Tag: employee

Covering Isn’t Just For Music

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The inimitable Elvis Presley’s version of Hound Dog sold 10 million copies and holds the 19th spot on Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Best Songs of All Time. But the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll can’t claim Hound Dog entirely as his own. Elvis was covering a version recorded three years earlier by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter.

Elvis has been accused of stealing or culturally appropriating Hound Dog. But the truth is that covering was even more popular in his day than now. The more important takeaway is that we should always be paying attention to the past, learning from others and developing our own plans for success. There are three distinct plans that club leaders should have within easy reach at all times.

Strategic Plan

A strategic plan should clarify two aspects of purpose: what we are and what do we intend to accomplish. An effective strategic plan builds on the knowledge of past experience and market understanding to describe the club’s goals and objectives.

All businesses benefit greatly from the discipline and clarity provided by sound strategy. Although many golf facilities lack formalized strategy, those that actively use their strategic plans hold a distinct competitive advantage. According to research completed by Global Golf Advisors, 73 percent of clubs that rely on a strategic plan to guide their operations outperform their competition.

Marketing Communications Plan

Most golf courses and private clubs do business in markets that are extremely oversupplied. Further, many of these facilities lack a current and actionable understanding of the people who are their customers, members and prospects. In highly competitive and crowded markets, the advantage goes to those who know whom they are looking for, where to find them and how to communicate with them effectively.

Effective and purposeful communication plans are target specific. Knowing how to communicate with your baby boomer audience is different than reaching millennials, for example. The best communications plans utilize multiple media and reinforce messaging on a disciplined schedule.

Most people find time only for trusted information sources. Thus, golf courses and private clubs have the advantage in most cases of being “known” to their active market segments. What tactics are working best?

  • Robust and engaging websites are the platform for any communications plan today. They must be inviting, engaging and functional.
  • Print communications – newsletters and postcards, for example – are sticky with many golfers, especially those over 50, and should not be disregarded even in a digital age.
  • Engaging social media help create conversations within your community of members and prospects.
  • Video that shows images of people enjoying the golf course and clubhouse activities help tell the club’s stories in authentic ways.
  • Person-to-person contact from key staff members remains a difference-maker. There is no substitute for a personal invitation.

Staffing Plan

Access to affordable labor is one of the most important operational challenges at most golf clubs. With labor costs now exceeding 55 percent of most clubs’ operational expenses, thoughtful planning is essential. Borrowing ideas from the past enables managers to create meaningful relationships with employees and keep them committed to their jobs. What’s more, clubs that encourage their best employees to recruit friends and relatives have an advantage in attracting top talent.

A reliable staffing plan identifies the utilization flow of the facility to ensure that the club is properly staffed at all times. The plan must calculate labor and payroll burden costs to enable dependable budget projections. The best staffing plans show the position title and description, number of employees required, allotted compensation and benefits, and options for flexing staff size and positions as conditions change.

Big Mama Thornton inspired Elvis to lay claim as the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll. Who’s your inspiration, and what’s your plan for success?

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

Hiring Staff with Staying Power

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Sourcing high quality staff who are in it for the long run is a challenge for all clubs, not least those situated in rural areas. GGA’s George Pinches demonstrates how putting in the hard yards at the point of search can produce the people you are looking for.

1. Talk to us about the current hiring landscape for clubs. Is high staff turnover still an issue?

Staff turnover remains an ever-present burden clubs have to face. One which is costly in both monetary and non-monetary terms.

The difficulty for clubs is the complex nature of the reasons behind the hiring challenges, ranging from:

Economic forces – When recruiting and retaining both management and staff, clubs often come up against macro-economic issues that are beyond the scope of the club to address

Cost of living – In many markets, the high cost of living limits the available staff within the club’s catchment area

Geography – Location and commute-time constraints can often lead to prospective employees seeking out a more practical job opportunity

So, the landscape can be challenging both for the club and for prospective or current employees, with only some of these variables within the club’s control.

2. What issues does this create in relation to morale and sense of identity within a club?

Private clubs are the ultimate in repeat business, so members want to know staff on such a level that staff know their preferences without even needing to ask.

Consistency and recognition are very important aspects of the club experience, and this is greatly hampered by a constant change in club personnel at every level. Managers often find themselves in a position of needing to start from scratch each season – losing the staff morale and good will built up over time.

Retaining club professionals and instructional staff is critical due to the personal nature of their interaction with members and their children. They are a great ‘unifier’ in the club environment across members, staff and the board, and the continuity in these roles is of paramount importance to the mood of the club at any one time.

3. How can clubs experiencing prolonged high staff turnover get themselves out of this cycle? What do they need to do differently?

They can pay attention to the local market and strive to be an employer of choice. While compensation is important, many other factors impact recruitment and retention.

In terms of taking practical steps, start by investing in the current management and staff. Professional development is a key component, regardless of whether an employee eventually leaves. Many private clubs become a sought-after employer because of the people they have produced within that sector.

Second, just as the club uses a member survey to gauge member satisfaction and obtain specific information that is useful in planning, engaging staff through a survey can be just as enlightening. Management, and to a much lesser extent the board, need to hear from the silent majority to understand which initiatives lead to less turnover.

The use of data-driven decision making is just as critical in Human Resource Management as it is in other aspects of club leadership.

4. How much can a robust structure and process help in all of this?

Recruitment and selection must be a structured process. Clubs must take the time to establish well-defined search criteria which clearly reflects the knowledge and experience you seek.

When recruiting for core positions, avoid short-term thinking and think carefully about emerging trends and the skillset you need to face the challenges of the future.

Retention, at the most senior level, involves setting clear expectations in writing with a well-defined monitoring and performance appraisal policy in place. Typically, Boards want accountability, measurable results and consistent results within the club’s unique history, vision, and culture. GM/COO’s want clear expectations in writing, and for their results to be regularly monitored and evaluated.

5. Are there certain measures a club can take to help identify the types of individuals they are looking for? More importantly, the ones who will help achieve a greater level of continuity within the club?

Clubs benefit from attracting and retaining individuals who have decided to make the club industry their career path, individuals who envisage a time when they are leading their own club and are keen to learn and develop. There is always a risk that you will lose that “rising star”, but they will often return when the opportunity presents itself.

How do you find these individuals? Predictive Personality Testing is one tool which helps augment the search process to isolate those with the best behavioral and cognitive fit for your club, later confirmed through a more traditional interview process.

Referrals are another tool for attracting, sourcing and retaining managers and staff. GM/COO’s who are active and networking in the club industry develop a deeper and wider connection with their peers, which can pave the way for referrals and approaches from prospective employees.

Any tactics you deploy in your search will be underpinned by one fundamental component: reputation. The reputation of your club, both from a staff or member perspective will either attract or put off prospective employees. So, think about the influence of online reviews, social media, and other outlets where people are expressing an opinion about your club. Address just criticism through investigation and resolution – this will clearly demonstrate your duty to the club’s stakeholders, build a positive reputation, and appeal to prospective employees who are in it for the long haul.

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

Who’s Your Innovator?

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If you’re to succeed in driving change at your club, you need a champion of innovation – the person who makes things happen. But what if that person doesn’t exist? GGA’s Bennett DeLozier advises on what an innovator looks like, and how to move forward if you don’t have one.

The Importance of Innovation as a Change Catalyst

Last fall GGA reported its preliminary findings from a survey of roughly 400 club managers who were asked to weigh in on the topic of innovation. Feedback from participants, all of whom are members of CMAA, placed emphasis on two key themes: first, that innovation is crucial for the future of club management and, second, that clubs need to improve when it comes to innovation.

Despite overwhelming majority agreement on the importance of innovation, a closer look at survey findings shows a stark contrast between theory and practice.

Research revealed that even managers who believe innovation is essential to the long-term success of their clubs do not regard themselves as particularly innovative. They believe the club industry lags behind other sectors when it comes to change. They say they would like to catch up in the areas of marketing, communications, technology, food & beverage, and strategy, but report they are hampered by resource constraints, cultural opposition, and a lack of effective infrastructure. Even many clubs that do prioritize and pursue innovation are operating without a deliberate strategy.

To translate ingenuity into business strategy, managers believe that a broader cultural endorsement is needed within their clubs to support, enable, and nurture innovation. However, affecting cultural change from the top down, with reliable bottom-up support, is no easy task.

Queue “the innovator”: the champion of change, the person who can make things happen by putting theory into practice to achieve positive outcomes. Who might this person be and what does their skillset look like?

And, importantly, what do we do if we can’t find them?

The Mark of the Innovator

To be effective in driving change requires tremendous leadership, so our innovator must first have the character of a leader. This is a person who also possesses the uncanny ability to see unseen opportunity, the right balance of knowledge and charisma, an adeptness at bringing people together to work toward a common goal, and an aptitude for putting plans into action and getting the job done.

This person is a synthesis of four key archetypes:

1. The Visionary – A person with the ability to discover opportunities and inspire others to pursue them. One who can see the possibility in a given context and hone in on the most important insights in order to identify unmet needs and valuable problems to solve. They develop meaningful solutions to address significant club problems. Further, they have the capability to explain the nuances of the value proposition, and can motivate key decisionmakers to agree that an innovation initiative is worth pursuing.

2. The Collaborator – A person who can manage change by stimulating effective teamwork and bringing cohesion to the group. A charismatic and daring leader, this person can encourage action through trial-and-error by creating an environment that is conducive to change and views failure as a necessary and educational part of the innovative process. They are a skilled networker and an effective communicator who can muster the necessary resources to get the job done while keeping everyone on the same page.

3. The Thinker – A person who is a natural learner with a deep curiosity about any ideas, products, technologies, concepts, or approaches which could increase the chances that their undertaking will succeed. This individual is willing to explore opportunities as they present themselves, continually pursues new ideas and quickly integrates learnings from multiple sources of information.

4. The Executor – A person with the ability to ensure that rubber meets the road. One who can make quick decisions amidst uncertainty while maintaining realistic progress towards the targeted goal. This individual can translate ideas into an achievable sequence of activities and is often the first to shake things up and challenge the status quo. They can persevere through setbacks and readily adapt plans to new conditions, variables, or requirements.

Help Wanted: Club Innovator

Armed with an understanding of the traits which drive the most successful innovators, club leaders can begin to seek out their champion of change.

Where will they find “the innovator”? Do they exist?

Naturally, it may be tempting for clubs that are hoping to deliver on important initiatives to seek out a talented individual with a track record of high-performance and success. However, it is exceedingly rare that one person will possess the full range of skills needed to innovate successfully. Innovation requires skills and mindsets that are often underdeveloped even among the highest performers.

Rather, clubs should reframe their search for “the innovator” from an individual to a team. A carefully constructed and well-balanced team that brings together the various innovative traits and personalities can compensate for the rarity of a “true innovator”.

Innovating for the Future

Adopting a team-based approach to innovation will increase the likelihood of sourcing the necessary talent, as well as the likelihood that innovation initiatives will succeed.

Returning to the survey findings, the top three challenges which club managers say inhibit, deter, or prevent innovation are: (1) resource constraints such as budget time, space, people; (2) social or cultural opposition to change or new ideas; and (3) lack of structured innovation processes or procedures. These deterrents are often bigger than any one individual’s performance capabilities, and reinforce the need for an innovator group.

The top three ingredients which managers identify as important for innovation are: (1) the right culture to foster and support innovation; (2) a willingness to change norms and take risks; and (3) strong visionary business leadership. These elements add up to a culture of strategic thinking. This type of club culture encourages new ideas, supports experimentation, solicits group input, and is characterized by undaunted, resourceful leadership who are willing to take calculated risks with the support of others.

Understanding the traits of the innovator and the need for teams to have a balanced composition of these traits can help clubs become better and faster innovators. By identifying and encouraging people within the club who possess these skills, then steering them into supervisory roles where they can put these skills to work and also learn from each other, clubs can begin to build an academy of innovation leaders who will continue to drive positive change into the future.

This article was authored by GGA Manager Bennett DeLozier.

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