Strategic Leadership

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Strategic Leadership

• Dr. Ed Merritt
• California State University (Cal Poly Pomona)
• eamerritt_at_csupomona.edu

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Strategic Leadership

• At the end of this session, participants will
  have a working knowledge of these elements
• Appreciate the importance of strategy
• Understand the strategic planning process
• Understand how to conduct a SWOT analysis
• Comprehend the evolutionary nature of club
  culture
• Creating a unique mission for a club
• Developing a shared vision
• Operating a club through a strategic plan

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Strategic Planning

• Dynamic environment - flexible
• Strategic versus tactical times
• Rolling continuous

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The Process

• 1. Determine need
• 2. Get member input
• 3. Know the competition
• 4. Hold a board retreat
• 5. Develop a plan
• 6. Implement the plan
• 7. Dominate niche

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1. Needs Assessment

• Conduct confidential interviews
• Review minutes history
• Review financials
• Do an operational audit
• Do an environmental scan
• Identify issues

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2. Membership Input

• Focus Groups
• Membership Survey
• Benchmark Survey Results
• Identify Competition

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Importance of Two-Way Questioning

• Example opinion question
• 1. Wednesday night a la Carte dinner
• Performance A 10 (Highest)
• Importance 1 (Lowest)
• Highly rated performance does not matter if
  respondents rate the service as unimportant
• Result Excellent operations, low turnout

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Examples and Scales

• 1. Wednesday night a la Carte dinner
• Performance A A- B B B- C C C-
  D D
• Importance 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
  1
• 2. Smooth, fast rolling greens
• Performance 10 9 (A) 8 7 (B) 6 5 (C)
  4 3 (D) 2 1 (F) 0
• Importance 10 9 (A) 8 7 (B) 6 5 (C)
  4 3 (D) 2 1 (F) 0
• 3. Summer AAU swimming team program
• Performance A A- B B B- C C C-
  D D D- F
• Importance A A- B B B- C C C-
  D D D- F

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Example Question
1. Wednesday night a la Carte dinner
Performance (Rate performance as if it were a report card) A A- B B B- C C C- D D
Importance (Rate the importance of this service offering to you) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Wednesday night a la Carte dinner
A
A-
B
B
B-
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C
C-
D
D

• Question Plotting, Analysis, and Action Plan

Yellow Zone Plow Horse/Cash Cow Importance (X)
10 Performance (Y) 2 D Members rate
Wednesday night a la Carte dinner as very
important to provide with a 10. Members rate the
staff performance very low with a D Action
Must improve substantially through staff training
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Action
Green Zone Star Importance (X) 9 Performance
(Y) A- 9 Action Feature, push
Blue Zone ? Question Mark Importance (X)
2 Performance (Y) A- 9 Action Reformat,
reschedule
A
A-
B
B
B-
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C
C-
D
D

• 10-Point Scale
• Importance (X)
• Performance (Y)

Red Zone Dog Importance (X) 2 Performance (Y)
D 2 Action Scrap or completely revise
Yellow Zone Plow horse/Cash Cow Importance (X)
10 Performance (Y) 2 D Action Train,
improve
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3. Competitive Analysis

• Identify Competition
• Conduct Survey
• Identify Benchmarks (from survey)
• Golf Maint Greens must Stemp at 10
• Front Desk 3 rings is one too many
• Mixed grill 30 secs is max wait at the lectern
• Golf 4 hrs max golf rounds
• (Slides follow)

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Benchmarking Service Tasks

• Procedural Elements
• Timeliness (Slide)
• Incremental Flow
• Anticipation
• Communication
• Customer Feedback
• Accommodation
• Supervision/Organization

• Personal Elements
• Attitude, Body Language
• Attitude, Tone of Voice
• Tact
• Attentiveness
• Using Names (Slide)
• Guidance
• Selling Skills
• Gracious Problem Solving

Slides to follow
Business Management Institute
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Benchmarking Examples

• Element Timeliness of greeting at the grill
  lectern
• Benchmark Members will be greeted with a warm
  welcome and begin the seating process within 30
  seconds of arrival
• Observe Trust but verify (time)
• Evaluate Reward or take corrective action

• Element Using members names in a la Carte
  Dining Room
• Benchmark Members names will be used both at
  time of order and at delivery (2 times).
• Observe Trust but verify (count)
• Evaluate Reward or take corrective action

Business Management Institute
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4. Retreat

• Ideally away from the club
• 10-15 attendees
• Create structure for continuity
• Develop or confirm values, vision, mission, and
  key goals and objectives
• Consider using a facilitator

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The Model
Front Line
F. Action
Structure
Supervisors
E. Opns Strategy

D. Goals Obj
Dept Heads
C. Mission
President
Foundation
Board
B. Vision
GM
A. Values
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A. Values BeliefsPres, Board, and GM Level

• What the club is all about
• Bedrocks
• Fundamental convictions
• Strong statements
• Ideally will have buy-off
• Explains why the club exists
• High level (helicopter view)

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Values Beliefs Examples

• Member satisfaction (survey)
• Employee satisfaction (survey)
• Financial stability (budget)
• Ethical business practices
• Service to the community

Understand that member satisfaction (measured by
the survey across time) and financial stability
(measured by budget across time) are the two
vital club report cards
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B. VisionPres, Board, and GM Level

• Where you want the Club to be positioned
• A bold statement that paints a picture of what
  the club will look like
• Trend toward combining vision with mission

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Vision Example

• By the year 2015, the Cassiopia Golf Club will be
  a premier golf club with a memorable and
  top-conditioned course.
• It will reach a full membership of 350 regular
  members and a waiting list to join,
• Achieve gross revenues of 8 million annually,
  with a reserve of 1 million.
• The Club will offer superior food bev service,
  exceeding club member expectations.
• The Golf Club will be the employer of choice in
  the Greater L.A. area.

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C. Mission Pres, Board, and GM Level

• The reason for the clubs being
• A broad statement of the unique purpose for which
  the club exists and the specific function it
  performs
• SWOT occurs at this stage

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Mission SWOT Example Items

• Strengths (Internal)
• Items which contribute to success
• Assume excess cash on hand
• Consider with External Opportunities
• Weaknesses (Internal)
• Items which limit success
• Ingress and egress to upper and lower clubs
• Consider with External Threats

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Mission SWOTInternal-External Analysis

• Opportunities (External)
• Items from the outside which could contribute to
  success
• Developer club is going under
• Threats (External)
• Items from the outside which could limit success
• DUI laws

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Mission Statement Example

• Given that the golf experience is its highest
  priority, Cassiopia Golf Club is committed to
  providing superior golf, casual dining, and
  seasonal social experiences for the satisfaction
  of its members and their families

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5. Plan Development

• Tenets agreed by Board
• Usual format
• Prioritized list of initiatives with timelines
• Operations budget (annual)
• Capital expense / FFE budget (annual)
• Project capital (annual and forecast)
• Economic model (Slide)
• Usually does not come together sequentially
• Work done by management and staff
• Final adopted by Board

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Economic Model Rolls Left
As current operations year ends,
Years 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 all move 1 year to left
New moves left to Yr 6 and another new created
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D. Goals ObjectivesDepartment Level (Review)

• SMART goals
• Specific
• Measurable
• Acceptable
• Realistic
• Timely

• Subjective
• Textual
• Vagueness
• Objective
• Counts
• Times

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E. Operations StrategiesSupervisor Level

• The funneling of the Vision, Mission, and Goals
  Objectives into operationalization
• Agreed upon strategies and clearly articulated
  action plans
• Approx intervals 6 months,
• quarterly, monthly, weekly,
• daily, by shift, by job

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Budget AssumptionsExample Membership Dept.
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Operations Strategies

• How do you want to get there?
• What should we invest in to achieve our
  objective?
• Broadly stated
• What we want people working
• toward

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6. Implementation

• Almost always achieved through management and
  staff
• Terms used
• Implementation
• Operationalization
• Operations

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F. ActionSupervisor and Hourly Level

• Activities and steps to be taken to achieve goals
• Owning goals and objectives
• Agreed evaluation method based on objective
  measures
• Approx intervals Monthly, weekly, daily, by
  shift, by job

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7. Consistently Dominate Niche

• Resist becoming a Frankenstein Club

Economy Best Western Days Inn 1, 2, 3
Upper-Level Marriott Hilton 7, 8
Ford Escort Club
Toyota Camry Club
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Mid-Level Holiday Inn Comfort Inn 4, 5, 6
Luxury Ritz-Carlton Four Seasons 9, 10
BMW 760IL Club
Honda Civic Club
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Strategic Leadership

• Dr. Ed Merritt
• California State University (Cal Poly Pomona)
• eamerritt_at_csupomona.edu