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Excerpted From the Handbook by Jerry N McCoy, MCM
As a private
club general manager for the past twenty years I have had the opportunity
to experience the best and worst parts of our industry. During my tenure,
the continued development of sound principals and practices, being adopted
by a new and more effective breed of club manager, has provided clear
progress for private clubs. Today there are a great variety of resources
available to the club manager. These resources, in the form of educational
opportunities, written materials and networking systems, have allowed the
club industry to prosper as never before.
However, one thing has been slow to change. That is the
mindset of the unpaid voluntary club leader. This is not to say the
effectiveness of club governance has not improved. Only that the progress
in this area has been slower than the acceptance and implementation of
advances in management philosophies. This focuses on the historical nature
of clubs to resist change, especially in adopting progressive business
thinking.
We must divert for a moment. The purpose of this
manuscript is not to illuminate the shortcomings of elected volunteer
leaders. Many clubs have prospered substantially under the visionary
leadership on dedicated club members. Many clubs, on the other hand, have
dramatically failed to keep pace or became mired in mediocrity, by lack of
direction or differences in philosophy. It is important to define our
expectations of our leaders and put in place a process where real progress
can take place.
What are our expectations of the average elected leader
in the average private club today? One characteristic of these individuals
is that they want to accomplish the most, in the least amount of time.
They want to cut to the chase so to speak on most subjects that come
before the Board. Obviously, there are those board members who seem as if
they have nothing else to do and cause drawn out discussions of trivial
matters. They can wear others down with their tenacity. Weak leadership
can allow a few individuals to control the agenda a Board meeting and
hamper progress. This may be occurring because of the lack of a sound
system for processing ideas.
Second, club leaders normally understand the club, but
may not have a clear focus on how all club decisions impact on each other.
If the club has a mission statement they may not understand how each
individual decision effects the mission.
The purpose, or mission, of The Service Gauntlet, is to
crystallize club thinking by offering a method for standardizing idea
analysis. We will show how the primary mission, goal, objective and
strategy of all private clubs is the same. If a club practiced this
strategic thinking concept, the club will be able to complete orderly
planning at every level of the organization.
For more information on
"The Service Gauntlet" or
to order a copy of the handbook
contact Clubwise. |
