Nathan Barr 0:00
Hey everyone, hope you've had a great Christmas and are enjoying some time off during this holiday period. I hope that you are able to be listening to this podcast on a beach somewhere, or relaxing where ever you may be. So this podcast episode is just a throwback to one of our most listened to episodes from this year, all about staff training because we know that building the team of our dreams is such an integral part to building the studio of our dreams. And this was a podcast episode from this year that we got a lot of great feedback on. So we hope you enjoyed this and we can't wait to be back with a new podcast episode for you all in the new year.
Amanda Barr 0:38
Hello, friends, I'm Amanda bar.
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 0:40
And I'm Rebecca Lew Brennan and welcome to Dance principles united
Amanda Barr 0:44
the podcast. Together we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 0:50
Join us as we talk everything through marketing systems studio culture, motherhood, life and everything in between. This
Amanda Barr 0:58
is the dance principals United podcast. Hi, friends and welcome to the dance principals United podcast. Beck and I here in person at the lovely in the lovely Gold Coast. Ready for our Sgt conferences coming up this weekend. How are you my lovely business? Bestie
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 1:18
I am super awesome. I'm so excited to be in the same room as you and do all the things we went shopping today.
Amanda Barr 1:26
Too much money is what happened today.
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 1:28
Today, but it was worth it. Yeah. And it's just so excited to be prepping everything. For our amazing studio growth club members.
Amanda Barr 1:37
Yeah, most definitely. And what we wanted to talk about was, you know, this, you probably hearing this podcast a little bit late. But we have got our retreat on for our studio growth club members this weekend, at the time of recording. But last weekend we had before. So the weekend before we had our staff training, which we're doing twice a year for all of our studio growth club members. And it was absolutely incredible. And we wanted to share with you some of the learnings we got from that. Now back you ran the day. Do you want to tell everyone about how it kind of runs? I guess?
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 2:13
Yeah, sure. So all of our students come online with their teams. And we get some feedback from them about what sort of things they really do want us to work on. But some of the sessions that we did last Sunday was we did a session on enrollments and when they come into the studio, you know how you should talk to them, how you should enrol them and close the sale, we did a session on cleaning routines, we did a session on behaviour management that was really great. And, you know, just did some sessions on values and vision for their studios. And so they're, you know, I sort of, I guess talk about a few things. And then we give them the opportunity to either act things out or do things with their staff themselves. So it's sort of them leading the staff, I guess, but also us just implementing and helping them with it. Yeah,
Amanda Barr 3:00
I so love it as a concept because most of our team, most of the studio owners in the studio teams, they, you know, put up the zoom in the big screen, they had a made it a special day, the studio owner still lead their team, but with a little bit of guidance from you, I guess. And it works really, really well. You give them time to implement things, you give them time to talk, you know, as their as a team, because every studio is different, right? Yeah. And every studio has different values, different processes, and all those things. But yeah, we got so much great feedback of it from our studio growth club members, which was so awesome. Yeah, and I'm
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 3:37
so passionate about this, I think those of you who are out there who've never done a staff training before. And, you know, there's, there was a time when I had never done staff training in my studio, and it is such a game changer, to bring your team together and to be a leader for them and to, you know, show them the way that you want them to talk to parents or do all the things or, you know, clean routines, behaviour, management, whatever it might be. Most of you are pretty much experts in that anyway, and having the
Amanda Barr 4:06
confidence to do it right. And the confidence and the power to show your team how you want it to be done. I think that's so, so important. So what was like the key takeaways, we had a lot of studios participate and what were some of the like the key takeaways that you saw that you feel like it's really important for all studios to be implementing?
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 4:27
Yeah, look, I think the first thing I wanted to talk about was that confidence having the confidence to speak to your staff, you know, Amanda was saying to our SGC members the other day having the confidence to say to them sorry that routines not so great or you know, you're actually not you know, you're losing kids out of this class, let's work together to work out what's going wrong, like being able to step up and do that is the first step. Do you think commander? Oh, absolutely.
Amanda Barr 4:52
And I think you know, sometimes we get so we overthink it right? We get so in our head about it. And, you know, I think sometimes it's us doubting our authority. It's us doubting our credibility. But you know, you're the business owner, they work for you, regardless of how we structure this, the reality is, it's your business and your you can run it how you want to run it. So have the confidence to talk up and speak up, if there's something you're not happy with, you need to be able to communicate that to your staff
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 5:25
totally. And this is why we did a session on values and vision, because we've been saying to our SGC members, it is your business, you you should want things to be run your way, you know, when we don't talk to our staff about our expectations and visions for our business and our values, and they're just gonna go in and do it their way and put their values into it. And that's not their fault. Yes, that's, that's yeah, they've been given no other direction, you know, yeah. So without knowing what the expectations are, and what they shouldn't be doing in there, of course, they're just gonna run free and do what they want
Amanda Barr 5:57
to do. People aren't mind reader's. That's right. They don't know what you're thinking, if you like your classes, right, a specific way, if you like, you know, people to interact with their students in a certain way, which probably you will do all the listeners would, if they want their class to feel a certain way. You can't just expect that all of your teachers know that without telling them. Yes, perhaps you would like to think that really good teachers do know that. But if you haven't communicated it, it's not their fault. You need to make sure you're communicating that to your team, and not be afraid to tell them when they're not doing it and not making that class have that environment. I
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 6:34
also think that teachers are a product of what they've grown up with, if they grew up in a really high end comp, school, yes, then they're going to teach a certain way. And then if they get a job at a more rec kind of school, then you know, they don't probably understand the difference or understand that they need to teach differently, and
Amanda Barr 6:54
maybe never given that a lot of thought to be honest. Yeah,
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 6:57
exactly. Or never been instructed in any different ways. So I think, being mindful of that, and realising that not everyone has had the exact same journey through dance that
Amanda Barr 7:06
you have. Absolutely. And I think that's especially important for our younger teachers that perhaps have come straight out of full time, I find that that happens a lot, if they've just been in a full time environment, which most full time studios are, you know, they're hard on their kids, they are high expectations as they should be in a full time environment. However, that's not what you're running in your kindergarten jazz class. But they're, you know, they have that mindset still, and if you haven't really specifically spoken to them about how you want that kindy jazz class, or perhaps it's the still the 15 or 16 year olds, but they're rec students, rather than, you know, kids that are getting ready for full time. You know, you can't expect them to know anything different. So it's really communicating everything that you want to happen in that class. Yeah,
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 7:52
it's so important. And so one of the things that we do in our staff training is we act things out, you know, so for their behaviour management, for example, we were acting out different classes in different age groups. And look, it's super fun and funny. And you know, maybe they're being preschoolers in a preschool class and acting up and then teaching the staff how to deal with that. But that acting is so so important. But one of the things that I did find a vendor and approved quite a few studios up on it was that they were just being way too nice to each other, and go and, you know, suddenly becoming perfectly behaved once that teacher, you know, claps their heads, or whatever it might be. And I sort of wanted to put out there today that I think you have to put your staff in difficult situations, and working with them. And because they're better suited to have that issue. They're in there with you, and you can guide them, then for them to actually have it in the real world.
Amanda Barr 8:45
Yeah, absolutely. I feel like we just all need to go back to your eight drama. I honestly did that with Miss McGregor in your eighth drama, there was a lot of role playing going on and those kinds of games, but they're good for us, and they fun, and they can lighten the mood. And if you can have the confidence to run those kinds of games with your team, like you said, acting out and practising those scenarios, you know, is so important, it's so much more valuable to do it now in a room where you can go, Hey, at the end, he didn't handle that very well. Here's what I would do. Rather than them having to do it in real life and not handling it really well in real life. Right? Absolutely.
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 9:26
And so, you know, I often guide I took some of them into a breakout room and help guide them and one of the things that I made some poor teachers deal with was the fact that the parent did not want to buy the uniform and uniform was compulsory, and how to deal with that and you know, that's a really difficult thing to deal with. And I think a lot of people on the front desk or teachers would find it hard to deal with that situation. But I think you've got to just be you know, I I'm the sort of person who will keep saying to whoever's acting it out. No, tell them no, no, tell them that you want the camera. uniform, you know, because that's what parents really like, right? amended, they're demanding. They're, they're opinionated. And they want things their way instead of the way that the business should be.
Amanda Barr 10:08
Absolutely. And we all have had clients, parents that are like that, right? I was talking to a studio owner yesterday, talking about how there was a dad who was using physical intimidation. And you know, that happens, right? It does happen. And, you know, it's, it's important to practice that with your staff to roleplay it, you know, one of you be the annoying parent, one be the receptionist, or the teacher or whatever that is, and practice those things. I love that so much. So what else did you kind of, you know, feel like what some of the big takeaways from that staff training, I guess? Yeah, look, I
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 10:42
think, you know, another big takeaway is just that, it was interesting to see the difference between people who kind of sat down with their staff, and then people who actually got up and stood and was the leader in that room. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't sit down with your staff every now and then and have a chat with them. But I do think when you're running staff training, you should be the leader, you should be standing, you should be walking around the same way you would in a classroom, yes, you know, you're not going to sit down and within chat nicely with your kids, you're going to stand up and you're going to have that authority. And I think sometimes we're scared to be leaders in our studio, and we feel like we need to just sit down with them and you know, be a part of them, but you're not a part of them. You are their boss, it's a privilege to lead. I truly believe that. And I think standing up and giving them your energy and showing them that you are that leader is really important.
Amanda Barr 11:32
Absolutely. I love that. And I think always taking back to the classroom. Right? That, you know, as a teacher, as a dance teacher, you know, like you said, we don't just sit down with the kids, and we're not just one of the kids. You stand up, you use your voice to command authority, use your presence, you know, you make sure that your dress to, you know, command attention in that class, you know, there's so many things that go into it, make sure you do the same with the staff as well. Yeah, so, so important, because, you know, it's funny, because Beck and I went shopping today, this happened that already, but we did go shopping today, but we were talking about that, right? Like, when you look good, you feel good. You, you know, the confidence comes across, you know, and that might be closed for you. It might be the way your you stand, it might be your posture, it might be where you stand in the room, it can be a whole range of things. It doesn't have to just be clothes, for example. But different things help us help put us in that position of authority. And it's an internal thing, right? Because it's how we feel being in command of that. And like you said, it's a privilege to lead. So it's so important that we can stand up and be those leaders, we need to be
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 12:49
so so important. And, you know, it also helps you later on down the track when you do have to have those difficult conversations and speak to them about when things go pear shaped, because you are never going to have a business that doesn't start to go pear shaped in some way, shape, or form part of you gonna have the most amazing teacher on Earth, but they can still make mistakes, and you still have to speak to them about that. That's what being a boss is. It's about actually realising that you, you know you have the capacity to one make such positive influence in people's lives, but also to mentor them and help them
Amanda Barr 13:22
absolutely. So if we have some studio owners listening who have never really shared their values, never done anything like that with their teams, where would you suggest that they start?
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 13:34
Look, I think the first thing to do is to is to book that staff meeting. And I think the most important thing that they do is not make it a meeting that's just a cranky meeting. I know lots of people have staff meetings, and they just sit down with their staff and say, right, put your props away and,
Amanda Barr 13:48
you know, turn the light switch off when you walk out of the studio or whatever.
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 13:53
And then I'm really cranky that you're not doing this, the CIO the CIO, I think it needs to be an inspiring day that's about them setting goals and realised and upskilling them
Amanda Barr 14:01
and, and celebrating sometimes as well, like celebrating successes, yep, celebrating
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 14:06
successes and making them a part of the process. You know, when you allow them to have influence on what's going on in the school, they feel amazing. They feel like they want to work harder for you. You know, people always say to me, how do I, how do you get your staff to work so hard and have such an amazing team? Or they feel like it's their business as well, you know, they feel like they're such a big part of things. And that's important itself. So just have that first time, but my biggest advice to everyone is, do not make it or some people go and some people don't. Yeah, it has to be all in. I truly believe that. It has to be all in and I often talked about SDC some of our SGC schools or high end schools and they have very high end teachers. And I always say to them, you know, I've got this amazing Hip Hop teacher, those of you who might know him, his name's Jacob, er, he's just incredible. And you know, he's a really high end Teacher and highly sought after bit, he comes to staff training and he loves it. He loves feeling a part of things. He loves feeling a part of that family, but it's a non negotiable.
Amanda Barr 15:08
Yes, they all have to be there. Yeah, it doesn't matter how sought after you are, it doesn't matter how many Instagram followers you have, whatever that is like they're part of your team. That's right. So don't let that be an excuse. Don't let the fact that, you know, you know, we're all busy. We all have other lives outside of the dance studios, we will have other jobs, make it work for your entire team, because it is so important to have them all there. Absolutely.
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 15:32
And don't expect them to come for free. Like, you know, do a day write for them. I'm not saying you necessarily have to spend $100 an hour if they're $100 An hour teacher, but you know, make sure that they feel valued on the day because they do understand that on a Sunday, some of our staff do work retail jobs or something like that, and they probably need that money. And I always cater it, you know, and make a special Yeah, but it doesn't have to be this big, expensive thing. Like you can get those wraps from Woolworths which are really nice wraps.
Amanda Barr 16:02
I love those wraps.
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 16:06
Anyway, you can get them they're $40 for a whole platter of wraps. That's fine. Absolutely. It's but it makes them feel valued. It makes them feel like it's special. Yeah, absolutely.
Amanda Barr 16:14
And I've done some different things in staff training as well. You know, sometimes we've gone off site to you know, like, you know, even just like a local like Leagues Club that has a nice little function room, right. And hired that for a couple of $100 and had lunch there. For example, you know, I've gone to Kmart and put little, you know, note books on all of their tables, just, you know, little things like that, or a little gift. Things like that, that make it look different to a normal day. Yeah, it feels special, feel different. Make sure that they're coming in with that right mentality. I think that's so important. 100%
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 16:49
I always have the projector setup and you can get projects is really cheap these days. With the laptop and I have an I've done a presentation on Canva for it. So it looks and feels, you know, professional and author that also keeps me on track. Yes, I have those presentations coming up going right. This is what you're speaking about NIST. Yeah, I think there's lots of little things like that you can do that's going to make it feel very professional and, and make them take it seriously, I
Amanda Barr 17:16
guess. Absolutely. So if you've never done a staff training, we would love to encourage you to start one. Please reach out. We'd love to hear how it goes. If you have any like, you know, if you need any ideas, if you have any, you know, things that have worked really well let us know reach out to us on Instagram. We'd love to hear about it. But thanks so much for those insights back. That
Rebecca Liu-Brennan 17:34
was amazing. Thanks, everyone. And yeah, we can't wait to hear from you about all things staff training. We'll talk to you soon. Have a great day.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
