Tag: experience

Executive Search: Executive Chef at Highlands Falls Country Club

Date:

EXECUTIVE CHEF
HIGHLANDS FALLS COUNTRY CLUB
Highlands, NC

 

The Club:

Founded in 1958, Highlands Falls Country Club is a private, member-owned club in Highlands, North Carolina. Perched high atop the Highlands Plateau, where incredible views stretch for miles and miles, is Highlands Falls, a small and close-knit community which has just completed a $3.5 million renovation of the clubhouse to expand outdoor dining and create a unique indoor/outdoor bar and grill area. With updated features, extended dining areas, and sweeping views, it serves as a stylish, luxurious gathering place for members and guests – the response from the membership has been overwhelmingly positive.

Highlands Falls offers all the amenities and activities you’d expect, and then some. Whether members prefer golf, croquet, pickleball, tennis, bridge, fishing, swimming, dining, working out, tennis, competing in “yacht club” races, or a combination of all of the above, they enjoy their play surrounded by mountain views, an incredible waterfall, and folks who can’t wait to welcome you to the community.

Highlands Falls offers 18 holes of pure golf fun on a dramatically beautiful course, a Croquet Pavilion, a tennis center with three Har-Tru courts and pickleball, all of which offer interactive programs and regular social events. The Club has a Fitness facility that includes a weight room, locker rooms, a group fitness room, and is replete with spa services, personal training, group classes, and a private swim complex. The Pool complex includes the swimming pool and aquatic fitness activities. The Clubhouse consists of the administrative offices, kitchen, member dining areas, lounge and banquet facilities, and offers engaging activities for all ages, such as the highly popular Bridge program and fun-filled Junior Camp.

Members love to talk about how incredible the dining experience is at Highlands Falls, which offers both casual and formal dining options, well-priced lunch and dinner menus, special theme dinners, phenomenal wine dinners, a la carte brunch every Sunday, and special dietary accommodations upon request. Whether hosting a small private party, throwing a large private event, or entertaining special guests, Highlands Falls provides the perfect combination of private elegance and impeccable service.

Highlands Falls Country Club Overview

 

  • 284 Members (Golf: 187, Other: 97)
  • Initiation Fee (Resident Member Golf: $45,000)
  • Annual Dues (Golf: $13,086)
  • $5.5M Gross Volume
  • $3.1M Annual Dues
  • $600K F&B Volume
  • 14 Employees Culinary
  • 9 Board Members
  • Average age of members is 73

The Executive Chef Position:

Highlands Falls Country Club is searching for a committed, proactive, and passionate culinary professional, an Executive Chef who would enjoy working in an exciting private club environment and can select the perfect enhancements to make a lasting impression. The Executive Chef will coordinate and oversee all aspects of the kitchen to ensure quality and consistency of the dining experience. This professional should have strong leadership skills and a proven track record in recruiting and attracting culinarians to the team. Experience in seasonal hospitality operations offering similar services is a plus.

Important Individual Characteristics:

 

  • A naturally enthusiastic personality and passion for the culinary industry.
  • Ability to hire, trains, motivates and develops a high performing team in a seasonal environment.
  • A natural leadership style which promotes an engaging, motivated staff.
  • A mind for innovation and action with an ability to act as a thought partner with General Manager and other department leaders.
  • Creativity in menu design, exhibiting an appreciation for the Club’s culinary traditions while exploring fresh and innovative culinary trends.
  • The ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
  • Disciplined follow-through to ensure the vision and goals of the Club come to fruition.
  • Ability to cultivate a high-level of member satisfaction through consistency in ding services.
  • Possess a strong understanding of top-notch food and beverage experiences for Club members and guests.
  • Effective fiscal management through delivery of actual operational and capital results in alignment with approved budgets.
  • Maintain a high level of visibility to members and staff as the face of the Club’s dining and catering programs.
  • Understands the importance of digital communication and can utilize web and social media tools to communicate with the staff and membership.
  • Ability to develop a dedicated team with a shared vision.

Additional Dining Information:

The Formal Dining Room seats up to 200 people for special events, with 120 for normal dining. Formal dining in the mountains is more casual than in typical in town clubs, as is the trend nationwide.

The Grille/Bar area seats approximately 60 people and can also accommodate 20-40 people for cocktails, not counting the bar, which can seat an additional 20 people between the indoor and outdoor bar stools. For the upcoming year, a new bar menu is anticipated to accommodate the desire for dining at the bar, especially in the fall for sporting events.

The Outdoor Dining area has been expanded to seat up to 110-130 patrons, depending on table configurations. All outdoor dining is covered and has drop down plastic curtains and heaters when to protect diners from inclement weather.

Private Events such as weddings can accommodate up to 300 people, utilizing both the indoor and outdoor spaces. For events of this size, the dining services will be closed to the membership. There are also two private meeting rooms, capable of seating up to 40 people for special events.

Candidate Qualifications:

 

  • A minimum of 5 years of progressive leadership and management experience in a hospitality environment. Current Executive Sous Chefs at well-recognized organizations, with verifiable records of achievement will also be considered.
  • Food safety certification.
  • Certification from American Culinary Federation or other hospitality association.
  • A degree from a post-secondary culinary arts program.

Note: A pre-employment drug screen and background check will be required. The position is available January 1, 2021.

Salary & Benefits:

Salary is open and commensurate with qualifications and experience. The Club offers an excellent bonus and benefit package.

Inquiries:

IMPORTANT: Interested candidates should submit résumés along with a detailed cover letter which addresses the qualifications and describes your alignment/experience with the prescribed position by Wednesday, December 3, 2020.

Those documents must be saved and emailed in Word or PDF format (save as “Last Name, First Name, HFCC Chef Cover Letter” and “Last Name, First Name, HFCC Chef Résumé”) respectively to: execsearchus@ggapartners.com. Please e-mail résumé with references.

For more information about Highlands Falls Country Club please visit clubhfcc.com.

Executive Search: General Manager at Camp Lake James

Date:

 

GENERAL MANAGER
CAMP LAKE JAMES
Nebo, NC

The Club:

Camp Lake James is an incredible lakeside adventure center in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just 45 minutes east of Asheville, NC, surrounded by thousands of acres of public land with access to hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails.

Perfectly situated in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, Camp Lake James is a private, member-owned social club which offers the ultimate in lake lifestyle. The Camp is a rustic resort where neighbors socialize, stop by for lunch or drinks on the dock, lounge by the pool or slip into the hot tub, take a paddleboard or kayak out on the lake, hit up the gym, or play lawn games and roast marshmallows at the fire pit.

The Camp has everything members and guests need to relax, play, and create special memories with family, friends, and neighbors. Members of the community spend their days kayaking or canoeing on clear mountain waters, cooling off in the pool, or unwinding around a crackling campfire while roasting marshmallows. After a day on the lake, nothing is better than kicking back at the Social Hall and getting a bite to eat at the County Line Canteen.

The expert staff at the Camp ensure that time spent here is truly memorable and the Activities Director organizes events throughout the year and plans unique, popular events for all ages. Members enjoy wine tastings, camping and ski trips, holiday parties, bonfires on the beach, movies under the stars, family sports, games, crafts, and a dinner club.

Members soak-in nature walks along the shores of Lake James while listening for native frog calls or enjoy a glass of wine during Friday nights “Drinks at the Dock” and Saturday Socials with friends and neighbors. A day at the Camp holds as much or as little diversion as they desire.

Members are warmly welcomed and enjoy resort-style amenities at Camp Lake James when they purchase a home or homesite in 1780 or Old Wildlife Club, both dazzling communities on Lake James. A limited number of recreational licenses enable others to join the Camp, affording access to a resort-style pool, outdoor spa, tennis courts, fishing pond, state-of-the-art fitness facility, and much more.

Camp Lake James At A Glance

– Social Hall & County Line Canteen
– Resort-style pool, outdoor spa, and toddler pool
– State-of-the-art indoor fitness facility
– Beach area with canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards
– Expo Center with bar, snacks, lounge and fireplaces
– Tennis and pickleball courts
– Outdoor amphitheater & fire pit
– Game room & lawn games
– Hully Gully fishing pond
– Boat docking for members
– Neighborhood trail access

Camp Lake James Overview

– 321 Member families (homesites)
– $1.80M Gross volume
– $750K Annual dues
– $600K Rental revenue
– $250K F&B/Events volume
– 25 Employees in-season; 8-9 off-season
– 5 Board members

The General Manager Position:

The General Manager of Camp Lake James is responsible for maintaining a constant focus on the Camp’s commitment to instill a culture of continuous improvement and elevation of the member experience in every area of the operation. An understanding of and appreciation for the nuances and training involved in cultivating this type of cultural environment is required.

The General Manager reports to the Board of Directors and coordinates with the President of the Board on a regular basis. The General Manager implements the policies established by the Board and the Camp’s bylaws. He/she develops operational policies and is responsible for the creation and implementation of standard operating procedures for all areas. This includes the preparation of the annual operating and capital budgets and management of operations to attain the desired results consistent with strategic vision and planning.

The General Manager coordinates all management functions and works in concert with committee chairs in assisting them in the development of proposed policies, programs, events, etcetera.

The General Manager is the lead coordinator of programming and development of synergy among all departments. Overseeing the Camp’s strategies for high levels of member engagement and satisfaction with Camp experience is a critical part of the position.

Connecting with members and staff is a top priority, the General Manager should have a strong presence and seek to be highly visible to the membership and staff. He or she sets the tone for consistently treating members with first class hospitality and communicates this expectation to the entire staff as well. The overarching focus of the General Manager, and the focus instilled in his or her team, should be on the overall member experience.

Important Individual Characteristics:

The General Manager is responsible to “lead by example”, the camaraderie and engaging nature that is seen throughout the Camp must be exemplified by the General Manager in a natural and intuitively engaging style. He/she must “walk the talk” and exhibit a passion for developing and maintain an environment of extreme hospitality.

– A naturally enthusiastic personality and passion for the club management and hospitality profession.
– A natural leadership style which promotes staff and membership engagement.
– A mind for innovation and action with an ability to act as a thought partner with the board, committees, and homeowners.
– The ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
– Experience overseeing small-scale and large-scale service and facility enhancements.
– Ability to create and implement strategic plans, with disciplined follow-through to ensure the vision and goals of the Camp come to fruition.
– Ability to cultivate a high-level of member services and satisfaction.
– Possess a strong understanding of top-notch food and beverage and event experiences for Camp members and guests.
– Effective fiscal management through delivery of actual operational and capital results in alignment with approved budgets.
– Maintain a high level of visibility to members and staff as the face of the Camp.
– Understands the importance of digital communication and can utilize web and social media tools to communicate with the staff and membership.
– Ability to anticipate how the Camp needs to evolve, done by being actively networked in the club industry and being on the forefront of trends in hospitality, club management, and lifestyle communities.

Candidate Qualifications:

– A minimum of 3-5 years of progressive leadership and management experience in a private club or hospitality environment.
– A Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in Hospitality Management or Business.
– Active involvement in CMAA or similar organizations where there is a strong network of peers that stay actively abreast of the industry, trends, and opportunities is preferred. Possessing a Certified Club Manager (CCM) designation, or working toward achieving one, is an advantage for applicants.

Note: A pre-employment drug screen and background check will be required. The position is available October 20, 2020.

Salary & Benefits:

Salary is open and commensurate with qualifications and experience. The Camp offers a compensation package which includes a performance bonus plus full benefits.

Inquiries:

IMPORTANT: Interested candidates should submit resumes along with a detailed cover letter which addresses the qualifications and describes your alignment/experience with the prescribed position by Friday, November 13, 2020.

Documents must be saved and emailed in Word or PDF format (save as “Last Name, First Name, Camp LJ GM Cover Letter” and “Last Name, First Name, Camp LJ GM Resume”) respectively to: execsearch@ggapartners.com. Please email resume with references.

For more information about Camp Lake James, please visit camplakejames.com and lakejames.com for videos and information about the area.

 

Executive Search: General Manager at Marietta Country Club

Date:

GENERAL MANAGER
MARIETTA COUNTRY CLUB
Kennesaw, GA

 

The Club:

Founded in 1915, Marietta Country Club is a member-owned club in Kennesaw, Georgia, located 28 miles from downtown Atlanta. The Club features 27 spectacular holes of Robert Cupp-designed golf, offering challenging risks and rewards for golfers of all skill levels. Set on historic Civil War era farmland, the Club’s “three nines” yield vistas of Kennesaw Mountain, beautiful lakes, ponds, and streams.

The Tennis facility includes 8 immaculately maintained HydroCourt clay courts and 4 all-weather Laykold hard courts. The Club has a Fitness facility including a weight room, locker rooms, and a group fitness room. The Pool complex includes the pool and snack bar. The Clubhouse consists of the administrative offices, kitchen, member dining areas, lounge and banquet facilities.

Marietta Country Club Overview

  • 1138 members (Golf: 724, Other: 308)
  • Initiation fee (Resident Member Golf: $30,000)
  • Annual Dues (Golf: $6,696)
  • $9.60M Gross volume
  • $4.50M Annual dues
  • $3.40M F&B volume
  • $4.70M Gross payroll
  • 160 Employees in-season; 110 off-season
  • 11 Board members
  • Average age of members is 58

The General Manager Position:

The General Manager reports to the Board and coordinates with the President of the Board on a regular basis. The General Manager implements the policies established by the Board of directors and the Club’s bylaws. He/she develops operational policies and is responsible for the creation and implementation of standard operating procedures for all areas. This includes the preparation of the annual operating and capital budgets and management of operations to attain the desired results.

The General Manager coordinates all management functions and works in concert with committee chairs in assisting them in the development of proposed policies, programs, events, etcetera.

The General Manager is the lead coordinator of programming and development of synergy among all departments. Overseeing the internal and external marketing strategies for membership growth and member engagement is a critical part of the position.

The General Manager should have a strong presence and seek to be highly visible to the membership and staff. They set the tone for consistently treating members with first class of hospitality and communicate this expectation to the entire staff as well.

Important Individual Characteristics:

 

  • A naturally enthusiastic personality and passion for the club management profession.
  • A natural leadership style which promotes staff and membership engagement.
  • Ability to act as a thought partner with the board and committees.
  • The ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
  • Disciplined follow-through to ensure the vision and goals of the Club come to fruition.
  • Ability to cultivate a high-level of member services and satisfaction.
  • Possess a strong understanding of top-notch food and beverage experiences for Club members and guests.
  • Effective fiscal management through delivery of actual operational and capital results in alignment with approved budgets.
  • Maintain a high level of visibility to members and staff as the face of the Club.
  • Understands the importance of digital communication and can utilize web and social media tools to communicate with the staff and membership.
  • Ability to develop a dedicated team with a shared vision.

Candidate Qualifications:

 

  • A minimum of 5 years of progressive leadership and management experience in a private club environment. Current Assistant General Managers or Clubhouse Managers at well-recognized clubs, with verifiable records of achievement will also be considered.
  • A Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in Hospitality Management or Business.
  • Certified Club Manager (CCM) designation preferred.

Note: A pre-employment drug screen and background check will be required. The position is available September 29, 2020.

Salary & Benefits:

Salary is open and commensurate with qualifications and experience. The club offers an excellent bonus and benefit package.

Inquiries:

IMPORTANT: Interested candidates should submit resumes along with a detailed cover letter which addresses the qualifications and describes your alignment/experience with the prescribed position by Wednesday, October 14, 2020.

Those documents must be saved and emailed in Word or PDF format (save as “Last Name, First Name, Marietta GM Cover Letter” and “Last Name, First Name, Marietta GM Resume”) respectively to: execsearchus@ggapartners.com. Please e-mail resume with references.

For more information about Marietta Country Club please visit www.mariettacountryclub.org.

Four HR Questions Club Boards Should Be Asking

Date:

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.

Dangers of Depersonalizing the Member Experience

Date:

As new innovations continue to help streamline club operations, GGA Partner Henry DeLozier cautions against replacing staff with technology and removing what can be priceless interactions for members and guests alike.

Most clubs today are facing the dual challenges of rising labor costs along with ever-greater member expectations.

In our modern digital age, the obvious solution for many has been to systematize and automate services wherever possible across their operation.

But while this may be cost efficient, clubs must beware…the result is often the depersonalization of member services.

Remember, clubs share an emotional – not transactional – relationship with members. And both research and experience have shown us that the best member services are strictly personal.

For a club, to depersonalize is to chip away at the very foundation of your business.

Here are five tactics for personalizing services at your club:

1) Reserved or Reserved for…?

Recognize reserved tables with a reserved placard that displays the name of the member for whom the table is reserved. It’s a small touch which underscores that “we have been anticipating your arrival”. These little efforts add more to the member experience than you might think.

2) Monitor Club Communications for Engagement

Most clubs blindly issue email communications to members with little-or-no tracking to understand if the message was even received – let alone opened, read, or acted upon.

Follow up your club’s emails with calls to individual members who are not opening or engaging with club communications. Ask if the messages are being received (although your analytics will have revealed this already). This is a chance to learn what topics interest your members…and which topics don’t.

3) Personalize Your Club’s Communications

As suggested above, develop a personal communications profile for each member.
As with Facebook or LinkedIn, you can enable members to populate their own profiles (though some members who are not computer natives will need help with this).

This allows you to learn what topics interest each member, in what media they prefer to received messages, what days and times they want the messages to be delivered, and from whom at the club they wish to receive important information.

In essence, stop issuing “Dear Member” communications.

4) Meet with Members

Whether one-to-one or in small (fewer than four people at a time) member groups, meet to discuss the club and its various priorities. Ask members for their feedback, learn their priorities, and ensure that they know and understand the board’s strategic priorities too. This will make them feel included, valued and empowered.

5) Facilitate Member-to-Member Introductions

Most members are truly acquainted with very few of their fellow members, but clubs are more fun when people know more people.

There are several ways you can help this along, such as hosting multiple welcoming events for new members, enlisting your board, committees, and staff to become the “connectors” between members, and creating a digital (online) member directory to help members learn more about one another.

Using the member profiles described above, you can personalize the effort by connecting people with similar backgrounds – such as universities attended, hometowns, or places of employment.

Keep in mind that private clubs are a platform for socialization. An undeniable characteristic of successful clubs is the sense that “everyone knows one another”. Help your members get to know one another and, in so doing, make your club ever more relevant to the members.

Ultimately, the key is to treat your members as the valuable resource that they are. Keeping your services personalized will help them know that they are recognized, respected, and valued, and provide the strongest possible foundation for your club going forward.

The Dreaded C-Word

Date:

Let’s face it: soliciting independent, expert advice can sometimes be felt as an admission of inadequacy. However, the power of a third-party evaluation is something that can benefit almost any business – when selected carefully.

GGA’s EMEA Partner Rob Hill looks at the challenges and the benefits of employing an external consultant, how to select the right one, and what value a club should expect to gain from the relationship.

For many of us there’s an inherent discomfort in asking for help or support. It can often feel like an admission of being incapable of fulfilling particular aspects of your role.

But the truth is, an external vantage point can deliver an alternative assessment and different solutions to a club’s challenges – something that can be very difficult to accomplish from within.

If it’s a choice between sitting in silence (while your business plateaus) or seeking help, the latter is the only option.

A fresh perspective

Enter the consultant. The individual who is touted to have the answers to your questions, the vision you need to realize your club’s long-term sustainable future, the source of support and guidance you have been craving.

While this should be the function of the consultant, the delivery often falls short. And this is why distrust of consultants is not uncommon.

For some club leaders or board members this distrust is only a perception, for others it stems from direct experience of having achieved disappointing results with the support of consultants in the past.

Whatever the reason, skepticism looms large.

Demystifying the truth

So how do you go about finding the right consultant? How do you peel back the image to reveal their genuine credentials and potential fit to work with you?

Their previous work is a good place to start.

Ask for a broad assortment of references, testimonials and examples of work previously executed at other clubs, preferably those of a similar profile and standing. This will help you to establish a clear picture of whether they could be a valuable source of guidance.

Supplement this with online research. Websites, LinkedIn, social media and web searches are all effective channels to help you learn more about your prospective partner and ensure you have carried out your due diligence before entering into an agreement.

Reminding yourself why

Now that you have assessed a number of candidates, it can be useful to take a step back and remind yourself of the reasons behind seeking help and what additional value you are hoping a consultant can bring to your club.

While each club has its own unique set of challenges, the following is a broad set of attributes a prospective consultant should bring to the table:

  • Knowledge of a wealth of best practices and tactical advantages that can benefit club leaders (who typically have limited exposure to current trends in club strategy, leadership and operations).
  • An impartial perspective and the ability to generate new ideas you may not have already considered for your club.
  • The ability to translate often complex problems and proposed solutions in clear-cut, actionable detail.

Making the first move

Once all parties agree and the decision to employ a consultant is made, club leaders should begin by producing a clearly stated brief for what is needed and what the club is looking to achieve.

Typically, it will be up to the club manager to connect with and fully inform the candidates of the circumstances as well as the needs and expectations of the club. This will allow the consultants to develop an appropriate, tailored and effective proposal from which you can select the best candidate.

Extracting value

The key role of a consultant is to help you achieve those results that you are less likely to accomplish without the outside help, and these should be clearly laid out as the foundation and benchmark of the relationship from the outset.

What other ways should club leaders generally benefit from the relationship?

  • Provision of simple, practical guidance often derived from complex information and detail. Theory is inadequate to a club leader’s needs.
  • A clear roadmap indicating how long the consultant will need to be involved, a definition of the right goals and milestones for progress, and an outline of the specific results that will equate to a successful project outcome.
  • The ability to lean on an independent and objective source of guidance to protect the best business interests of the club.

So, while turning to an outsider can present an internal challenge, and must always be undertaken with a careful and strategic approach. Working with the right strategy consultant can pave a path for growth and success for your club that you might otherwise not achieve without that clear, focused outside perspective.

Clubs Should Be Selling Memories

Date:

Today’s fast paced tech savvy society is often called The Experience Economy, which references the ever-rising expectations of customers coupled with the desire for memorable experiences rather than physical possessions (See “Managing Expectations” PCA September, 2018).

The Experience Economy is forcing clubs to prioritize creating unparalleled experiences for their members over simply providing great service, quality amenities or good membership value.

According to Henry DeLozier of Global Golf Advisors, “The memory itself becomes the product and in private clubs today, members relish an unforgettable experience far more than a bargain.”

Different from the past, members now relate membership value to the club’s ability to deliver memorable experiences to their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Experiences in this context are preplanned activities or events that are packed full of emotional, memorable, shareable impressions that are difficult for others to duplicate. “The key to this entire concept is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” DeLozier explained.

Club executives and operators must shift their focus from simply ensuring enjoyable experiences (dining at the club, great round of golf, good tennis lesson, etc.) to building opportunities for members to establish stories. When members (and their families) become part of a holistic experience, they become part of a story and that is when a positive and lasting memory is formed.

The sky is the limit as each club has endless opportunities to create experiences that speak directly to member perceptions of value.

“Club leaders will find the greatest success in innovative ideas, unforgettable experiences and fresh new concepts that are unique to their club and community,” DeLozier concluded.

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for the Private Club Advisor.

Why Business Planning is the No. 1 Trend Facing Private Clubs

Date:

Business Planning is the number one trend in the private club sphere for 2019, with club managers citing it as having the highest impact on club operations in today’s market.
GGA Partner, Rob Hill, looks at why this was…

Private club managers are working to meet demands for a better plan.

This was the clear finding of a recent survey of managers recently conducted across North America, with valuable contributions from several leading European clubs.

While many may see this as nothing new, the survey did reveal a number of interesting reasons behind this trend, with changing markets and changing member expectations driving the need for a more forward-thinking approach among club leaders.

A wave of change

Europe and North America both face a challenging macro-environment in 2019, with Morgan Stanley Research predicting a growth drop of around 0.6% for the United States, and 0.3% in the Eurozone*. With uncertainty fueling a lack of investor and consumer confidence, both are making more careful, considered and longer-term choices.

Alongside this uncertainty in the markets, the needs, wants and demands of club members are also evolving rapidly, creating a shifting landscape in which it is no surprise that business planning has surfaced as the most impactful trend among private club managers.

Trends within trends

Of course, the notion of business planning itself is nothing new. The need to produce and update a plan with board members at regular intervals is an ever-present duty for club leaders.

That said, a closer analysis of manager’s survey responses reveals interesting trends within this process that help explain why it is only growing in importance:

Wanting more – with lower levels of consumer confidence and greater scrutiny of expenses, members are understandably looking for greater value where they do choose to spend. As one manager put it, “Members want much more nowadays – so we need to provide more services, and plan for what they are and what members need.”

Typically, this means expanding amenities and services, as well as creating greater differentiation from other competing leisure pursuits – many of which do not require the same level of time and financial commitment, making them easier to justify.

Experiences – the advent and increasing popularity of investing in experiences over products is well-documented, and is now permeating through to clubs.

Survey responses indicated that clubs are becoming more mindful of this trend, with one respondent stating the need to “develop creative solutions and unique experiences which members will value.”

While clubs are coming to understand the need to craft and deliver exceptional experiences for their members, these experiences need to be carefully informed, appropriately financed and properly planned to ensure you fulfill this ever-growing demand among the membership.

Rising costs – increased member demands for new services and amenities are contributing to rising operations costs across much of the industry. In this landscape, business planning will play a pivotal role in ensuring financial stability, mitigating the impact of increased competition, and securing the longevity of the club – both as a business and as a relevant destination to existing and prospective members.

Where to start

As important as it is to know how to start a plan, it’s just as critical to know who is responsible for it. Managers involved in the survey spoke of the need to ‘free up’ the board to think more in a strategic context, rather than just an operational one. This can empower the board to inform a far-reaching, evidence-backed vision and plan for the club which all stakeholders can unite behind.

Club managers can then operate with the freedom to develop greater agility in making real-time decisions, to source the right information to support them, and to implement process management and ‘total work’ systems that will see the plans through.

Attention to detail

In expanding their amenities and services, many clubs are evolving from small businesses into larger, multifaceted entities which require increasingly specific, detailed, and timely plans of action. A combination of economic interests, resource limitations, and evaluations of financial viability are compelling clubs to think longer-term and to plan more diligently.

In a world that continues to change at tremendous pace, it is easy for business leaders to feel out of control. And this gets to the heart of why, we believe, business planning emerged in this survey as the trend with the highest impact on clubs today.

However, by arming yourself with the best tools at your disposal, tools that will enable you to take swift, measured, evidence-backed action, you will be well-equipped to face the challenges of both the present and of the future.

*Morgan Stanley Research “2019 Global Macro Outlook: Emerging Markets Retake the Lead” (Nov. 25, 2018)

This article was authored by GGA Partner Rob Hill. 

Time to Deliver an Unforgettable Experience

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Today, many club members are less inclined to splurge on a new set of clubs and more likely to allocate their time and money to sharing an experience with their friends and family. Not only are experiences ‘trending’, the experience economy is booming.

The economics are simple: people are spending more on doing stuff and less on buying stuff.

Consumers have recognized that sharing experiences with others generates a stronger and longer-lasting sense of happiness than buying a product does; for businesses this requires an approach to services which is more relational than transactional, more qualitative than quantitative.

This shift in demand creates a tremendous opportunity for clubs, because membership clubs are perfectly situated to capitalize on servicing the experiences of their members.

Here are nine tips to help clubs deliver experiences that are unforgettable for members:

1. Be mindful of when the ‘experience’ starts.

In many cases the experience may begin long before members are at the Club, or even before they have become members.

How your members become aware of the experience, the way they register or sign-up for it, the message they receive confirming their registration, a reminder or additional information they may receive about it, the availability of parking on the day, and the ambiance of their arrival at the Club are all contributors to the experience as a whole and the customer’s memory of it.

2. Use technology to create the feeling of a meaningful relationship.

The aim is to establish the sense of a one-to-one relationship between the club and the member, both offline and online, making the member feel known, welcome, and expected.

Understanding of their preferred methods of communication, their drink preferences or dietary restrictions, and, of course, knowledge of their name plays into the experience. Unless you have a superhuman ability to track this information mentally, let technology do the work for you.

3. Great experiences can be simple.

Remember that, in the experience economy, the commodity is happiness.

Experiences need not be expensive, elaborate, comprehensive, or enduring to generate fulfillment for members. Rather they need to be genuine and encourage socialization and relationship-building with others. In fact, research suggests that many consumers see experiences as affordable indulgences rather than major expenditures.

4. Food and Beverage is an easy place to start enhancing experiential offerings.

Members are increasingly interested in food and beverage experiences such as niche-based events for a small, targeted group of members. Examples might include wine tastings, whiskey samplings, trialing cigars, nine-and-dine type of events, or ‘dinner with the chef’ or ‘dinner in the kitchen’.

The key to ensuring these drinking and dining experiences deliver experiential value to members is to focus on facilitating interaction and engagement rather than the food product. In the case of wine and whiskey tasting, the value is not in the consumption of alcohol but rather in the shared experience of trying new things with companions. For ‘dinner with the chef’ the value is tied to the sense of exclusivity, intimate dining, and the feeling of having gotten something ‘extra’.

5. Lifestyle experiences are increasingly important in the experience economy.

Member interests are trending toward a desire for clubs to provide lifestyle experiences as opposed to continually new and upgraded amenities and facilities.

Members are seeking to define themselves by how they live versus what they own and they want customized, unique experiences. In particular, experiences relating to ‘off-site’ outings and excursions, travel and adventure, whole-family experiences, and the Club becoming a ‘home-away-from-home’ are becoming more and more common.

6. Stand out from the pack of local experiences.

Turn to your club’s most recent market research, as well as anecdotal data from fellow managers, to inventory which experiences other clubs around you are offering.

Assess which events are commonly hosted among a variety of competitors, then be bold and take a creative approach by doing something different. If your market is focused on experiences for adults, there may be an opportunity to pioneer an unmatched children’s experience.

7. Know when to cast a wide net.

It’s important to know when to focus on a niche group (for optimal satisfaction) versus a broad group (for maximal attendance). When trialing something new or adventurous for the operations team, cultivate experiences that: (a) draw from multiple sources of revenue such as admission or registration fees, food and beverage sales, transportation costs, or ancillary dues/fees (if it’s related to a club-within-the-club), and (b) appeal to multiple demographic segments such as adults, families, teens, and young-professionals.

8. Track, monitor, and evaluate experience metrics.

Key metrics which clubs should be tracking to make informed assessments regarding the experiences they offer include:

  • Satisfaction with the experience
  • Willingness to recommend the experience to others (Net Promoter Score)
  • Utilization or attendance
  • Value-for-money perceptions

Most of these can be tracked through member surveys, rolling Net Promoter Score surveys, spot polls, automated follow-up surveys, or through web analytics regarding which marketing emails or event promotions were most clicked, most shared, or generated the most conversion to attendance.

The goal here is to track metrics consistently over time and across experiences in order to compare performance and effectiveness.

9. Embrace that what qualifies as ‘unforgettable’ varies from member to member, but recognize that what constitutes ‘unforgettable’ remains the same.

We all want our experiences to be unique. However, behavioral scientists are suggesting that consumers are less likely to compare experiential purchases than they are material products. If the commodity is happiness, the happiness one member receives from a certain experience does not diminish because another member was happy with their separate experience.

This means that a golf trip to St. Andrews may be as rewarding an experience for one member as attending a 70’s themed father-daughter dance might be for another. In each case the object of happiness is different, however the happiness they experienced and shared with others – and are now sharing with one another – is the same.

This article was authored by GGA Manager and Member Satisfaction expert Bennett DeLozier.

What Makes Members Happy

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“Establish an atmosphere which fosters a sense of community and belonging – that is fundamental to member satisfaction.” – GGA Senior Associate Martin Tzankov

In a recent interview, GGA Senior Associate Martin Tzankov revealed the results of member survey findings from a sample of private clubs that are subscribed to GGA’s Strategic Intelligence platform, all based in and around the Greater Ontario region in Canada.

The Key Findings of the sample study were these:

  • Social Atmosphere and Food & Beverage ratings were most directly related to overall club satisfaction
  • Golf Course and Practice Facility ratings did not strongly relate to overall member satisfaction
  • The Clubhouse Experience bears a moderate correlation to overall satisfaction

Martin went on to discuss the findings and why some aspects of club life are more closely linked to satisfaction than others in today’s market:

Did it surprise you that the golf course and practice facilities were not more directly linked to member satisfaction?

In some ways, yes. It’s something I imagine most club managers would think is number one when it comes to satisfaction. But in the context of members and membership, the course is something they know and that they (most likely) got to know before they joined. It may change or evolve over time, but this study suggests there are other aspects of their membership that are more directly related to their satisfaction at any one time.

Social atmosphere was found to be most directly related to club satisfaction. Is this an emerging trend that you have witnessed from other club data in recent years?

It’s definitely something we’ve seen over the years on a case-by-case basis through our engagements and this data reinforces our first-hand observations. A sense of community and belonging is so important to club members. This has actually not really changed over time, however the definition of what a sense of community and belonging is has certainly evolved. Increasingly, members are looking to be part of a club that is friendly and welcoming to families, and one that creates social opportunities for its members to interact and spend time with one another.

The notion of shared experiences, added to the distinct feeling of being part of something, does feel like the sweet spot all clubs should be striving to create for their members. This is backed up by the data and, I suspect, would be backed up by more far reaching extensive research too.

Why do you think Food & Beverage ranked so highly in relation to member satisfaction?

It’s almost the opposite to the golf course, in the sense that the food and beverage offering is something they are unlikely to have experienced many times, if at all, before they became members. So, by the time they become a member, if it does not meet their expectations, a survey tends to be where this is reflected.

Despite the questions relating to food quality, menu selection and the like, there’s a broader social context too. The club is somewhere a member wants to be proud of, perhaps even invite others along to experience – so when certain aspects are not up to the standard they expect, this can be a source of discontent.

With the findings of the study in mind, what one or two takeaways can you recommend to club managers with a view to improving the experience and satisfaction for their members?

I’d focus on bringing your members together – create opportunities for members to spend time and socialize together at the club on and off the golf course. A sense of community and belonging plays a pivotal role in member satisfaction.

The club should be viewed as the vessel which enables members to live out social experiences with other members, their families, friends and guests, so by opening up these opportunities, members can expand their network within the club and become more rooted in the social fabric.

When you observe your members using the club and its amenities through this lens, it can help empathize with what they care most about, or what voids may exist in the member experience.

Any final conclusions to draw from the findings?

The findings have reinforced our observations into which areas specifically impact member satisfaction most. But for the moment, this is really only an indication. We’ll soon be embarking on more extensive analysis, taking account of clubs further afield, looking more closely at individual responses and mapping these to member satisfaction. This will provide an even more robust basis to examine where clubs really need to focus their attention in order to enhance the experience for members.

Connect with Martin Tzankov

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