STAKEHOLDER GROUPS need specific information relative to their role in the organization. In a world drowning in data, businesses use dashboards to organize relevant sets of key performance indicators (KPIs), but all dashboards are not created equal. Think about a plant manager in the automotive industry. As it should, the plant manager’s dashboard tracks operational KPIs which are very different from the strategic KPIs that are meaningful and relevant for the company’s board of directors.
In private clubs, a dashboard relevant for a department manager should monitor performance related to day-to-day operations and gauge the impact of their operational decisions. A dashboard relevant to the club’s board should, by necessity, be very different from that of a department manager. Our analysis of monthly reports and dashboards developed by clubs across North America revealed a common error: the data reported is typically internally focused and tactical with little or no context. As a result, boards get distracted and drawn into the operational weeds—a breeding ground for micromanagement and shortsighted decisions.
For board members, the dashboard focus should be on high-level, strategic KPIs that reflect the club’s overall performance—both in its market and in relation to its own historical trends.
In 2015, Club Benchmarking introduced an executive dashboard of annual KPIs, now recognized as standard performance measures in the club industry. Over the last several years, demand for role-appropriate, relevant monthly KPIs for senior management and club boards has grown. In response to that growing need, we developed the industry’s first strategic monthly dashboard using an approach similar to what is used in financial markets to depict overall health of the market (Dow Jones Index, S&P Index) and individual sectors (technology, biotech, utilities).
The KPIs are relevant regardless of the club’s location, type (i.e., golf, yacht, city), size or quality and pertinent for every club’s monthly meeting cycle. Four monthly reports (membership, cost of belonging, operational finance and capital finance) provide significant insight into a club’s competitive position over time, within its own local market and within the industry at large. The strategic monthly dashboard is available as a free service to the entire club industry. Visit clubbenchmarking.com/monthly for details.
Ray Cronin is Club Benchmarking’s founder and chief innovator. He can be reached at [email protected].