Pathways to Progress

Survey results that do not spark meaningful action are wasted effort or worse.  When you ask your membership, residents, clients, or customers for input, a level of expectation is created, that someone will act on the results.  Actions taken based on what is learned, validate not only the purpose of the survey itself, but also the energy and effort put forth by those who participated in the survey.

Starting with a purpose in mind helps formulate effective research.  Knowing what you want to learn and what you intend to do with this knowledge, helps design appropriate questions and helps ensure that the initiatives based on the information gained are focused and more likely to succeed.

When considering a survey, establish clear objectives BEFORE you start writing out the questions. Once you have determined what you what to acheive, you are better able to decide what you need to know.  Armed with a plan you will be much more efficient in developing the tools and resources needed to succeed.

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Throughout my career as a club manager, I was responsible for significant capital expenditures at each property for which I assumed responsibility.  Delivering successfully on these projects provided me with career milestones.  Communication was likely one of the most important factors in achieving these successes.  Not all of the projects were completed precisely as originally intended.  However, all were completed as expected because we took great care to manage the expectations.  Keeping members informed as the projects proceeded was a critical to ensuring that when we delivered the news, good or bad, it was never a surprise.

Developing a transparent operation is fundamental to establishing trust with the Membership.  When members know what to expect, they can and usually will offer opinions as to the outcome they prefer or desire.  Knowing what members want is key to giving them what they expect, or at the very least, puts you in position to consider ways that you might go about changing those expectations.

In determining what members want, it is important to give the "usually silent majority" a voice.  You likely already know what the "vocal minority" are seeking.  However, their views may not be representative.  One of the best ways to determine what the entire membership wants, is to ask them.  Using a properly developed poll or survey for this purpose can provide quantifiable results on which to base plans for change in the future.

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There is sometimes concern that the Members' are tired of surveys and don't like being asked to offer their opinion.  However, we often ask Members to rate the survey process as part of our review and overwhelmingly they support this opportunity.  They particularly like being able to offer their input confidentially.  Routinely, the response to a Membership Satisfaction Review should be approximately 60% of the Membership or more.  Since the Members have a stake in the operation, when given the chance to tell you how to improve their enjoyment of the Club, they seem to welcome the opportunity.

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Everyone benefits from knowing how their efforts compare. Not because you don't know how you're doing... of course you do! And of course you can look to your previous week, last month, or last year, to mark improvement. But when your numbers are stacked up against the performance of others, (i.e. compared to industry standards) the results take on new meaning. Key is ensuring that the standards are true comparisons, relevant, current and meaningful. Are you doing better or worse, or simply measuring up?  It helps to know, and often provides your team with the incentive needed to boost the score.

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Every successful club manager has a wide variety of ways to keep in touch with the Members.  The fundamental purpose of the Club is to satisfy the Membership and it is impossible to meet expectations if the Management Team and their staff are not clear on these.  Daily interactions with Members are important, and listening to Membership issues being relayed by front line employees can provide insight into the issues at hand.  But only through a properly conducted survey, can you obtain quantifiable results that can form a reliable basis for important decisions and future plans.   There are many other benefits that can be derived from occassional surveys.  These include:

• regular surveys create a culture of responsiveness
• comparative results provide the basis for performance review.
• surveys offer clear evidence of Member issues
• knowledge of the issues provides focus for effort
• Members appreciate the opportunity to offer confidential input.
• regular reviews a fundamental to continual improvement.

There are many reasons to survey your Membership and not the least of these is knowing that you have a clear handle on Membership concerns.  Membership clubs often suffer from a tendancy to respond to the vocal minority - but it is important to remember that the silent majority pays the bills and these folks need a voice.

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Fundamentally there are two types of Membership Surveys:

• Satisfaction Reviews
• Strategic Planning Research

The Strategic Planning process is one that is intended to set direction and policy and therefore requires significant input during its development in order to ensure buy-in from the Membership and Board of Directors with respect to the results and recommendations. By its very nature, this process tends to be long term and responsibility for the outcome rests more with the Board of Directors of the Club, albeit with significant input from the Club's Management.

The Satisfaction Review is intended to guide the Management Team in the immediate delivery of services and facilities to the Membership. Members' experiences and opinions will change over time so it is important to measure satisfaction levels regularly and take action to address the issues identified between reviews.  While each review conducted may test various areas of the Club, it is often helpful to maintain consistency with some questions from survey to survey to allow benchmarking of the results and to provide the ability to measure improvement.

While it is sometimes necessary to overlap these functions to a limited extent, it is generally better to keep them separate since they speak to two completely different Membership mindsets.  It is also usually wise to address current operational issues in order to assure the Membership that the Club is in "good hands" before embarking on a process to determine long term objectives.

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There is probably no better time to survey the Membership of your Club than when the Club is in the midst of a change of senior managers.  At this time Members are eager to offer their input and the results of the survey can be an invaluable aid to the incoming manager.  The Members' survey input can provide a concise list of current issues for the new manager to address and quickly establish a presence at the Club.  Objectives developed as a result of a Membership survey can be used to measure improvement over time if a second survey is conducted at a future date.  In almost every instance, where we have conducted successive surveys, the Members' satisfaction has improved between surveys.  Knowing how your Members think is the first step in meeting their expectations.

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