Perhaps the biggest challenge that successful school owners face is recruiting new staff. Once your studio surpasses 200 active students, you might begin to consider expanding further. If you have one successful location, why not try a second? The answer lies in staff quality. No matter how good your advertising, marketing, or curriculum is, the bottom line is how good your staff are. A studio is only as good as the person who runs it. While you can survive with a mediocre instructor by handling most of the business aspects yourself, achieving high-level success requires excellent staff.
Developing Excellent Staff: Creating excellent staff involves a carefully instituted training program. While much attention is given to martial arts training, little time is spent training staff in business, communication, and leadership skills. Without these skills, staff cannot meet your expectations. Before training staff, you must find them, which is not easy. Recruiting students from within your school has its own set of challenges, such as handling relationships with their friends who are students. It's essential to make clear that the studio must be run like a business from day one.
Hiring from Within: When you hire from within, potential problems include discussing studio business with friends and treating friends preferentially. Address these issues immediately and remind new staff members of these points during the first few weeks to prevent future problems. Another risk is that if a staff member leaves, they might take their friends with them, which can hurt studio morale.
Hiring from Outside: Running an ad for black belt instructors will result in many responses, but finding good candidates is challenging. Those from outside may lack built-in loyalty and respect for you, which can be problematic for teaching staff. For office staff, this is less of an issue. When recruiting from outside, it's important to carefully assess their past experiences, attitudes, and future intentions.
Interviewing Prospective Employees: During the interview, look for enthusiasm and a positive attitude. Let the interviewee talk about themselves to understand their past behavior and attitudes. Avoid yes or no questions; instead, ask open-ended questions to gauge their beliefs and expectations. After the interview, invite them to teach a class to evaluate their people skills, motivation, leadership, and communication abilities.
10 Essential Qualities for New Instructors:
- Enthusiasm: Love for martial arts, teaching, and life in general. Enthusiasm is contagious and vital for attracting and retaining students.
- Positive Attitude: Towards work, people, and challenges. A positive attitude enables creativity, resilience, and effective problem-solving.
Ensuring Staff Success: Once hired, continue to nurture their development. Encourage feedback and ideas from your staff, recognize their accomplishments, and provide opportunities for professional growth. Regular training in both martial arts and business skills will ensure that your staff remain motivated and capable of delivering high-quality instruction and service to your students.