The dance studio business is one that requires A LOT of communication. We are always thinking of ways to help you, our families in the best way that we can. That can be a challenge in a normal season but with COVID here and our lobbies closed to parents, it presents an even greater challenge.
10 WAYS
Our team often refers to how important communication is by declaring the need for “10 WAYS”! Whenever we use that term, we are reminding ourselves that if we have something that we want our families to know, we need to tell them in ten different ways using all different methods/channels. Why do we do this?
Well, all of our families are uniquely different with busy schedules, preferred methods of contact and all different family dynamics and paths here at Elite. All of these differences command different communication to be relevant to those families and students.
This happens in our own homes too. Think about it…..Even our own children respond differently to our attempts at communicating. I have two sons, ages 13 and 15. The 13 year old will respond to me if I yell up to him in his room from the kitchen, by text, or by phone. He does so pretty quickly BUT he may or may not remember anything that I tell him or ask him to do……HMMMM… Maybe I should implement 10 ways with him. My 15 year old, when I reach by homing pigeon, text or phone, will basically never respond. I digress and realize there is more work to be done here. Needless to say, communication is KEY in every aspect of our lives, at work and at home.
All kidding aside, it is SO IMPORTANT to us at Elite, that our students and their families are knowledgeable and feel heard at all times. This work is never done BUT we are always trying to ask ourselves, what would we want to know as a dance parent or student about what is happening at Elite. We have first year students who need to learn so much about what we do – our program offerings, how shows work, billing details, and so on and so on….
Then, we have you seasoned vets of a few years or more who don’t want to be bombarded with loads of information you already know BUT you do want to be heard and notified of any changes.
Not even mentioning the different ages, interests and paths that all of our dancers and families represent. We have so many great programs and offerings and making sure all of our families know everything they need to know in a timely manner IS really important work and we don’t take the job lightly.
A few things we have implemented to communicate MORE and BETTER include:
- A New and Improved Website that has a “Current Student” section
- Our Newsletter
- Bulletin Boards & Posters (when we are all allowed in the buildings)
- All Studio Team App posts/videos/picture messages
- Social Media pages for:
- Instagram – recreational and competitive
- Facebook – Public and Private Family & Student Pages
- Front Desk Staff during the day and during classes who answer the phones
- If you don’t get an answer, we are on the other line…so leave a message or call back, because we are HERE all day and during classes!
- Staff who are trained and directly responsible for certain things for quicker response to your questions
- Regular staff meetings to ensure timeliness of information distribution as best we can
- Response to your request of “preferred method of communication” so we meet you where you want to be – phone, text, or email.
CONNECTION
One of my mentors said to me, “Everyone communicates, but few connect”. I took this to heart in our dance studios. This season and into the future, we want to make sure that our students FEEL CONNECTED to us here at Elite. We want YOU parents to FEEL CONNECTED to us as well. We want our Elite FAMILY to feel and know that we KNOW YOU and want to help you and your child to LOVE dance and to experience TRUE CONNECTION with us on your dance journey. We have attempted this connection in many ways in the past and will continue to as we move forward. Not only do we want you to know logistical things like class times, recital details, class curriculum updates but also what our values are and how we want to help your child grow as a human, not just a dancer so you can be sure we are the proper fit for your family in dance. Here are some examples of our efforts to meet you and to know you:
- Dance Pathways meetings
- Parent/Teacher conferences
- Coffee Chats
- Parent Sneak Peek
- Parent Participation
- Regular Season check-ins
- Parent Surveys
- Lobby Chat (now called Parking Lot Chat (insert sad face here))
- Timely Response to inquiry and questions as they come to us
WE DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T TELL US
All of this said, I want to know how we are doing. I want you to tell me what you think of our level of communication and connection. We want to be the BEST at this. We want you to sing our praises comparative to other youth sports out there. We want to be NUMBER ONE! We can only improve if YOU tell us where and how we fall short AND where we win. Please send me an email (lisa@elitedanceacademy.net) with your feedback so I can work with our team to continue growth in this area! I am open to all suggestions! It takes a village to make something really great and I am thankful for you in my village to support your children, our students!!
