Retention through leadership

Image: Kevin Carden/Adobe Stock

As we struggle with the price of fuel, the price of food, heck, the price of everything we buy, the Great Resignation continues to have a hold against a hopeful recovery of the everyday business landscape. People continue to leave jobs every month for the hope of finding something bigger, something better. It may happen, it may not. The realization is that until the music stops,millions ofpeople are looking for something better. With the golf season underway, no doubt you have joined other employers in your community searching for those people who hopefully want to become a part of your organization. The Great Resignation is made up of people from all age groups: young people searching for better, plus millions of Boomers ending their work lives, crossing their finish line. Finding quality people is like buying a car these days, or even your favorite soy sauce at the grocer. Can the supply chain even take people out of stock?

This In My Opinion postseeks to offer another path to retaining team members after you have done all of the upfront work through the initial process. No doubt, a tough day is when a staff member stops by your office, or worse, sends a text indicating they have decided to leave to search for something else. After weeks of searching then onboarding, the recruit decides to move on. A small glitch on their radar, a big hurt for your property. This post is about retention, about keeping people around for a long time (I can dream, can’t I?). This post will offer three ideas on how to keep people serving the property and your golfers long after others have left jobs in other parts of the community.

1)      Build a work plan together: Get with the new team member and their manager to create a work plan from the very first day. After the plan is designed, communicate often with the team member, searching for signs of how they are feeling about the organization and their role. Add a timeline to the plan, showing the new staff member a track they can achieve through engagement and progress.

2)      Teach, recognize, reward, and promote: It seems essential today to do all you can to keep your team members engaged and interested in their role, in your business. From the start, develop a plan: first in the role itself, then add communications, service strategies, and specific disciplines concerning the property. Recognize staff members for their growth and successes, offering rewards of various types. As the new team member shows engagement and execution, look to advance their position as roles are available. We know change is the ever-present thought staff members have on their mind. When roles come open, review your entire people roster to see who is ready or even almost ready to move up. In this current world of the Great Resignation, the plan should be to move maybe a bit too quickly, rather than wait a bit too long.

3)      Offer additional instruction in the skills of life: I believe there is a real opportunity to create a property masterclassin a variety of important life skills. These skills might include the value of saving, of understanding real estate, and the ins and outs of retirement planning. When you can help your team learn how to save money, to make money on that money, it feels like a benefit not available with just any employer. Understanding a large purchase such as real estate can be another important skill to learn, while comprehending the basics of retirement planning is a vital lesson that all need to understand in this era minus pensions. Keeping people in place for an extra season or two (or three) can improve membership loyalty, rounds, and sales for the property. While everyone is looking to fuel up pay packages, you can add these invaluable life assets to the reasons to join (and remain on) your team.

It feels like employers believe that higher wages are the solution to the Great Resignation. From all that I have read, I cannot agree. The answer to building and keeping a team together is through respect, rewards, and added education for the long-term benefit of the team member. Helping people succeed in both work and life can go a long way in recruiting more of the bright lights of your community, those people who used to drive by, ignoring your open houseevents. Do something far beyond onboarding. Help people get better in life in order to build a service program that becomes best in class. Certainly money, time off, and a flexible schedule must also be a part of your pitch. Add life education to the curriculum and loyalty just might become your secret sauce.

Jack Dillon writes the In My Opinion posts. Jack is a speaker, consultant, coach. He is an expert in buying, in operations and service. Jack is available to help you improve your team. Contact Jack at 407-973-6136 or e-mail Jack at: jackd@careerdividends.com. Jack lives in Orlando and on Zoom.