Tag: Culture

Staffing For Success: Part 3

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Game Plan – Henry DeLozier‘s monthly column in Golf Course Industry Magazine – continues its series on staffing for success with the third of three installments. After looking at how the pandemic has afforded club and course managers the opportunity to reevaluate their teams (Staffing for Success: Part 1) and strategies for finding and hiring the right team members (Staffing for Success: Part 2), we turn to creating a culture that inspires and retains top performers.

Culture: The Secret Sauce of Success

A Supreme Court justice once defined obscenity by not defining it. “I know it when I see it,” Justice Potter Stewart famously said in 1964. It seems that an organization’s culture might fit into the same category: difficult to define, but obvious once illuminated.

The difficulty in defining organizational culture is because it is so many things at once. An amalgamation of personality, values, reputation, purpose, style and traditions framed by a set of written and unwritten rules developed over time and considered inviolable. Put them all in a pot, let them simmer for a while — a few years or maybe a few decades — and what’s left is culture!

Culture then is nothing less than an organization’s heart and soul, and its importance rivals any other asset or advantage. It is the glue that holds the organization together. It inspires loyalty in employees and motivates them to act consistently and pridefully. It influences them to perform at a high level because they feel a responsibility to uphold their end of the cultural bargain.

Culture is also an important factor in retaining top performers. Randstad, the international employment and recruitment firm, lists toxic cultures with poor pay, limited career opportunities, lack of challenging work, lack of recognition and work-life imbalance as the leading reasons people leave their jobs. There is an urgent need to pay attention to the culture growing around your club or course or risk losing top talent.

If this amorphous entity known as culture is so critical, what steps can you take, what keywords can you prioritize for search engines and what KPIs do you elevate to bake it into your organization? If only creating or transforming culture were so easy. Every winning culture is part of a unique set of attributes and characteristics that cannot be invented or imposed. It must be discovered from within.

But that doesn’t mean you should sit back and wait for culture to reveal itself — or for it to form in ways that could be detrimental to your future success. The road to a sustainable and winning culture ensures that employees:

 

  • Understand the club’s/course’s vision and how they contribute to it. When everyone knows where their leaders are steering the ship, it’s much easier to get people onboard and for employees to feel good about rowing.
  • Know how their performance is measured and what their personal success looks like. What results are expected? Are there both quantifiable and qualitative measures?
  • Are consistently recognized for contributions that meet and exceed goals. Nothing is more motivating than recognition in front of colleagues.
  • Recognize a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Employees of color and minorities want to see evidence that their opinions and work is valued and that they’re on a level playing field.
  • Feel that their managers are taking steps to safeguard their health and well-being. In a post-pandemic world, employees want to feel confident that their job is not putting them and their families in danger.
  • Are rewarded through a set of personal, flexible, creative benefits. Baby boomers, millennials and Gen Xers think about benefits and perks differently. To make them meaningful, managers must understand what each employee values most.

In addition to helping retain top performers, an engaging and embracing culture also has competitive advantages, particularly when it comes to sustaining high performance. Bain & Company research found that nearly 70 percent of business leaders agree that culture provides the greatest source of competitive advantage. In fact, more than 80 percent believe an organization that lacks a high-performance culture is doomed to mediocrity.

Culture may not be the easiest thing to define, but you can take steps that encourage a culture in which your organization thrives. You can’t rush culture, but you’ll know it when you see it.

This article was authored by Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry magazine.

Staffing For Success: Part 2

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Game Plan – Henry DeLozier‘s monthly column in Golf Course Industry Magazine – continues its series on staffing for success with the second of three installments. After looking at how the pandemic has afforded club and course managers the opportunity to reevaluate their teams and redefine job descriptions in Staffing for Success: Part 1, we turn to finding and hiring the right team members.

As businesses reshape themselves into leaner and more efficient operations, top performers are the best value their money can buy.

A great many Americans are currently unemployed and looking for a job. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6.7 percent of the labor force — more than 10 million people — is out of work. Finding top performers for rising needs in club management roles should be easy work, right? If only it were a simple matter of statistics.

As management professionals in any business know, the magic is finding the right person for the right job. With the war for talent continuing to escalate, we turn to three experts to help us identify the best practices for optimum staffing in these turbulent times.

Jim Collins: Get the right people on the bus

Step one, as management thinker Jim Collins advises in his bestseller “Good to Great,” is to start by “getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats” before heading down the proverbial highway. In other words, focus on “who” before determining “what.”

Those who build great organizations make sure they have a busload of people who can adapt and perform brilliantly no matter what comes next. Selecting the right people is a matter of clearly deciding what types of people — attitudes, talents, backgrounds, skillsets — are needed to enable your team to accomplish great things.

Jeff Bezos: Ask these three questions

The Amazon founder uses a straightforward three-question guide for hiring key employees. Bezos’ three questions offer direct application to the management of golf and private clubs and are particularly useful during unpredictable circumstances.

1. Will you admire this person?

“If you think about the people you’ve admired in your life, they are probably people you’ve been able to learn or take an example from,” Bezos says. This discipline requires that management first knows who he or she is and has a clear-eyed understanding of the strengths and benefits that are needed for any position. Hiring managers do well to ask themselves:

  • What traits and attributes inspire me to be my best?
  • What do we need?
  • To what do we aspire?

2. Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they are entering?

Will the candidate increase the efficiency within the organization? Is he or she able to see around the corner and anticipate needs? Are they willing to challenge established norms and traditions? (Should course setup be executed in the afternoon instead of first thing each day? Can mechanical work be executed after hours by veterans who need extra work?)

3. Along what dimension might the person be a superstar?

Listen to candidates’ answers. Push for details. Ask follow-up questions to understand how your candidate thinks and imagines your operation. One is more likely to be a superstar when he or she is encouraged to make others better.

Regina Hartley: Hire the scrapper

Throughout her 25-year UPS career — working in talent acquisition, succession planning, learning and development, employee relations, and communications — Hartley has seen how people with passion and purpose will astound you when given the opportunity. That’s why she says, “Hire the scrapper.” She defines scrappers as people who have had to fight against the odds to get ahead. They differ from those she calls the “silver spoons” — people who have had clear advantages in their lives and from birth seem destined for success.

Before tossing the résumé of someone who has obviously scrapped his or her way to the experience and skills that qualify them for a job in your organization, at least give them an interview, Hartley says: “A résumé tells a story. A patchwork quilt of odd jobs and experiences may signal a lack of focus and unpredictability. Or it may indicate a committed struggle against obstacles.”

This article was authored by Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry magazine.

Read Staffing for Success: Part 3

The Three Keys to Effective Governance

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Governance in private clubs can too often resemble what is seen on the evening news: factions, resentment, distrust, skepticism, cynicism. In troubled times, sound governance is essential.

In our continuing Whitepaper Series, Senior Partner Henry DeLozier highlights the three keys to effective governance and proactive steps leaders can take to address and improve it at their club.

 

 

Read our Governance Whitepaper

Four Factors That Impact Innovation

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At GGA Partners, we have watched the pandemic create innovative opportunities and innovation in clubs unlike what we have seen in many years.

In our continuing Whitepaper Series, Senior Partner Henry DeLozier reminds managers and club leaders how critically important innovation is, especially during these pandemic times.

 

 

Read our Innovation Whitepaper

Staffing For Success: Part 1

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This month, Game Plan – Henry DeLozier‘s monthly column in Golf Course Industry Magazine – kicks off a three-part series on staffing for success. First in the series is a look at how the pandemic has changed staffing needs and why superintendents and managers should consider reorganizing their teams and redefining job descriptions. Parts two and three will look at finding, hiring and retaining the right team members and creating the culture that inspires and motivates top performers.

“Never let a good crisis go to waste” is a quote often attributed to Winston Churchill in the days following World War II. Scholars question whether Churchill ever spoke those exact words, but as we make tentative steps to emerge from a pandemic-induced crisis of our own time, the lesson it implies — finding opportunity amidst great difficulty and challenge — rings as timely and as relevant as it would have in Churchill’s day.

In the still-churning wake of the global health pandemic of 2020, maybe the first place we should look for opportunity is with our own staffs. As COVID-19 raced through communities across America, thousands of golf clubs and facilities found themselves on either side of a dilemma. For those places where golf was booming, stretching tee sheets, golf car fleets and maintenance staffs to their limits and beyond, the question was whether to staff up to handle the surge or stay with current staff levels, figuring the wave would eventually crest and return to some semblance of normal. For places the boom never reached, the questions were: How long can we manage to keep our current team intact before payroll takes too much of a bite from dwindling revenues? And among those eventually let go, who will we bring back and who no longer has a place on our team?

By now, many of those calculations and decisions have been made and the ramifications felt. But the lessons they taught should not only endure, but also inform future staffing plans. In the heat of crisis, owners and managers learned who on their teams could take on more responsibility, who had leadership potential and who had reached their ceiling. They learned where they needed additional resources and where resources might be redeployed for better coverage and results. Now it’s time to put those lessons to work with redesigned organization charts and job descriptions.

One thing is for sure: a dynamic job market has changed even more in the last 12 months with continued disruption on the horizon. “The fallout will fundamentally change recruiting and hiring practices long after the pandemic has passed,” recruiting strategist Jack Whatley recently told Forbes.com.

Another certainty is that the war for talent will continue to escalate. Top performers will be in even greater demand because as businesses reshape themselves into leaner, more efficient operations, those top performers are the best value money can buy.

“Twenty years ago, all interns had mechanical skills and no computer knowledge. Now it is just the opposite. They all know how to operate computers, but they can’t change a spark plug,” says Rick Tegtmeier, the long-tenured and highly respected golf course superintendent at Des Moines Golf & Country Club. “It sure doesn’t hurt someone to work at a lesser-budget golf course operation and learn more of the skills that help you become a more rounded superintendent.”

There will never be a better time to take all the names off your org chart and rethink the needs of the club and course, the time and talent required of each of those needs, and the right names to place in those roles. As you go through that exercise, be aware that the pandemic and its economic reverberations have also changed employees’ perspectives.

Workers have had a lot of time recently to reevaluate their careers and question their next moves. Am I in the right job in the right industry? Where could I find more happiness and greater security for me and my family? Is this a stable environment and can I count on a stable paycheck? Where will I be exposed if (or when) another crisis emerges?

“Safety and job stability are at the top of mind for the job seeker now — and that changes what they want in a job,” Whatley says. “Businesses will have to become employee-centric as well as customer-centric.”

Hopefully, you and your facility have weathered this crisis without too much damage. Now’s the time to take advantage of an opportunity it has afforded.

This article was authored by Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry magazine.

Read Staffing for Success: Part 2

Four HR Questions Club Boards Should Be Asking

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When was the last time your club audited its human resources? Alignment between a club’s strategy and its employee offering is essential in order to enhance the overall club lifestyle, culture, and experience for members and staff.

To determine whether it’s time to reexamine culture, Partner Derek Johnston lays out 4 questions private club boards should be asking. 

Among the most reverberant takeaways from the coronavirus pandemic is the importance of people to businesses. Global business leaders and executives at leading corporations have indicated that the shift toward talent as the most important source of corporate value has continued. The pandemic also seems to be leading an increasing number of talent-forward companies to take an “employees first” approach.

But this is nothing new for large-scale global businesses. Indeed, the third week of August marked the one-year anniversary of the influential Business Roundtable’s statement on corporate purpose – which puts employees, customers, their communities, and the environment on a par with shareholders.

“Human resources” is trending

It’s also nothing new for club businesses. Our continuous research on club industry trends has shown human resource management and labor challenges to be a persisting trend, one which club managers have reported to be rising in importance – before the coronavirus.

In 2019, human resources was ranked the 6th most-impactful private club trend (out of 27) in a global survey of club managers. And, in a separate Canadian club industry survey, it was identified as both a key risk and primary hurdle to modernizing club management while topping the list of areas which managers say are under-supported from an education standpoint.

The early-pandemic question as to whether COVID-19 impacts would accelerate the business community’s move to stakeholder capitalism, or slow it down as companies focus on short-term financial pressures, seems to have answered itself.

For clubs, the people-related challenges previously reported by managers have exacerbated, with topics like employee willingness to work, labor anxiety, staff recruitment and turnover emerging as key strategic questions which club leaders are currently wrestling.

Widespread COVID-19 impacts like club closures, layoffs, and furloughs certainly haven’t helped ease concerns. With significant changes afoot in staffing, retention, human resource availability, and operational adaptations, clubs are presented with a unique opportunity right now – the chance to reevaluate and perhaps reset their culture.

Got culture?

In clubs, culture IS governance. Sound governance is a strategic imperative primarily because it enables, supports, and nurtures effective strategy. And, as the Peter Drucker saying goes, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

This is extremely important for club leaders.

It’s important because it means that no matter how strong a club’s strategic plan is, its efficacy will be held back by team members, staff, and employees if they don’t share the proper culture.

When the breaks are going against the business, as they are for some right now, the people implementing the club’s plan are the ones that make all the difference. While strategy defines direction and focus, culture is the habitat in which strategy lives or dies.

Now is the perfect time to reexamine your club’s culture to ensure staff square rightly with the club’s strategy. In other words, to ensure that your people are the best fit for accomplishing the club’s goals and objectives. Someone who was right for a specific role pre-pandemic may not be right for the same role now. Your business has changed, and some people may need to change too, either themselves or their roles.

How can club leaders reexamine culture?

The first place to start is by understanding what you’re currently doing for employees. Club leaders require a comprehensive understanding of the club’s current approach to human resource management so that they can determine the alignment of people and culture with the club’s goals.

When was the last time the club audited its human resources approach, policies, procedures, and performance? Ensuring alignment between the club’s strategy and its employee offering is essential in order to enhance the overall club lifestyle, culture, and experience for members and staff.

To help you get started, here are four HR questions private club boards should be asking:

1. How does our current organizational structure sit relative to best practice and what recent COVID-related changes should we make permanent or revisit?

Review your club’s current organizational structure, including both employees and contract workers, against best practice structures at comparable clubs locally, nationally, and globally. This review should focus special attention on the roles and responsibilities of human resources within the organizational structure with the goal of highlighting key gaps or divergences from best practice. Often times in clubs, an overly flat organizational structure tends to create ‘siloes’ that breed inefficiencies and bloat staffing levels.

2. Are we both efficient and competitive in the compensation and benefits afforded to employees?

Complete a comprehensive benchmarking exercise which compares compensation and benefit levels of all key staff and for the club as a whole to comparable clubs and other businesses with whom you compete for talent. The focus of this exercise should go beyond salary and hourly wages, factoring in relevant club financial and operating data, benefits packages, member and employee feedback scores, and other market-related information.

The goal is to identify current and accurate reference points for evaluating current compensation and benefits against best practice. There is a high degree of likelihood that there are opportunities in your current compensation and benefits structure to better align incentives and shift compensation to top talent, which tends to support increased productivity and reduced head count.

3. Are our personnel positioned to help us achieve the club’s goals and objectives? Are we helping them achieve theirs?

Assess your club’s performance tracking and review processes. The goal here is to analyze current performance evaluation processes and procedures to ensure alignment with the club’s overarching goals. This requires the board and executive committee to have a focused, clear, and comprehensive understanding of the club’s mission, vision, core values, and objectives.

For maximum benefit, to both member and employee satisfaction, it is incredibly important that performance is measurable and incentivized. The trick is determining the right way to track and measure performance and tie it to the right incentive.

4. Are our staff equipped with the tools they need to succeed? Are they empowered to do so?

Evaluate your club’s current recruiting, onboarding, training, and ongoing relational efforts. This will likely require management meetings and staff interviews to learn about the current approach and unearth any ideas or recommendations your team may have to suggest.

The success of every private club is dependent on the quality of their staff. Recruiting the best talent, integrating them into the envisioned culture, training them for success, ensuring their satisfaction, and ultimately retaining them is an important goal. The outcome from which tends to have a positive financial impact on the club and on the member experience.

After all, an investment in people is an investment in culture and clubs will benefit from this investment.

Turning Insights Into Action

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GGA Insights exists to support you as a club leader, offering you solutions, tools, and tactics today that can help you improve your work life tomorrow.  But putting change into practice can be a challenging endeavor. GGA Director, George Pinches, offers a road map for translating genuine insights and data into meaningful boardroom action.

Most private clubs are like cruise ships; they do change direction, but very slowly. They are often steeped in tradition, and while this is a powerful asset, it can also hold clubs back.

In reality, clubs need agility if they are to respond and adapt to the fast-evolving demands of changing markets, new technology and generations of new members.

But don’t lose hope; with more data available to us than ever, there is reason for optimism.

Data can clarify the changes that need to be made, shape the direction of travel, and safeguard clubs from the obstacles and pitfalls they may otherwise run into.

But the truth is, before data can be put into such effective practice, many clubs and boards require a cultural shift to recognize the value of it.

Commitment first

When my GGA colleague, Fred Laughlin, first introduced the Club Governance Model, he stressed the importance of obtaining a board commitment before undertaking transition.

This is because research demonstrates it usually takes three administrations for significant changes to be fully adopted by a club board.

In order to move away from what we typically see – decisions based on anecdotal evidence rather than genuine insights and hard facts – this is the process to follow: commitment first, then change follows.

For you, obtaining commitment from your board and committees means convincing them that the use of data-driven decision making is mutually beneficial.

Once your board members start asking “What are the facts? Do you have comparable data or industry benchmarks to support this recommendation?”, then your club will be on track to a brighter future based on genuine insights.

Shifting the dial

It’s clear that clubs can no longer rely on decisions based on institutional memory and personal opinion. But how do you (in practical terms) achieve such long-lasting change?

When it comes to shifting the culture, timing is key.

One of the best opportunities to start a culture shift is at the beginning of a new tenure. This tends to be a ‘honeymoon period’ for the new GM or COO, when support and expectations are running high.

Take the opportunity to assess the culture and seek ways to introduce change: commitment first, change to follow. If your board has an annual board retreat, this can be an opportune time to take action.

Beyond that, I’d recommend focusing on these three key areas to encourage a sustainable culture shift towards a data-driven future:

  1. Board recruitment and development – The nominating committee can add “an aptitude or understanding of data-driven decision making” to the list of attributes when recruiting nominees for the board. The GM/COO can use the same criteria when filling senior management positions.
  2. Board policy – Alterations to the Board Policy Manual (BPM) can ensure that the decision-making policy stipulates the required data, back-up information, and consultation necessary to support a recommendation. Proponents, be they committee or management, soon learn what is expected by the board before considering an initiative or making a decision.
  3. Education – Club industry resources that extol the virtues of data-driven decision making can be shared during board and committee orientation to support the culture shift away from anecdotal to fact-based practices.

Finding ‘your’ way

Process and structure will help, but a true shift in culture can only be achieved through intelligent and thoughtful execution. In some cases, this means finding the unique tactics which work best for you and your Board.

‘Shifting culture’ will not appear in many job descriptions of club leaders. But, for a lot of clubs it should be at the very top. It holds the key to disrupting what can be a perennial cycle of decisions based on what those in power ‘think’ is right.

My advice: think long-term (beyond 5 years), actively gain the buy-in and commitment of board members, and put a structure and process in place to ensure data and intelligence are at the heart of how your Club operates.

The Indistractable Manager

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Phone calls, emails, knocks on the door… all contribute to those days when you feel busy, but achieve nothing. GGA’s Patrick DeLozier outlines some tactics aimed at eliminating those fruitlessly busy days from your calendar.

There’s nothing more frustrating than a hollow sense of fulfillment at the end of a tiring day. Fulfilling in that you’ve been busy and active, hollow in that you’re no nearer to completing any of the tasks you set out to.

The first thing to make clear is, it’s a common problem. It affects us all. And while some of these days are inevitable, throughout my 18 years in the private club industry I made a conscious effort to develop methods of mitigating their impact and focusing on productive outputs.

Winning the day

It all starts before you even set foot in the workplace.

Develop a routine that gets your mind organized and focused from the get-go. For me, it was a morning swim, followed by reading several newspapers and social media news briefs that helped put me in an optimal productive state. So whether it’s a workout, meditation, yoga, or simply a coffee, find what works for you and stick to it.

When it comes to the working day itself, I found it particularly helpful to break this into three stages:

  • Up-brief – a first-thing review, to focus and plan of your tasks for the day
  • Midday check-in – an opportunity to measure task completion, to assess or reassess priorities
  • Debrief – end of day review, to look at what has been accomplished and what needs to be addressed the following day

For the up-brief, tasks should be specific, achievable, and aligned towards set objectives, prioritizing what you need to achieve and by when. Try to avoid tasks which veer away from your objectives or can be easily completed by another member of your team. Delegating tasks can often test your sense of trust and judgement in other team members, but is critical when it comes to staying focused on what’s important (and befitting of the Club Manager role).

During the day, make time to measure where things stand. If a task due for completion is in doubt, can you call in additional resource? If team members have become distracted by inane endeavors, is there time to pull them back and refocus their attention where it should be?

Finally, don’t allow the day to go by without assessing what has been accomplished during a debrief session. This is your opportunity to not only review your own achievements, but reward team members for a job well done and completed on time. They should also understand how this has helped (or is helping) towards the overarching objectives of the Club, as this will encourage their buy-in to the bigger picture.

Conversely, you will also need to confront incomplete tasks or missed deadlines. This is where balance and accountability come in, as you need to address these without demotivating your team.

Though some may find these stages overbearing, consistent monitoring and clear communication will allow team members to stay on task and focused for success. Ultimately, accountability will combat procrastination and instill a goal-oriented culture at your club.

Working smart 

Aside from external distractions, what can you do as a manager to work smarter? Here’s what I learned from nearly two decades at the sharp end of club management:

  • Do not try to take on everything on your own. Trust your team to assist you in your success.
  • Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. And then provide them with feedback, support, and recognition for a job well done.
  • Block off time in your calendar where you will not be interrupted. Sometimes an hour per week off-site (such as a coffee shop) will allow you to complete a certain task or get some much-needed headspace.
  • Temper your access to your cell phone or tablet. This will help you to avoid unnecessary calls, texts, and social media, allowing you to make headway with tasks requiring the utmost focus.
  • Be disciplined. Don’t put off tasks just because they are more challenging to you. They will fester, induce stress, and only become harder to overcome in the long run.

There are so many simple ideas out there that can help you overcome distractions, and they can be very effective. But if you can isolate a structure which is focused, holds everyone to account, and is married to your club mission, you can unlock something greater: a productive culture. A culture driven by goals, achievement and success. And that is something that no one wants to get in the way of.

Creating A Better Environment for Workers … and Potential Hires

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This is the second of two Golf Course Industry Game Plan columns focusing on becoming an employer of choice.  For more, check out the previous article “Become an Employer of Choice”.

“… And what do you do, Mike?” the guy grilling the burgers at the neighborhood barbecue asked casually.

“I’m the golf course superintendent at Laurel Lake Country Club.  It’s an amazing place to work.  I have a great team and my manager really appreciates the job we do.  If you’re thinking about joining a club, why don’t you come out as my guest one day?”

Is that the kind of answer one of your staff members would give in a similar situation?  If it is, you’re in an enviable position in this tight labor market — you’re what’s known as an “employer of choice.”  Employers of choice enjoy higher retention rates, better productivity from their teams and a healthier workplace culture.  What’s more, they don’t have to search as hard for top talent because the best people come to them, hoping to join their team.

So how do you create that kind of reputation for your club?  It doesn’t happen overnight, but it can start with the ways in which you promote job openings.  Here are five keys to positioning your club as a place where top talent wants to work:

1. Show your colors up front. Describe who you are and what your course or club represents. This description of your values and the high standards to which you hold team members is attractive to top performers.  Stating your values and the significance of the position helps prospective employees know if your club is one where they would be proud to work.

2. Describe the job benefits clearly. Benefits are an important differentiator in today’s workplace, but don’t think of them in limited terms. Beyond health insurance, sick leave and vacation days, benefits include respect, being part of a winning team, and the opportunity for continued professional learning and development.  Make sure you help prospective employees understand the full range of benefits that you offer.

3. Tell what the job entails. Pay attention to the language you choose to describe the job and its responsibilities. And don’t be hesitant to describe the job in demanding terms. Top performers want jobs that challenge them and ones that matter.  Describe the team that the prospective employee would join, its work ethic and its team spirit.  Being a part of a great team is a strong incentive to employees who enjoy collaboration and sharing.

4. Know your competition. Being an employer of choice requires that you do your homework to know how your compensation, benefits and culture compare with the competition. In a tight job market, it’s also important to realize that your competitors include more than golf clubs and other golf operations courses.  You’re also likely competing with landscape companies and hospitality positions for top talent.  Knowing what competitive organizations offer helps you structure benefits and comp attractively while being mindful of the budget.

5. Tell stories of valued performers. Stories of performance, customer service, overcoming adversity and teamwork give new employees insight to the organization and the culture they are part of. Think of it as a window into your team room, which allows you to describe the human components of the job that are not a part of the formal job description.

In his book, “Attracting and Retaining Talent: Becoming an Employer of Choice,” Dr. Tim Baker emphasizes the importance of standing on trustworthy values.  “In plain terms, being an employer of choice means establishing a business that is a great place to work.  If companies don’t genuinely act to become an employer of choice, then good employees will simply vote with their feet and move to a forward-thinking employer who offers them what they want.”

Remember the story of the janitor at the Johnson Space Center in Houston who, when asked by President John. F. Kennedy about his role, said, “Mr. President, I’m part of the team that is putting a man on the moon.”

Don’t you wish that janitor worked for you?

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry Magazine. 

Embedding a Culture of Progression and Longevity Among Board Members

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Each new set of Board members are faced with the same conundrum: the desire to achieve things and make a difference, but only a limited term with which to do it. The answer to this issue, is to instill a sense of mission and to focus the attention of Board members on longer term issues. GGA’s Rob Hill delivers the key insights.

Formulate a proper orientation

Every board, just like a club, has its own culture which is defined by its traditions and practices, and every new board member deserves a focused introduction to this culture if they are to be expected to adapt and contribute from the outset of their term.

Orientations vary greatly, but no matter the approach, they offer an extraordinary opportunity to focus new and existing members on the club’s vision, mission and the long-term strategic business priorities of the board.

It’s also the ideal environment to emphasize the progress made by the club and immediate actions to be undertaken, both of which underline the responsibility the board holds: to advance a plan, to make meaningful progress, and for this be aligned to an overarching strategy so that there is continuity of effort.

This sense of collective effort – of accountability, of building on the work of others, of advancing a plan closer to its successful conclusion ­– is often inspiring for new board members.

Focus on the future

Clubs traditionally start meetings with minutes and committee reports that contain minutiae and operational items that are reflective of what has already happened, but ideally a Board should be focused on strategy (the future) and policy.

Everyone (Boards and GM’s) would rather spend their time on the concrete things and events that they can touch and feel, rather than the conceptual – strategy and planning.

You have to challenge these instincts using a “Consent Agenda”. Effectively, the Hon Sec and Club Manager should carefully plan not only the details of the agenda, but, crucially, the order too, in order to keep strategy at the forefront of Board business.

It takes several meetings and a commitment up front, but over time it helps to shift the emphasis toward the future.

Face resistance with facts

Should a Board successfully navigate the strategic planning process and adopt a long-term plan, it should not make the mistake in thinking that the hard work is over, or that all of its future members will support it without question.

It is common for plans to be questioned and tested. After all, if Board Members are to be tasked with the implementation of a plan, it is only right that they can challenge elements they doubt. Board governance is most successful when Members ask the right questions, put forth new ideas and challenges, and continually refresh and renew the Club’s goals.

Where a Board Member is strongly resistant to elements or the entirety of a strategic plan, this is often the result of either: a belief or conviction based on their experience, or a feeling that a plan only serves as a straitjacket which prevents them from imposing their own will on the Club.

In such an instance it is important that facts are established. That way, any questions of validity or appropriateness are based on evidence rather than purely belief or emotion. Board Members can passionately state a personal position in opposition to components of a plan, but they should be expected to support their positions with facts.

Foster a shared vision

 A strategic plan is certainly a powerful tool for facilitating continuity of tenure. However, it should never be considered a silver bullet. A strategic plan, no matter how good it is, will not cure all ills.

Long-term success requires alignment of the entire club. Only when the board, executive leadership, committees, members and staff are fully aligned behind a shared vision, when you consistently communicate your successes and progress, when the entire club believes in and sees the positive impact of strategy does real momentum build. Indeed, over time, this becomes integral to the fabric of the club’s culture. It becomes a habit.

Key takeaways

  1. A Board orientation is a powerful tool for maintaining continuity and momentum. It is a matter of educating volunteer leaders on the mechanics of the Club, the responsibilities they have toward it, how the Board functions, and, importantly, the strategic goals and actions toward which the Board is working.
  2. It takes determined and committed leadership to keep a Board focused on the Club’s future rather than obsessing on the past. Tools such as a consent agenda can support this focus, as will enlisting the strategic action plan as the central focus of each Board meeting.
  3. Successful plans are built on intelligence and facts. This not only makes them more likely to succeed, but will protect them from those who are resistant to change.

This article was authored by GGA Partner Rob Hill.

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