More Than A Gym Isn't A Difficult Vision

For the past few years, I've held a role at the YMCA of Greater Charlotte where interfacing with every department and every kind of member and program offered is the normal. I get both the good and bad of many decisions (rate increases, new programs, memberships, etc.). And often times, I have the responsibility to smooth out the process or communication that relates those good and bad decisions to those aforementioned publics. Most recently, we’ve tried to emphasize that the YMCA is more than a gym; its a place to connect, grow, learn, and become that someone who was already there but might have been hiding behind some physical, mental, or spiritual barrier. In a sense, my role is to help folks on their way to get there — while holding up the processes and technologies that make meeting the vision possible.

Because of this, I often see a lot more than I say. In my journal, I keep ideas towards what can be done differently, or how I’d improve. If they linger, those ideas become proposals and prototypes. And a few of those have gone on to challenge and change what we do at the YMCA. This is how I iterate towards a vision.

I recently made some comments on Twitter that probably should be explained a bit more. Well, maybe they don’t need to be explained, but I do want to clarify what I see versus what happens where I work.

Activity Trackers and Communities

Added connects to @fitbit and @PolarGlobal #polarflow this week; really wish @YMCACharlotte used these to push fitness/wellness more (Twitter)

For a bit more than a year, I've used fitness/activity trackers. I’m weird though, I’ve got three on my person most moments (Polar, Fitbit, and lately Samsung). Besides helping me get some hard data about my own activity, I've been noticing others get or question the use of fitness/activity trackers — and am not afraid to ask folks what they are getting out of them. For some folks, we've gotten the conversation to the point of asking if they want to connect on those services and encourage one another between YMCA visits. Some have said yes, some haven’t. Either way, its been a conversation piece, and something that ties the context of being a part of the YMCA to areas and activities outside of a branch.

IMO, it’s not a difficult vision; fitness/activity trackers + engaged communities + local connections = “more than a gym” (Twitter)

A step further: some folks I’ve connected with on these fitness social networks are fellow staff persons. Across these connections, we do things such as weekly challenges and workout comparisons (comparing how these services measure calories and such is interesting). It causes us to talk and think about not just how we model wellness, but what information goes into that performance of a wellness-focused community.

Shifting an Organization from Any Angle

What’s hard is turning membership from a place to a device+people; that’s a shift hard for orgs to see thru. I see it; should I push harder? (Twitter)

I've only been at the YMCA for a short time, so I don't know the finer details around organizational change. I've been around other orgs that have had some major philosophy changes during my tenure (and been a part of instigating some of those changes). Asking an organization to define its vision by the empowerment of its members isn't the hard part of the vision. Its me asking that some of that empowerment comes from hardware, software, and a user experience that’s designed outside of the controls of that organization. If the software breaks, or the ethics of that user experience becomes compromised, that would be a major deal. There’s also the chance that a Polar or Fitbit could come up with something better by co-opting the model that the YMCA has evolved into.

Mobile-First Means Many Minorities Not Left Behind

Another point/example: if you've got a target audience whose only computer is a mobile, build your [org and admin] interface options mobile 1st… (Twitter)

…if your communities meet you on their mobiles, retain their attention by making yourself relevant there. Don’t force paper apps/PC forms (Twitter)

One of the sticky points that I wish I could address immediately is how we do income verification and account drafting. Some people are showing up with the forms they'd use to verify income on their mobiles, and are being either turned away or intrusively questioned. Or, when folks want to do the monthly draft, we tell them how we need a voided check or a signed form from a bank teller/official. I get why we won't draft using credit/debit cards, but being unable to change the process where we can validate account information shown to us via a mobile device is just terrible. We lose those folks who are already on the fence about paying with these points of friction.

The branch I work at is in an area of the city where many folks just don't have access to either a laptop/desktop outside of work. For a large number of the teens and young adults we serve, they primarily work through mobile phones and low-end tablets. Asking them to fill out applications to be volunteers or to submit resumes for jobs is a difficult thing for them because of that kind of limitation. They go to access things on their mobiles and the sites aren't designed with that kind of access in mind. We even get a number of persons who move into the area from other regions where they were members of the YMCA and are surprised that we don't have an app that handles their membership/program needs.

Having a mobile means to do more than just be online. There’s a value-add to being connected on a mobile at the YMCA and we aren’t taking advantage of it, nor asking loudly what value we can add to the membership engagement experience.

Relevant Recommendations, Not Just Programs

If you offer WiFi, don’t offer free internet as value add, do analytics of where you are in the building + usage + who + relevant activity (Twitter)

I like when parents come to the YMCA, having brought their children to a program, and then sit down with a laptop or tablet and get some of their own work done. I only wish that we had some more quiet areas (in our branch) where they could work — or that we could offer something a bit more than just free and (mostly) open Internet access.

For example, if we did have an app, I'd love to see where we did a scavenger hunt where interesting wellness facts or Scripture verses were placed around different areas of the facility where folks can see and collect them like badges. After they collected so many badges, they could redeem them at the Pro Shop for merchandise (the same app would say “hey, you've collected ‘x’ badges, do you want directions to the Pro Shop to redeem these for a new shirt?”).

Or, we'd provoke folks to connect those mobiles to their YMCA accounts and a Fitbit, Polar, Strava, etc. kind of community where just being in the facility automatically logs them into starting a workout, and then recommending types of workouts to them. Being in a facility, and accepting that you will connect to the WiFi, also then being a permission to track your location and usage while inside of the facility, but for what you share in location/usage, we recommend activities and instructors to connect to.

Proactive, Reactions, & Control

A changing demographic means you have to react faster to older community while being proactive to address new; don’t get stuck in control (Twitter)

Many of the ideas that I've come up with (and shared) have gotten a similar piece of initial feedback: “but our older community won't like the change.” And yes, that’s partially true. Those who have been with the YMCA of Greater Charlotte do balk at times over types of changes that happen. It’s only human to do so. However, when we don't change our methods because we are so intent on keeping them happy, but their communities are changing (marital status, ethnicity, economically, etc.), then we are basically betraying our mission’s focus towards being a relevant point of wellness and spiritual health. An aging community matures into something different if it plans to live with the community it fosters.

Changes also mean that there’s a modus of control that has to change. From my point of view, aspects of serving our community gets lost because decisions made for all of the communities aren't made in light of how they fit each individual community. That’s not to say that operational functions and costs should be ignored (cost increases have to happen, programs come and go, etc.); its to say that decisions that affect the entire organization have to be made also as if they will only affect one node (read: branch) in the organization. Because my role is less strategic to the overall aims of the organization, but more relational to how they are executed, if I'm not convinced that a change works, there’s going to be extreme difficulty in conveying to others my confidence in those changes when they happen.

More Than A Gym

So maybe that’s why I found myself pushing a bit harder with public comments recently. I see the aims of the vision: the YMCA is more than a gym. But, the speed at which we get there, the steps/missteps, the processes, the changes, and the challenges — these all create something of a rumble in me. I don't think it’s impossible to get there. I just know… the vision is attainable if some of the edges get polished. I'd love to continue be a part of being one of the legs running there — but only if there’s a body to run with and clarity on how getting there will empower our communities to create a lifestyle for themselves that elevates all.