The Globe and Mail - 16.10.2019

WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER16,2019| THEGLOBEANDMAILO B13

CAREERS

REPORTONBUSINESS |

F

itness giant Orangetheory
opened its first Canadian lo-
cation in St. Albert, Alta., in
2012 after Blake MacDonald
bought the national franchise
rights to Orangetheory Canada in

2011. Prior to that, he was a pro-
      fessional curler and worked at a
      series of fitness-related compa-
      nies.
      As president of the chain’s
      Canadian operations, Mr. MacDo-
      nald has overseen the company’s
      expansion to 87 locations across
      the country.

Whyhaveyoustayedinthefit-
nessindustryforsolong?

I got involved in the industry
with my business partner David
Hardy in 1999. We realized very
quickly that it’s something that
we love because the product is
changing people’s lives. Anybody
can go make money selling ciga-
rettes. Doing something that
you’re passionate about is the
most important thing and get-
ting involved in companies
where you have the ability to
have that level of impact on peo-
ple is just awesome.

Howhascompetingasaprofes-
sionalcurlerfor14yearsaffected
yourbusinessmentality?

Being an athlete, you learn a lot
of hard lessons that you can

transfer to your business life.

There’s a lot of transferable skills

from sports in general. The first is

that work always trumps talent.

You can be talented and smart,

but if someone’s willing to work

way harder than you, they’re go-

ing to be more successful in the

long run. The next is knowing

that the top of the mountain is

never as high as it seems.

When I was curling, it always

felt like a lofty goal to want to win

a Brier, but when it happens and

you’re at the top of the moun-

tain, you realize that it was never

that impossible. You can’t worry

about the end results – only the

process.

Whatwouldyousaytoayoung

entrepreneurinterestedingetting

involvedinthefitnessbusiness?

Do the research, understand

what you’re getting into, under-

stand who is and isn’t successful.

If you think you’re going to come

up with the entire model on your

own, you’re not. There’s too

much money in this industry and

there are too many smart people

already involved. You have to

build off successful models. Go-

ing in with a model that you

thought up in one afternoon ...

that’s where you see a lot of these

new businesses fail.

Doyouthinktraditionaleducation

canstillplayaroleinbreakinginto

theindustry,ordoyoufeellikeit’s

abusinessthatyouhavetolearn

onthejobtofindsuccess?

University is great at teaching

you a lot of general business con-

cepts. It provides the document-

ed evidence as to why certain

things work or don’t work.

When you come out of univer-

sity, you have all these ideas of

what you want to do with a busi-

ness. Then you get into the world

and you finally implement some

of these ideas. But what you find

is that you end up implementing

some of the things that school

warned you to stay away from.

People come out of university

thinking that sales is a dirty

word.

What you realize is that every-

thing is sales. From talking to cus-

tomers to selling your employees

on the why behind what you’re

doing. It’s something that’s prac-

tically a must-have for success.

Ifyouhadsomeoneshadowing

youforaweek,whatwouldyou

wantthemtolearnfromyouand

thewayyouwork?

It’s funny: There’s a picture of an

iceberg that shows 10 per cent

above the water and 90 per cent

below. The 10 per cent above the

water is what people see, the suc-

cess. The 90 per cent represents

the hard work, the stress, the

pressure, the indecision, every-

thing you go through as someone

in this industry. People just don’t

see that. I think if you spent the

day with me, you would see that.

If you’re not going to enjoy the

challenge of the bottom of the

iceberg, then you shouldn’t strive

for success of the top.

Ifyouwereabletotalktoa

youngerversionofyourself,what

wouldyouwanttotellhim?

I would tell myself not to worry

so much. I spent so much time

worrying about things that didn’t

matter. Some things just don’t

matter versus putting yourself in

a position to have great opportu-

nities and letting your character

take over to help you achieve the

goals you want to accomplish.

Howdoyoudealwithsetbacks

andfailures?

Every mistake I make is some-

thing that I learn from. I’ve failed

in other businesses. You have to

have the fortitude to learn from

those failures. The mistakes that I

make are painful in the short

term, but if you have the resil-

ience and character, those mis-

takes will be your biggest contrib-

utor to your success in the long

run.

SpecialtoTheGlobeandMail

BlakeMacDonald: ‘Youcan’tworry

abouttheendresults–onlytheprocess’

HeadofOrangetheory

Canadashareshis

journeyinthefitness

industryandtips

forachievingsuccess

IfOrangetheoryCanadapresidentBlakeMacDonaldcouldtalktohisyoungerself,hesayshewouldtellhimself

‘nottoworrysomuch.’JASONFRANSON/THEGLOBEANDMAIL

MATTHEWCOYTE

THELADDER

The question

I work for a grocery store as a

department manager and I need

some clarity on whether my boss

can tell me that it’s my respon-

sibility to come in when some-

one calls in sick. I checked my

contract and nowhere does it

state that I’m responsible to be

on call to come in when another

employee calls in sick.

She also tells me that I have to

work on stat holidays because I

am the manager. In Ontario, I

thought it was up to the employ-

ee to volunteer whether they’re

willing to work a stat holiday or

not. My boss says I’m salaried,

but I still get paid an hourly

wage, so I’m not sure how she’s

able to say I’m salaried.

The first answer

Daniel A. Lublin

Partner, Whitten & Lublin, Toronto

When it comes to your hours of

work, employers often get to call

most of the shots. While your

contract may be silent about the

matter, the ordinary rule is that

your employer can call you into

work even if you were not sched-

uled on that day or at that time.

However, in workplace law,

there are always exceptions and

exemptions. While you can be re-

quired to work, your employer

cannot violate any of your statu-

tory rights. For example, you are

legally entitled to a certain

amount of time off between

shifts, you must not be forced to

work more than a set number of

hours in each day and you are

guaranteed at least 24 consecu-

tive hours off from work each

week. Also, if you have child-care

or elder-care responsibilities, or

other accommodation-based

needs, you can be exempted.

While your employer’s powers

may seem unfair, it cannot act in

bad faith. While replacing a sick

employee is legitimate, an abu-

sive exercise of discretion could

justify refusing the work order.

Conversely, you have the right

to choose whether you perform

work on a public holiday or not.

You can agree to work that day

and receive premium pay or

your regular pay plus a substi-

tute holiday. However, unless

you fall within a statutory ex-

emption, such as working at a

hospital, a nursing home or at a

restaurant, you cannot be forced

to work on a public holiday.

Whether you are salaried or not

is irrelevant.

The second answer

Jason Edwards

Lawyer, Pink Larkin, Halifax

Your situation is a perfect exam-

ple of how important minimum

employment standards are in

our day-to-day working lives.

The former Ontario govern-

ment’s Bill 148 would have man-

dated your employer to pay you

for at least three hours any time

you were required to be available

for work. You would also have

been entitled to refuse work that

was not scheduled at least 96

hours in advance. Those protec-

tions were erased by Premier

Doug Ford’s Making Ontario

Open for Business Act. Now,

there is no legislated prohibition

against, or cost associated with,

keeping an employee “on call.”

Concerning holidays, the Em-

ployment Standards Act clearly

provides that retail employees

are entitled to refuse work on

holidays. Your employer is not

allowed to fire you, or otherwise

take action against you, for refus-

ing to work on a holiday. In prac-

tice, however, your employer

might find ways to make your

life more difficult if you start re-

fusing to work on holidays.

Over all, this doesn’t sound

like a very nice place to work. I

would bet that your employer

will continue to do these things

as long as they can get away with

it. Your best chance at making a

change is probably to talk to

your co-workers about forming a

union. If that doesn’t work out,

you might want to think about

finding a new job.

Special to The Globe and Mail

Have a question for our experts?

Send an email to

[email protected]

DoIhavetobeoncallatwork

justbecauseI’mthemanager?

ANDREAYU

NINETOFIVE

W

ant to gain a better understanding
and appreciation of your and your
colleagues’ behaviours at work?
Get out of your head and into your
body. Here is what yoga has taught me about
workplace dynamics.

PEOPLEAREATTHEIRBESTWHENTHEYAREIN
THEFLOW

In yoga terms, flow is energetic movement
with a sense of fluid physical motion. When in
flow, people are moving in the same direction,
following the same sequence. An onlooker
would say it looks effortless. How do we enable
our workers and teams to feel more “in the
flow”? How can we ensure that they operate at
their best, i.e., collaborate productively and “ef-
fortlessly”? According to a Google study, the
No. 1 characteristic of the perfect team is psy-
chological safety, meaning “team members
feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front
of each other.” A great leader, similar to a great
yoga instructor, gives guidance but also space
for failure, providing the psychological safety
that individuals and teams need to take risks,
fail, move forward and innovate.

TRANSITIONSAREDIFFICULT

In yoga terms, a transition is moving, as grace-
fully as possible, from one pose to another.
These are challenging moments in a practice
and they tend to throw us off balance, increas-
ing the risk of falling (more on this below). If
we think about transitions in the workplace –
from one company to another, from one role/
team to another, et cetera – it is equally diffi-
cult to do gracefully. Why? Change, no matter
how small, is hard. In this volatile, uncertain,
complex and ambiguous world of work, where
average tenure in a job is 4^1 ⁄^2 years and the half-
life of a skill is 2^1 ⁄ 2 -five years, transitions will in-
creasingly become the norm. How can we re-
duce stress and avoid “losing our balance” each
time? As leaders, “creating an environment
where people feel safe to take risks and encou-
raging them to do so on a small scale at first
helps to build confidence for when they are
faced with bigger challenges,” advises Samara
Zelniker, founder of Mindfulness Matters. Or-
ganizations such as Allstate Insurance now of-

fer resilience training to all workers, focusing

on the science of stressing smarter, bouncing

back faster and growing stronger. Specific skills

and practices are taught, including mindful-

ness, breathing and prioritization based on val-

ues.

FALLINGISNECESSARYFORGROWTH

An important part of practising yoga is becom-

ing comfortable with vulnerability, with falling

• sometimes in front of many people. At first it
  doesn’t feel great – almost humiliating. But
  then one quickly realizes that falling is a cata-
  lyst for growth. The same applies when we fall
  in front of our teams. We have created cultures
  of perfectionism in many organizations: If we
  fall or fail, we feel weak and ashamed. Accord-
  ing to Brene Brown, author ofDare to Lead,
  “perfectionism is a 20-ton shield protecting
  ourselves from getting hurt or from being
  seen.” Vulnerability, by contrast, is a critical
  part of leadership in this new world of work:
  The more we can show others we are human,
  the more psychological safety we impart to our
  teams, leading to higher engagement and pro-
  ductivity. If we don’t fall, we don’t learn, we
  don’t evolve and we don’t innovate.

‘PEAKPOSES’REQUIREPATIENCE

In yoga terms, the “peak pose” is often the

most challenging and rewarding of a practice.

We would never get on our mats and go right

into a peak pose – we need to warm up and

build up to that point, or we risk hurting our-

selves. Similarly, in our workplaces, we need to

find balance and pace ourselves leading up to a

“peak pose” (a deadline, deliverable, presenta-

tion, et cetera) – we need to make sure we have

the requisite endurance before gunning it to

the finish line. A simple mindfulness practice

(e.g., breathing techniques, journalling, med-

itating) helps to focus on the present moment

or the task at hand, and to ensure the peak

pose is attained most effectively and efficient-

ly.

REST IS CRITICAL TO REALIZINGFULL

POTENTIAL

“Savasana,” or resting pose, is touted as the

most important point of a yoga practice. It is

where all of the prior work is integrated into

the body. Similarly, in the always-on society we

live in, it is important to allow space and time

for rest – not just because it is required for

physical and mental health but also because

creativity is sparked in those quiet moments:

when we can tune in and listen to our intuition.

SpecialtoTheGlobeandMail

Calmyourmind,listentoyourbody

tobettergraspworkplacedynamics

NAOMITITLEMANCOLLA

OPINION

MANAGEMENT

FounderofCollaborativityLeadershipAdvisory,a
Toronto-basedconsultancyfocusedondriving
progressivetalentstrategy