Strategize your club’s road to success

Table Of Contents

Foreword: Matthew Allnatt, GM/COO, Jonathan Club … 7

Introduction: Toni Shibayama … 12

Chapter 1: You’ve Just Been Named Head Coach … 15

Of all the candidates for the head position, it was your vision and ability to guide the team to victory that led to you being chosen. The mission is a simple one; make your club the ultimate member experience. Are you up to the task?

Chapter 2: Are You Ready for the Season? … 21

You landed the job of your dreams. A beautiful facility, loyal employees, dedicated members looking at you to make the best in class Club. Does the staff share your vision? Do you have the right people on the team to achieve this vision? How does the staff view your leadership? Have you earned the trust of your team? How will you earn their trust?

Chapter 3: The Need for a Good Coaching Staff … 29

Coaching and leading is a critical role for managers and they need to understand that what they say to others either creates trust or breaks it completely.  It just takes one person or government agency to come in to turn everything upside down.

Chapter 4: Does Your Team Need a Salary Cap? … 41

Keep close eyes on your people controlling the financial costs/insurance. These are two critical pieces that all General Managers need to master and focus on.  Does the budget drive the mission or the mission drive the budget? What are your financial resources? Do you have a facility with all the bells and whistles, or are you making do with what you have?

Chapter 5: Picking the Team … 50

Landing your new Club is an opportunity to improve weaknesses that have been overlooked in the past. These weaknesses may be the reason you were chosen for the job as it’s believed your skill set will fix these. How will you improve the team that is already in place, who very well may be part of these weaknesses?

Chapter 6: The Team Captain Calls the Plays … 60

Who runs the team? It’s not the manager, but the people that lead the other employees and have influence over them. Find out who they are and ask them what’s working and what’s not working. Empower them to keep you informed and keep the culture alive. Ensure their values and priorities align with yours and are broadcast and received on the line.

Chapter 7: Game Day Stress … 69

Undue hardship; anxiety, stress, depression, it all starts with the medical advice and then documentation. Have a wellness plan in place. Train your managers to be sensitive and follow the process. Timing is everything.

Chapter 8: Defending an Oncoming Blitz … 80

How to protect your Club from the big risks and make it a safe haven for members and families. It could be a marquee event gone bad, inappropriate employee behavior, bad press, EPA violations, or simply earning the ire of the surrounding community. Tackle the most important risk that could take your career and Club down for millions of dollars. Don’t get knocked out of the game.

Chapter 9: Avoiding a Penalty Flag … 91

We live in a litigious society, so make sure you don’t paint a bull-eye on your Club’s back by having a shoddy hiring practice or inconsistent workers’ comp procedures. Do your due diligence.  Be consistent with enforcement. Unhappy employees breed a negative culture and could cost your Club millions in settlements and legal fees.

Chapter 10: On the Injury List …104

What happens when the job requires physical tasks but your employee can’t do them? This increases the chance of a workers’ compensation claim. But could this have been avoided? Management of protected leaves is like walking a tight rope between labor laws and the needs of the operations. You get hit with lawsuits, government fines, fraudulent workers’ comp claims, audits, and all of a sudden your risk factors have doubled, resulting in enormous and crippling costs.

Chapter 11: Taking Care of Your Team … 115

Your Club needs to be “protected” by an internal skilled HR professional, outside local labor attorney, industry specific insurance broker and a veteran risk manager. And they all need to be consulted for their expert advice before pulling the trigger and opening up a Pandora’s Box of complex and stressful liability that could impact the Club for years to come.

Chapter 12: On the Goal Line … 124

Look to your veteran players and don’t shy away from expectations and succession planning. Education is the key to preparing and planning for retirement. Remember the three critical pieces of the pie; Social Security, Medicare and a Retirement Program.

Chapter 13: Super Bowl MVP … 132

The accolades come flowing in. You’re the best General Manager and COO in the industry; but did this happen overnight? Of course not; it took vision, dedication, and commitment.  You’ve created the Club version of the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers and forged a dynasty. Congratulations!

FOREWORD

Go on to the Amazon website and search “How-To Books.” I guarantee you’ll come across thousands of them. How-to-do this and how-to-do that. And most of them not worth the paper they’re printed on.  But if you dig deep you’ll uncover a gem or two; a how-to-do book that actually shows you how-to-do something. That’s the book that can change your professional life, can help you do your job more efficiently, and can make your vision the vision of others. It’s simply because the author knew the right words to get that message across.

With 20-plus years working with some of the top Private Clubs in the country, I’m happy to say, Toni Shibayama knows the right words.

I’ve known Toni for over 20 years, having first worked with her when I was the GM at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, California. At that time she was helping us with our HR and performing risk management duties. And what struck me right off the bat was how hard she worked. She’s always available and her attention to detail was magnificent. This was a tremendous help to me back then because I couldn’t really afford a full-blown HR Department. Human Resources back then was very different than it is today. It was extremely complicated and I knew I needed an experienced partner. And even though back then Toni’s company was small, she had a lot of energy. She protected me from lawsuits and helped me become compliant. From there the relationship just grew as Toni started to think of other things she could do for us.

One of the things I learned very early on in my career was you hire to fill an area you’re weak in. It’s very hard to look somebody in the eye and say, I really love HR. It keeps me up at night with excitement. When the truth is all the time you’re worrying about lawsuits and training and workers’ compensation and a dozen other things. But Toni actually gets excited about such things, and she comes to the table prepared. And if there is something she can’t do. she will say so; then go and figure out how to do it.

So, does this make Toni qualified to write a playbook that every new GM should read as they begin their new adventure? Very much so. Like red wine certain things get better with age, and working with GMs for more than two decades she has seen the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do. She has worldly experience and that’s extremely important. I would say that Toni Shibayama has basically seen and done everything. She has watched me and other GM’s make an unbelievable amount of mistakes. And she cares so much, that when she sees these mistakes being made she promises that will never happen to another GM.

If Toni’s book emphasizes anything it’s that we are in the people business. And that is the piece that makes our job really difficult. But you’ve got to accept that’s the reason you got into this business in the first place. Someone once said, “This job would be really easy if I didn’t work for people, and I didn’t have people working for me.” But it is what it is, and human beings are very complicated people. And, you can never tell what they’re going to do, what they’re going to say. All you can do is your very best to stay ahead of it. And I think for a new GM, you can never know enough.

When you come into a Club there are a bunch of other things going on, and HR is low on the list of priorities. But when you read this book you’ll realize that shouldn’t be the case because there are so many different scenarios being played out that can impact your Club, and not for the better. Fortunately, Toni has trained and mentored lots of new GMs, and made them realize they are in the people business.

One of the key sections of this book is the need to properly and honestly evaluate your current team. But it’s not the golf pro or the chef or the line employees that will be the potential issue; it’s going to be your management team. If you’re brought in to be successful, then you’re likely brought in to change a culture that starts from the top. And the biggest mistake most new GMs make, myself included, is being afraid to make that tough decision. And Toni’s strength is in helping GMs navigate smoothly through that process because it also can be insanely disruptive because those tough decisions often affect people who have allies among employees and among the members. When there are rough seas ahead, you want Toni steering the ship.

The title of this book is The Private Club General Manager’s Big Game Playbook. It’s not The NEW Private Club General Manager’s Big Game Playbook. This means that even existing General Managers can find value in what Toni has to say, if for no other reason than the world is constantly shifting beneath our feet, with new regulations, new laws, and more categories of protected leaves than you can shake a stick at. To be caught off guard is to put your Club at risk.

It’s very apropos that Toni model her book after sports, because I think the most important job of a GM is to be a coach. You’re not the golf pro, you’re not the CFO, you’re not the HR Director, you’re not the Head Chef, but you do need to give them the game plan. And so using some of the tools that Toni provides to motivate and to excite, to bring the team together, is critical. I’ve always said that as a General Manager my job is to know what sort of talent I have on my team and then give them the game plan to run with.

That’s what this book is all about. How to do it.

Matthew Allnatt, GM & COO Jonathan Club Santa Monica, CA

CHAPTER 1

You‘ve Just Been Named Head Coach

Your TALENT determines what you can do. Your MOTIVATION determines how much you are willing to do. Your ATTITUDE determines how well you do it. –– Lou Holtz

You’ve just been informed that you landed a new position at that Private Club you’ve had your sights on for years. At this point it’s normal to be overwhelmed with a flurry of emotions; excitement, apprehension, and trepidation. Perhaps you even start doubting yourself with questions like: “Can I deliver what I promised?” and “What is expected of me?”

Perhaps some of these questions are being stimulated by making the advancement from a mid-level Club to a high-end operation. So you are asking yourself, “Am I ready to take that next step?” Perhaps at your prior Club you oversaw a $1 million Club renovation. Now you’ll have a $25 million Club renovation. But don’t be intimidated by the numbers. You’ve been through the golf course renovation scenario before. Trust me, they all have the same things in common; grass and holes. Think of it this way; if you can successfully paint a split-level ranch house, then you can paint a three-level colonial. It’s the same concept; just bigger so you have to buy more paint.

I would also counter those doubts by saying this is an exciting opportunity and the next level in your career. You got to this point due to your expertise, your knowledge base, and a belief that you can inspire your team to move to that next level. You most likely already have that raw talent in place, and they may just need somebody to identify the talent, to coach the talent, encourage the talent and motivate that talent to get to that next level. After all, you are the newly-named coach for a team with the aspiration of getting to the Super Bowl.

Still, it’s only natural to have some doubts. Is everyone going to love me? Will they follow me into battle? But you have to remember that your team has those same fears; is the new coach going to like me or fire me? Will I be put in a position to advance and succeed, or should I update my resume? Yes, you have your work cut out for you because you were hired over possibly hundreds of candidates because those making the decision were sold on your ability to implement your vision to attain their vision, which is to make your Club the ultimate member experience. You are the new super-hero on the block, and like Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility.

When hired you were told the goal is to be the number one local Club. They that they want to have the best member experience. But what does that really mean? In order for you to know that, you need to know what are the benchmarks that you’re going to have to reach to achieve whatever lofty goals have been placed in front of you. But before you can achieve those benchmarks you have to first ascertain if your new employer is making the transition into your new role as smooth as possible, so you can hit the ground running. And this means even before you meet that first member of your staff.

What is your first day on the job going to look like? Are you going to be greeted by people? Is your desk put together? Is your email set up? Do you have a set of keys? Have you been given a walk through? Did they put a plant in your new office? Do you have business cards? Is your phone set up? Did they clean up your office? Or was nothing done because everybody was taking vacations and you were pretty much an afterthought? So, what does that tell you coming in? And what was your first impression of the Club?

These are going to be little indicators of process, procedure and getting things done because if the Club can’t do the simple things for a new general manager, how are they going to successfully service their members? It’s like they gave you the keys to the kingdom and then changed the locks.

(Continues in e-book)

CHAPTER 2

Are You Ready for the Season?

WINNING is not everything–but making the EFFORT to win is. –– Vince Lombardi

You’ve landed your dream job. Now what?

For most people, when they take over a top position the first thing that goes through their minds is, “What am I inheriting for staff?” And that question is usually followed by three different responses.

Some will keep the status quo; if it’s not broke, why fix it? Some will do a surgical strike and weed out several top positions either because they have someone else in mind, or they simply want to make a change for the sake of change. And then there are those who will immediately think the best course of action is to start with a clean slate; to carpet bomb the entire staff. Sadly, all three techniques are a recipe for disaster.

The first thing new GMs need to do is take the emotion out of whatever it is they are thinking of doing, before they even step through the door on that first day. Because now’s the time to do a 90-day assessment of the staff. And that starts with a SWOT exercise.

SWOT stands for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. And all four of these factors, either individually or collectively, can create a roadmap to whether your Club can and will be successful.

It’s you saying here are our strengths and what we do well, so let’s keep it up because this is what makes us who we are. We’re the leader; the purple cow. There may still some weaknesses in our game, perhaps in regards to service, consistency, the quality of the food, member relations, the facilities, and other items that do not meet and exceed member expectations. As for opportunities, are we missing the boat? Could we bring in more junior memberships? Could we be expanding the overall membership, or a different layer of membership? How about tournaments, events? Are we ready to deal with threats, which could be anything from a new Club opening up next door to us, the economy tanking and people not having that discretionary income, any sort of government regulation — a pandemic?

Think of it as training camp prior to the start of the season. It’s about being observant and taking it all in, not jumping to conclusions, and not emotionally trying to change things. It’s about seeing who you have, who’s your team, who are your mid-level managers; take a pulse. Are people happy? Are they satisfied with their current pay? Do they understand the vision and the core values of the Club? You should sit down with each of the employees and ask them, “What are we doing right and what are we doing wrong? Do you feel comfortable? Do you feel safe? Do you feel that we’re being honest with you?” It gives an opportunity for that one on one connection, because sometimes you’re viewed as being high a top of the castle and totally inaccessible. This is really an opportunity to get to know everybody because you will only be successful if they are.

Nobody likes change, and it’s a very fearful time. People feel like they are being re-interviewed for their job. But you don’t have to be the Grim Reaper. It’s just really identifying their strengths and weaknesses and putting together the best team. Ask the important questions; “Why are you part of the Club? Why have you been here for 20 years? What makes us special? Tell us a few things that are special about the Club.” Those seemingly innocuous answers will pave the way to becoming a successful Club.

(Continues in e-book)