Coaching Behavior

People do things for a reason.
You probably don’t know the reason.
They probably won’t tell you.
They might not know the reason themselves.
People don’t always put their best foot forward at the gym. After a long day at the office, they might still be replaying an angry conversation with their boss while you’re talking about the box squat. They might be thinking about what they’ll feed their kids later. Or they might be wondering, “Why am I here on a beautiful day like this?”
When you “see” a person interacting with others online, it’s easy to form an impression of their personality based on their behavior. But behavior isn’t always a good picture of personality: after all, YOU behave differently in front of your clients, right? Your “game face” isn’t on all the time. Theirs isn’t either.
When you focus on keeping clients in your gym for a decade or more, your perspective changes from “funnels” and “sales scripts” to behavior modification. You start to wonder about motivations and worldview.
One of the more annoying new trends in business management is to ask “Why?” four times in a row to reach the root of a problem. While I’m no saint–I’d probably start throwing punches before the third “Why?”–I do my best to ask the question at least once.
Jill is canceling her membership in the middle of the month. Why?
Rusty hasn’t been to the gym for two weeks. Why?
Trina showed up late for her appointment. Why? Is she disrespecting me? Does she need to be punished? Or is it something else?
We’re emotional creatures wearing a thin skin of rationality. The more I study behavior, the more I can help people change theirs.