Consistent experience based on an underlying Framework: Exploring CrossFit gyms
One of my pleasures when travelling for business is visiting different CrossFit gyms. It gets me up early and allows me to get my daily WOD (workout of the day) in. In the past few years, I have visited more than 50 different CrossFit gyms across North America and Europe. Each gym or box, as they are called, is very different in terms of its programs, the size (500 square feet to 10,000), the number of classes, the type of classes and the coaching style, but there is a consistent experience based on an underlying framework.
The framework is an hour-long class, qualified coaches who are trained in various movements, a warm-up, usually a strength piece and then the famous or infamous workout of the day. Underpinning this structure is a culture that is very welcoming to beginners, an emphasis on safety through certified trainers and a commitment to improvement versus competing with others. The concept of only competing against yourself truly builds up communities and makes experiencing new gyms such a rewarding experience. CrossFit is not a franchise model and as such it has allowed new ideas to flourish and in my opinion, making the experience stronger and a breeding ground for innovation. My last experience was at a former army barracks who came up with a bingo concept for an intramural competition of members hitting new personal records – brilliant idea.
Freedom within a Framework: How CompTrak’s Configurable Platform Enables Strategic Compensation
Flying home and reflecting on my conversations with our clients, I realized our ComptTrak platform is very similar. We use a framework that is highly secure and cloud-based, which can be configured to meet specific needs of our clients. No specific instance of CompTrak is the same for any given client. Some of our clients use CompTrak for equity and deferred compensation management, others use it for total rewards and compensation statements, others for bonus, merit and LTIP decision making and some use it for all these components. Having managed compensation plans myself, I have always believed freedom within a framework and agility is very important when it comes to compensation.
If you believe that compensation is a strategic lever in your organization, then the experience for your employees and leaders should be different.
In addition, many of CompTrak’s functionalities have originated from our clients – like the example mentioned above, we want ideas and will incorporate those into our platform. Splitting bonuses amongst leaders and charging back to cost centres, what if calculators for online statements, proxy reporting and culture profiling within our total rewards statements all originated with our clients and are now embedded in our framework. I understand there are times where a one approach fits all works but when it comes to compensation, freedom within a framework spans innovation and enables compensation to be the strategic lever that is should be in driving results.
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