How to bend over and take it

A Club manager may lose the support of a Board for a variety of reasons: some simply don’t have the wide range of skills that are required to be successful, some may make a catastrophic mistake and some simply don’t have the right temperament, or have yet to develop it. How do you know when it is right to fight your corner and when it is right just to bend over and take it?

A Club manager may lose the support of a Board for a variety of reasons: some simply don’t have the wide range of skills that are required to be successful, some may make a catastrophic mistake and some simply don’t have the right temperament, or have yet to develop it. How do you know when it is right to fight your corner and when it is right just to bend over and take it?

Here are the five key areas that every club manager has to understand in order to thrive:

1. It is their club.
Make every effort to provide the best advice and to guide the club strategically but accept that you will be ignored on occasions and remember that it is the Board’s right to do so. Most Board members when appointed consider that they know instinctively what is best for their club and may not readily accept advice to the contrary. The successful club manager learns to read the fine line between pushing the Board towards the correct strategic direction and simply coming across as obstinate. It is the duty of a club manager to enthusiastically support the Board, providing that their decisions do not imperil the club, risk court action or insolvency. Argue your case clearly, with the support of hard evidence and never say “I told you so” when a Board decision fails.
“The customer is always right” Harry Gordon Selfridge

2. Understand the politics.
The successful club manager is adept at the political nature of the job. Understand where the power lies within each sub-set of the club and what the needs of such groups are. Accept that you will never balance the needs of the scratch golfer with those of the hapless but besotted golf-nut; the traditionalists with the modernisers and the parsimonious with the spendthrifts. Whilst such differing self-interest groups will never be reconciled, the club manager must always demonstrate empathy and be recognised as someone who cares.
“Politics is not a game, it is an earnest business” – Winston Churchill

3. Stop Whining
The most successful club managers are positive people and have a drive to make their members and guests happy. Nobody likes dealing with negative people; petty complaints and grumbles delivered regularly to members will ensure that the manager becomes known as stubborn, anti-change and awkward to deal with. Have your say and then get on with it.
“People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining” – Stephen Hawking

4. Remain Consistent
Almost every aspect of club life is cyclical. At some point, every topic will be revisited, with the same debate taking place: the catering, slow play, poor attendance at social events, the condition of the course and the downturn in revenue (whether membership or visitors). Ensure that you have a well considered and carefully researched solution to each issue presented in a paper to the Board when appropriate. Your proposals may not generate the required support initially but if you refresh your paper and remain consistent with your message every time the same topic is debated, you will be heard and listened to.
“I am extraordinarily patient – providing I get my own way in the end” Margaret Thatcher

5. Respect the Members. If a club manager has no respect for the members, it will show and with surprising speed. A job in the club industry has to be more than “just a job” and you must genuinely enjoy working for all types of people, whether they are pleasant or belligerent. Find the humour in the angry member, the vain President and the prissy Ladies Captain. Use your network to offload and spread the burden rather than burdening your staff with issues they can’t help with.
“Show respect to all people but grovel to none” – Tecumseh