Introduction
Outside-In Perspective
The lyrics to the ‘Venus’ track say: 'Goddess on the mountain top, burning like a silver flame, the summit of beauty and love, and Venus was her name. She’s got it. Yeah, baby she’s got it. I’m your Venus. I’m your fire. At your desire’. We start to warm up, moving around the Step, walking at a clipping pace. The music provides the impetus. We move straight into the second track, ‘Get Down On it’, by Peter Andre. The song is a direct challenge to dance. The pace picks up and we start walking up onto the Step, with some squats included. The ‘butt and thighs’ start to be worked now that the muscle groups are warmed up. This is a vigorous track and most people quickly take on some water at this point. At this point the energy of the dance and movement starts to be felt. The movements start to come easy. Once the rhythm is entered into then the 1-2-3-4 time is relatively easy to keep with, and when the movements are learnt they can be reproduced without much thought. The basic movements are all learnt: the simple step, over-the-top, grape-vine, turn-step, walk-over, and the stomp are a few of them. The steps can be related to particular genres of music too: a recent favorite has been the cha-cha, which involves a skip step.
Track 3 is ‘Born to be alive’ by Voyager, and an affirmation of life. The lyrics are less important now, but the beat is relentless and loud. I am starting to perspire. I concentrate on keeping up and getting the moves right. I am now completely focused on myself and watching the instructor. I cannot see others around me. I get out of rhythm at one point, feel embarrassed, but quickly find it again. We are reminded to keep the noise of our feet down. This is a safety reminder.
Track 4 is ‘Absolutely Not’ by Deborah Cox. It is a stroppy track reflecting issues of self-esteem at work. ‘Should I wear my hair in a ponytail? Should I dress myself up in Chanel? Do I measure me by what you think? Absolutely not, absolutely not’. I enjoy this track. The movements are fluid and simple and involve a move at the peak of the track where the participants mime pulling a person towards them and then kneeing them . The male instructors joke in good nature when the women enthusiastically participate in this track.
Track 5, ‘The Wreckoning’ [sic] by Boomkat is a mixed strength track where the aim is to work on the ‘butt and thighs’ after a high aerobic work rate track. The pace is slower for squats and lunges — strenuous exercises that work the big muscle groups of the legs. The song is ostensibly about a relationship break-up; a play on the word reckoning with ‘wreckoning’ (the wreck of the relationship). The other reckoning is to face the toughness and pain of the physical lunge and squat and have a reckoning with your body about its ‘true’ state of being. The time is nigh in other words to face the truth. I always feel good about this track. By this time in the session I am feeling extremely virtuous. I feel great.
Track 6 ‘I’m flying’ is one that I hate. I face my un-coordination in this track and always do it at the lowest options. I have fallen off my Step twice doing this track as I try and follow the instructor’s movements. We mimic a bird flying in the sky while we do an ‘Over-the-top’ move across the length of the Step box. The technique means we raise our arms, increasing blood flow around the body. This raises the heart rate, making the body work harder. I suffer it in silence and can’t wait for it to be over. I keep my arms down and focus on not falling over. The instructors seem to like it.
‘Situation’ (7) by Tom Jones and then ‘Disco Inferno’ (8) by Tina Turner are classic high peak tracks. Tom Jones’ voice has visceral power — deep and powerful — perfect for lunges. So, I think, I am a house-wife pretending to be Tom Jones. In the next track I am being a black woman — Tina Turner — even better. I always wanted to be born black — black people seem cooler, looser. They’re not so uptight. What would it feel like to be born a man, or black, or both? ‘Situation’ provides a strong pulsing rhythm to which we do squats which drives the heart rate up. This is another ironically named recovery track. ‘Disco Inferno’ is a faster song with the mood encouraged being ‘out-of-control’, with an flurry of physical movement to Disco moves. You have to be fit to have fun with this track. Other people work really hard, and I aspire to do the same. But, to be honest I never feel completely conscripted into the process or fit enough to lose myself in the moves. I am getting tired and slightly depressed with my inadequacies. I try to turn off my thoughts and push my body back into the music.
Patti La Belle’s gospel standard ‘Ready for a Miracle’ (9) and then Eye of the Tiger (10) are the final peak tracks. By this time we are getting near the end of the session and I really do need a miracle to get through. The instructor yells at us now, ‘Get up! Get down! Rise up! Look at me!’ She is never silent, and as she demonstrates the moves, always having to think slightly ahead of her audience (and doing everything, like Ginger Rodgers to Fred Astair, backwards), gives previews of changes in moves, demonstrating the ideal movements. The noise from feet pounding on the floor and on the step, in time, is loud, rhythmic and hypnotic. From time to time the instructor calls out to the class asking them to tell her they are OK. ‘Have you got there yet?’ ‘Is it a miracle?!!’ The pace is absolutely frenetic. At the peak of the track we all wave our hands in the air mimicking the ecstatic body movements of revelation at the height of a Pentecostal revivalist meeting. At several points during this track a few class participants yell back to the instructor, whooping to show their enjoyment of the track. The Eye of the Tiger is a novelty track and a bit of fun. The mood starts to loosen, but the beat of the track is aimed at pushing us to a final sprint towards the finish line, eking out the last spurt of energy, leaving me completely spent.
My favorite part of the session is next – the press-up and sit-up track. I have come to love press-ups — I really don’t know why as my arms are as weak as a kittens’. I push myself really hard. I try and ignore the instructor — she is background noise. I don’t have to look at her any more and I settle into my own rhythm to the music. The song is ‘My Time’ by Dutch. The lyrics say, ‘Been a long time since I saw my own mind … I was moving in the shadows, always looking at the past … Always, always, put my faith in new days ... I dancing and I’m feeling fine … This is my time, this is my time’.
The final stretch track is ‘Cruisin’ sung by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis. The song is melodic. It is about surrender and release. ‘Let the music take your mind’ it says, ‘Just release and you will find … , You're gonna fly (away), Yeah, I'm glad you're going my way'.... The stretches are genuinely relaxing. The instructors pose like statues on the stage, moving from one fluid position to the next. I am sometimes reluctant to leave one stretch for the next. As the last stretch is completed and the music fades, we pat ourselves on our backs. This move of self-congratulation is part of the choreography. Everyone puts their things away and some move off to the shower. I stop and talk quickly with another regular attendee. I feel pretty good and am glad I made the effort to come. Then we all hurry off to get on with our day, appointments and work.
Understanding Service as Intangible involving a Transition, and the Service Concept
This transition is illustrated below:
The service concept in general is explained below:
Phillip Mills himself explains the core of what the service concept is in a Les Mills group fitness class: results and motivation, and the ways that they have built a focused understanding of the value proposition of their business. The video is aimed at potential licensees of Les Mills. As explained above, Les Mills International are using a type of franchise model to expand, which is common with service businesses. Phillip Mills is 'selling' the brand to other business, a type of Business to Business (or 2B2) communication, because other businesses are Les Mills International major customers. Despite being an 'infomercial' the following video provides some insights into how Les Mills International works, and what their priorities are.
This article is continues in Les Mills International Part 2
Notes
Note 1: Of course the logic of the outside-in perspective leads to a strengthening of the already powerful notion that the 'Customer is King' (or Queen). This is one reason for the need to for us to understand our obligations as consumers (I prefer to remember that consumer is a subset of the word citizen). One of my favorite sayings is "Your wish is my command" from the musical 'Annie'. This saying is a reminder of the reciprocal obligations between service organisations and citizen-consumers to provide services and products responsibly; that consumers have a mutual responsibility in other words and their desire (for things and services) does not preclude ethical behaviour.
References
Johnston, R., & Clark, G. (2008). Service operations management: Imporving service delivery. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to basic service management terminology through using the example of Les Mills International, a New Zealand-based international group-fitness company. This article features links to Wikipedia and other knowledge and information bases as further reference to key service management terms, and also provides key readings.This article also links to publicly available videos of Les Mills activities and other web sites of interest. The source of these videos is mainly Les Mills International Youtube Channel. I also draw on interviews I conducted in 2005 with group fitness workers, notes on a presentation given by Phillip Mills at the Go Global Conference in 2005 (now no longer available on the web) and a paper prepared for a conference.
This article focuses on explaining general terminology to serve as an introduction to service management 'jargon'.
Introduction to Les Mills International
You can see a brief video introducing Les Mills history and programmes here on the Les Mills main site.
Facts about Les Mills:
Les Mill's son Phillip Mills was largely responsible for developing a series of exercise-to-music programmes, including BODYATTACK®, BODYFLOW® , BODYCOMBAT®, BODYJAM®, BODYPUMP®, BODYSTEP®, BODYVIVE®, CXWORX® and SH'BAM® (all fiercely protected registered trademarks).Introduction to Les Mills International
You can see a brief video introducing Les Mills history and programmes here on the Les Mills main site.
Facts about Les Mills:
- Les Mills is a famous NZ Olympian and founded Les Mills World of Fitness chain of gyms in Auckland, New Zealand and also Les Mills International.
- At present Les Mills (LM) operates in about 14,000 gyms and health clubs in 75 countries.
- There are an estimated 70, 000 Les Mills Instructors worldwide.
- About 5 million participants participate in a LM class every week.
Les Mills International Wikipedia page says "In 2004, Phillip Mills was Ernst & Young's New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year, and the following year he competed in Monaco as a finalist for Ernst & Young's World Entrepreneur of the Year award. In 2005, Les Mills International was named New Zealand Services Exporter of the Year by NZ Trade and Enterprise and, in 2007, he and wife Jackie Mills co-authored the book 'Fighting Globesity - A Practical Guide to Personal Health and Global Sustainability'" (see Part 2 for more on this). If you are unfamilar with Les MIlls then have a look at a few of the videos featured in this article, or go here to see their webpage and an introductory video.
Outside-In Perspective
Within service management it is now common to argue that all service industries, in fact, all businesses, should take an outside-in perspective. That is, service managers should learn to look at all aspects of their processes from a customer's viewpoint (see Note 1 below).
One useful way to do this is to conduct a walk-through or an emotional audit from a customer's perspective. The following provides an example of a narrative of a customer attending a group fitness session. It illustrates both the feelings and processes that a customer engages with as she participates in a group fitness routine. The video below shows the 'release' of a new BODYSTEP® routine (release number 84) to help you visualize the narrative.
Outside-In Perspective
Getting to the session is the first challenge. I am tired and grumpy and don’t really feel like going, but experience has taught me that if I at least get to the session then the music will carry me through the session. ‘Classes’ are timetabled. 9.00 am in the morning is a good time for me. I have dropped the kids off at school and make my way just in time to fill up my water bottle, pay my fee, and dig my towel out of the bottom of my bag. I collect my Step, place my card in the instructor’s receptacle and take up my place behind the Step.
The music begins with the first of 12 tracks that make up the session. The first track is ‘Venus’, by Bananarama. People quickly move to their chosen area. They have placed before the stage already what they need to conduct their ritual: water bottle, towel, and Step. The arrangement of the room is all face-forward towards the stage. The session is to last fifty-five minutes as other activities are scheduled before and after.
The instructors remind us of safety – this is usually on their minds at the beginning of the session. Today there are two instructors, slim and toned, with coordinated clothing, tanned and with wide smiles.
The music begins with the first of 12 tracks that make up the session. The first track is ‘Venus’, by Bananarama. People quickly move to their chosen area. They have placed before the stage already what they need to conduct their ritual: water bottle, towel, and Step. The arrangement of the room is all face-forward towards the stage. The session is to last fifty-five minutes as other activities are scheduled before and after.
The instructors remind us of safety – this is usually on their minds at the beginning of the session. Today there are two instructors, slim and toned, with coordinated clothing, tanned and with wide smiles.
The lyrics to the ‘Venus’ track say: 'Goddess on the mountain top, burning like a silver flame, the summit of beauty and love, and Venus was her name. She’s got it. Yeah, baby she’s got it. I’m your Venus. I’m your fire. At your desire’. We start to warm up, moving around the Step, walking at a clipping pace. The music provides the impetus. We move straight into the second track, ‘Get Down On it’, by Peter Andre. The song is a direct challenge to dance. The pace picks up and we start walking up onto the Step, with some squats included. The ‘butt and thighs’ start to be worked now that the muscle groups are warmed up. This is a vigorous track and most people quickly take on some water at this point. At this point the energy of the dance and movement starts to be felt. The movements start to come easy. Once the rhythm is entered into then the 1-2-3-4 time is relatively easy to keep with, and when the movements are learnt they can be reproduced without much thought. The basic movements are all learnt: the simple step, over-the-top, grape-vine, turn-step, walk-over, and the stomp are a few of them. The steps can be related to particular genres of music too: a recent favorite has been the cha-cha, which involves a skip step.
Track 3 is ‘Born to be alive’ by Voyager, and an affirmation of life. The lyrics are less important now, but the beat is relentless and loud. I am starting to perspire. I concentrate on keeping up and getting the moves right. I am now completely focused on myself and watching the instructor. I cannot see others around me. I get out of rhythm at one point, feel embarrassed, but quickly find it again. We are reminded to keep the noise of our feet down. This is a safety reminder.
Track 4 is ‘Absolutely Not’ by Deborah Cox. It is a stroppy track reflecting issues of self-esteem at work. ‘Should I wear my hair in a ponytail? Should I dress myself up in Chanel? Do I measure me by what you think? Absolutely not, absolutely not’. I enjoy this track. The movements are fluid and simple and involve a move at the peak of the track where the participants mime pulling a person towards them and then kneeing them . The male instructors joke in good nature when the women enthusiastically participate in this track.
Track 5, ‘The Wreckoning’ [sic] by Boomkat is a mixed strength track where the aim is to work on the ‘butt and thighs’ after a high aerobic work rate track. The pace is slower for squats and lunges — strenuous exercises that work the big muscle groups of the legs. The song is ostensibly about a relationship break-up; a play on the word reckoning with ‘wreckoning’ (the wreck of the relationship). The other reckoning is to face the toughness and pain of the physical lunge and squat and have a reckoning with your body about its ‘true’ state of being. The time is nigh in other words to face the truth. I always feel good about this track. By this time in the session I am feeling extremely virtuous. I feel great.
Track 6 ‘I’m flying’ is one that I hate. I face my un-coordination in this track and always do it at the lowest options. I have fallen off my Step twice doing this track as I try and follow the instructor’s movements. We mimic a bird flying in the sky while we do an ‘Over-the-top’ move across the length of the Step box. The technique means we raise our arms, increasing blood flow around the body. This raises the heart rate, making the body work harder. I suffer it in silence and can’t wait for it to be over. I keep my arms down and focus on not falling over. The instructors seem to like it.
‘Situation’ (7) by Tom Jones and then ‘Disco Inferno’ (8) by Tina Turner are classic high peak tracks. Tom Jones’ voice has visceral power — deep and powerful — perfect for lunges. So, I think, I am a house-wife pretending to be Tom Jones. In the next track I am being a black woman — Tina Turner — even better. I always wanted to be born black — black people seem cooler, looser. They’re not so uptight. What would it feel like to be born a man, or black, or both? ‘Situation’ provides a strong pulsing rhythm to which we do squats which drives the heart rate up. This is another ironically named recovery track. ‘Disco Inferno’ is a faster song with the mood encouraged being ‘out-of-control’, with an flurry of physical movement to Disco moves. You have to be fit to have fun with this track. Other people work really hard, and I aspire to do the same. But, to be honest I never feel completely conscripted into the process or fit enough to lose myself in the moves. I am getting tired and slightly depressed with my inadequacies. I try to turn off my thoughts and push my body back into the music.
Patti La Belle’s gospel standard ‘Ready for a Miracle’ (9) and then Eye of the Tiger (10) are the final peak tracks. By this time we are getting near the end of the session and I really do need a miracle to get through. The instructor yells at us now, ‘Get up! Get down! Rise up! Look at me!’ She is never silent, and as she demonstrates the moves, always having to think slightly ahead of her audience (and doing everything, like Ginger Rodgers to Fred Astair, backwards), gives previews of changes in moves, demonstrating the ideal movements. The noise from feet pounding on the floor and on the step, in time, is loud, rhythmic and hypnotic. From time to time the instructor calls out to the class asking them to tell her they are OK. ‘Have you got there yet?’ ‘Is it a miracle?!!’ The pace is absolutely frenetic. At the peak of the track we all wave our hands in the air mimicking the ecstatic body movements of revelation at the height of a Pentecostal revivalist meeting. At several points during this track a few class participants yell back to the instructor, whooping to show their enjoyment of the track. The Eye of the Tiger is a novelty track and a bit of fun. The mood starts to loosen, but the beat of the track is aimed at pushing us to a final sprint towards the finish line, eking out the last spurt of energy, leaving me completely spent.
My favorite part of the session is next – the press-up and sit-up track. I have come to love press-ups — I really don’t know why as my arms are as weak as a kittens’. I push myself really hard. I try and ignore the instructor — she is background noise. I don’t have to look at her any more and I settle into my own rhythm to the music. The song is ‘My Time’ by Dutch. The lyrics say, ‘Been a long time since I saw my own mind … I was moving in the shadows, always looking at the past … Always, always, put my faith in new days ... I dancing and I’m feeling fine … This is my time, this is my time’.
The final stretch track is ‘Cruisin’ sung by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis. The song is melodic. It is about surrender and release. ‘Let the music take your mind’ it says, ‘Just release and you will find … , You're gonna fly (away), Yeah, I'm glad you're going my way'.... The stretches are genuinely relaxing. The instructors pose like statues on the stage, moving from one fluid position to the next. I am sometimes reluctant to leave one stretch for the next. As the last stretch is completed and the music fades, we pat ourselves on our backs. This move of self-congratulation is part of the choreography. Everyone puts their things away and some move off to the shower. I stop and talk quickly with another regular attendee. I feel pretty good and am glad I made the effort to come. Then we all hurry off to get on with our day, appointments and work.
Understanding Service as Intangible involving a Transition, and the Service Concept
A service delivers an intangible product. A service is something that has no physical or material presence (although it can be attached to material products in a service bundle). According to Phillip Mills "Everything we do is just about invisible”. LM tangibilises experience (makes the intangible tangible) through video, training DVDs with choreography, notes, and other educational material, fashion and a vigorous branding platform.
Les Mills International delivers group exercise experiences. During the course of a customer's experience journey with Les Mills they will go through transitions in their whole selves - emotionally (their feelings), physically (their bodies), aesthetically (how they look), and spiritually (their sense of completeness and one-ness with the world). This is not an exaggeration - see the narrative above as all these aspects of these transformations are experienced during the participant's journey and are symbolically communicated through the group fitness system (which will be explained in more detail shortly).
This transition is illustrated below:
The service concept in general is explained below:
Phillip Mills himself explains the core of what the service concept is in a Les Mills group fitness class: results and motivation, and the ways that they have built a focused understanding of the value proposition of their business. The video is aimed at potential licensees of Les Mills. As explained above, Les Mills International are using a type of franchise model to expand, which is common with service businesses. Phillip Mills is 'selling' the brand to other business, a type of Business to Business (or 2B2) communication, because other businesses are Les Mills International major customers. Despite being an 'infomercial' the following video provides some insights into how Les Mills International works, and what their priorities are.
Notes
Note 1: Of course the logic of the outside-in perspective leads to a strengthening of the already powerful notion that the 'Customer is King' (or Queen). This is one reason for the need to for us to understand our obligations as consumers (I prefer to remember that consumer is a subset of the word citizen). One of my favorite sayings is "Your wish is my command" from the musical 'Annie'. This saying is a reminder of the reciprocal obligations between service organisations and citizen-consumers to provide services and products responsibly; that consumers have a mutual responsibility in other words and their desire (for things and services) does not preclude ethical behaviour.
References
Johnston, R., & Clark, G. (2008). Service operations management: Imporving service delivery. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
