Author: Lee Boxall – Business Development Manager at Clubwise at ClubWise
The Coronavirus is without doubt unsettling for Club owners, staff, and members alike. There are so many questions that arise, that may have to result in drastic changes or difficult conversations. How do we boost team morale, and maintain motivation levels amidst this unprecedented public health crisis? For example.

We have put together a few ideas for clubs to adopt, to keep staff happy and productive during this period – after all, sitting around inactively at home isn’t likely to suit the health and fitness influencers you all are!

1. Keep staff busy creating content

Whether it may be managing and creating social media content, or redesigning active CRM content through ClubWise, this is one way for staff to continue to contribute to your shared goals. Ensure staff are still getting that feel-good factor for making a difference. For example, use ClubWise’s Campaign Module to encourage your staff to produce a new campaign on national and global events, such as St Georges Day, the start of Ramadan, Father’s Day etc.

2. Replicate the club environment

As most of us at ClubWise have worked in clubs ourselves, we know that there is so much more to a club environment than just formal meetings and administration. The relationships you will have built as teams, often rely on getting to know one another’s senses of humour and common interests. So to maintain this positive atmosphere that is so crucial to a happy and productive work-force, make sure that you can still a share a virtual space to communicate to each other – even if it’s not strictly work-related. For example, setup a virtual pub quiz on a Friday evening, intertwining general knowledge, and company and ClubWise specific questions.

3. Use social media to publicly praise staff

If for example you have personal trainers offering consultations over the phone, or PT’s have produced new workout plans using FitSense, or class instructors streaming home workouts etc, make sure to not only provide positive feedback verbally, but to sing their praises to your members publicly. Allow your members of staff to consistently feel connected with the customers they are so regularly in contact with, and vice versa. Another great example would be if you have staff who are NHS volunteers, or are helping their local community in another way. Don’t underestimate the power of community social media groups.

4. Job enrichment

Ask your staff if there are any areas of your organisation that they want to be more involved in or want to understand better. This closure may provide your staff with the opportunity to develop their skills into another department that they have always been interested in, and you can support this by taking the time to train your staff. Simply use Skype to setup a video call, and screen-share, where you can show them ClubWise features that they have less experience with, like Campaigns, Rota Management, Prospecting, and the KPI Dashboard to develop their knowledge of their own department, or a department that they may need to coordinate with. Many job roles have inevitably become constrained by the closures faced, but don’t forget that every member of staff still has a unique set of skills and interests that you can utilise elsewhere if needed.

5. Be transparent

Do your staff know what is going in with regards to COVID-19? Do they feel that their jobs are secure? Do they understand the reasons behind your decision making? As mentioned in the beginning of this post, employees will inevitably feel a sense of unease – particularly new members of staff. You may not have all the information just yet, but your staff will understand that, so be sure to continuously update your staff with the newest government advice and instructions and provide reassurance wherever there is room for it. You may have staff that are at particular risk, or your staff may have family members who are high risk, so be sure to provide these members of staff with additional support by providing them with the resources that they need to make smart decisions.