Any successful club manager understands that ensuring a premier member experience is the most important part of overall operations. From first impressions to finishing touches, an enjoyable member experience is essential in order to retain existing members, attract new members and remain a cut above clubs in your region. But as many professionals in this industry can attest, no one person can do it all alone. Enhanced member experience starts with the team.
Because teamwork is such an integral part of club success, managers are often looking at ways to improve it. But rather than simply “improving teamwork,” why not approach this from the perspective of the end goal: member satisfaction. Here are five ways to link teamwork to club success and ensure the ultimate member experience.
Assess Team Strengths and Weaknesses
When building your club’s management team, key players can have a significant impact on your team’s success—just like on any sports team. Taking a hard look at your current team’s strengths and weaknesses will enable you to determine whether you’re putting your employees in a position to succeed. If there’s a mismatch in job responsibility and an individual’s capabilities, the entire team will suffer.
Is one of your team members playing “out of position?” Do you need more organization in order to bring structure? Are you looking to bring some levity to your staff? Having a cohesive team that utilizes its strengths to the fullest can help improve the level of service you deliver to your members.
Identify Skills in Conflict Resolution
An important area to pay attention to in the hiring process is conflict resolution. Problems that go unsolved have a tendency to fester and return, causing long-term damage to team cohesion and ultimately the member experience. Asking important questions about how applicants have dealt with workplace issues in the past can give insight on how they might operate in similar situations at your club. By incorporating skill assessments that include conflict resolution scenarios, team members can be assessed—and instructed—in how to deal with conflicts that arise within the workplace.
Find Motivational Strategies That Work
Each club is different, and there may be several different teams operating within a single facility. For each of these teams, one motivational strategy may work better than another. Prepare to be flexible, and learn what your team and its individuals respond to. Individual incentives are appreciated, but thinking about group-oriented incentives can bring coworkers together and improve the dynamics between them. Celebrate your team’s accomplishments, and make sure their success is recognized collectively.
Recognize High Performers
Some clubs establish programs to recognize employees in key areas such as exceptional member service, special accomplishments or performance above and beyond expectation. Managers should work to foster a culture of recognition in which employees are appreciated for their skills, talents and individual contributions. Providing a forum for employee input and sharing ownership of club goals and achievements can help employees to feel they have a stake in club success.
Club recognition programs should be based around a clear set of ideals that are focused on not only effort, but also on the quality of performance. Outlining clear performance objectives and linking rewards directly to the club’s vision can provide direction to employees and illustrate how individual efforts directly contribute to club success.
Identify Problems
While rewarding effective teamwork is a positive way to induce team success, managers also need to keep an eye out for problems within teams. Calling attention to and resolving issues as they arise may decrease the likelihood of future problems within the team. This also works to set expectations and to ultimately deter issues from affecting members directly.
The End Result
Improving the member experience at your club requires taking a good look at the teams within your club, assessing their strengths and weaknesses and adapting the workplace environment to ensure your teams are working together. With this in place, members will feel their needs are being met by a confident staff who are not only capable, but successful, in working together.
30-day Action Items
- Make a list of all team members. Conduct an internal assessment to determine if each individual’s skillset matches his or her job function.
- Ask yourself if everyone is working as a team. If teamwork is lacking, determine how this affects the member experience.
- Consider a more full-blown action plan to improve teamwork among individuals. What are some to ensure that your team is all working from the same “playbook?”
Matthew Kovelan is the chief strategy officer of VCT (www.ExperienceVCT.com), the leading member experience partner to distinguished private clubs nationwide.