Reflections of a Club Manager #15

Committees, the good, the bad and the ugly.

There has been a lot written about what is the best committee structure for a private members club. In my opinion, it is a focused board/committee of 7, possibly 8. 

A Chairman, the current Captain and Vice-captain, and the convenors for House, Greens, Finance and Membership/Marketing plus the General/Club Manager.

Everyone has an important role in this group and this group is focused on the business management of the Club. You can have a separate Committee/Sub-committee to handle the golf and social or non business areas.

In my 18 years in Club Management, I have worked with many different committee structures. At one club, we had a committee of 15, not because we needed that many but because the Club's constitution stated that was the number required. Only 8 of that committee had roles, so the other 7 were loose cannons. We could be discussing the business of the club one minute, then discussing tee markers or flower arrangements the next...

It was no wonder these committee meetings lasted 4 hours plus. The large number meant that it was difficult for the Captain/Chair to control the meeting and there were plenty of side conversations going on when they should have been listening. 

Another issue with having such a large group was getting consensus on decision making. Whilst many decisions were made by a majority, there was always unhappy committee members, especially on a tight vote. This led to disharmony amongst the committee and actually made it more difficult to achieve consensus.

It also made the job of the managing the Club more difficult. I was asked on a number of occasions to get the committee's agreement prior to getting repairs done or purchasing or repairing equipment, even when it fell within my agreed expenditure limits.

This was in stark contrast to another of my Clubs. This Club had a focused group of 8 individuals who only dealt with the business of the club. It was also refreshing for me as the manager as I reported retrospectively at the monthly meetings and had clear expenditure guidelines. I had agreed clear guidelines on what was the committee's role and what my role encompassed and guess what? It worked!! Meetings rarely lasted more than 90 minutes and I was allowed to do my job.

This all changed when the new Chairman came onboard as he wanted to know everything that was going on and wanted to be in control. He got his wish and when I left that Club, he became the manager for the next 9 months!!

At one of these clubs, the committee structure changed and they had a business committee and a golf and social committee. It worked reasonably well until one committee got involved in issues that were not in their remit. This caused annoyance from members of the committee whose remit it was.....

The danger with the committee structure is when a dominant personality influences others to vote their way. This tends to happen in smaller committees where influencing a couple of people sways the vote their way.

At one club, a proposal was brought to the business committee by such a personality and was discussed and rejected by everyone bar the proposer. 

The proposer wasn't happy and lets just say, took the huff. At the next meeting, it was mentioned that the proposal had been passed and was happening!! When this was questioned, a couple more committee members agreed with the proposal and it passed by a narrow majority. 

Seems like there had been a number of discussions out with committee where other had been "persuaded" to change their minds.

The committee structure can work well in clubs, when they allow the General/Club Manager to do what they are paid for, with accountability and without micromanagement.

The old saying of Directors Direct, Managers Manage and Members Enjoy should be plastered on the walls of committee rooms everywhere.

Also on the wall should be the chart that says what the committee is responsible for and what the Manager is responsible for. It would serve as a reminder when those borders are crossed.

The final message on that wall should the be that what is discussed in the room and agreed as the committees decision, should be abided by all the committee.

It should not then be torn apart by those who didn't agree with the decision, over drinks in the clubhouse lounge or out on the course.

United we stand, divided we fail.....

Jim Callaghan CCM

Until next time.....