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KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE Renews Executive Partnership with National Club Association

National Club Association Renewal

KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE renewed its Executive Partner status with the National Club Association for the seventh consecutive year.  The company also renewed its sponsorship of the Excellence in Club Management® Awards Gala for the third year.  KK&W is a leader in private club executive search, governance, education, training, consulting, and planning.

“NCA is delighted to have industry leader KK&W as an executive partner,” said NCA President & CEO, Joe Trauger. “Their partnership and sponsorship of the ECM Gala are fitting demonstrations of their commitment to excellence in the private club community. We’re looking forward to another fantastic year as partners.”

KK&W Partner Tom Wallace shares, “Dick Kopplin, Kurt Kuebler and I look forward to our ongoing commitment to NCA and supporting the association’s initiatives centered around advocacy, insight, and governance best practices for private clubs. Together, we can pave pathways for sustaining and shaping a thriving industry landscape.”

KOPPLIN KUEBER & WALLACE’s Executive Partnership benefits NCA members through education initiatives and investments across NCA’s platforms and services. Firm executives are regular contributors to Club Director and Club Trends magazines in addition to NCA’s annual webcast series and multiple committees. Recent contributions include:

In 2022, KK&W was the inaugural sponsor of the Excellence in Club Management® Awards Gala, recognizing the extraordinary industry contributions of private club general managers, managers, and chief operating officers who have exhibited outstanding skills in managing their clubs.

“We are proud to continue our sponsorship of the Excellence in Club Management® (ECM) Awards Dinner in 2024,” agree the KK&W partners. “As advocates for growth and leadership, we recognize the transformative power this recognition can have on elevating standards and fostering a culture of excellence within private clubs.”

Past ECM winners within the KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE team include:

  • The Mead Grady Award – Michael G. Smith, CCM, CCE, ECM
  • The Lifetime Achievement Award – J.G. Ted Gillary, CCM, CCE, ECM, CMAA Fellow
  • Country/Golf Club with Under 600 Full-Privilege Members – Thomas B. Wallace, CCM, CCE, ECM
  • Specialty Club – John“Jack” Sullivan, Jr., CCM, ECM
  • City/Athletic Club or City/Dining Club – J.G. Ted Gillary, CCM, CCE, ECM, CMAA Fellow

About NCA

The National Club Association (NCA) has been the advocate for the private club industry in Washington, D.C., for more than 60 years. As the voice of private clubs on Capitol Hill, the NCA ensures that club concerns are forefront when legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry are being decided. In addition, NCA provides club leaders with an outstanding array of resources on club industry trends, governance best practices, legal and operational matters, and ways to strengthen club leadership. nationalclub.org.

KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE Renews Executive Partnership with National Club Association2024-03-27T15:36:31+00:00

Culinary Confusion: Navigating Tradition and Innovation in Modern Kitchens

Culinary Confusion: Navigating Tradition and Innovation in Modern Kitchens

The term “culinary confusion” emerged from the fusion cuisine era, coined by an editor to describe dishes that mix conflicting flavors or techniques. This came to mind when a waiter described a “special deconstructed chicken pot pie,” which seemed neither traditional nor deconstructed in the expected sense. The concept underscores how classic dishes create expectations through established rules, and deviation can lead to disappointment. For example, a beloved French onion soup can enchant with its layered cheese and caramelized onion broth, or disappoint if served as a thin, flavorless version.

Today’s culinary landscape often sees such confusion, with kitchens adopting philosophies that prioritize personal expression over traditional favorites, potentially frustrating customers. The removal of classic dishes, like a club’s Caesar salad, from menus by chefs without the stature of culinary icons such as Daniel, Thomas, or Grant—who have earned customer trust to innovate—illustrates a disregard for customer expectations and the relational aspect of a menu.

Clubs and restaurants should cherish classic dishes that become storytelling gems, enhancing the dining experience. Similarly, in catering and breakfast menus, consistency and tradition are valued over risky creativity, aligning with customer expectations and desires.

The pursuit of novelty and innovation at the expense of comfort and familiarity can lead to inconsistency and customer confusion. For example, changing popular dishes disrupts kitchen efficiency and customer satisfaction. Great chefs innovate within a small section of the menu, respecting classics while introducing new elements carefully to avoid culinary confusion.

Culinary excellence relies on limiting distractions and missteps, respecting the simplicity of classic dishes, and focusing on quality ingredients and techniques. Kitchens would do well to eschew fleeting culinary trends in favor of focusing on member preferences and memories. An a la carte philosophy that balances consistent quality with creative touches ensures culinary success without leading to confusion among members.

Club Trends – February 2024

Lawrence T. McFadden, CMC, ECM is a food and beverage training consultant and search executive with Kopplin Kuebler & Wallace, a consulting firm providing executive search, strategic planning and data analysis services to the private club and hospitality industries.

Culinary Confusion: Navigating Tradition and Innovation in Modern Kitchens2024-03-27T14:59:23+00:00

It Was a Rocky Start But It Ended Well

It Was a Rocky Start But It Ended Well

Legend has it that trouble often comes when you least expect it. And that’s what happened at our annual meeting, where the new slate of board members was elected.

Our board members were selected the old-fashioned way: They ran for their positions against two or often three other candidates for each open seat on the board. Thankfully those days are past, and the majority of clubs now select their leaders through a nominated slate of qualified club members.

Earl, known in the club as a “problematic” member, was surprisingly elected the new club treasurer even though most current board members favored the other candidate. I was also disappointed since I thought the other candidate would have been much easier to work with.

My concerns became a reality when the day after the annual meeting election, Earl walked into my office at 8 a.m. Upon closing the door, he said that since he was the new club treasurer, there would be some immediate changes in our operations.

He told me that he wanted all bank statements mailed directly to his office and not to the club. He also said he was directing me to freeze employee increases or promotions. And he also wanted to see the past annual written reviews I had given all of our department managers. Somewhat in a state of shock, I asked Earl to sit down and immediately called our club president, who happened to live a few blocks from the club. Since he was still at home, I asked him to come to the club to address a rather urgent situation that had developed with Earl and me. He said he was on the way.

Ray, our club president, arrived within 10 minutes, and I briefed him on Earl’s directives to me as Earl listened. Ray then turned to him and said, “Earl, none of that is going to happen. You need to understand that you are a part-time volunteer and Dick is our full-time general manager who directs all day-to-day operations. As treasurer, you are certainly welcome to make recommendations to the board, but you will not involve yourself in operational issues. Understood?”

I could tell that Earl was a little miffed as he left my office, and Ray then gave me some good advice. He said that Earl would be the club treasurer for the next two years. Following that, he would serve as vice president for two years before assuming the role of president for two years. Ray counseled me to educate Earl on how his role as treasurer could benefit the club by tapping into his vast business expertise. “Dick, if you get to know what makes him tick, I know you can turn him into a supporter of yours rather than a detractor.”

I took Ray’s advice to heart and started the following week by calling Earl and asking to meet him at his office. He said he would be happy to meet. He was going to be at the club later in the day, and we could meet after he played golf. I told him it was important for me to meet him at his office and not at the club.

As I sat down in his office, I asked him what I call the “can opener question.” I said, “Earl now that you are the new club treasurer, I was wondering how I might improve my communications with you?”

He sat back, paused for a moment and then began to tell me a few of the issues that had been bothering him at the club. That was exactly what I needed to know. All relatively minor yet important to him and his wife, and easy to resolve.

I then noticed his Notre Dame diploma hanging on his office wall. My brother-in-law graduated from Notre Dame so we immediately started talking about their storied football program.

Earl then said, “Let me show you around our little company.” As we walked the floor through his rather impressive printing and graphics business, he introduced me to every employee along the way. It was obvious they respected and genuinely enjoyed working with him. That was the “soft side” to Earl I had never seen.

Our relationship improved dramatically after that meeting. I assisted Earl in his role as treasurer, and he relished the spotlight as we had a couple of very good years financially during his tenure. He was a great vice president and became one of the best presidents I ever worked with. After I left the club, he continued to reach out to me every so often to see how I was doing.

What I learned from my experience with Earl is that if you take a proactive role in finding out what makes your critics “tick,” as Ray suggested, you can often turn a rocky start into a positive, productive relationship. This much I know for sure.

THE BOARDROOM MAGAZINEJanuary/February 2024

“This Much I Know for Sure” is a regular feature in BoardRoom magazine beginning Fall 2022. Dick will share some of his reflections based on his 50-plus years of working in the private club business.

It Was a Rocky Start But It Ended Well2024-03-19T20:08:09+00:00

It’s YOUR Club … But It’s MY Life!

It’s YOUR Club... But It’s MY Life!

An eager and extremely qualified GM begins a new job with a great club. The club president and board give the new GM goals and set initiatives.

Everyone is excited about the new working relationship. Within a year or two, the GM completes the initiatives set forth … yet confusion and frustration begin to arise in factions of the membership. Then those feelings begin to spread to more members. Soon the staff also begins to raise concerns that are then fueled by members’ frustrations … all because members and employees don’t know or understand the board’s directions to the GM. The problems snowball and suddenly the GM is let go … even though the GM did exactly what the board asked the GM to do.

This story may seem far-fetched, but this kind of situation happens over and over again in the club industry. All too often decisions are made to eliminate a GM based on emotional factors caused by gaps in communication and misalignment. When it comes to significantly impacting a person’s life, career and family, terminating a GM should not be quick or reactive.

Members and employees must be included in the initiatives the board and GM have agreed upon, or they will be left to make their own conclusions and assumptions. When objectives are not shared or not clearly articulated, it leads to a lot of behind-the-scenes conversations which lead to misinformation. When misinformation is fueled by emotion, things get out of hand and escalate quickly.

So, when bringing in a new GM, the board must share with the membership and staff the direction/goals that the board has given to the new GM. Transparency is essential so the path ahead is clear, there is a level of understanding and no surprises. During a transition and the onboarding of a new GM, widespread understanding is essential.

Alignment and accountability of the club’s constituencies (board, committees, members at large, employees, etc.) are crucial for a successful transition. Constituency groups may get overlooked or are unaware when boards only communicate directions, master goals and initiatives among themselves and the GM. Consequently, there must be effective communication, which is never easy, along with clear expectations and alignment between constituency’ goals, and accountability at every level.

To ensure alignment and accountability:

1. Schedule a board orientation that includes the new GM within the first 30 days of the new GM’s start. We have found this to be one of the most effective ways to ensure alignment.

2. Clearly define roles and responsibilities and tie them to the master goals, which the board sets with the GM.

3. Have a plan, data and information for true accountability. This document clearly spells out the objectives, tactics, accountabilities, time frames and costs, and it should be updated for each board meeting to ensure continued focus of this critical success factor. Essentially, use a performance management system to document the GM’s accountability and the accountability of anyone else in the organization who is responsible for certain aspects of the plan.

4. Communicate the role members and employees play in helping the GM achieve goals.

The GM must be aware of the performance management criteria. Scheduled performance reviews should occur regularly (annually at minimum, quarterly at most) to ensure alignment of priorities and that goals are being met. Master goals for the GM should inspire the performance management criteria.

Use an evaluation matrix to give the board a clear snapshot of the GM’s performance and provide a basis for decisions that may need to be made in the future. If predetermined performance goals aren’t met, the performance evaluation matrix should detail a specific timeline to offer the GM the opportunity and time for improvement.

When it comes to GM accountability, there should be a standard operating procedure for raising an issue about the club/operations/GM. The process should be respected and the results clearly communicated. The board must also be brave, prompt and communicate effectively the actions being taken. This is much more successful than the board defending itself or the GM after “shots have been fired.” Establishing
trust right out of the gate with members and employees is crucial. Ensure a transparent, data-driven process and follow up and follow through, recognizing that communication takes many forms for constituencies to fully understand expectations, priorities and overall allocations of money, time and focus.

Boards must be vigilant on the front end to create success on the back end.

For example: If pace of play is an issue at the club and the pro is out on the golf course actively moderating pace of play, then there shouldn’t be much shock that the pro is hurrying people along. And the pro most certainly shouldn’t be reprimanded for doing so. If the golf committee’s goal is to speed up the pace of play, then the members can’t be allowed to criticize the pro for working to speed up play. This initiative needs to be communicated effectively in advance so no member should be surprised.

Being good communicators and “playing offense” is much more effective than keeping directives closely held by a small group of members and the GM, and later being on the defense when people claim to be unaware of what is happening and why. People rarely win when they only play defense.

Clubs must make every effort to openly share expectations, provide data-driven feedback and identify areas of improvement with reasonable timelines to ensure managers are well aware of how their performance aligns with club expectations.

Club presidents and boards must consider the ramifications of just “switching out a manager” or making quick decisions without thinking about the lasting effect a termination has on the person, their career, their family … and on the club.

As a follow-up to this article, we will offer best practices for setting goals and creating a performance management system in the next issue of this publication.

BoardRoom – January/February 2024

It’s YOUR Club … But It’s MY Life!2024-03-19T20:08:37+00:00

Private Club Search & Consulting Executive – Chris DeChillo

welcoming A new team member - Chris DeChillo

KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE continues to methodically add the brightest and most accomplished industry executive talent to the team. We would like to welcome Chris DeChillo as a hospitality trainer and leadership coach.

DeChillo comes to the Kopplin Kuebler & Wallace team with extensive training and facilitation experience from within both the hospitality and healthcare industries. In the last 10 years, he has trained or facilitated meetings with thousands of professionals on behalf of dozens of pharmaceutical companies and hospitality teams.

His background in luxury hospitality service and leadership provides a strong operational and training foundation for his consulting and coaching clients. His formal coach training is through the Co-Active Institute (CTI). Audience engagement, emotional intelligence, and leadership coaching are topics about which DeChillo is passionate, and well-versed, that add tremendous insight and value. His energy and enthusiasm make learning exciting for executives and line-staff.

Prior to pursuing a career in coaching and consulting, DeChillo worked with luxury brand, Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts, with assignments throughout Texas, California, and Colorado. As director of F&B, DeChillo held leadership positions with expertise overseeing budgeting, operations, dining, and recreational outlets.

“What an incredible addition to the KK&W team. Chris represents a hospitality leader, trainer, and coach whose skills are in complete alignment with our core values. We recognize our industry can benefit greatly by having Chris partner with club leaders in a thought provoking, creative coaching process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. His coaching and exemplary skills in hospitality team training elevate our firm on many fronts and we are thrilled that he has joined us,” expressed the Partners.

“The best way to express my excitement about joining the team at KK&W is summed up by this quote from my wife Jennifer. ‘In your 20 years working in the hospitality industry I have never seen you happier or having more fun at work.’ It is with sheer delight that I get to work with this amazing group of professionals as we provide best in class service to our many clients,” DeChillo responded.

DeChillo resides in Castle Rock, CO where he enjoys hiking, biking, and anything outdoors, along with experiencing the local food wherever his travels take him.

Chris can be contacted at: chris@kkandw.com or (720) 258- 5937. Please join us in welcoming Chris DeChillo to the Kopplin Kuebler & Wallace team. 

Private Club Search & Consulting Executive – Chris DeChillo2024-03-01T17:04:00+00:00

New Lessons in Leadership

New Lessons in Leadership
Leadership is both technical (the management side) and visionary (the strategic side). No one follows a leader for long who is not caring and visionary. In the end, excellence in leadership is a moral endeavor. The only way morality makes sense is when it’s based on love of people and love of the organization. That combination of love creates a self-sustaining culture that is attractive and compelling for prospective members, current members and staff. Love requires action.

Words have meaning and when carefully chosen as values or standards, they should prompt action. Values should be able to withstand the rigor of honest measurement for alignment with behavior. Values are where the technical and the moral converge.

Here is a short list of values or traits that are proven to serve a leader and their organizations well. Each is worth careful study. A good exercise for understanding their true meaning is to think of the antonym of each and then consciously make a choice.

INTEGRITY It is derived from the root word “integer,” meaning one and undivided.

COURAGE – Willing to be vulnerable and take a risk.

DISCIPLINE To do the deep work that makes a difference.

LOYALTY To our clubs and the people we serve.

DILIGENCE To stay the course, even when it is uncomfortable and draining.

HUMILITY  Perhaps the most attractive trait of all. OPTIMISM That the other listed traits will prove their worth. CONVICTION We are blessed with brains that when deeply engaged in creative thought produce right action.

Club Trends – Winter 2024

J.G. Ted Gillary, CCM, CCE, ECM, CMAA Fellow, Coach, Search & Consulting Executive, KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE. He can be reached via email: ted@kkandw.com.

New Lessons in Leadership2024-02-22T00:23:32+00:00

New Tracks for Golf Course Maintenance

New Tracks for Golf Course Maintenance
Two aspects promise to gain momentum for the year ahead in the management of agronomy and golf course maintenance departments:

Dual Assistant Superintendent tracks. Traditionally, golf course maintenance operations have been intensely focused on hiring or developing assistant superintendents to become future superintendents. But situations often occur when a club’s assistants get new jobs elsewhere in the same timeframe and the club is left with a challenging situation until new talent can be hired or developed. Providing two tracks for assistant roles can be a better approach. The first track is for individuals who want to become superintendents and the second for those who want to become permanent assistants and stay at the club. Under a two-track system, the permanent assistant can always be the backstop should other assistants leave at the same time or the golf course superintendent and an assistant leave at the same time. This creates a level of stability during the transition period. Additionally, the learning curve for new hires can be greatly enhanced by the permanent assistant’s knowledge and experience. This approach is proving to be in the club’s best interest, by adding a level of security in the golf course maintenance operation.

Hiring from within versus open recruitment. Golf course superintendents often hire from within, and when an assistant leaves, there is a tendency to look to promote an assistant in training or a foreman, spray tech or irrigation tech. It’s understandable to favor employees who are knowledgeable about a club’s property and its personalities and culture. But if the training and exposure that has been given to these team members has prepared them properly for the job, they should be able to compete in the open market against applicants from outside the organization for the role. By putting a current employee up with outside candidates for a position, many things can be learned. While these in-house candidates may seem to have an advantage, what if they don’t compare well with an out-of-organization candidate? Does that mean the training they’ve received wasn’t adequate? Or that when initially recruiting them as team members, the club didn’t get the best and the brightest? At the same time, does someone coming from the outside offer more varied experience than the in-house candidates that would be beneficial to the organization? Ensuring that a broader search is conducted will lead to the golf course superintendent being able to identify training and recruiting areas to improve upon, which in turn will lead to higher-performing teams and better golfing conditions for club members.

Club Trends – Winter 2024

By Armen Suny, Search & Consulting Executive, KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE. He can be reached via email: armen@kkandw.com.

New Tracks for Golf Course Maintenance2024-02-22T00:22:51+00:00

Scoring New Points with Racquets Programs

Scoring New Points with Racquets Programs
In 2024, the racquets industry will continue with massive growth in a changing environment. Now more than ever, it is critical that clubs and their racquets professionals continue to stay relevant by thinking and acting creatively in these areas:

Continued evolution of racquet sports facilities. Clubs will look to enhance their pickleball facilities by not only building permanent pickleball courts, but by adding partially covered courts as well. The Chicken N’Pickle concept, with indoor and outdoor pickleball courts and readily available food and beverage service, will continue to make its way into the mainstream at clubs across the country. The rapid rise of padel will also continue, especially in major metropolitan areas, across the country. The relatively low cost to build an outdoor padel court ($75,000-$85,000), mixed with the low operational cost to maintain it, has made it a great option for clubs looking to expand their racquet sport offerings.

Creative, collaborative and innovative programming. The huge increase in racquet sports participation that was prompted by the pandemic cannot be expected to continue without constant innovative programming. A club will need to continue to focus on entry-level events and programs for all of its racquet-sports offerings to maintain their momentum and upward progression. Collaborating with other club departments to create unforgettable moments for members will be a necessity.

Utilizing talent. Every year, a racquets department’s organizational chart should be cultivated to best utilize the full talents of the team. Staff members should continue to be challenged with more responsibilities, and titles should be adjusted to reward those who best set the team up for success. To keep up properly with pickleball explosion, clubs that don’t already have a head pickleball professional or pickleball coordinator should invest in that position immediately.

Compensation, structure and funding. The current trend is to structure racquet professionals’ compensation packages to incentivize gross revenue and the member experience within the department. Throughout the racquets department, compensation plans should reflect what each employee is responsible for, while also enabling them to share in the growth of the overall program. Assistant professionals’ compensation should include a salary, not only to help them grow as leaders but also to increase the member experience. Finally, this is the time to budget for growth. Support from the Board, management and committees is needed to adequately fund the entire racquets program for a comprehensive experience, including operational and cap ex budgets.

Certification. Because a club’s racquets program can now include four to five sports, it will be increasingly necessary to have professionals who are certified in tennis, pickleball, paddle and padel, as well as squash in some parts of the country.

Leadership, culture and mentorship. More than ever before, creating a kind, creative, positive, and growth mindset within a racquets department is imperative. Regular weekly or bi-weekly individual meetings should be held with staff members, occasionally changing things up to include lunch meetings in a more relaxed setting. Goal setting and checking in on staff members periodically should be a priority, as part of learning about each person and what makes them tick. All staff meetings should be held weekly, along with weekly growth opportunity sessions that share what’s being worked on in other areas. The staff should understand that it is OK to make mistakes, and leaders should take public accountability for things that need to be better. At the same time, staff accomplishments should be praised publicly as much as possible.

Club Trends – Winter 2024

Len Simard, PTR & USPTA Master Professional, Search & Consulting Executive, KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE. He can be reached via email: len@kkandw.com.

Scoring New Points with Racquets Programs2024-02-22T00:21:42+00:00

Golf Keeps Going Strong

Golf Keeps Going Strong
For the industry overall in 2023, the National Golf Foundation (NGF) anticipated rounds finishing 2% to 4% ahead of 2022. That took the pace for overall increased rounds in the post-pandemic surge to roughly 20% since 2019. Considering that in the previous 15 to 20 years, the industry lost close to 1,500 golf facilities, this amounts to strong growth in golf participation that doesn’t show any indication of slowing. A large part of this growth has been from weekday play, which is attributed to the working-from-home phenomenon created by the pandemic.

Another interesting statistic comes from non-green grass participation, better known as the Topgolf phenomenon. The NGF put the total number of golfers at the end of 2022 at 25.6 million. And when you include non-green grass golfers, some predict as many as 44 million Americans are now playing some kind of golf, which is a 7% increase since 2022. While many questioned whether these non-green grass golfers would also transition to playing golf on actual green grass, there is ample evidence that they have.

Women also represent 60% of net golfer growth since 2019, with junior golf and people of color also making up large parts of the overall growth since 2020. This all makes for a very healthy future, at least in the short term, for golf. The trend of more non-green grass golfers eventually becoming players at golf facilities and country clubs is expected to continue to proliferate in 2024 and beyond.

PGA Professionals and the Business of Golf

In 2017, the PGA of America announced three career tracks for PGA Professionals to follow: Executive Management, Golf Operations, and Teaching and Coaching. As education has been upgraded in each of these areas, it has paid dividends, as more clubs are recognizing the value that golf expertise can have on their overall operation.

Since 2010, the number of PGA Professionals moving into an executive space, made up mostly of those transitioning to general manager or COO roles at their clubs or facilities, is up six- to seven-fold. Specialization in one of these three path options will become even more prominent in the year ahead.

Retention is one of the biggest ways PGA professionals can make a difference at their clubs in 2024. More clubs will be building teaching facilities and dedicating directors of instruction to ensure that golfers (especially those new to the game) keep playing and enjoying it. Constantly engaging members/customers to make sure they’re enjoying the game and finding ways to improve golfers’ ability will be critical moving forward. Look for clubs to incentivize their PGA professionals based on member/customer retention.

Responses to questions in the Outlook 2024 Pulse Survey indicated there is plenty of opportunity for more clubs to add facilities to support these efforts. Fewer than a quarter of respondents to the survey (24.9%) said their clubs currently have a dedicated golf performance center for year-round teaching and training, and 36.6% said their clubs have golf/game simulators. Interestingly, of the clubs with simulators, over half (51.2%) said their amenities includes a social gathering space with lounge seating and drink service, attesting to the broader appeal they can have beyond golf training and recreation.

One final point to be made when looking at the year ahead concerns the turmoil in the professional game, which has definitely led to concerns from those who love it. The battles between the PGA Tour, DP World and LIV tour have created divisions not seen in golf in some time, and raised concerns about the negative effect they could have on the growth it is enjoying. Experts still anticipate that when all is said is done, there will be one major professional tour worldwide, but time will tell. On the positive side, junior golf is at an all-time high in participation and college golf and the amateur game have also never been healthier.

Club Trends – Winter 2024

Paul K. Levy, PGA, Search & Consulting Executive, KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE. He can be reached via email: paul@kkandw.com.

Golf Keeps Going Strong2024-02-22T00:18:45+00:00

Making the Workplace Work Better

Making the Workplace Work BetterNearly two-thirds of respondents to the Outlook 2024 Pulse Survey chose workforce issues as their greatest area of concern when choosing from a list of factors that could affect their clubs in 2024 and the remainder of the decade. A separate open-ended question about the greatest challenge currently facing the club industry yielded many other responses related to staffing and the workplace, including:

“Securing appropriate staff to fulfill the demands of the new generation of members.”
“The generational shift in work attitudes.”
“Losing key staff to larger clubs with higher pay scales.”

These challenges and more will be top of mind for club leaders throughout 2024. The labor market will continue to be tight and for any club to successfully compete for top talent and retain its high performers, all these issues will need management’s full attention:

Employee well-being. Club leaders need to go beyond the traditional approach of providing basic employee needs such as a livable wage, affordable healthcare and retirement/ pension support. They must also start to take action on work/life integration (as opposed to work/life balance) by addressing management burnout with flexible work schedules, urging people to take paid time off and redefining reasonable workloads.

AI Integration. Artificial intelligence is coming, whether it’s wanted or not. So how are clubs proactively integrating AI into their hiring processes, operational efficiencies and employment policies? AI is redefining roles within club organizations along with the skills that are necessary in any position. Updating job descriptions, job postings and performance criteria to reflect this change will be important.

Human skills development. This is not a new focus, but one that is more critical than ever. Managers need to be trained on effectively leading their teams. Continuing to promote from within is great, but failing to arm new leaders with the skills they need to effectively lead their people is not so great. Shortcomings in this area not only affect a club’s ability to retain top talent, it also negatively impacts the member experience. 

Securing a dedicated HR leader. Talent makes a club successful. Having a dedicated, strategic HR leader who serves as a talent strategy quarterback will provide a leadership team with a strategic partner who can create recruitment, retention, engagement and leadership development strategies that will take the member experience to the next level. Clubs that do not have a dedicated HR leader need to add one.

Digitizing the employee experience. HR technology is a critical component not only for operational efficiencies, but recruitment and retention. Members of Gen Z expect a digital experience with their employer. Paper applications, file cabinets for employee files, table tents in the employee breakroom and flyers attached to paychecks are all now a thing of the past. Integrating technology into the employee experience through enhancements such as an employee app, electronic application and onboarding processes, self-service access to time-off requests and shift changes, and online performance feedback are just a few examples of how clubs now need to evolve.

Pay transparency. States are quickly adopting laws requiring organizations to be transparent about pay rates. What does that mean? Job postings will require clubs to disclose pay rates for their positions. How people are paid matters, and if a club’s compensation rates are inconsistent with no justification, this will create not only liability from a potential discrimination standpoint, but also employee morale and retention issues. To get ahead of this issue, clubs need to document their compensation philosophy, pay ranges and performance/merit increase policies.

Blowing up the performance-review process. Traditional annual performance reviews no longer work. Top-performing organizations are moving away from the sterile, ineffective annual performance-review process to a more agile, frequent and informal feedback process. Younger generations want more regular feedback and interactions with their managers.

Club Trends – Winter 2024

Jodie J. Cunningham, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is a HR/Talent Strategist, Consultant and Search Executive with KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE. She can be reached via email: jodie@kkandw.com.

Making the Workplace Work Better2024-02-21T19:34:35+00:00
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