Aspire Action, Persevere with Passion, Triumph Together – Leadership and Culture in Action

As I travel throughout the world, especially here at home in my day-to-day, I am always looking for opportunities to listen and learn about leadership and culture. Sometimes this is something as simple as noticing an interaction between staff or staff and customers in a local coffee shop or as complex as working with businesses in a consulting capacity. Regardless of how or when this happens, I like to take a few moments to make a note in my journal to allow me to go back to what it was, how I felt, and what it could mean for the people involved or others in the future.

In 2021, post Covid and significant knee surgery, I needed to put a focus on my personal health and physical rehabilitation. When looking for a gym to invest my time and effort, I happened upon a small, local gym that focused on group conditioning classes. It was one of those times that I found my people and was able to flourish under the guidance of someone that put us (the customers) first and worked to support us, no matter where we were on our personal fitness journeys. Cody exemplified servant leadership in a space that I had only ever had experiences where the “trainer” seemed more into making a name for themself than truly supporting me in my journey. I felt a great deal of shared culture with my fellow participants and with Cody, but there seemed to be an undercurrent where the gym’s organizational culture and leadership beyond our group was strained. Then just before the end of 2024, the gym closed.

For the next 6 months I was on my own. I went back to a large “corporate” gym where the culture was no where to be found & leadership, well that was up to me – solo. I found myself feeling a great loss and disconnection in my fitness journey and the only thing that suffered was me.

Six months later Cody and a new team had opened up a new gym, creating new hope for what might be but I had hesitancy because I wasn’t sure what the organizational culture was going to be. I wanted to avoid being in a place where there was connection with others that I was working out with, but a lack of the same feeling when it came to the organization. I didn’t want to have the same experience I had previously.

It’s now been a year since I walked into APT Health and Fitness at their gym in downtown Renton, WA and all I can say is that I have found my place again, and the entire team that works there is in this together, creating an incredibly inclusive, welcoming, and familial culture that businesses strive to create.

As this year has progressed, and my desire to share leadership & culture stories has gotten stronger, I realized that the story of APT is one that shares the great efforts it takes to not only speak to culture and leadership but to create an organization that embodies those values from top to bottom and side to side.

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Paddy Gleason (one of the lead trainers at APT) to have a conversation about Leadership, Culture, and my experience at APT to see how they have intentionally worked to create the space and embody the ethos of what is written on the wall and is seen by everyone as they walk in:

Paddy and I covered a lot of topics - here is the essence of our discussion that focused on leadership and culture (after an incredible and challenging conditioning workout)

Note: these are thoughts taken from my notes & are not direct quotes

JO: Since I first walked into the gym, I have felt and seen such a strong culture of family and support, both with the participants in the classes and with the entire APT training team. I feel that this is an intentional effort on your part. What is it that you and the team have done to create this level of organizational culture and team alignment?

PG: Basically we believe that you need to practice what you preach. If we don’t put the same effort and expectations on ourselves, we are not being authentic when we show up with the customers. In other places I have worked, the customers experienced the culture that the trainers wanted and needed to develop to have them enjoy their time, but the organizational culture became different. When running a business, you start with a plan and a goal to create and maintain the culture you want, but sometimes business creates situations that cause that culture to be set aside for one reason or another. Culture needs to be a core focus from front to back. We were able to set up APT in the right way by focusing on a coming together of like minded personal and professional philosophies. This allows us to take and maintain action to create change and a positive culture throughout the team.

JO: We have all experienced situations like you mentioned where there was something that shifted in an organization where culture or leadership became different that what it used to be. This can create anxiety with team members, or lead to a fall-out or a situation where people decide to go different ways in a less than desired manner. As you think about yourself as a leader within APT and your own life, what are some things you do to avoid or address situations like that?

PG: The first thing is to look at yourself and know that none of us do everything right. Taking the time to look back, knowing what I have experienced and dealt with helps me stay aware of what is going on and avoid some of those traps. With a background in Health and Human Services I try to keep an open mind and apply a focused, proactive effort to dealing with issues. I also am continually learning. Taking from experiences and learning from what other places didn’t do and making sure that I (we) did those things - “Creating from the mistakes I saw”.

JO: As you think about what APT has created and how you and the team hold to the values and ethos you aspire to, what would you want to share with others who hope to do the same thing with their existing or future company or self?

PG: Creating authentic culture is HARD! It takes dedication, introspection, and reflection. It is easy to make a statement of what you aspire to be. Making it the core of who you are, how you show up, and how you run your business is never ending. We’ve been lucky that we were able to bring a great core group of people together to run APT (business and fitness pros) and you can see that in what you shared. Not everything has been perfect. Decisions are made with the best intentions, but sometimes they don’t work out and you have to be willing to take action to correct the direction. So far we are doing pretty well on that front. One last thing I try to do is to use a “coaching” mentality with everyone, as a coach it is our job to work side by side with everyone to help them develop. Whether it is pushing someone to try a heavier lift or coaching performance in business, when we work together respect and culture is held true.

I’d like to share my thanks to the entire APT Health and Fitness team and all of my fellow workout partners for embodying a culture that allows people (customers and team members) to be who they are, supports us challenging ourselves and others to be the best we can be, and showcases that leadership is not hierarchical but comes from everyone in the group.

Cody Rainser, Monica Seth, Bryan Le, Paddy Gleason, Steve Birt, Theo Bowie, Charlie Clemans, El Escobar