How the Public Gym can be a Mirror of your Team

I don't like exercising in a gym. Maybe it's the closed space, or the static nature of the surroundings or a mix of various factors. Give me open air exercising any day – be it swimming, brisk walking or cycling. Swimming wins hands down during the summers. (2020 summer was one when I could not indulge in swimming thanks to the pandemic. Hope to get in the pool in the coming months.)

Some of my LinkedIn connections would recall an article that I had written about my observations in a neighbourhood swimming pool.

I saw a similar pattern in another unlikely place – the neighbourhood gym.

No , I was not there to exercise but to pick up my daughter from the gym at our club. (My daughter prefers the gym – another example how children are different from parents :-))

While waiting for my daughter, I was observing the 10 plus ‘gymmers’ there. And immediately I could correlate the similar segments amongst the 3 communities namely ‘gym goers’, ‘pool goers’ and the corporate world (be it teams, departments or entire organizations).

The gym or the pool is an excellent place for observing human behavior. I had put together a 2*2 matrix with Effort in one axis and Capability on the other based on my observations during my swimming days. In that short half hour observing the 10 ‘gymmers’ I could map them into the 4 quadrants.

The Horses - High Effort High Capability : These were the 2 members who were going through through their exercise regimen effortlessly and gracefully. Their bodies were toned and their stamina and skill was to to be marveled at. They switch from cycling to treadmill to bench presses with consummate ease. They are indeed a pleasure to watch and a source of inspiration. The image that came to my mind was of beautiful horses that can gallop with grace and stamina. My rough assessment through observation was that their actual exercise time is more than 75% of the total time spent at the gym. The constantly try to up their performance.

The Hares - High Capability Low Effort: Another 3 members had well toned bodies. However, they do not exercise as much as they can. They enter the gym and after doing a little bit of exercise with great skill then they hang around the gym with other members on the latest in thing in fitness with other gym members. Interestingly their gym clothes accessories are branded, the logos clearly visible. I assess that their actual exercise time is less than 50% of the gym resident time. The balance time is spent in giving advice to novices or comparing calories burnt with other similar gym members. In my mind, the apt image for this group was the hare of the parable, who are inherently skilled but…they waste or fritter their skills and become complacent.

The Peacocks -Low Capability Low Effort: Another 2 gym members were doing nothing but hanging around in the gym preening, taking selfies in front of the mirrors after tucking their stomach or flexing their muscles. One of them had the expression of boredom that indicated that probably it was parental pressure that made him reach the gym but not exercise. In less than 10% of the time, they give to exercising it is easy to make out that their heart is not in it. Yet they occupy key equipment in the gym and are reluctant to let go when requested by other members. Even this segment irrespective of their skill is fully accessorized in terms of gym wear, shoes, sweatband etc. To my mind, they are always preening and that is why I classify this group as peacocks. They waste opportunity and time to acquire skills and block the resources that can be better utilized.

High Effort Low Capability: The remaining 3 members (my daughter included) epitomize persistence. Irrespective of skills they come to the gym every day and do their exercise using the equipment they are most comfortable with, consistently. Their exercise may not be graceful to look at, they may not run on the treadmill with the speed and grace of the horses and the hares but one can't help but respect their tenacity. And that is why the image of a tortoise comes to the mind. Their gym time too is in excess of 75% of the gym resident time.

And  based on my experience in the pool where I observed the efforts over months, it is easy to foresee that over time the tortoises will show an improvement in their skills. They build their skills through effort.

One can easily relate the gym or the pool to the organization / team and see parallel behaviors there. The horses which are pulling the organization forward, the tortoises which give the organization its stability, the talented hares which bring high levels of performance sporadically and the peacocks who contribute minimum but drain away the corporate resources and energy.

Look at your teams.

Are you able to identify the horses from the hares?

 Are the tortoises being ignored and the attention and rewards going to the hares and peacocks?

And more serious than this is, where do your team leaders fall into the quadrants? What is the possible impact the type of leader can have on the team and the organization?

Well, That is another story.

P.S - While searching for the right image I came across a write up on the behaviour one sees in a gym in India. Its quite funny - so please do click the url below

https://khurki.net/things-you-find-in-indian-gym/

Image Courtesy

Dreamstime.com