It is somewhat amazing, sometimes, to see such poor gym management and such a lack of understanding of what the gym manager and program director jobs entail. Often there are whole categories of management responsibilities that are ignored. But what is most amazingly deficient is when managers and program ignore what should be their primary daily job function.

MBWA – Management by Walking Around

Every day, gym managers and program directors should be walking around the property, the gym, and/or their area of the gym. Managers and program directors should be looking at the gym the way gym parents and gymnasts will see the gym and evaluating the gym in terms of their mission statement and goals.

Always Carry a Notepad or iPad

Gym managers and program directors should constantly carry around a notepad (or these days, an iPad) to take note of anything that needs to be fixed, upgraded or improved in the gym. Each day, starting from their very first sight driving up to the gym and continuing with a walk through of the whole gym and property, managers should be noting everything that they notice is not up to standard.

Checklists

Gym managers and program directors can develop and use checklists to manage the gym, but they should also always be looking for items that are not on the checklist that need to be fixed or improved. There are always unexpected things that come up that won’t be on the checklist, but become obvious when you walk around.

Immediate Fixes

Some things gym managers and program directors see will need to be fixed immediately, like things that have to do with gymnast health and safety issues. There will be things that must be taken care of immediately, often even before continuing along with the rest of the walk through. In this situation, either gym managers or program directors need to make the fix themselves or they need to be able to make immediate contact with the staff members responsible for that kind of work, like gym janitors, etc.

To Do List

There will be other to-do items, that are written down in the notebook or recorded on the checklist, that need to be taken care of, but don’t have a need to be fixed or improved immediately. The gym manager or program director should that day contact one or more of the employees under their direction, assign the task and a deadline to them and ensure follow up to make sure the task is completed satisfactorily.

Numerous Areas to Walk Through and Check Daily

There are any number of areas to be checked and supervised on the daily walk-through. Just a sample of items to be looked at might include (but not be limited to) such things as diverse as:

• General Appearance
• Equipment Maintenance
• Gym Systems
• Safety Systems
• HVAC Functionality
• Lighting System Maintenance
• Cleaning

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