How CrossFit taught me a lot on team building and more...

I'm a good worker, but I was not trained to be a manager

If you are a manager (and even if you aren’t), you have probably noticed that whatever the company you are working for, you are most of the time trained to do a good job. If you are good enough and if the company are big enough, you eventually be promoted as a "chief", a so called manager.

And from this step, you will no longer receive any other training except maybe for some side skills such as time management, actions plan, meeting, reports, etc. But what about training to be good at dealing with people you are in charge of ?

You were trained to be a good worker and now you need to learn by yourself how to be a good manager.

So, how do we do that ? Where do we have to look to find relevant clues ? Unexpectedly, I found very usefull answers in a field where "chiefs" are really not theoritical experts in management nor in leadership. So let’s share a bit of my journey while practicing the sport of CrossFit.

In few words, what is CrossFit ?

The point here is not to talk about CrossFit and promote this amazing sport but let us sum up what is CrossFit for those of you who don’t already know. CrossFit is a sport created in 70’s to improve fitness and health. It is a mix of several exercises extracted from other sports such as weightlifting, gymnastics, running, rowing, biking, etc. Most of the time, these exercises have to be done in a high intensity.

The particularity of this sport is that several ? athletes ? of very different levels can train together at the same time in the same place (called a box). A super strong man and a tiny old woman or even an overweighted boy can train and enjoy this sport within the same session. These individuals could have very different reasons in practicing the sport of CrossFit. For example , bodyweight management, muscle gain, general physical preparedness (GPP), selfimprovement, or for competition.

What’s the corellation between CrossFit and management ?

CrossFit athletes are like employees within a given company that can have very different aims and/or skills. These employees are supposed to be working together to let this company grow as much as possible.

Like a manager (or a CEO) who needs to motivate and take care of his people, a CrossFit box owner has to train and motivate his athletes.

Financially, like any private sport club, he wants them to come back several times a week during the coming months and years. Like a manager who has to try to keep all his team members in order to build a dream team, a CrossFit box owner must do the same or be financially penalized by his own boss.

Regarding human relationship, the box owner wants his athletes to share and have good

moments in a friendly environment. He has to take care of them both physically and emotionally to avoid injuries or relationship breaks that could bring them out of the box with a financial penalty for him.

He also need to build trust to let their athlete accomplish new movements without fear and with enough confidence to listen and learn the technique.

When I entered to my first CrossFit box session at box1315 in Malaga, Spain, I wasn’t expecting to see all these metaphors regarding management and leadership. Moreover from people (these sports addicts) that has never followed any class on leadership nor management in their entire life ! Not to mention have chosen a career path that may seem very far away from the field of professional ? human management ?.

Be humble, listen and learn

With more than 200 athletes in this average CrossFit box, i was very surprise to see this ? company culture ? and this owner natural leadership skills on a daily basis.

How this sportsman entrepreneur was able to motivate 200 persons to wake up a Saturday morning to participate to an in-house competition for free, with nothing to win? Two hundred people that have families to compete in a rigorous workout during their day off! Remember, not only two hundred passionated competitors but a medley of competitors, housewifes, students, workers, etc.

At the beginning I thought it was just because this particular owner is very special. So I’ve visited other CrossFit boxes in other countries and cities to check for myself (CrossFit Louvre in Paris or CrossFit Ostal in Fabrègues, France). What I discovered that it seems that almost all CrossFit boxes share this great culture. All CrossFit box owners also seems to be natural leaders !

I was astounded ! What was there secret sauces that was not taught by any theorician, experts of management and leadership ?

From this day on, I decided not only come to the box to practice my sport, but to listen and learn from these natural leaders.

Leadership secret sauces of CrossFit box owners

Passion : The first key point I discovered within CrossFit was their passion. CrossFit owners(aka managers) are waking up every single morning with a clear vision. They want to spread the word about their passion for CrossFit. Simon Sinek a famous speaker about leadership has said that they have a clear ? WHY ?. They know ? WHY ? they are doing what they are doing and people (athletes) are following them because they share the same gut. This is not so easy to transpose to your work environment, but at least trying to find a reason why we wake up every morning to do our job will help. I highly encourage those who are looking for their ? why ? to look at Simon Sinek TED talk and books.

High skills, makers : All box owners are great athletes. They own official certifications to teach CrossFit but they are also great athletes. It is valuable to have diploma and certifications, but it is easier to believe and follow someone who truly has mastered something you want to do. At work, in my own experience, I’m pretty sure at the beginning my teammates respected me because I was able to complete tasks quicker than them. Tasks I asked them to do. This display of competence helped a lot to build trust which in my opinion is the starting point of authenticity.

Consistency and carefulness : All box owners will repeat techniques and movements all day long for every 1 hour session. It means they will do this 10 times a day, 6 days a week ! They will look carefully at every one of their athetes to be sure that their technique is good enough to go to the next level. They will do this for all the athletes, whatever the athletes’s goals or experience levels. It should be exactly the same for managers. Spread lessons you are mastering. Support and train your team, let them fail, fail again and finally succeed and master this particular skill you want them to acquire.

Don’t be an expert, stay a student : All the box owners i’ve observed are reading a lot about CrossFit. Reading, learning, participating in events and trainings all to be or become a better coach, learn this new drill and techniques. Even those who are famous and well ranked in competition are still student! As a manager, I’m trying to keep this student posture, even on skills and tasks that are in my comfort zone for decades. Listen to other points of view, stay agile and critically think. Keep learning everyday from everybody, even from people you are in charge of.

Don’t be afraid to show your weakness : All box owners often fail at doing some movements in front of their athletes. They should have no shame at all! They are simply showing that they are human. As anyone, they need to keep practicing to be a better version of them self. Better today than they were yesterday. As manager you are supposed to be better than your employees. Although, you are not supposed to be perfect and better in everything, all the time. Moreover it is a good way to show that you are never giving up.

Taste the natural leadership ingredient from the place that gathers passionated people

There are so many more key points within CrossFit to glean from, but I’m sure they are not only applicable to the box.

I’m convinced that any club, association or event that gathers passionated people could be a great place to learn about leadership.

So keep your eyes open, look for these places where passion is the main entry point. Stay far from these theoritical experts in leadership. Then, eventually you will taste a bit of the natural leadership’s secret sauce.

Finally it will be up to you to apply it in your own work, be a better manager and make your coworkers happy !

As a conclusion, i will quote Thomas Dewar (a passionated Scottish whisky distiller) :

? Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open ?

Luc Bonnin