows me to do that.

[00:08:46] Bare minimum, you need to follow that punctuality policy. When you need to be there at the studio before your class, you need to do at least that. If you find like me, that you need more time [00:09:00] than what they're allotting, definitely make those allocations and rearrange your schedule so that it fits for you. But bare minimum, you have to do the bare minimum. 

[00:09:10] Lastly, this, um, final piece that I want to cover is this aspect of being on a team and being a team player. I know that not all Pilates teachers played team sports growing up, but I definitely played soccer and know very well what it means to step up for your teammates, to help out where you can, and I do think that a lot of studios operate in a way where the teachers, even if you're not in the studio at the same time, but you're helping each other out to get classes covered.

[00:09:42] Everyone wants to travel around the holidays and visit friends and family. Everyone wants to go on vacation or take long weekends. And taking time off is a valuable thing that you should be able to do. I do think that the time you take to recharge your personal batteries makes you a better teacher while you're [00:10:00] teaching and everyone should have the opportunity to do that. 

[00:10:04] So you as an instructor at the studio can be a team player by subbing classes when other instructors need subs. Of course, you can and should set limits on when you're available, but sharing a little bit of your bandwidth when you have extra bandwidth allows other instructors the space to take that time off and recharge their batteries. And in turn, they'll be able to cover your classes when you would like to take some time off to recharge your batteries. There's a whole pay it forward idea. There's a little bit of a quid pro quo. I think swapping shifts is also great that that way everyone's classes get covered. Sometimes it's not a one to one. Sometimes you cover classes for someone who can't cover your classes, but they can cover classes for someone else who can cover for someone else and maybe they can cover your classes. But it all works out if everyone helps. 

[00:10:55] Subs are like a studio ecosystem, and some people on the [00:11:00] schedule are teaching fewer classes and have a lot more time and availability and bandwidth to sub.

[00:11:06] Even before I was a lead instructor at the studios, I tried to cover one block of classes every month just to pay it forward because I was able to do that and I wanted to be able to help out where I could. Having teachers who cover each other's classes means that the studio can continue to offer those classes and not cancel them whenever a teacher's taking time off. That plays into the reliability part and clients know that classes will continue to happen regardless of who's teaching them. And that knowledge and trust that the scheduled classes will be happening as scheduled is a really huge thing. 

[00:11:46] So if you really want to be a sub superstar at your studio, try to cover more classes than the classes that you're requesting off. Your schedule may not allow that. As I said, some people teach a few classes and have a big [00:12:00] bandwidth to cover. You might be teaching a ton of classes. You might be teaching 20 or 30 classes and not have that same flexibility when it comes to covering. But you know, that's going above and beyond. To sub more than you need subs is definitely going above and beyond. 

[00:12:16] If you can't sub more, try for parity. And again, I know that that's not always possible, but if you're requesting off a shift, try to cover back a shift so that you have a net neutral impact on the sub ecosystem. What you really don't want to do is request a ton of subs and never cover back a shift.

[00:12:40] What happens is like a really negative cycle where people see your sub requests and are less willing to cover your classes because you'd never help them out in return. And again, it doesn't have to be one to one, but making a genuine effort to cover, maybe one block a month like I was [00:13:00] doing before. Maybe it's less than that. Maybe you're just covering the teacher who teaches right before you. You can take one of those classes. But just making that genuine effort goes a long way to keeping that sub ecosystem really healthy and happy. This doesn't mean that you have to bend over backwards, say yes to every class, teach 12 classes a day. Like, that's not what I'm advocating for at all. But being flexible when you can be flexible, making that genuine effort to help out, whether it's just a couple classes here and there, or whether you can commit to something like a block a month, something like that, or swapping shifts, you know, communicating with teachers, telling them, Hey, I saw that you needed this covered. I need this covered. Any way we can switch? Like that goes a really long way towards being a team player. And that will get you noticed in a positive way at the studio. 

[00:13:50] You also have to recognize that everyone needs subs, whether they get sick and it's sudden and they need coverage that evening, whether it's a planned [00:14:00] vacation or a honeymoon or a maternity leave or parental leave.

[00:14:04] Or someone has car trouble and you can stay and teach a class cause you're already at the studio. Like whenever you can offer additional support when other instructors need it, you know that at some point you will be sick, you will have car trouble, your kid will be sick, and you'll need some help out from someone else.

[00:14:26] It's this idea that we're all supporting each other, because we know that when people do Pilates, their lives are vastly improved. They're stronger, they're healthier, there's longevity, like so many good things happen when people exercise, when people do Pilates. And contributing to that, in this little way that we do, is so valuable. 

[00:14:46] So, yes, continuing to learn and grow your toolbox and learn more Pilates teaching skills and cues and working with injuries and working with athletes and rehab, like all of those [00:15:00] fun continuing education classes you do are important and help you improve as an instructor.

[00:15:06] But being a reliable and helpful team member when you are an employee at a studio is also really important. You can be the best Pilates teacher in the world, like literally teach the best class in the world. But if you don't show up to teach when you're supposed to, or you request subs and you don't help cover people back, or you're chronically late to your classes, like, are you really the best Pilates teacher?

[00:15:33] Certainly not to the clients who don't know when and if you're gonna show up. Not to the teachers whose willingness to help you out is being taken for granted because you're not contributing to that sub ecosystem, and not to your studio that knows that they can't count on you because you've proven yourself to be unreliable.

[00:15:51] That's of course very negative and I don't want to be negative, but it is important to recognize the impact that our effects have on others, not just the people that [00:16:00] we're teaching necessarily, but also the people we work with and our colleagues and our studio community as well. 

[00:16:06] So all of the points that I've shared: being consistent, being reliable, being punctual, working as a member of a team, recognizing that there are other team members who are working with you. Those are all things that you can control. Those are all things that you can improve on. And in addition to your superstar teaching skills, being a great employee will set you apart.

[00:16:34] And I want you to be successful as a Pilates teacher. So yes, I want you to have the skills that help you teach a class and program in a seamless way and have the right cues and give the right modifications and offer all the hands on assists or hands off assists or corrections or whatever. I want you to have all of those skills, but I would be remiss if I did not also mention [00:17:00] that being a great employee is part of teaching when you work in a studio. Even if you owned your own studio, you would still want to be a great employee and a great model for all of the people who work at your studio. You would also want a bunch of really great superstar employees in your studio. So recognizing that the skillset for teaching Pilates is more than just what happens even during the class that you're teaching, but all of this stuff outside is part of it too. 

[00:17:35] Huge thank you to all my supporters on buy me a coffee. I endlessly appreciate you being part of this project and part of this journey. I cannot believe that it's almost the end of November. I don't know where the time is going, but I'm really looking forward to our November coffee chats. Visit that, buy me a coffee page, join the project and schedule a coffee chat with me.

[00:17:59] [00:18:00] I look forward to connecting with you all. Have a great couple of weeks and I'll talk to you again soon.

[00:18:12] Thanks for listening to this week's chapter of Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. Check out the podcast Instagram @pilatesteachersmanual, and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen for more Pilates goodness. Check out my other podcast, Pilates Students' Manual, available everywhere you listen to podcasts.

[00:18:36] The adventure continues. Until next time.