Tag: management

3 Attributes of an Outstanding Club Manager

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What does it take to be an outstanding club manager? And for clubs seeking to fill this role, what attributes should they be looking for?

GGA’s new Executive Search Director, Patrick DeLozier, explains what it takes to be among the best private club managers.

It takes a particular type of individual to be a club manager.

Seldom is it a job with set hours and set responsibilities; it is more often a vocation which requires an unprecedented level of commitment and drive.

Rewarding? Yes. Challenging? Most certainly.

Throughout my time both at the sharp end of club management, as well as participating in national associations and state boards, one thing was abundantly clear – the role of the club manager is inextricably linked with the success or failure of a club.

It is, therefore, an appointment clubs cannot afford to get wrong.

But what makes an outstanding club manager?

1) Strong work ethic

High performing club managers are leaders with a relentlessly strong work ethic.

They are dedicated, committed and visible to the whole club – including both their membership and their team.

Beyond the general day-to-day requirements, the best club managers have a sense of when and where to be at all times. Not simply to be seen, but to demonstrate leadership and accessibility, consciously engaging with everyone they encounter in a meaningful and constructive way.

For team members this means being willing to mentor, offer guidance and invest time in their well-being and progression, whatever the role. For members, it is going the extra mile, ensuring exceptional service levels and a commitment to continuous high levels of satisfaction.

The club manager should be the face and voice of the club, not tucked away in a back office.

2) Forward-thinking

Effective managers do not stand still. They are always growing, always looking forward.

For them, success is just fuel to improve, and failure is an opportunity to learn and avoid repeat mistakes.

They are relentless when it comes to innovation: they recognize trends, the importance of future generations, and consider how to best position their club to take the opportunity they present.

As golf and particularly private clubs move ever more towards service and experience, the most forward-thinking club managers are tuned into three important things:

  • Continuous investment in the property (and the areas in which to invest)
  • Attracting, training and motivating the right people for their team
  • Perfecting operational execution to create the ultimate experience for members and guests

3) Welcomes accountability

A high performing club manager never waivers when it comes to being accountable and holding oneself to exceptional standards of integrity and honesty.

While moral and ethical accountability is of paramount importance, so too is business accountability.

Successful managers engage in business intelligence and the ability to root decisions in evidence and fact. They embrace performance targets, and motivate their team to meet them.

More broadly, outstanding club managers welcome the existence of a strategic plan to determine the direction of travel, underpin all that they do, and provide a vision for the future they can unite the entire club behind.

To perform such a complex and varied role, a club manager will need an armory of attributes – not just three. But these traits should serve as a good foundation for what it takes to be an outstanding private club manager and help to safeguard your club from choosing the wrong candidate.

Recovering from the missteps of inadequate leadership can be an enormous burden, so if your club needs guidance in the recruitment of a new club manager or leader, please connect with me for an informal discussion.

Connect with Patrick DeLozier

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.

Hard Times

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In his award-winning description of the Dust Bowl years, author Timothy Egan tells the story of a land without adequate water for crops and the soul-suffocating consequences of extreme drought. “The Worst Hard Time” recreates the 10,000-foot high dust storms that whipped across a delicate dryland ecosystem, choking animals and people eking out an existence most of us cannot imagine.

It’s hard to read the author’s account of their epic struggle and not relate it to the importance of intentional water management programs for anyone in the golf business today. Water management is one of the great responsibilities for all who draw water from the land, and superintendents are rightfully praised for their careful and attentive water consumption practices. They are diligent and careful users of water – whether from the ground or recycled effluent. Yet, many fear we are not doing enough to safeguard the long-term health of our most valuable assets.

Fortunately, and in contrast to the Dust Bowl years, when charlatans and conmen preyed on fearful farmers, there are now a number of progressive superintendents developing and sharing solutions for the common good. We’ve highlighted a few of them here, some of which fall into the category of plain old common sense and others that are quite innovative.

Common-Sense Solutions

Rick Tegtmeier, the superintendent at Des Moines Golf and Country Club, which hosted the 2017 Solheim Cup, often employs the wisdom of experience.

“If there is a rainfall event in our immediate future, we turn off the well (that fills the irrigation lake) in anticipation of filling the lakes with runoff water,” he says. “That saves the club money by not pumping the water out of our deep well. All our lakes on property can be drained into one of the lakes that we draw out of. In the event of a water shortage or drought, we have 21 days of water on property to keep our greens and tees alive.”

Many superintendents monitor water consumption with technology systems that constantly monitor the efficient performance of irrigation systems. “If a head is not turning or a nozzle is clogged, I can assure you water is being wasted,” Tegtmeier says.

Innovative Solutions

Tegtmeier is also known for his innovative approach to water management.

“Over the four months of summer, we utilize wetting agents on greens, approaches, tees and fairways. These surfactants make the water wetter and help to evenly distribute moisture throughout the soil profile.”

There are many types of surfactants available to turf professionals. “Using the right ones to either retain water in the profile or penetrate the soil is key,” Tegtmeier adds.

Bill Cygan, superintendent at Silver Spring Country Club in Ridgefield, Conn., considers water management a “blend of art and science.” Using moisture meters, Cygan and his team seek optimum moisture content for their course to produce firmer and healthier playing surfaces. “Many factors, including season, weather, soil types, microclimates and membership expectations, must be considered,” he notes.

Both Tegtmeier and Cygan also carefully monitor evapotranspiration (ET) levels on their courses. Cygan uses deficit irrigation for replacing only the least amount of water lost through ET that is needed to keep the plant healthy.

Tegtmeier says tracking ET helps determine how much to water back that evening. “We also have six TDR meters we utilize throughout the day to see if the soil needs water. Thirty years ago, we used a soil probe or a cup cutter to determine if water was needed. Now, TDR measurements are an essential part of what we do every day.”

Wetting agents are also an important part of the superintendent’s arsenal. “Wetting agents aren’t a replacement for good drainage or an irrigation system,” Cygan says. “But they will aid either process, depending on which product is chosen.”

We’ve come a long way from the Dust Bowl years, when wet sheets were hung in windows and doors were taped and stuffed cracks with rags to ward off the elements. But despite their good intentions, homespun remedies didn’t work. Poor soil management practices and the lack of water were to blame. The toll was paid by the people who lived to tell the tale.

Fortunately, progressive superintendents have developed common-sense practices and innovative solutions to help ensure that the worst hard time is not repeated on our golf courses.

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

Monitoring Club Performance through Board Policy

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

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

The Board’s Role in Goal Setting

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

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

Make Monitoring Club Performance a Board Policy

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

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

Management’s Role in Goal Setting

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

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

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

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