This past week I had the privilege to attend the 2016 Golf
Industry Show in San Diego, California. Every year I attend I make it a
point to come back with detailed information that will help Lakewood and the
staff. This will better position ourselves for the future in our competitive
market and for our brand. The conference consist of classes, the show where we
are abreast of the new technologies, new ways of thinking and talking with
fellow golf industry professionals on how we can be better our departmental
goals. This year I opted to take four professional development classes that
includes:
Hire, Manage and Develop Your Team:
This class emphasized how to properly interview new team
members where we can establish priorities for selecting the best candidate.
Understand that well organized teams enjoy their individual tasks, believe
their task is important, understand the goal, understand and respect each
other, understand the hierarchy of leadership and embracing unity. Staff
training is a key element not only in performing the job function but also to
keep everyone safe. Developing a staff requires steady performance reviews
where they will be in line with the departmental goals as well as the
organizations mission and vision statement.
Building a Winning Team:
The value of teamwork is paramount to the success of the
organization. Teamwork is a cooperative and coordinated effort on the part of a
group and the individuals in that group to achieve a common goal. With
the changing trends in the workplace, there are seven trends that we discussed:
- Quality and Service
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Co-operative Work-styles
- Breaking Down Silos
- Internal Service
- Multi-Generational/Multi-Cultural Workforce
- Creating Partnerships
Understanding what makes effective teams can be clarified
through 10 characteristics:
- Members are positive, active contributors
- Clear Goals
- Effective Communication
- Effective decision making process
- Clearly defined roles and expectations
- Equitable power and influence
- Constructive ways to handle conflict
- Mutual trust
- Effective utilization of all member resource
- On-going Evaluation for effectiveness
Strategies for the Effective Superintendent:
To be an effective Superintendent, we need to have great
negotiating skills every day. We are negotiating with employers, spouses,
children, employees, vendors, contractors and other facility departments.
As I have learned, “In business, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what
you negotiate.” This knowledge can be used to help us extend warranties,
discounted shipping, discounted on parts, cost saving purchases, efficiency
etc.
Key Interviewing and First Impression Strategies:
By far this was the most interesting class, did you know
that you have 7 seconds to make a good first impression? Or that if you made a
negative first impression that in order to turn that negative impression to the
same individual, it takes an average of 8 times to positively interact with the
person before they change their mind from the first impression! This shows you
how important first impressions matter. Even having a proper handshake and
“smizing” while you meet someone for the first time is key. We also discussed
interactions and building rapport. This can be extremely helpful when meeting
new and existing members of our club and building the brand. From the interview
aspect, it’s important that when we interview for the candidates to join our
team, that we ask the same questions to each candidate, we thoroughly look over
their resume beforehand and be on time just as they should be for us.
Understand the process and how interviewees become naturally nervous and
learning how to make people comfortable could result in finding the right
person for the job.
Attending this event is a privilege and I am always
grateful that Lakewood allows me to do this. Continued Education is key so that
we can continually become better leaders of our department and for the club.
With many golf courses in our area, it is important that we exhibit out of the
box thinking so that we can put our best foot forward, making Lakewood Country
Club a great place to relax for its members and great work environment for its staff.
