ROBERT A. SERECI Robert A Sereci, CCM is GM/COO of Medinah Country Club, located in Medinah, IL. He can be reached at (630) 438-6825, or via email: rsereci@medinahcc.org
ON THE FRONTLINES
Rules, Enforcement and Club Culture I have worked in nine clubs in my club management career, five as a general manager/chief operating officer. During that time, I have found that every club, no matter in what part of the world or at what level of prestige, possesses a certain number of incongruent members or rule-breakers. Without question, rule-breakers exist at every club. For some clubs, allowing even a few is entirely unacceptable, and they are managed or dealt with immediately and firmly. Other clubs allow the number of rule-breakers to reach a critical point before acting. You may be part of a casual club community that is without a rigid culture, not uptight or stuffy. Clubs with a strict culture can have fewer behavioral issues but perhaps less fun. Formal clubs have black and white behavioral rules, with zero tolerance for gray areas – the line between right and wrong is firmly drawn. In such an environment, destructive and ill-mannered behavior stands out. Generally, rule-breakers receive corrective intervention from their peers, the membership at large, rather than their board of directors. On the other hand, if your club is more relaxed than most, your environment lends itself to a proliferation of rule-breakers, bringing to mind a phrase that parents often tell their children: “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.” With that, the essential questions are: What is the population of your rule-breakers? Are they playing an active role in your current club culture? WHY SHOULD YOU PAY ATTENTION? It is likely your members are expecting that you are paying attention. The pure definition of a club is a group of likeminded individuals coming together to form a community and experience pride in belonging. Member behavior and club rule enforcement strongly contribute to establishing club pride. Club culture is the collective behavior of a club community. Culture is contingent upon established and consistently enforced rules. Just as America is a nation of laws, your club is a community of rules. But, for various reasons, some members do not always play by the rules. Rule-breakers can erode trust with their unrelenting opposition to rules and policies set by your board of governors 98
BOARDROOM | MAY / JUNE 2022
and management. Constantly challenging and questioning regulations and decisions with which individuals disagree, and encouraging others to join them, forces the hand of your governing bodies. Because of their discontent and disenchantment with rules or decisions, rule-breakers will regularly behave conversely to those rules. To perpetuate their agenda, they will put their defiance on display, modeling this behavior to others. It is particularly troubling for new members, as the behavior of the rule-breakers may become the behavior model which new members adopt. New members look at established members with reverence; thus, rule-breakers modeling bad behavior is akin to permitting newcomers to misbehave. Leaving this paradigm unchecked may cause a club community to reach its tipping point, causing devastating, if not irreparable, effects. Many of us are chameleons, quickly adapting to our surroundings. As the saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” By effectively addressing the behaviors, removing the platforms for rule-breakers, and relegating rule-breaking behavior into the minority, you will reap the rewards, resulting in a positive, more compliant club culture. Notably, at The Ritz Carlton Hotels, the management employs the admirable slogan “We are ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen.” However, if your service team regularly waits on rule-breakers, it won’t take long for your team to adopt similar behaviors.
WHY DON’T MEMBERS COMPLAIN? Few members will complain about the level of your culture, which is unsurprising to most club managers, who understand that in private clubs the actual level of cultural discontent is typically higher than what is verbalized. Rule-breakers have a way of fostering discontent and squelching those who disagree. They understand that silence can be viewed as tacit approval, and some may do their best to make sure that those who disagree with their opinions or models of behavior are silenced. Also, a level of misbehavior may become so commonplace that it becomes the new cultural norm. Once you are accustomed to bad behavior, it becomes normalized and is no longer obvious; however, new members will immediately
