A coaching credential doesn’t equal a career.
That’s been proven over and over, and too many great people have left the industry because they couldn’t make a living helping people become fitter.
That’s a tragedy.
So what’s the missing link?
It’s really an ascension model that allows coaches to earn more as they develop their skills as trainers. Better trainers get better results for clients and create value, which allows the gym to earn more and pay staff members better.
If you combine that concept with Intrapreneurialism and Career Roadmaps—I’ll cover those in the next posts in this series—you have a very clear way to retain outstanding people who can earn the money they need to support their families.
Here, we’ll dig into coach ascension, with the help of Karl Solberg, co-owner of CrossFit Medis and CrossFit Sickla in Sweden.
3 Essential Wins
Karl, a long-time gym owner, has created a detailed ascension plan for his coaches. His internal evaluations match up with the external CrossFit LLC level structure, but you can apply the same principles with any credentialing system.
Karl runs a pair of CrossFit gyms with partner Oskar Johed, who is a member of CrossFit’s Seminar Staff, so the connection makes perfect sense for them.
Here’s the guiding principle that applies regardless of method:
“In everything we do, we try to create a win for our clients, a win for our staff and of course a win for the business,” Karl explained.
He continued: “We think that if the coach increases their coaching skills, and also all of the time if they’re moving forward in their career, that will benefit the client. And if it benefits the client, she will stay longer and maybe spend more money, which benefits the business. So there we have the win-win-win situation.”
You can make four great mistakes at this point:
1. Assuming that an entry-level credential is anything more than proof of a minimum level of competence.
2. Assuming that all coaches will pursue professional development just because they want to learn more.
3. Assuming coaches will develop on their own without regular evaluation and mentorship.
4. Evaluating entry-level coaches against the A+, 10-out-of-10 gold standard for expert coaches.
Don’t worry: Almost all gym owners have made one or all of these mistakes.
Evaluation and Mentorship
The reality is that a credential will not create a career, but a great gym owner can work with a trainer to create an amazing career that benefits both parties—and the gym’s clients, too.
The key is a development and ascension plan that’s tied to regular evaluation.
“The first very rudimentary thing you can do is to tell your staff what you expect from them in terms of getting better at their craft,” Karl explained.
You can’t just hope they want to get better. You must define better, help them achieve it, and lay out timelines for progress.
Karl’s detailed system has five levels, running from orange to black, just like a belt system in a martial-arts gym. To move through the levels, trainers must coach a certain number of hours, perform well in evaluations and acquire new credentials.
When trainers reach the upper levels—two years is a ballpark timeline—they receive a raise and financial support from the gym for external certification.
Remember, Karl is investing, not just spending: “If the coach improves his or her skills, they will bring more value to the client.”
And he’s fulfilling his gyms’ mission: He and Oskar have promised to improve clients’ lives, so they’ve put clear timelines in place to ensure staff members are always becoming better at doing that.
“You … need to have plan in place for how you develop skills over time,” he explained, likening the process of coach development to the athletic progression all fitness coaches understand. You don’t start an inexperienced client with heavy snatches and overhead squats, right?
Don’t Expect Elite Skills From Beginners
Before I give you a peek at Karl’s level system, a word on Mistake No. 4, laid out above.
Karl at first documented the gold standard for a perfect class and evaluated all trainers against it.
They all failed, and they were miserable.
So Karl realized he needed to make adjustments to recognize the coaches’ current levels and keep them moving forward.
“How can I do this in a way that motivates people?” he asked. “We don’t tell an athlete to do that hardest thing right away. We tell the athlete to do something that they can be successful with, and then they get motivated when they succeed.”
So check out the Prep and Workout sections of Karl’s evaluation for orange- and brown-level coaches, respectively:
You’ll note the evaluation points for orange-level coaches are limited; they reflect the coach’s experience and provide building blocks for development.
The essential concept: If an orange-level coach can consistently do these essential but basic things, they are ready to move from orange to blue. In blue, all the requirements from the orange level are present, as are new requirements, such as “suggest scaling options for each athlete.”
This process continues from blue to purple, brown and black. Through evaluation, the coach is guided to improve and add skills, and coaches are always evaluated against criteria that reflect their experience.
To drive the concept home, here are the Prep, Whiteboard and Warm-Up sections of Karl’s evaluations for orange-, blue-, purple- and brown-level coaches, respectively:
You’ll note that the lower levels have basic requirements, while the upper levels are much more robust—but even the brown level doesn’t seem overwhelming when you recall that coaches have been guided through a progression to reach that level.
They’ve never been abandoned. They’ve been mentored to ascend.
Your First Steps to Coach Ascension
Karl’s complete development plan is incredible—I’ve just shown you a few snapshots from his evaluation form, without digging into the associated coach journey and onboarding documents.
The point: Coaches won’t build staircases on their own. But they will climb a staircase you build if you help them. When that happens, you’re ensuring your trainers are always improving their skills, which will have a massive effect on client results and retention.
Remember, you sell results through coaching, so when clients get them faster, your gym—and your service providers—will earn more.
You won’t be able to build Karl’s plan overnight, so here’s your starting point:
- Create a simple coach evaluation form (or download mine here).
- Schedule and perform regular coach evaluations. Could you manage two per year as you develop your full ascension plan?
If you evaluate coaches regularly, you’ll be ahead of a host of gym owners, and you’ll be well on your way to creating careers at your gym.
I’ll give you two more essential tools—Intrapreneurialism and Career Roadmaps—in the next posts in this series.
