Leadership in private clubs is under tremendous pressure arising from the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to data collected by GGA Partners in its June 2020 global survey of club members. In A Member’s Perspective: The Shifting Private Club Landscape, GGA researchers collected responses from more than 6,300 private club members worldwide to identify several mission-critical priorities for club leaders.
- Clubs are especially important to their members’ lives.
- Private club members are pessimistic about the near-term financial future of their clubs.
- How the club (and members’ use of it) will adapt, shift or evolve.
- How they intend to return to regular usage of the club.
- What elements of their clubs are more important to them now than before the pandemic?
At the heart of members’ attitudes is their concern for and reliance on dependable and trustworthy leadership.
Survey respondents skewed 65% male with an average age of 57.6 years and membership tenure averaging 12.4 years. Several keys arising from the survey data provide club leaders actionable guidance:
- First, club leaders do well to understand that their fellow members’ engagement with the clubs is emotional rather than rational or transactional. As such, most club issues are deeply felt and meaningful to members. Unmet expectations—for safety, service and socialization—are deeply personal and fraught with feelings.
Survey results indicate that more than one-third (34%) expect to use their clubs more. They view their club as “more important” in the wake of the pandemic. Characteristics of the one-third who are optimistic about their clubs are that they are female, largely representing Generation X, and relatively new members (less than three years’ tenure).
This personal engagement brings focus to the importance of timely and relevant communications from their clubs’ leaders. These communications must be multi-media ranging from email newsletters, social media posts and face-to-face listening sessions.
- Second, skepticism—and distrust in leadership—is pandemic as well. Roughly one-fifth (21%) of GGA’s survey respondents express pessimism and are generally millennials and silent generation age cohorts. These skeptical members share a tenure of seven-to-10 years and a discouraged view of the 12-month economic outlook.
Specifically, members wish to see 1) club leaders holding themselves—and being held—for their efforts; 2) leaders effectively managing the shifting economic conditions and capabilities of their clubs; and, 3) proactive planning for future amenities and activities of the club.
- Third, club members are committed to their clubs with two key exceptions. Member attitudes reflect commitment to their clubs provided that the club does not increase dues at a pace higher than normal and past dues increases. It is the seemingly loss-control corrections that cause members to worry. Generally, members expect dues increases and will be pushed away by higher-than-normal dues increases.
Established standards of care and upkeep must be maintained. Members will be pushed away from clubs that allow the deterioration of facility maintenance standards—especially concerning sanitation and hygiene in the club.
“Operational scale-backs, service reductions and restricted access to activities are unlikely to cause significant short-term membership attrition,” according to Bennett DeLozier who directed GGA’s research initiative.
Members are eager to return to regular use of their clubs when it is safe to do so. Their commitment remains reliable—subject to maintaining quality standards and dues increases that seem “fair” to members.
Leadership is the key. Three important points of focus for club leaders are:
- Having and dependably using an established strategic plan. Conditions and circumstances have changed while the overall strategy of most clubs is unchanged.
- Club leaders holding themselves accountable to those they serve while demonstrating open and alert governorship.
- Boards and management exercising assertive communications to minimize surprising disappointments for members.
Henry DeLozier is a principal at GGA Partners, an international club management consulting firm that provides specialized services to more than 3,000 clients from offices in Toronto, Phoenix and Dublin (IR). He can be reached at [email protected].
