Teamwork

Meet Brandon Schulmeister, my General Manager and Program Director at One-to-1 Fitness in Red Deer. Without him I could not do what I do. He’s grown from client, to trainer, to leader. I’m exceptionally proud of him and think his analogy on teamwork is one that can benefit us all as we strive to grow the productivity and efficiency of our organizations.

Take it away Brandon…

Brandon “on set” during production of the first episode of Changing Limits

Like many of us, I grew up playing team sports.

I was always taught that in order for a team to be successful everyone had to put in a full effort.

We have all heard the slogan catchphrase of athletes when asked why their team won that night…

“We went out and gave 110%” said the media savvy athlete (for those of us Canadians that watch the best sport on earth 🙂 this is why they say hockey players aren’t smart…)

Over the past couple years my mentality of a team has come full circle. Yes hard work is key to success but that hard work needs to be placed in the appropriate areas or performed by the right people.

When you look at a hockey team it is composed of 3 forwards, 2 defensemen, and 1 goalie on the ice at a time.

The main job of the forwards is to create and maintain pressure in the offensive zone in order to create scoring opportunities and inadvertently stop the opposition from gaining that same pressure in their zone.

The defense will aid in the above but their main goals are comprised of mitigating the pressure created by the other team’s forwards. Whether that is from stopping them from entering their defensive zone or gaining possession of the puck to exit the defensive area.

And, lastly the goalie is there as the last line of defense. When the 5 players in front of them aren’t successful in their positions it is the goalies job to mitigate the risk accumulated.

But here is the problem.

When a forward is more worried about defense than keeping pressure in the offensive zone, will they create opportunities to score?

Furthermore, when a defensemen is more worried about scoring and decides to pinch in the offensive zone to assist the forwards, does this lead to more risk of the other team taking advantage of this player out of position?

This is obviously overly generalized but I wanted to paint a clear picture of how taking on other tasks or worrying about other players responsibilities can over extend us and take us away from what we are good at.

Which take us away from being more successful as a team.

A team is a sum of all of its parts. When each part is performing their top 2-3 tasks at a high level they are actually helping others succeed in their positions. But the second a forward gets overly concerned about what the defenseman is doing it pulls them away from their responsibilities and leads to more issues for the team to deal with.

When a personal trainer is getting their clients success, it will make the person in the marketing roles job that much easier. It will create less stress on the support team because of customer service related issues and create more time for them to worry about cleanliness of the facility and overall client experience.

If a personal trainer is more worried about cleanliness, financial obligations, creating a new promotion, etc. it takes time away from them doing what they do best.

For our American friends, the quarterback (in the bigger picture the whole offense) is one of the most important members of the defense.

The guy that doesn’t touch the field when the other team’s offense is working…

Stay with me for a second. If the quarterback can stay on the field for an extended period of time it will allow for the defense to rest. Then, when they are called upon, the likelihood of them perform at a higher level goes up. The quarterback will also help put points on the board so the defense doesn’t have as much stress when on the field. Again leading to optimal performance.

Moral of the story…

Place yourself in the areas that you are skilled in.

Place your employees in the areas that they excel in.

And, if everyone focuses on those 2-3 tasks… success will increase, stress will decrease, and everyone will have more time to do what they like/excel at, etc.

It is a win-win.

Now go out there and give a 110% (in what you do best!)

Brandon Schulmeister

After graduating from the University of Alberta with a BComm Degree, Brandon decided he didn’t just want to be a paper pusher and went after his dream of working in hockey. Although limited in skill on the ice he was able to use his role in Sales and Marketing of the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels to build a bigger and better fan base to create an infectious environment to help his team succeed. During this time his desire to help people lead him to a career change and a new challenge… Personal Training. A few years into the game he was able to combine his love of fitness and his business IQ by taking on the Sales and Marketing responsibilities at a premier personal training and boot camp facility and now manages a dozen other top fitness professionals. He has been invited to a number of fitness/wellness speaking engagements with organizations of all sizes in an effort to spread his message to a greater audience. With his unique business background and his love for fitness he wants to use his knowledge to reach many more fitness professionals in an effort to help even more people!