Author: robhill

Make Grit a Habit

Date:

In the 2010 remake of True Grit, Arkansas farm girl Mattie Ross sets out on a quest to track down her father’s murderer. Knowing her journey will take her over tough terrain and across the paths of some ornery dudes, the feisty 14-year-old enlists the help of a boozy, trigger-happy lawman named Rooster Cogburn.

“They tell me you’re a man with true grit,” Mattie says to Cogburn, whom she somehow figures is just the man for the job, despite outward appearances. Later joined by a Texas Ranger on the trail of the same outlaw, Mattie, Cogburn and the Ranger each has his or her grit tested in different ways.

Similarly, our own grit (call it perseverance, resolve or steadfastness, if you like) is tested on a regular basis. Dr. Angela Duckworth, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder and CEO of Character Lab, is well-respected on the topic of grit and how to build more of it. In her book “Grit: The Power and Passion of Perseverance,” she writes: “Where talent counts once, effort counts twice.” In fact, she has reduced her research findings to the following formula:

Talent x Effort = Skill

Skill x Effort = Achievement

So, how do superintendents and other managers of golf courses and clubs develop more grit to achieve more of their goals? Here are seven suggestions:

  1. Start by doing what interests you. If grit is a result of passionate commitment, it is wise to choose a field or projects that matter to you. Choose a field and pursue accomplishments worthy of your best efforts. You know the old saying: Make your job your hobby, and you’ll never work a day in your life.
  2. Surround yourself with gritty, determined people. In his story of incredible survival against the ravages of the Antarctic sea, Earnest Shackleton noted that it was the dogged determination of key crew members that made the difference in living and surviving. Likewise, acclaimed management guru Jim Collins advises managers to get the right people on the bus with you and see that they are in the right seats.
  3. Establish a clear-cut plan of action. Managing others requires that all involved fully understand and support the plan. Educate, inform and paint the picture of the successful outcome. Reiterate goals and objectives continually. Commit the plan to writing and support it with visual cues wherever appropriate and possible. One finds his or her way home when remembering clearly what “home” means to them.
  4. Dare to succeed. Fear of failure is called atychiphobia in the scientific community. The antidote is courage, which can be learned and developed. Push beyond your comfort zone. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do something that scares you every day.” Some managers are afraid of failing or appearing to be a “failure.” Be brave and strive for higher, bigger and better goals. These goals should be a core part of your plan.
  5. Be conscientious. Pursue goals in a consistent and resolute manner. Do the right things right and help those around you to do the same. Learn from small losses along the way; celebrate wins in their time. Revisit your goals daily and remind people why they’re important to the bigger picture.
  6. Prepare for and embrace difficulty. Peyton Manning practiced throwing wet footballs, knowing there would be rainy Sundays. Golfers at Oklahoma State University are taught to relish bad weather with the certainty that they will be better prepared than their competition. Bad weather or poor conditions become a competitive advantage to that mindset. OSU’s longtime golf coach, Labron Harris, taught his players that one must put his hands close to the fire if you want to get warm.
  7. Pursue excellence. Perfection is often unattainable, while excellence is an attitude that rewards the determined few. Faithfully pursuing excellence enables successful results and an emboldened team. It was Aristotle who wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Similarly, grit is not an act as much as it is a habit, an attribute that can be more fully developed with careful thought and advance planning. About you, would they say: “They tell me you’re someone with true grit?”

GGA’s Henry DeLozier penned this article for Golf Course Industry Magazine.

Agronomic Planning – Avoid Canine Brunch

Date:

Those who know our firm are aware of the value we place on plans that focus resources and actions against strategic goals and objectives. But too often our plans turn into something resembling a dog’s breakfast: a mess of opportunity, necessity and happenstance. To avoid agronomic plans that are similarly inconsistent and random, here are three steps that will give an agronomic plan order and purpose while showcasing the author’s professionalism.

1. Educate

Golf course superintendents are agronomic experts with scientific training and specialized knowledge. Club and course managers are similarly well-educated professionals. They are keenly interested in the results supers produce, but not so sure how they pull it off. Therefore, superintendents’ plans must educate, providing the knowledge and understanding that help course owners, club directors and fellow management professionals see the inherent logic and forethought.

An informative agronomic plan:

States standards of excellence. Mowing and trimming frequency, height of cut and fertility programs need to be explained beyond frequency or fertilizer blends so club and course managers understand how the superintendent’s tactics connect with the facility’s overall goals and objectives. Once they do, they can become supporters of the plan.

Environmental objectives should be considered in this same context. Elements of the conservation plan should be described to help club managers understand the use of pesticides and standard practices for water taking. Information about beekeeping, bird and bat houses, and milkweed cultivation for butterflies, for example, also reinforces the facility’s overall sustainability efforts that can be passed along to members and customers.

Explains importance of standards. Many become confused when asked, “Why is that practice so important?” The superintendent who uses the agronomic plan to educate helps golfers be even more supportive and understanding.

Quantify needs. Measure everything and see that every line item in the budget is backed up with specific data points for acres or square feet being mowed, irrigated, fertilized and kept. Every number in the budget should have support tied to key data points. For example, labor – including wages and benefits – is increasing significantly in most markets across North America. Fuel prices are likely to remain volatile with the risk of sudden increases driven by geopolitical events.

Express aspiration. Describe your vision for the golf course. Be brave in setting higher standards for your facility. Describe improvements that can enhance the reputation and earning power of your course.

2. Organize

While there is the need to educate, club managers can become weary reading about unfamiliar agronomic standards and practices. Help hold their interest by organizing your plan. Starting from mission critical, first cover the most important topics – care and upkeep standards, expense and budget management, and expected outcomes. Then describe routine matters and needs that preserve working conditions and standards of excellence. Last, address matters such as storage needs and practices, staff training and break-room amenities.

3. Paint a Picture

Photography, video and other graphics can be highly valuable support tools for your audience. People who are not scientific experts need the additional understanding that imagery provides.

  • Show intended results. Teach readers of the plan and what they should expect in terms of denser turf, deeper color in maintained turf, reduced pesticide use and reduced water consumption.
  • Provide graphics for such details as mowing patterns and explain why your crew mows greens from different alignments.
  • Show how carefully your usage of manpower is planned. Help others understand that you command your category of expertise with knowledge and experience.
  • Support budget projections and expense trends with graphs and third-party data sources. Show the actual expense history of your course and how your own trend tracks local, regional and national patterns.

GGA’s Henry DeLozier penned this article for Golf Course Industry Magazine.

Finding New Members

Date:

The need to grow membership keeps me up at night. Where should clubs focus their attention to find new members?

A bleary-eyed Keith Richards awoke with music in his head. He switched on the recorder and laid down the riff that everyone now knows to be the lead-in for “(Ain’t Got No) Satisfaction.” And, then, promptly fell back asleep. “When I woke up in the morning, the tape had run out,” Richards recalled. “I put it back on, and there’s this, maybe, 30 seconds of ‘Satisfaction’ . . . and then suddenly the guitar goes ‘CLANG,’ and then there’s like 45 minutes of snoring”.

It’s the need for better and more actionable market knowledge costing many club managers sleep. In fact, recent research from Global Golf Advisors (GGA) finds that [only] 6.5 percent of 4,400 private clubs in North America are full with a waiting list of members hoping to join. Or, nine-in-ten clubs are searching for members. But, where? And how?

Michael Gregory at GGA offers important points of focus:

  1. Win the Kids – Understand where the best school districts are if you want members for a family-oriented club. Clubs are especially important to families during their child-rearing years.
  2. Win the Moms – Offering a wide assortment of programs and activities engages women who cast the veto-vote in most to-buy-or-not-to-buy membership decisions. Moms search for clubs that meet most of the family’s needs.
  3. Do Your Homework – Market information concerning housing, demographic and psychographic trends is readily available in most markets, so do the research to understand the push and pull factors that matter most locally

The market factors that are key to generating more members are surging consumer confidence, favourable employment statistics, increasing household income and advanced educational attainment. Private club members tend to be found on the positive side of these indicators.

Sometimes inspiration appears in the middle of the night. For most club managers the results that keep your club at the top of the charts requires consistent pursuit of market knowledge and future member insights.

GGA’s Henry DeLozier penned this article for Club Director Magazine, Published by the National Club Association.

The Equalizer

Date:

At one point in Neil Simon’s Tony Award-winning Biloxi Blues, Sgt. Merwin Toomey tells his young recruit, Eugene Morris Jerome, “If there were no such thing as problems, we could all go home at lunch.”

As managers, regardless of title or type of facility, we’re all problem solvers – or we better be. Not only do most of us face enough problems to keep us from going home at lunch, but solving them is also what is expected of us by our boards, general managers, owners and employees.

The best problem solvers share a number of characteristics:

  • They plan for problems. Many managers develop sound and well-conceived plans. Then something unexpected happens. Effective planners develop back-up plans to deal with unforeseen or unintended outcomes.
  • They use rigorous logic and progressive-step methods of analysis. They organize their work into constructive increments.
  • They tap into substantial reserves of research and data to make fact-base decisions. But they’re also capable of learning on the fly. They can harness emerging information, and search for patterns from previous study and experience to extract the underlying essence of how things work.
  • They are comfortable being uncomfortable. They often enjoy the challenge of unfamiliar problems.
  • They continually expand their network of resources. They use professional and peer networks to learn how others have dealt with similar challenges.
  • They research other business segments and disciplines for solutions to similar problems. They leave no stones unturned. If more research is needed, they dig back in to explore creative ideas, continually testing new theories and hunches.
  • They are positive, determined and patient. They roll up their sleeves and get to work, knowing that problems seldom solve themselves and that a solution exists for every problem.
  • And when the solution is found, they share so their fellow professionals can learn from the problem and the solution-finding process. Writing white papers for magazines or presenting your experience in peer-study programs expands everyone’s knowledge and proves you to be a tireless learner and a genuine professional.

In contrast, unskilled problem solvers struggle to find new solutions in time-worn practices. They often miss the complexity of an issue and try to force-fit simplistic solutions.

Effective leaders and managers develop their problem-solving skills through a variety of means: formal continuing education, trial-and-error and with the help of mentors. While there is no substitute for the experience of having faced a major problem and figured out a solution, you also can learn to be a more effective problem solver. Here are three strategies:

Get help

The golf business offers terrific resources, including associations, consultants and peers who have a shared interest in helping to find the best solution. Some people are too proud to ask for assistance, but their stubborn and prideful isolation not only compounds the original problem but deprives them of relationships with the many generous and knowledgeable people in our business.

Work the problem

One need not solve all problems or even every aspect of one. It’s like the answer to the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” One bite at a time. The key is to break the problem into manageable chunks, solve that part of the problem and move on to the next step. If you have a strategic plan, prioritizing problems becomes easier because your plan tells you which problems are standing in the way of meeting your objectives.

Reverse engineer

Stephen Covey advised “begin with the end in mind,” which is the approach of diligent problem solvers. What will success look like? What will it take – whether it’s capital, labor or persuasion – to get there? Reverse engineering brings focus to the intended outcome. Use it as your magnetic north.

Our jobs surround us with problems, making problem solving the unwritten part of every job description. The better problem solver you become, the more valuable you will be in any position your career takes you.

GGA’s Henry DeLozier penned this article for Golf Course Industry.

Monitoring Club Performance through Board Policy

Date:

Monitoring club performance is essential for the Board to be accountable to members. The trend in business and non-profit organizations is for data driven decision-making. Boards and GMs prefer objective measurement of goal achievement by using key performance indicators (KPIs) tracked on scorecards and dashboards. It is also important for the Board to evaluate its own performance regularly, at least annually. In essence, what gets measured gets managed.

The Policy Governance Principle of Rigorous Monitoring must be applied consistently through Board Policy.  Performance is best measured against agreed-upon criteria. Some of the items listed below are of a tactical or practical nature. However, they support Policy Governance principles and the Club Governance Model.

The Board’s Role in Goal Setting

The Board has an important role in not only establishing its own goals, but also in ensuring that the General Manager (GM) has every opportunity to be successful when establishing his/her annual goals. The Board is responsible for the following items:

  1. Determine the club’s strategy, its major goals and desired outcomes
  2. Set appropriate limits for the GM through the establishment of executive limitations policies
  3. Provide the GM with the authority, flexibility, and resources to successfully complete agreed-upon goals in the allotted time
  4. Specify the objective results goals, the ends – the term used in the Carver Policy Governance Model.
  5. Monitor Board and GM performance including holding itself accountable

Make Monitoring Club Performance a Board Policy

Monitoring club performance should not be left to chance. It must be set out in writing and agreed to, in advance, by the Board and GM. Monitoring is Board policy. The following items explain how to incorporate monitoring club performance into policy:

  1. Incorporate the club strategic plan, the Board and GM’s goals into the Board Policy Manual (BPM), directly or by appendices.
  2. Incorporate the monitoring of the GM’s performance into the BPM with sufficient detail to make monitoring as automatic as possible using a specified process, consistent documents and scheduled times.
  3. Incorporate the GM’s performance evaluation into the BPM for clarity and consistency.

Management’s Role in Goal Setting

Management must take an active role in setting goals and monitoring performance. A passive approach leads to undefined and unattainable goals resulting in poor performance reviews. As the Board’s only employee, the GM not only participates with the Board in setting his/her goals, the GM then communicates these goals to the management team. Ideally, the GM’s goals, and therefore the Board’s goals, are consistently communicated to every staff member to align all activity and maximize the use of club resources. Management is responsible for the following items:

  1. Determine the means – Once the goal is set and clearly defined, communicate to the Board that management will decide how the goal is accomplished. Management must secure the authority, within executive limitations, to accomplish the goal without the undue interference. Responsibility without corresponding authority defeats accountability. It is better to be reminded than instructed.
  2. Determine limitations – Report what cannot be done with valid reasons why and ensure that unrelated outcomes are not bundled into a goal. Goals must be achievable. This is often determined by a dues-based budget. Many clubs set stretch goals that cannot be achieved based on the level of funding from dues and other sources.  Avoid moving goalposts and undefined targets; management must be diligent in avoiding goal creep. Similarly, overarching subjective goals should be avoided.
  3. Establish the monitoring process – when-what-where-in what form-to whom. The timing of interim reports is particularly important. Simplify the monitoring and reporting process using KPIs, dashboards, and scorecards. A simple and clean visual representation is better than pages of text.

This article was authored by GGA Director and Governance expert George Pinches.

Will Women Save Golf?

Date:

Golf has a tendency to exist in a vacuum, one where blinders we sometimes wear with pride make us inattentive to happenings outside the confines of our green fairways. But looking away from one of the most important issues of the day could have calamitous consequences.

2018 may well go down in modern history as the year of the woman and the fight courageous women waged for respect and opportunity. What started as a backlash against a Hollywood movie mogul by women trapped by his influence has spread to other parts of society and is now part of the daily dialogue. It should also be part of the conversations we’re having in golf.

Leading up to the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, Erna Solberg, the prime minister of Norway, and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, wrote that “time is up for discrimination and abuse against women. The time has come for women to thrive.”

They went on to say that “giving women and girls the opportunity to succeed is not only the right thing to do, but can also transform societies and economies.” If that opportunity has transformative global potential, just think what it could do for golf.

More women in leadership roles – on boards, as general managers, as department heads, as executive directors of allied associations – would do wonders for golf. I continue to be dismayed when I see panels composed of middle-aged white men at industry events. What perspectives are we missing that could inform better decision-making? What experiences are we not aware of that could help us fix problems on and off the course? What nuances are we tone deaf to that would make the game, our courses and our facilities more engaging?

We’ll never know until women have the opportunity to demonstrate their leadership abilities. And we won’t know the consequences of those omissions until participation and diversity have dwindled even further. Dare we risk that? Golf’s good-old-boys club took us so far. It’s also one of the reasons momentum has stalled.

There is urgency because, as we have seen dramatic evidence of already this year, women are not content to wait for change to come to them. But are the mostly male leaders of golf and its mostly private clubs prepared to examine their own practices and begin to open the right doors?

Introspection starts close to home. Boards can mandate women fill a minimum number of seats around the table. They can also require that job searches include women (and minorities). General managers can make educational and career-experience opportunities available to women so when management positions become available women and men are competing on a level playing field. Clubs can take the necessary steps to help women stay active in the workplace while raising a family. And without question, clubs can compensate women and men on an equal basis for jobs with similar requirements and responsibility.

Enlightened perspectives should also be customer facing for obvious reasons:

  • Women are driving the global economy – the women’s market is growing at a faster growth rate than men.
  • Women are responsible for $20 trillion U.S. dollars in annual consumer spending.
  • Women have a high level of commitment and loyalty.
  • Women share positive experiences.

But (news flash!) there are considerable barriers that women must overcome to gain the respect and opportunity most men are granted with few questions. Almost 90 percent of countries have one or more gender-based legal restrictions holding back women. Fortunately, those legal restrictions do not exist in the United States. But we all know that there are other barriers that can be onerous and restrictive, and we don’t have to look outside our own organizations to see them. Clubs ignore those hurdles and discriminatory practices at their own peril.

We must realize that recognizing and rewarding women’s potential is critical to the future of golf and golf clubs. We may be swimming against the tide of tradition in some cases, but the best practice seems simply to make the most of everybody’s talents.

The tide has shifted, the momentum has changed. Today’s conversation focuses on broad social change led by women and – yes – men who are speaking out against outdated views that hold all of us back. Helping women make the most of their potential is a job for all of us, and it’s time to get started.

GGA’s Henry DeLozier penned this article for Golf Course Industry.

GGA Education Events Isolate Themes & Challenges Facing Club Leaders

Date:

Golf club executives have come together on both sides of the Atlantic as GGA continues its program of insight-led educational Symposiums, that deliver insights, research and current trends influencing golf club business success.

Against the backdrop of Loch Lomond Golf Club in Scotland and Scarboro Golf & Country Club in Canada, senior figures in the club industry discussed the challenges, issues and successes of the past year and forecasted opportunities and possible difficulties for the next 12 months.

Managing Partner of GGA’s EMEA Practice, Rob Hill, who directed the European Symposium in Scotland, said: “Our Symposiums foster a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration among club leaders, many of whom are tackling the same challenges and are eager to learn from each other’s successes. This, backed by GGA’s key findings and research, provides a foundation of confidence and focus for the year ahead.”

The Scotland and Canada Symposiums touched on a vast array of topics ranging from far-reaching global trends to granular, market-specific issues managers are typically experiencing, including strategic thinking, business intelligence, member satisfaction, capital expenditures, membership growth, governance and manager-led panel discussion.

Key Takeaways:

The Symposiums isolated a number of key themes and challenges club managers are set to face in the year ahead:

  • Strategic thinking is a challenge everywhere, particularly among club Boards. Challenges in defining strategy, remaining strategic at the Board level, and qualifying the elements of a strategic plan are widespread.
  • Business intelligence resources are in high demand. Many clubs indicated that they do not have all the data they need to make strategic assessments and key business decisions, particularly as they relate to local-market understanding, member satisfaction, club utilization habits, and evaluating club finances.
  • Member Satisfaction is paramount. Club managers believe that understanding members’ satisfaction, current habits, and future preferences is essential to a happy club environment. Empirically and anecdotally, there was strong correlation between overall member satisfaction and evaluations of a club’s social atmosphere, food and beverage operation, and clubhouse quality/condition.
  • Millennials and Generation X are top of mind. While tactics for recruitment and sentiments for the viability of these audiences varied significantly among regions and participating managers, it is evident that understanding the future generation of club members is a hot topic for club managers and a concern for some.
  • Governance is both a source of strength and adversity. Clubs are constantly facing challenges to govern effectively and implement governing infrastructure which supports the organization’s strategic vision. At clubs where governance is characterized by strategic thinking, written policy, and efficient, purposeful deliberation, success often follows.
  • Clubs are considering the following key initiatives for 2018:
    • Strategic Plan implementation: implementing/executing golf course masterplans, facilities masterplans, determining club brands, or evaluating club relevance to current/future members.
    • Governance reviews: reviewing governance practices, ensuring governance models are more ‘business’ appropriate, implementing Board Policy Manuals, and operating with greater transparency and more communication.
    • Membership changes: evaluating membership categories, measuring member utilization, focusing on maintaining existing members, and assessing approaches to attract Millennials/Generation X.
    • Financial monitoring: increasing the measurement of goals and financial performance through business intelligence/satisfaction surveys/employee surveys, assessing costs and benefits of process improvements through technology/robotics, and monitoring labor costs.
    • Environmental assessments: gauging the cost and potential impacts of processes focused on sustainability, ecology, and environmental stewardship.
    • Capital replenishment: conducting capital reserve studies, building capital reserves, exploring new methods of capital funding, gaining member support for CapEx through digital communications (i.e. video information rather than Town Hall meetings; estimating vote projections through online surveys; electronic voting for easier capture and analysis), and improving the monitoring capital maintenance requirements.

Rob added: “While these learnings represent only macro-level, shared sentiments among participating European and North American club managers, they point toward an auspicious outlook for the 2018 golf season, one defined by a focus on data-driven decision-making and informed strategy.”

Symposiums provide an opportunity to connect with club managers and to share the latest and fullest extent of GGA’s wealth of industry knowledge observed through client assignments and extensive market analysis. Partner Henry DeLozier, said: “At GGA we believe that one must share knowledge so that all may benefit. None of us owns knowledge.”

New Study Reveals The Truth About Millennial Golfers

Date:

• 75% of avid Millennial golfers will consider joining a private club in the future
• Age 33 is the ‘sweet spot’ when avid Millennials are most likely to join a club
• Flexibility, customization and non-golfer amenities among key solutions for clubs

Three-quarters of avid Millennial golfers will consider joining a private club in the future – with age 33 being the most likely age to join – but they are less minded to pay entrance fees, preferring flexible pay-for-use membership options.

These are the findings of a newly updated study, ‘The Truth About Millennial Golfers,’ published by GGA in collaboration with Millennial golfer organization Nextgengolf.

The survey of 2,275 active, avid golfers aged primarily 18-25 across the United States found that nearly half (48%) would consider joining a private club in the next 3-10 years.

The most influential factors in the decision to join a private club are recommendations from friends, family or colleagues (83%), a positive experience attending a tournament or wedding at the club (64%) and attending a reception or cocktail party to promote membership (25%).

However, the cost of membership combined with a fear of commitment and lack of utilization are among the most significant barriers to join a private club, the survey found.

Of those surveyed, 43% said they would prefer to pay more annually rather than an entrance fee, with 51% saying they would prefer a flexible membership combining a low social fee granting them full access to the club with golf on a pay-per-use basis.

The report highlights how private clubs can adapt and develop their offering to meet the needs of the next generation of members. Specifically, avid Millennial golfers see socializing and non-golf amenities such as fitness (71%), access for the entire family (65%) and a pool (62%) as important influencing factors in their decisions to join a private club.

Launching the report at the CMAA 91st World Conference in San Francisco, GGA Senior Manager Michael Gregory said: “To date there has been relatively little research into this group of golfers, yet they are the next generation of private club members and clubs need to factor this into today’s strategic planning and decision making.

“While it is reassuring that 75% of avid Millennial golfers are prepared to consider private club membership in the future, the reality is that they have different wants, needs and expectations. Clubs need to think about greater flexibility and customization in membership, targeting Millennials earlier when aspirations to join a club are higher and before family commitments kick in, plus the need for socializing and non-golf amenities.

“Otherwise, over the next ten years, private clubs vying for this target market will feel greater pressure to lower entrance fees and replace this cost with an annual capital fee.”

Matt Weinberger, COO and Co-Founder of Nextgengolf, said: “Our mission is to support, enable and provide opportunities for college students and golfers in their 20’s and 30’s – keeping them in the game and making golf more relevant.

“We hope this research provides valuable insights about Millennial golfers, the challenges they face and the opportunities for private clubs to help support the long-term sustainability of the game and the industry as a whole.”

The Truth About Millennial Golfers is available to download free of charge HERE.

Press Release – 9th March 2018.

Is Your Club Truly Member-Centric?

Date:

In 2017, Toymaker LEGO announced that revenues had hit a record high, rising 6 per cent to DKr37.9bn (stg£4.4bn) – the highest ever annual level recorded in its 85-year history. Profits were also higher, with operating profit up 1.7 per cent to DKr12.4bn and net profit up 2.2 per cent to DKr9.4bn.

LEGO is a remarkable success story considering that, almost 15 years ago, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. Though it was a transformational strategy, led by CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, which sparked the unprecedented turnaround in fortunes, significant emphasis was placed on the contribution that customer insights played in the turnaround.

“We never take customers’ enthusiasm for granted. We reward them by showing that we listen to and care about their feedback. I also tell customers that they fulfil another vital role: They are an avenue to the truth. And in today’s world, a CEO needs every avenue to the truth that he or she can find.”

 From my experience, the majority of club leaders stress the importance of understanding their members in order to stay relevant in today’s fast-changing external environment. So why is it that so few clubs seek to systematically listen to their members and as a result, are constantly reacting to change rather than planning for it? Why is it they are reluctant to travel this “avenue to the truth”?

To be truly member-centric, club boards must use member insights in major strategic decisions and core processes, not just member-facing ones.

Our analysis indicates that, actually, this is rarely the case. A recent global survey, undertaken by GGA, examined several hundred clubs to find which conducted annual member research. The reported benchmark range for clubs who do conduct annual member research was found to be between 10%-20%, with the norm being just 15%-16%.

Member insights provide an essential window into the change that lies ahead through their perceptions, needs, preferences, behaviours and attitudes. Gathering, tracking and applying such insights can empower a club to lead rather than react. It allows them to match strategy and implementation to their environment, and to prepare for change rather than responding to it.

In his book Good to Great (2001), management guru Jim C. Collins cites 5 elements of member-centric associations;

  1. Culture. A documented, shared understanding among all staff, embraced and touted by leadership, which defines expectations on how the association interacts with members.
  2. Metrics – Tracking, measuring and responding to data that defines success through the eyes of its members and for the organization. One of the 7 Measures of Success pillars is being data-driven.
  3. Knowledge – Belief and practices on collecting, sharing and responding to the challenges, needs and expectations of members.
  4. Technology – Planning, managing and leveraging tools (e.g., database, social media) to collect, share, and deliver information to all stakeholders in a timely manner.
  5. Segmentation – Developing profiles of and understanding specific groups, or segments, of members to deliver on their expectations and to increase retention rates.

How does your club score in relation to these member-centric qualifications? Think back on recent “leadership” or “planning” meetings you attended at your club. In how many instances did member insights, measured evidence, inform a final decision?

In the oft-quoted words of Wayne Gretzky, leaders will find deep and relevant member insights will guide a club in “skating to where the puck is going, not to where it’s been.”

Rob Hill is a Partner at GGA’s EMEA Office, based outside Dublin, Ireland.

Creating Strong Club Culture

Date:

“CULTURE EATS STRATEGY for breakfast,” said management guru Peter Drucker. For clubs, culture is governance, and private club strategy—no matter how good and well-conceived—will be a victim to poor governance.

According to Fred Laughlin, nonprofit governance expert and a Director at Global Golf Advisors (GGA), “the board speaks with one voice—in writing,” in clubs that are well governed. When you omit either one of two key concepts in the phrase, you invite dysfunctions.

Take out “one voice” and you have a board of factions. While diversity of thought around the board table is healthy, speaking with multiple voices outside the boardroom confuses the members, frustrates the general manager and discourages the board members whose voice is not heard.

Take out “in writing” means the board must choose another way to communicate policies, which usually comes from the person with the most power or influence, the largest faction of followers or the loudest voice. Such verbal policies are ephemeral, lasting only if the person or group stays in power.

Following is a useful three-question test concerning the governance at your club:

1. Are we who we claim to be? The brand promise in most private clubs is that the club will provide an enjoyable lifestyle for its members. Lifestyle varies from club to club; the promise does not vary where the culture of the club is genuine.

2. Are we doing what is right for the members? Often boards deliberate what is allowed under the bylaws. Sometimes the proceedings ask: What options will the members tolerate? Great boards concern themselves with the moral compass that points to doing what is right. Truthfulness, dependability and openness are terms most often cited in private club member surveys concerning expectations of the board.

3. Are we truly servant leaders? Servant leadership places the point of focus on those served ahead of focusing on those serving. Great and successful clubs share the characteristic of strong servant leadership.

Strategy flourishes in clubs with cultures that foster great governance. Great strategy is simple in its description and thorough in its formulation. Effective strategy depends upon a culture borne of trustworthy governance.

An indicator of a club with weak governance is timid and has ambiguous goals that hold no one accountable for their achievement.

How Does a Club Implement Strategic Thinking?

“Putting strategy to work is the key,” according to Derek Johnston, a partner at Global Golf Advisors. GGA recommends a shortlist of primary actions to ensure strategy is alive and functioning at the highest level.

  • Strategy must be an agenda item at every board meeting. Strategic plan review enables the board to adhere to strategy. Progress toward goals should be reported into every board meeting by either the long-range planning chair or the club manager.
  • Keep score on strategy. The strategic scorecard is a valuable tool that enables the board to focus on the key strategic goals and objectives. As simple as a financial performance dashboard, the strategic scorecard shows each goal or objective across the horizontal axis with the monthly or quarterly (depending upon the frequency of your board meetings) forming the vertical axes. Progress updates should be summarized at every board meeting.
  • Socialize strategy. See that the management staff is fully informed of the key strategic goals. More importantly, see that everyone on staff understands and is committed to the strategy that the board has set.
  • Publish the club’s strategic plan. Members want to know that their club operates in a responsible manner. Make the club’s strategy available to all members in ways that ensure that the strategic plan is not passed throughout the local community and into the hands of competitor clubs. It is important for club members to know what is and is not included within the clubs’ strategy.

Discipline and attention is necessary for private club boards responsible for preserving and enhancing the best attributes of the club.

Written by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier, this article was originally written for and published by Club Director Magazine in January 2018.

Menu