Strategic Planning: An Essential Element of the Board-Manager Partnership

Boards of directors at private clubs are often criticized for micro-management. Whatever the definition of that may be, they clearly spend a lot of their time on operational issues instead of the types of high-level strategic challenges that constitute “governance”. Club managers are regularly criticized, and often dismissed, because the board feels they are not providing the operational leadership the club needs, whether that be in building a great staff, delivering on the promise of member satisfaction or achieving desired financial outcomes. 

This experience flies in the face of what most volunteer leaders or hard working executives want. Busy people give up precious free-time in hopes of making the club better for other people. Club managers are some of the hardest working people in hospitality. They are wired to please others and they loathe dissatisfaction. So, why are these well-intentioned groups at odds with one another? 

The missing link is often the development and maintenance of a Strategic Plan. Without the  overall guidance and documentation of the high-level tasks the board should address, it is all too easy to get drawn into the little things like food cost or why Jimmy or Suzy is or isn’t the type of server we need in the dining room. It’s more difficult to look ahead five years and make a commitment to a higher purpose. As to management, without the grounding of a strategic framework, it is impossible to develop an effective operational plan. There is little else to do but run from fire to fire to address what each director and committee moves to the top of an ever-changing priority list.

Strategic Planning is not an esoteric function of large corporations. It provides the context for the way in which the organization behaves and allocates resources. McMahon’s Strategic Plan Refresher program is 

a great way for clubs that have a strategic plan to validate and inject 

new into its initiatives, and for those without a plan, it jump-starts the strategic management process. The Refresher will identify the major initiatives that are the domain of the volunteer leaders and provide the clarity management requires to build an effective operating plan.