Club Management - May/June 2008 - (Page 28)

shape the future of those operations. Use this information to create your minimum criteria, and partner with the department manager through the hiring process. Hire conﬁdent people who know what they want to do. We are in the people business. Never lose sight of that, and never settle for a warm body while hiring. Before hiring anyone, ask yourself these three questions: Am I hiring the right person for this position? Would I offer this person the position if I had to offer them a 10-year contract? Does this person have passion for the position? Passion: Your “A” players always have passion. People with passion tend to succeed in the face of adversity. You may have heard of Alex’s lemonade stand. The concept grew out of a little girl’s passion to turn her life’s lemons into lemonade and to share with the world her battle with cancer. Sadly, her battle with cancer was lost, but her passion has lived on through her legacy and Alex’s Lemonade Stand. In the golf industry, you have Carolyn Capture who is sometimes referred to as Trump’s Ice Queen. Carolyn’s passion for change and her drive to succeed led her to the steps of Trump National. She knew very little about the golf industry but succeeded where many of her predecessors with long careers in the golf industry failed. Intellectual Development: The manager should be very much involved in maximizing the intellect of an organization by enlisting the knowledge and skills of every person in the organization. I have met many managers who believe they have a bunch of failures working for them. I cannot believe any person wakes up in the morning and says, “Today I want to fail.” People fail for one of two reasons: (1) they don’t have the tools to succeed; or (2) they don’t have the support or believe they can succeed. One of my favorite sayings is, “The difference between a coach and a manager is that the coach lets his team know every day that he has faith in the players and that together they can succeed.” Be the coach! Your job is to ensure that you know every associate’s capability and to give them the tools to succeed. You need to get everyone’s mind into the game, be open to new ideas (or even old ideas with a new twist) and break down the walls that separate departments. Stretch Assignments: Ralph Nader said, “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not followers.” This is what guided empowerment is all about. It is challenging people to do more, grow more and achieve more. Stretch assignments allow your staff to reach new levels. Empowerment is giving a person the power to make decisions and to succeed or fail on their own. Guided empowerment is giving people enough rope to get tangled, but not enough to hang themselves or you. Challenge a person, team or company to go beyond perceived limits. Stretch assignments can be as simple as having a member of the wait staff work with the restaurant manager and possibly assume that position on a given night. It might be an assignment to report on the food at a competitor’s location or to design a new menu. Whatever it is, it must challenge the individual’s current skill set, duties or personal level of growth, and have purpose. In short, stretch assignments are the best form of succession planning. The Social Structure Culture Counts: You need one culture, one direction. Bending to make certain accommodations divides teams and challenges your integrity. Lose the Bureaucracy: Bureaucracy has a strangling effect that leads to zombie-like employees who do what’s asked – nothing more or less. If you want to create a free-thinking, competitive atmosphere, you need to move away from the politics of the board room and the bureaucracy of insecure management styles. A freethinking environment is not about casual dress, reserved parking or an informal environment. It is about knowing that everyone has value and can contribute. It is about creating an environment that allows everyone to contribute. You need to have leaders who are not offended by opposition but relish the intellectual challenge of a debate. This does not mean everything will or should be challenged. There is a time and a place for everything, and “because I said so” should never be the starting or ending point of any conversation. SIGNATURE SERIES SHOREA WOOD COLLECTION OXFORD 28 • CLUB MANAGEMENT GARDEN www.oxfordgarden.com 877.866.3331 http://www.culinarysoftware.com http://www.oxfordgarden.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Club Management - May/June 2008

Club Management - May/June 2008 Contents President’s Message Accounting & Financial Management Board Governance Wine Society Quenches Thirst for Knowledge, Camaraderie Building & Facilities Management Tennis Pro Education Increases Your Bottom Line Cover Story: BMI Golf Management Golf/Sports & Recreation Management Human & Professional Resources Relationship Building in the Internet Era The Ultimate Cellar Raid Products and Services Marketplace External & Government Influences HFTP Insight: HITEC 2008 Features Latest in Club Technology New Directions Global Outreach Advertiser Index/Advertisers.com Club Wrap

Club Management - May/June 2008

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