My Pilates Story
I’m a Reformer Pilates junkie. I love the strengthening and lengthening workout combination. I love that it targets small muscles and challenges your balance. I love how I feel when I walk out of a good class.
Mostly, I love that I can exercise lying down on a comfy reformer bed 
For the last decade or so I’ve been going a minimum of 3 times/week and have become quite savvy. And of course by now I have my favorite instructors and have grown picky about the type of class I want to attend.
One day my favorite instructor left my studio to open up her own. She reached out and asked me to follow her. It was risky- I was a founding member of a national chain that had a solid reputation, and as a founding member I had a lifetime rate (guess what? Pilates studio memberships aren’t cheap!). I was about to give that up for a great instructor, but she was also a new and unproven entrepreneur.
She offered me a founding member rate that was slightly more than I was paying. I hemmed and hawed over the decision. What if she didn’t like owning a club? What if she changed her teaching style now that she's the boss and can do what she wants?
What if? What if? What if?
Ultimately, because I loved her classes I decided to take the risk. I cancelled my national chain membership and took the plunge with her.
For the next 18 months I patted myself on the back for my decision. Her studio was great, the instructors she hired taught the same quality classes she did, and many of my former studio buddies also came over as founding members.
A new family was formed and my butt had never looked better.
At the end of those first 18 months, she decided to expand the size of the studio and offer additional types of classes. Good for her, I thought. They aren’t really of interest to me, but I appreciated her entrepreneurial spirit.
The Plot Twist
That is, I was happy for her until I got her email, sent to the 20 founding members. It started something like this…
“Dear beloved founding members, I so appreciate you and your faith in me…..”
She spent a paragraph or so showing appreciation to those of us who took the leap and helped her business get off the ground.
Then she announced a rate increase. I'm not talking a small rate increase - she essentially wiped out the founding rate (typically "founding" = no increases, ever). In 30 days we were going to pay the same rate as everyone else.
Her why? Well, her costs were going up because of the expansion she was building. And we were going to fund her expansion, whether we wanted to or not.
Anyone else see a problem with that?
I wish she could have heard a group of us discussing the email after a class the next day.
“It’s not about the money. It’s the principle.”
Truth is we can all afford it. And yeah, we still loved her classes. And the new rate was competitive with other studios in the area.
But that’s not the point. By changing the deal on us, she immediately changed the loyalty factor. We felt violated, unappreciated, and undervalued.
As a result, I left her studio altogether. Not for the savings, but because I couldn’t trust her anymore. The relationship was damaged beyond repair.
Leaders : I share this because it is an essential principle that applies to you too
As a business owner, she made a decision that she felt would be best for her business. Having current Founder members fund her growth project was faster and easier than self-funding and then marketing for new clients. And we were paying below current market rates so she wasn't "cheating" us out of anything. And she’d be right, except she forgot that in business, it’s NEVER just about business. It’s always about people.
The most damaging phrase a leader can use is “it’s just business”.
If you find yourself using that phrase to justify your decision, STOP and rethink it.
Here’s what will happen if you roll out a decision and use the “it’s what’s best for the business” line with your direct reports:
- They will listen to you
- They will nod their heads in understanding
- They will panic in their heads because they see you aren’t considering the effects of the decision on them, but will not show it because they will fear your repercussions
- They will start to daydream about moving on to a company that cares about their people and not just the bottom line. Where they won't feel like they are "just a number"
The LeDev Advice
You need a better “why”, and it needs to involve the people part. There must be something in it for them.
So, when you are contemplating a business decision that seems to make sense for the business, carefully think through the people piece.
- Who will benefit from your decision? How will they benefit?
- Who will be hurt by this decision? How will they be hurt? How will you proactively address it?
- Knowing those who will be hurt will lose faith, passion and trust, is the decision still the right one?
When faced with a critical decision, ALWAYS take the time to think the people piece through, then work your people piece into your “why”. Articulate it clearly to all stakeholders.
This Doesn't Mean Shy Away
Let me be clear here - Leaders have to make tough decisions all the time, and sometimes the business decision has to prevail.
But if you’ve taken the time to think through the people piece, you can be confident you have made the best decision given your circumstances.
Several times in my career I've had to make tough calls. I've executed high-profile terminations, I've made unpopular changes, and I've even shut down entire divisions. Each time they totally sucked. I've lost sleep and at times I've even hated myself a little.
Once I learned to think through the people piece, although I didn't find it easier, I had more confidence in each decision. I understood who would be impacted and how, and had a plan to address it. I also understood who would benefit and I made sure I had a strong communication plan for them. And sometimes, during the "people discovery" part, I'd come up with better solutions that I hadn't thought of before.
Back to the Pilates Studio
The owner didn’t just lose my monthly fee when I canceled my membership. She lost a LOYAL FAN who used to rave about her studio to anyone remotely interested in Pilates. She now has a DETRACTOR who is sharing “buyer beware” stories at dinner parties.
And the sad thing is, the founder group all agreed that we would have been OK with a smaller rate hike. Had she addressed us differently and considered that option, she’d still have me while recouping some of her costs. Instead, she lost my entire fee and loyalty, and I joined a studio I like less.
Total LOSE-LOSE 
So next time you are tempted to say “it’s just business”, Stop!!! You are going to lose more than you gain.