Improving Your Vision Avoiding the Experience?

I recently attended a seminar where the leader introduced me to David Blair. If you don’t know Mr. Blair, he was the assistant captain on the Titanic. He had been on board for a week or so preparing for the ship’s maiden voyage. The day before this historic voyage, he was transferred to another ship that needed a captain.

The titanic had a crow’s nest lookout high above the bridge. In the crow’s nest was a locker. David Blair locked up the binoculars and the phone in the locker and took the key. It was in his pocket when he left the ship. The night the ship hit the iceberg the person in the crow’s nest could not access the binoculars to look ahead or the phone to call the bridge. It was foggy that night so we don’t know whether the binoculars would have helped, but we will never know now.

Great private clubs have a clear vision of the future and are continuing to use the latest tools (their binoculars) to look ahead to avoid catastrophes. Now a club probably won’t collapse from one iceberg event. It is usually a series of bad decisions over time that slows clubs down. Why are clubs making bad decisions? They are not taking advantage of the most current tools available to them.

That same seminar leader in his last session told us a story about how the sanitariums in England used to test people on whether they were making progress towards getting out. They would put the patient in a janitor’s closet. They would put a plug in the sink and turn on the water and then tell the patient to mop up the water that overflowed the sink. They would close the door and leave for an hour. Then they would come back. If the patient was still mopping they knew they weren’t ready to leave.

Today it just feels like so many clubs are there to protect the status quo in the guise of club traditions. Certainly history and tradition are important but how about establishing some new traditions that can make the club experience special. New members bring new expectations. I know, the old guard will say the new member knew what the club was like when they joined. If they didn’t like it, they shouldn’t have joined. However, the new members are your present market. If you want to continue to replace lost members with new ones then you need to be meeting their expectations.

Much has been written on strategic planning and tools clubs can use to help them look into the future and plot a clear vision to remain competitive in an ever difficult membership market. Garfield cartoon creator Jim Davis has a unique sense of humor. In one image he is showing the cat living the life of luxury. The problem for clubs isn’t delivering great service. It is figuring out what Garfield (our member) is going to need next before he knows he wants it.

A major problem we see in clubs today is that, although they want a greater vision and plan moving forward, they are making decisions out of context. All of a sudden special interests take over or new club leadership brings their own agenda to the table. Their goal is to get one thing done or one project built. Many times that can hamstring the club for years to come because that priority did not match the priority of a majority of members.

So, our advice to those clubs that don’t have a strategic plan is a ‘Living Document,’ which is the focus of the board on an ongoing basis. Step back. Get your ducks in a row. Develop your initiatives for operations, membership, finance, capital investment, etc. Communicate the initiatives to the membership so everyone is on the same page. Then manage the plan so things are getting accomplished and new things are added. The plan is always the focus of club governance and, therefore, it is a living document.

Ask yourself, are our binoculars locked in the locker that has no key? Can we see clearly? Are we making decisions based on a comprehensive look into the future? Are we maintaining our competitive edge? Or are we sitting around like Garfield, fat and happy? Take command of the future. The industry is changing. If you are standing still, you are falling behind.

Jerry N. McCoy, MCM, is the President of Clubwise, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, master planning, operational audits and governance issues. He is the author of The Director’s Guide for Understanding Club Governance, The Governance Checklist and The Board Resource Manual, all of which are publications of CMAA’s Premier Club Services®, the Strategic Management handbook for private clubs, and is an extensive contributor to the new CMAA Facilities and Amenities Texts Volumes I & II, which are available through Bookmart. Jerry received the Lifetime Achievement Award for BoardRoom Magazine in 2018. He can be reached at www.clubwiseconsulting.com or [email protected]