Brett Morris, general manager and COO at The Polo Club of Boca Raton, Fla., builds his management philosophy around the member-driven lifestyle of this residential community of more than 1,700 homes and approximately 3,500 members. “What business is there in the world,” he muses, “where people choose to do business with you in advance and all you have we’ve got to do is take care of them on a daily basis?”
The premise is disarmingly simple: Take care of the members, make them happy and your club will thrive. However, Morris, who received the 2016 James H. Brewer Award for Excellence in Club Management, is under no illusion that simple means easy. To be sure, it has to be done on a daily basis. The execution of consistently high levels of service takes a certain tough mindedness that looks at each and every day as a blank slate and a new challenge. “It’s difficult,” explains Morris. “You’re consistently trying to raise the bar and measure those expectations on a daily basis. And so we’re constantly looking for constructive feedback.” Expanding further, Morris makes a key insight that points to a larger trend that is reshaping management theory and practice. It begins with the recognition that even the best managerial instincts are not always an accurate barometer of operational effectiveness. “I may think that I’m doing a good job, but if the members don’t think I’m doing a good job … well, that’s my client base.”
Using Technology to Guide Operations
Insights of this sort point to the importance of what is often called “data-driven decision making.” There is very strong empirical evidence that reveal just how flawed human decision making can frequently be—in matters both large and small. Despite intention to do the right thing, the thinking process is often subject to biases and traps: Over-confidence, risk-aversion, groupthink are just a few of the sources of error when it comes to human perception and judgment. As President Harry Truman once said, “It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you; it’s what you do know that ain’t so.” (Managers and readers wanting to know more about this trend may want to read about psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s Nobel prize-winning research in the best-seller, Thinking Fast and Slow, as well as the recent best-seller about Kahneman and his research colleague Amos Tversky by Michael Lewis in The Undoing Project.)
To more accurately measure member satisfaction, the club has installed a system that collects data daily to dispel false beliefs or distorted perception. The continuous feedback from members acts as a guidance system to correct or update the manager’s understanding of how operations are faring. This is precisely where technology has come to play a pivotal role in guiding The Polo Club’s approach to its dining operations.
The club has adopted an advanced system for monitoring the food and service quality in all of its five separate dining facilities. The Humm Tablet is a device that can be attached to a check presenter and offers a fast and easy opportunity for diners to evaluate their overall dining experience. A Humm Tablet session, which takes less than a minute and gets completed at the end of most dining experiences, gathers the diner’s evaluation as it relates to a concise set of food and beverage quality measures as well as the speed and quality of service, the ambience of the room and overall satisfaction. Comments and suggestion are also easily entered as part of the evaluation. And, of course, each session is linked to a particular dining location and individual server. In those instances in which the member has had a problem or decidedly bad experience a manager immediately gets a text message and an opportunity to reach out with a quick and effective remedy.
The system has been installed for more than a year. Members, because of the broad-based implementation and the effective management sell-in (explaining how the system works to steadily and effectively raise all aspects of the dining experience), now routinely evaluate their dining experience. The flow of data, which is now quite substantial—well over 20,000 Humm Tablet sessions have been recorded—allow managers to track daily a range of quality metrics across all five of The Polo Club’s dining operations.
Focus on Employee Development
The Polo Club’s application of this technology is a part of a much bigger philosophy of club operations that is very employee-focused. Morris uses this flow of evaluative data, not only as a precise measure of quality control, but also as an essential piece of input to his comprehensive employee-training program.
The Polo Club’s commitment to employee development is reflected in, among other things, the club’s reliance upon a full-time trainer. The combination of high tech measurement and high touch training works in a highly integrative and effective way. Here are the key linkages:
1. Expectations: Wait staff and other employees in the dining operation are provided with a clear understanding of what is expected of them. These expectations provide the foundation for the measurement of performance as well as provide the framework for training.
2. Measurement: Expectations are translated into the system for performance evaluation. Performance is measured frequently and objectively through the widespread participation of members and with the aid of the Humm Tablet tool.
3. Empowerment. The feedback loop is capable of providing not only encouragement and reinforcement for employees that are doing things right, but also targeted guidance for training initiatives to improve employee performance.
The net result is that employees engage over skills and performance that really matter. With better engagement, employees’ satisfaction and morale similarly move upward.
Sometimes technology and data trends can cast an intimidating shadow, but at The Polo Club, the framework is relatively intuitive and straightforward: Make clear what is expected of employees at work; equip them with the skills to do their work right; give them the opportunity to do their best; and then measure result. In the high-touch private club industry, The Polo Club has harnessed a bit of technology to align the aspirations of managers, members and employees alike.
Club Trends Winter 2017