Take away their common language and destroy a great team. Wikipedia image
In the biblical story about the Tower of Babel, God wanted to prevent Man from building a tower that reached into the heavens. Construction of the tower was going along very well as everyone was working efficiently toward their common goal of reaching into the sky. Now I'm sure God could have just sent a storm to knock down the semi completed tower... but then Man would have simply started over. So instead he wrecked their construction team by causing everyone to speak a different language. Confusion was rampant since no one understood what the other's were saying. Construction halted and the team disbanded. Problem solved.
The recent survey we conducted included a number of questions about Teaching with Power - to get some understanding of "how's it going?" and the impact power has on your classes.
I see Instructors as bright people, who understand the root of many of the problems they encounter in class. So I asked the question:
It's Déjà vu!
Back during the Spring of 2011 we surveyed Instructors, asking the exact same questions - only about Heart Rate training. Unsurprisingly we got similar results.
So what can you do?
First you need to decide; "how much do I care about this issue?" Are you content to ignore it? Or are you someone who sees a problem and then looks for a way to solve it?
At the risk of sounding simplistic, all you need to do is create a common language between you and the other members of your Instructor team. Easier said than done, but don't make it too complicated.
And don't wait for Management - or expect them effectively solve this even if your Dept Head is 100% committed to the cause. Anything imposed on you and your team, without the voluntary buy-in from each team member, is guaranteed to fail. If you're in a Big Box and have experienced multiple new branded class formats, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Two weeks after the "big change", everyone is back to their old style of teaching 🙁
My suggestion is to discuss this amongst yourselves. You could lead off by asking the question in an email with the intent to find a few other Instructors who see the problem:
Hi Team,
Do you feel like I do... that our class communication would be improved if we all spoke the same language around; Heart Rate and/or Power - Watts?
And then see what happens. Nobody wants to be forced into changing - but a few maybe willing to hear more from you. If you find some like-minded Instructors try to get them together - you might even offer to buy coffee. Present a simple solution; "my vote is we agree to only use 3/4/5 HR or Power Zones." Just pick a number that everyone will agree on. Then discuss how do you decide the actual personal numbers that form the zones; Metabolic testing, Threshold tests, etc... Again you're looking for agreement, not who's right.
If you try this I'd love to know what happens.
Originally posted 2014-03-06 12:01:34.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
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