The Dog ate my trainers!!
This story is from formidable Dragon, Duncan Ballantyne, it really sums up some reactions to self help
A leisure company wished to trial their chain of gym’s. Their market research highlighted 50 motivated individuals who said they wanted to get fit. These people were offered one month’s free membership. After the initial month the marketing manager looked at the gym visits made by the trialists. She found that 50% of them had only been twice in one month. She manager contacted them to hear what their problems were. The main reason why the 50% were not regularly attending the gym was, apparently, due to transport problems, they were physically unable to get there. The marketing manager really wanted the trail to be inclusive, so she organised for free taxi’s to collect the trialists for their gym visits.
After another couple of weeks the marketing manager went back to the trialists to find out how they were getting on, she was amazed that some of them were still not taking advantage of the free gym membership and the free transport. She went back to them to find out what the problem was. Apparently it was down to inappropriate footwear, they couldn’t use the running machines. She gave them each a brand new pair of trainers from the companies’ new line of footwear.
After another couple of weeks the marketing manager went back to the trialists and was gobsmacked that some of them despite free membership, free transport and state of the art kit were failing to attend the gym. With a heavy heart she went back to them to find out why. Apparently the dog had eaten the trainers of at least 2 individuals!
This parable throws up 2 questions about ‘self help’
1) Is there a value to free! Motivation comes from what we will gain and what we will lose. If you commit to £100 per month to attend a gym you will lose not only all the opportunities the gym will bring but also the £100 per month. A good coach will be affordable but charge a fee representative of their experience and qualifications.
2) Whose responsibility? When someone seeks out a personal coach, a book or resource, what are they looking for, what do they find? It is the job of the coach to answer these questions to ensure ‘the coaching brief’ is defined at the beginning of the relationship and to ensure that future sessions are formatted in such a way to move the client on in the desired direction. To ensure the expectations are managed and ensure the client takes full responsibility for their own development, future achievements and ultimate success.
