A while ago we were taking a break for lunch at a Martial Arts seminar I was teaching for a group of Taekwondo black belt holders. I ended up sitting with a couple of Martial Arts masters and we started chatting while refueling for the next session.
One of the Masters was looking around our premises at Factor10 Strathpine and commented that our Dojang is pretty well setup up, and that he’d love to teach and train in a facility like that.
“So .. he asked .. what’s the secret?” he asked inquisitively.
“Secret?” I replied, “secret to what?”
“Well … you must have some good numbers to have them train in a place like this?”
Not sure whether he was telling or asking me, “I mean … what sort of numbers do you have?” … so he went on not sure if he had crossed the line…”if that’s not too rude to ask?”.
“No not at all”, I replied, “there’s no secrets in Martial Arts, just like there’s no secret techniques, no mystique, just good technique … good speed, power, intensity and balance”.
I went on, “today we have 231 members here at Factor10 Strathpine, training across our Power Programs, Taekwondo and Hapkido”.
“So what’s the secret?” he said again, “I’m busting myself trying to reach 150 members, and have been for a while, and just cannot break free of around 120. I found breaking past 100 was a challenge, but now I’ve hit a plateau, and just cannot push past that.”
I went on to explain that, once again , there’s no secrets.
“Well if I asked you … what’s the one thing that you do that makes the biggest difference?”
I knew I really had to elaborate here, and given little time left for lunch, I had to speak fast. He went on sounding really frustrated, like he’d put in a whole lot of work, real invested a lot of (wasted) time, and by the sounds of it, money.
“I mean, I do Facebook consistently”, he said, getting quite agitated, “we have a great website, we advertise, but the numbers don’t hold … they just don’t stack up from a business point of view”.
“OK then, at least you’re asking the questions. The thing is … that a Martial Arts business, or a Martial Business as we call it at Factor10, is an organic system made up of sub systems that, working well together, provide a synergy that you otherwise would not get from a stand alone system, or focusing on just one thing. So there is no one thing. It’s a system”.
Trying to relate it to this guys martial arts training, and BTW he’s a great Master, I went on … “when you’re speed breaking multiple timber boards in the air, using multiple kicks, what’s the one thing you need to do? There is no one thing, there is speed, agility, air and ground balance, there’s timing, posture, there’s your posterior core stability chain, and so one … no one thing!”
Well, the other Master piped up quickly and said “there must be something that you would argue is a key feature”.
“Yes of course,”, I commented as a matter of fact, “systems thinking is probably the key feature”.
So let me now ask you this one question, “what is your teaching system? Can you describe to me your teaching system? How does it work .. and how do you get that system into the hearts and minds of your assistant instructors and instructors at your Martial Business?”
I carried on to explain that it’s all good to promise people everything on Facebook, your website, and when they sign up, but if the promise does not match the reality, and a key part of that is that you will teach them properly (goes without saying doesn’t it?), but when they discover that after a while the lessons aren’t really planned, to a system, that provides assessment and ongoing evaluation, other than 3 monthly gradings, then the alarm bells start to ring. And the bells ring in your mind, in your customer’s mind, and in the minds of your instructors and their assistance. Because they realise it’s all “make it up as you go along” with no real plan or system of substance.
There’s absolutely no doubt that if a Martial arts school thinks that a teaching system is simply the grading syllabus, a bunch of people teaching techniques, a regular class schedule, and 3 monthly gradings, then they’re behind the 8 ball to start. If our Australian education system ran like that … the primary schools, universities, high schools and TAFE colleges, child care centres … then our country would be in a bad way.
At Factor10 we have a detailed and carefully crafted Teaching System. As a Brisbane Martial Arts centre we take pride in our members, Factor10’s affiliate and Franchisees and ensure they benefit from the quality teaching system that we offer.
Just to give you a snap shot, for example, our instructor log onto the cloud and get a program for classes each day, and that’s not “one size fits all” system, but the program for the 4-6 year olds, for the blue belt juniors, and different for the red built juniors, or the teenage class, or Hapkido adult group and so on.
In brief, the teaching system is a a detailed instruction and systems manual, of approx 190 pages in length, that every instructor carries at all times while teaching, and it’s accessible as the paper based manual and also OnLine, with the teaching session planning forms and assessment proformas all available, for immediate use, anywhere in the world.
And of course, there’s an Instructor Training System to teach the instructors the Teaching System … but that’s a matter for another blog.
Now that’s a Martial Arts Teaching System!
Happy teaching 🙂
Master O
PS: If you’re a Instructor or a Martial Arts school that would like to use the Factor10 Teaching system, contact us by emailing me on mastero@factorten.com.au
