Can Health Clubs Achieve Renewed Growth ? Yes - By Applying New Disciplines

I get to hear from a lot of leaders in the fitness industry and as a result I learn a lot. As we know, the health club industry saw tremendous growth for a number of years that slowed significantly as the result of the rapid surge in competition and a slowing economy. Now, with the economy rebounding what should we learn from the past as we proceed to the future ? This is a timely question and I have a view - the health club industry needs to approach new opportunities with new disciplines.

Its time to rethink how we approach new business development in general as opposed to just picking up where we left off during the last boom.  Here's how. Professor Rita McGrath, in the clip below, outlines key disciplines essential to what she terms discovery driven growth. Central to her message is that leaders and managers should recognize the higher level of uncertainty that exists in business today and adapt their growth process accordingly. Rita is right, and the health club industry should heed her warning. As Rita explains, companies must apply new approaches. Could this be relevant for club operators ? I think so and her views are timely.

Watch the video below, share your thoughts and tell me Bryan O'Rourke: how can the health club industry best achieve new growth? Do you think Rita McGrath is correct ? Is the barrier to growth in the heallth club business more a function of how we approach growth as anything else ? Must health clubs change their assumptions about club operations, the marketplace and growth strategies to achieve better results and how ? I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

How Can Fitness And Wellness Businesses Achieve Growth in 2011 ?

If you've followed me for long, you know I am a big fan of Rita McGrath. Well its that time of year for many of the companies I own and work in as well as for our strategic partners and clients - we are all planning for 2011 and we are all still reeling a bit from the economy while trying to figure out "how we could grow". Rita has an excellent view on planning for growth. Her notions are on point: so many companies don't plan for growth very well.

An important notion McGrath shares is one of the ratio of assumptions to knowledge. Often because an organization or its leadership has had success in the past leading there is a false belief that they will be able to replicate that success in new growth initiatives. Problem is there ordinarily isn't enough knowledge about the new growth area to succesfully create reliable plans from inception and a "dysfunctional" dynamic is created around planning for growth. Leaders plan thinking their plan will be right instead of realizing the high ratio of assumptions to knowledge and accepting their plans will more likely be wrong.

As a result most leaders need to rethink planning and strategy. Many leaders should stop thinking that planning is about being right. They should also stop thinking failing is bad. Low cost intelligent learning is invaluable and businesses have great opportunities to improve how they learn to create value but this thinking remains uncommon today. The implications of this thinking to organization's planning processes are significant.

Watch this interview where Rita and her esteemed co-author explain their concepts. It is an invaluable approach in this day and time and you should consider adopting it in your organization. Contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, and share - How is your fitness or wellness business planning for growth in 2011 ?

How to Lead Growth During Turbulent Times in the Fitness Business

Rita McGrath shares brilliant insights into how leaders should handle turbulent times in this interview. All industries are being touched by tremendous change and the fitness industry is NO exception. As Rita notes the difficulties of leading through tremendous change are generally broken down into i) being open to the facts and not falling victim to past success; ii) the ability to diversify, iii) having discipline with new endeavors and iv) exiting less appealing and older investments. Watch this interview as Rita shares her views on how change can be best navigated. More than anything you MUST accept that reinvention is now a necessity and unless businesses in the fitness and wellness space get on board there will be very rough seas ahead.

The Key Challenge for Organizations - New Disciplines

Most established organization's have everything they need to take advantage of high-growth opportunities, with one exception: the right disciplines. Below are fundmanental concepts required to achieve success during this time of the convergence of the three mega dynamics of the revolution: globalism, technology & culture. See Rita Mcgrath's lecture below on these important topics and consider how you can bring these disciplines to your organization and reap the opportunities the revolution is presenting to us all.

Topic	Key Message
Discovery Driven Planning	Stop using the same planning techniques for new businesses that you use for existing ones; instead, plan to learn
MarketBusting	Identify huge growth opportunities by using five key lenses with discipline
Entrepreneurial Leadership	Understand the five key practices that create an entrepreneurial mindset and culture in your company
Capturing the most value from venturing	Get beyond go/no go thinking when evaluating your ventures to maximize their benefit to your company
Designing a portfolio for growth	Balance long-term and short-term investment horizons while simultaneously integrating strategy, projects, budgeting and people development
The middle managers’ role in growth programs	USe middle managers as the secret weapon in a drive to create growth.
Designing the launch	What should you take into account when you are launching your new business?
Dynamic Strategy	For years, we’ve been told that sustainable competitive advantage is the best strategic outcome. Rita shows you that temporary advantages can be just as powerful.

Rita Gunther McGrath from Rita McGrath on Vimeo.