According to the Club Management Association of America (CMAA), there are more than 2,500 country, golf, athletic, city, faculty, military, town and yacht clubs across the nation, with over 250 situated in California alone. And they all have something relatively in common; beautifully landscaped grounds, comfortable settings, and a thriving membership with ample discretionary funds.
But what many country clubs also have in common is a reluctant willingness for change at the employee level, although in many cases the need exists as work performances start to disintegrate. This is usually the time when management brings in a new General Manager, only to have this person immediately hit a stonewall of resistance when it comes to firing employees who have 20-25-30 years on the clock, have friends on the Board, or simply will not go out without a little kicking and screaming. And be assured that this kicking and screaming will be loud enough to be heard by the club’s membership, who will be more than willing to take their discretionary income to someplace a little “quieter.”
So, the biggest challenge for any GM coming in to a new position is how to make things better and to make changes for the good without changing anything. This is the quandary new GMs face in country clubs from sea to shining sea. It’s like asking someone to build a tree house without using any wood.
We recently worked with a golf club in Southern California that serviced 1500 members and a staff of 160. The Club needed some help in transitioning a new GM into their role. It seemed this person felt the best way to deal with a bad situation was to immediately fire 25% of the workforce, and the impact was starting to filter over to the members who were now lacking the service they were used to. We went in and put into place a series of coaching sessions where we gave supervisors and employees a chance to air out any concerns each other had on the way the job was being done and how it could be done better. Then we created an updated employee handbook and job descriptions which clearly explained each person’s job responsibility, had them read it and sign off on it.
As a result of our intervention, the club was able to create a culture of change while also getting people on board that knew and understood the new vision of the Club. The goal was to start change as a team and not create a culture of fear. Due to the successful results the Club was able to see an increase in member satisfaction, increased overall membership and engagement of happy employees. What was avoided was government audits, lawsuits, increased Workers’ Comp claims, complaints from members and employees, low morale and pending union activity.
One of the problems is that most country clubs have an older staff where very often English is a second language, so it’s easy for things to get lost in translation. As a result, when employees are doing a horrible job it’s hard to pull the trigger because you fear that every action will cause a reaction; fire someone and a lawsuit looms, disrupt the apple cart too much and the unions come sniffing around. But by not pulling the trigger you are opening up the company to audits, a high rate of injuries, increasingly low morale and—for what is the kiss of death in this industry—bad customer service. The last thing you want is for your members to become collateral damage when they are paying upwards of $50,000 a year to be members.
On the other hand, it’s important that the new GM doesn’t go in wielding a broadsword like “Braveheart” and start lopping off every employee he or she deems malignant to the welfare of the club (remember our action/reaction scenario). Perhaps a scalpel would be a much better tool to use, so a new GM can be much more precise in his intent; more surgical strike, less shock-and-awe. For instance, it’s perhaps more advantageous to an already volatile situation to put coaching into place, to give these under-achieving employees the opportunity to do better, to raise their bar a little more and make themselves proud of what they do. And you have to stress that it is not only for themselves but for the benefit of the members, as they are often the face of the company and much is expected of them.
When a new General Manager takes the reins it is important they do their due diligence on just who they will be dealing with. Who are the rock stars, the employees that take their job to the next level, the employees that your members are happy to interact with. These are the employees that should be leading the rest of the troops. They should be emulated by those not pulling their weight or just simply treading water from paycheck to paycheck, doing just enough to get their job done but not falling into the category of the employee that should be anywhere else but in this job. And that’s where your focus should be.
These are the employees that will be most resistant to change, who have the potential to implement lawsuits and go out on Workers’ Compensation at a moment’s notice, who have the head of the union on their speed-dial. The way to work this situation is to open up a dialogue, perhaps even bring the rock stars in to help you. Let them know that you want them to do better, that you believe they can do better; it’s all about communication and appreciation. Don’t let them get defensive right out of the box—fear breeds weird stuff in the workplace. And if they do go out on an injury claim, even if it seems “convenient” to you, keep the lines of communication open. Let them know you care about them returning to work. Ignore them and they’ll sit in front of the TV all day watching ads from lawyers telling them all the wrong things. And most importantly DOCUMENT EVERYTHING; leave a paper trail the length of a football field if you have to. And while you’re doing this also undertake an in-depth accident investigation. Look closely into what happened, has it happened before, did it suddenly happen after doing the same task every day for the past 30 years with no incident? Were there witnesses, was the injured employee disgruntled, and was there talk about “getting back at the company”? If he is laid up with a back injury are there photos of him skiing on Facebook or Tweeting that he just ran a 5-minute mile?
The mistake many employers make is that they don’t want to take the time or effort to resolve the situation, many being content to just ride out the three-year period before it falls off the books. But what many employers in this situation don’t realize is that during those three years their Experience Mod is going up (which costs them higher premiums and the potential not to be able to bid on contracts), they are losing productivity because now they are down a man, and the other employees are grousing because now they have to pick up the slack due to a missing co-worker. It is better to resolve a Workers’ Compensation situation as quickly as possible, otherwise you might as well just hand the injured worker your checkbook.
Finally, it is equally important to make sure there are accurate job descriptions available so each employee knows precisely what is expected of them. Maybe the employee was bad at his job because no one ever fully or clearly explained just what his job is, or how to properly do it. Let there be no doubt, no misunderstanding. Document everything. It’s also a good idea to have the HR person or company Risk Manager walk each employee through what their job curtails.
Change at the employee level doesn’t have to be painful, even in the country club industry where there is very often a fine line between employee and membership interaction. Never let it get to the point where your valued members can become collateral damage if things go badly behind the scenes. Communication and patience is key, but always with a firm hold on knowing who is in charge and who holds the power to make changes.
A new GM can succeed if he/she follows three simple rules:
- Get the best strategic risk manager on your side- what are the hot buttons and HR projects that need to be addressed immediately
- Take it slow and analyze all of the team players
- Have a plan with goals and surround yourself with a management team that is on board
When country club management is looking to hire a new General Manager it is important to choose someone who can work smoothly and with an open mind. You need to hire someone who can interact not only with the rock stars on the workforce but also those employees who may never ever get a sniff of being on the big stage.
Toni Shibayama is a Broker/Risk Consultant for S&K Insurance in Southern California. She has more than 15 years experience in risk management, job safety, Workers’ Compensation, wellness and HR consulting. She can be reached at toni@sk-insurance.com and by phone at 213.627.5204.
