Walking into the room where a Joey Group staff meeting is taking place, I see three employees, lined up, side by side, on their toes and elbows, shakily passing a 5lb-pound weight back and forth to each other, sweat dripping on the large green mat.
One more there, says a pacing Nathan Mellalieu, personal trainer and owner of Studeo55. You got to keep going. Thats it.
This morning, instead of coffee or a meeting in the company boardroom, three of the Joey Group staff are bonding through CrossFit, a popular strength-and-conditioning workout that involves a series of varying, high-intensity exercises such as the weight-passing core exercise I observed this morning.
The military, sports teams and fire departments use CrossFit to get their teams in shape and now, the service industry and other groups are following suit to get their employees in shape with benefits on more than one level.
CrossFit is competitive and you have benchmarks with very specific ways to do it says Joey Group regional manager Kent Strom afterwards, still breathing heavily and wiping sweat from his face. It translates to the workplace because you cant cheat yourself in CrossFit or your coworkers. There are no shortcuts.
CrossFit has mastered a sense of community and its mastered a sense of competition, Mellalieu says. So by doing that, people get out of their comfort zone and it becomes very real, raw, which is different from the office. There are moments in CrossFit where the real you comes out.
Mellalieu says that the competitive focus of the CrossFit program typically suits organizations that have driven, lively and type A cultures.
Emad Yacoub, CEO of the Glowbal Group, says the program gives his staff an opportunity to blow off steam.
[The service industry] is a pressure-cooker job, Yacoub says at Studeo55, just before a Friday morning Glowbal workout, and releasing pressure is very important. Even if its not in the service industry, if its in an office, having the opportunity to work out together is amazing. The sport is good for the body and the mind because it gets the blood flowing, gets them refreshed.
Lawyer Mark Virgin says CrossFit has helped solve the challenges of improving his law office environment, which is spread over two floors.
Its served as a bit of a glue thats galvanized the team, says Virgin, a partner at Vancouver law firm Stevens Virgin. It makes people socialize more, theyre forging bonds with each other its definitely improved morale..... Theres a stereotype in that theres a hierarchy at a law firm, but that doesnt exist at the gym. When youre trash-talking your boss, it breaks those barriers.
Which is of course all in good fun, he adds with a laugh.
Comparably, Yacoub says that with seven restaurants, it can be a challenge building a team throughout the locations. It brings the team closer, he says. Especially when they come from one restaurant to another, they dont work beside each other.
Alberto Mura, general manager of Glowbals Trattoria, agrees with his employer.
Its a great way to stay connected, he says. Sometimes it can be painful and pain brings people together. Its a way to get to know other managers.
To Strom, incorporating CrossFit into the workplace is more about promoting a healthier lifestyle, inside and outside of the restaurant. From a mentor standpoint, it cant just be all about work, he says. It promotes team-building and doing things together but it also promotes a healthier lifestyle. I know that Im a better manager, better husband, a better father when I have that time where I can get some of this energy out it refocuses me. Im going to do it anyways so I might as well do it with my coworkers and allow it to benefit that part of my life.
