PUSH Magazine Volume 3 Issue 6

Field Notes

As a sports tourism professional, I firmly agree with succession planning. It is critical to identify pivotal positions that impact an organization. Assessing and identifying the A players regarding change response and versatility is equally important.

In today’s highly competitive and unpredictable environment, talented staff can come and go with unprecedented speed if the work environment isn’t conducive to supporting balanced personal and professional growth.

Unexpected departures of key people can cripple a change effort faster than anything, especially if there is no adequate backup. It is crucial to anticipate the pivotal staff or leaders who might leave and take steps to prevent it or make sure backups are in place if it happens.

Other significant sources for succession planning are the new up-and-comers. These are the group of staff who demonstrate potential talent to become future leaders. They possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, and talent to lead and influence change positively. These groups often reveal startling insights with an appropriate development action plan and mentoring. Or provide information that helps coaches and mentors fine-tune a development plan and make it more effective. Ultimately, the coach or mentor must take responsibility for properly implementing and modifying the strategies when they do not seem to work. The best way of doing this is by soliciting ideas and information from the staff you are coaching.

Lastly, let’s not forget the quiet leaders who prefer to work behind the scenes to move the organization forward; they, too, need successors. The true measurement of effective leadership is when your areas of responsibility continue to function efficiently and effectively after you have left your position.

We look forward to seeing you in Kansas City for the Sports ETA Symposium and hope you enjoy The Succession Issue!

x Matt Dunn

SUCCESSION PLANNING = ITS OWN REWARD

Succession planning that includes ongoing steps will bring rewards.

Only a few items in most organizations receive less attention than succession planning. The old business adage states, “Urgency wins the day over what is important.” We all understand what may be urgent, such as meeting a Request For Proposal deadline, solving a client issue, tackling employee turnover, taking a required training course, etc. The laundry list of immediate issues can have no end in sight, though, for many organizations on all sides of the sports tourism industry, the list got longer over the past few years.

Honestly, who finds any joy in planning to replace themselves?

Whether we like it or not, succession ends up on the list. Often, health/family issues or even termination fuel succession processes. Unplanned change leads to sudden succession planning decisions, impacting everyone: directors, managers, employees, clients, facility operators, vendors, and in our industry, even the community.

The consequences of an inadequate suc-

cession plan can harm your stakeholders. Though, when ready, succession planning can be a meaningful process. Rarely do leaders look at it this way at the start. Below outlines a process that, if implemented successfully, will ensure your legacy and hard work will prosper for years to come and that you leave a thriving organization in good hands.

1. Craft an organization on a sustainable idea. As organizational leaders, we must continually work to improve company performance. We must always strive to transform employees from hired individuals to trusted partners. Specifically, partners who understand the sports tourism industry through education and training, its economics, and that can actively participate and communicate these ideals. When doing so as a unit, working in harmony, teamwork is no longer a buzzword.

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, urgency came knocking. Smaller, under-budgeted destinations and rights holders needed help. Survival in the short term became the primary focus. This unexpected shift got leaders thinking of step two.

2. Surviving a downturn.

Building a financially stable organization takes work. To do so requires a long hard look in the mirror to determine your weak spots. Are you heavily dependent on one employee? Maybe a sales staff member? Or perhaps you “have all your eggs in one basket” with one vendor? Ask yourself what would occur if you lost that one sales rock star or a vendor partnered with one of your competitors. This exercise can also get leaders thinking about step three.

3. Focus on growth and training.

Your organization will only grow with a continuous effort to place your staff into settings that expand their horizons. Whether providing them with networking opportunities, continuing education, travel to conferences and trade shows, or allowing them to attend client site visits, all employees must have opportunities

to grow and learn. Leaders will always mentor through an effort of budgeting each year to allow for this level of opportunity. This effort leads to fulfilled, happy employees that see opportunity, healthy challenges, and a future. Growth and training can determine the organizational independence you are looking for.

4. Forming independence.

Once your organization has found the right talent to match the mission, is financially solvent, and offers clear goals to motivate staff with organizational support, you can create redundancies across the board. These redundancies may result in additional staff, so you are not relying solely on one staff member for key company components. With a balanced and motivated team in place, revenue will rise and therefore reduce the dependence on other lead sources. Thus, enabling you to maneuver when need be.

Always be visible to your team by attending weekly staff meetings, scheduling project timelines, and reviewing sales. If led appropriately, every team member will know how the company is doing in less than an hour. Allow everyone to participate in forecasting future performance and let them know what that may mean for them financially. Clarity on the future will help make turnover nonexistent. When thinking of succession, these actions will mentor the team that will take over when you have moved on, ensuring they know how to and are ready to run the organizational effort. Also, more importantly, they’ll strive to be the best in the industry.

Ensure your organization is committed to customer service that goes beyond your comp set. Being customer-centric will generate tons of repeat and referral business. Serve your employees by safeguarding jobs for hardworking performance… It works both ways. Be in the habit of looking to the future, especially a future where you are not in the picture. We can never fully know if a plan will succeed but build an effort worthy of a reputable succession plan.

Items Everyone Should Avoid FIVE

Many of you have teased me over my germaphobe hotel habits for years. As soon as I step into a hotel room, you can count on me whipping out disinfectant wipes and cleaning each surface. While my obsession over killing germs has been fodder during reception cocktails over the years, I still believe I’m onto something.

The typical housekeeper is expected to clean 15 to 20 rooms daily, depending on the hotel or resort. So, do the math. In the best-case scenario, that only gives each housekeeper roughly twenty to thirty minutes to spend on each room.

During this window, they strip and make the beds, swap out towels, restock amenities, remove the garbage, replace furniture, and more. With so many tasks and little time, many sections of the room can go uncleaned and certainly not disinfected.

Below are five items in a standard hotel room that will not likely get cleaned during a routine switchover. If you use these items, consider developing methods to disinfect them during your next stay.

The ice bucket should be fine, considering most hotels also provide plastic liners. Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind next time you consider going liner-free. Especially in hotels that allow pets, ice buckets are used as dog bowls, buckets to throw up in, and they are not normally cleaned after every guest leaves. Water or even ice is dumped in the bathroom sink. Then the bucket is given a quick wipe with a dust rag and perhaps sprayed with whatever cleaning solution the hotel provides housekeeping staff.

1. The Ice Bucket

Avoid at Hotels

2. Single Serve and Drip Coffee Makers

Largely, coffee makers are only hastily cleaned, as many hotels are more interested in spotlessness and pace than sanitation. Therefore, they are seldomly deep cleaned and may have bacteria, possibly mold growing internally, due to stagnant water and lack of cleaning.

3. Drinking Glasses

Drinking glasses are not gathered and delivered to be correctly washed and sanitized in a dishwasher. When asked, housekeepers will tell you that drinking glasses and coffee mugs are rinsed and dried in the bathroom sink. Most hotels do not provide Housekeepers with dish soap. Pack several travel-size cleaning products, such as disinfectant wipes, and give anything you’ll use in the hotel room a quick wipe. This too includes TV remote controls, telephones, doorknobs, countertops, and light switches.

4. Bathroom Towels

Here’s a quick trick I learned years ago working for a hotel. Find a housekeeper on your floor and ask for bathroom towels and a robe, if you wear one, off the cart as those have been cleaned. Housekeepers are typically told not to replace towels if they look clean.

5. Comforters and Blankets

These are tough, mainly during the winter; however, comforters and blankets are seldom switched out and laundered in most hotels. If not for a noticeable stain, blankets are usually taken to the laundry staff only once per year. Additionally, curtains, scrubbing walls and baseboards, flipping mattresses, and other such items are only cleaned once per year.

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If new employee interest is built around the company mission, but they still leave…

Do you know why?

Employee turnover at any level within a sports, events, and tourism organization can become tricky. In today’s day in age, organizations are waging wars for talent, thus creating even more challenges. When reviewing your best employees, how are you crafting culture and incentives to avoid replacing them regardless of economic and political irregularities?

Determining why essential personnel are leaving your organization can be vague. Their decision-making to leave can be difficult to understand. Experience tells us that employees accept positions for the organization’s mission and depart due to the manager.

How is this so?

Employees accept job offers because they believe in what your organization stands for and the type of work they get to perform. This reasoning is a crucial aspect of hiring top talent for important positions. Many organizational leaders just become talent agents to spread an organization’s inspiring mission and vision to attract the best talent available.

Subsequently, why does top talent leave an organization? Well, let’s review… It cannot be because of the mission, as it rarely changes. Regardless of popular opinion, most employees do not leave to chase more money. If organizational salaries are competitive with the market, and they feel they are impacting a mission, they often do not look elsewhere.

So, why do people resign? 9.9 times out of 10, the reason is their manager. Staff moves on due to personal issues with their

manager or because they do not feel their manager treats them respectfully.

The average manager will see an employee or two leave at separate times. When several exit around the same time, however, it should send warning signals to the organization. You can pinpoint the issue at hand with just a bit of thoughtful research. Then when you identify who the problem is, you must act.

The point is many employees are not resigning because they no longer identify with the mission and objective of the organization.

Salaries are not the issue either. Many are leaving due to a divide with their manager.

If it is too late, or you cannot resolve the issues, then change is necessary. Organizations must find a way to avoid creating a revolving door with top talent and then develop a reputation for poor management. Consequently, be mindful of departures or even transfers to other divisions or departments and, if appropriate, track it back to their direct report. You must take action if the issue traces back to a specific manager.

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E V E N T M A R K E T I N G

SAVINGS

Possessing money is essential to our well-being, as everyone needs money. Whether having money to provide essentials or the freedom to experience life as we wish… Money rules the Earth. Those who are financially savvy have money and work toward financial goals to save money and use several methods.

Efficiently saving money takes strategy and often a solid idea of what savings will be used toward what goals. Some savings are used for emergencies only, such as car or home repairs. Others are specifically for building a down payment on a home or college. Some are general “rainy day” funds. The list below includes essential information when planning for savings accounts and the importance of why they extend beyond an emergency fund.

1. Savings Account Purpose

Simply put, a savings account is a secure bank ac-

We never know when but this is only one

ACCOUNT VALUE

count that allows you to deposit your money while usually earning interest. Everyone views a savings account differently. Some feel that a savings account is only for saving for a rainy day and being prepared with emergency funds. While others believe savings accounts are the location to store most of your cash, even for general expenses.

Savings accounts do not need to focus only on long-term returns or emergencies. Savings accounts provide individuals with a safe place to keep money required for purchases in the short term and supply future goals.

2. Emergency Fund vs. Savings Account

The major difference between an emergency fund and a savings account is what you plan to use it for. Your savings account is for cash you may plan for an intended purpose. It can be a place to deposit or transfer money over the long term as you build toward a specific goal or purchase. Or, you can use a savings account to keep the cash you have already saved for immediate expenses or planned investments. When building a savings account with an emergency fund in mind, that effort

includes a cash reserve you maintain for unforeseen expenses that could not be handled with your regular monthly deposits. These may consist of loss of job, medical bills, or, consequently, loss of income. Think of it this way, a savings account is what you plan and intend it to be for. An emergency fund is for the unexpected.

3. Total Savings Account $?

There is no universal answer to how much money everyone should have in their savings account. This personal decision should be based on your sole needs and situation. There is no set standard amount of money to keep in your savings account. Instead of an amount, focus on what you plan to save for. So, decide on a plan for how much you wish to sock away and maintain a pattern. Consistency will create success in achieving your financial goals.

4. Total Emergency Fund $?

Everyone’s savings account balance is different and will vary, but the total amount in an individual’s emergency fund should not. The general rule of thumb is to prepare for 3 to 6 months of expenses in a secure account.

when an emergency will strike, one component of an overall savings strategy.

This amount should also differ from your savings account as your savings account should be separate from your emergency fund. When withdrawing cash from your savings account may be part of your savings account plan, but when building your emergency fund, it should remain off-limits.

Look at it this way; an emergency fund will keep you afloat for the time you have prepared for while you look for another source of income. However, your emergency fund should be a different beginning and end of your savings.

5. Occasions to Use Your Emergency Fund

Several reasons someone may want or need to use their emergency funds include job loss, medical and dental expenses, pet care, car repairs, broken appliances, and repair to their home. However, remember that these funds should only be used during a nec-

essary emergency. Your emergency fund should not be used to help fund a vacation, new clothes, or other unnecessary expenses.

6. Saving for Each Account

These ideas are great in theory, but they do not get you anywhere if you cannot save money. Having all the information only matters if you can apply the knowledge. So, the best way to get started is to track your spending.

We hear it all the time, and it can be annoying, but when you track your spending, you end up feeling much better about what you can afford and how much you can afford to save. Outlining your expenses paints a picture of where you can make some cuts. Do you need to pay for five streaming sites? Transferring money from your checking account to your savings account on a regular system is a must; no amount is too small to start.

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Downtown Kansas City Food Scene

Are you getting excited for the Sports ETA Symposium?

Continuing education, general and breakout sessions, one-on-one appointments, networking, Legacy Fund activities, and of course, socializing with friends, colleagues, and co-workers at some of Kansas City’s finest dining establishments?!

Here at PUSH, we are always eager to enjoy time with our friends over a great meal in a restaurant with an excellent atmosphere. Here are a few tips when taking clients out to entertain:

Have a plan

Dress for the occasion

Research your client’s interests

Do not talk business, unless the client brings it up

Keep all your receipts

Stay off your phone

Listen carefully

Do not drink too much

Organize an original experience

Do not sit down before your client

Be punctual

Eat slowly

Tip generously Keep it fun

Be sure not to miss Yelp’s Top Ten restaurants in Downtown Kansas City:

Q39 Midtown 1000 W 39th St Kansas City, MO 64111 (816) 255-3753

https://q39kc.com/

Q39 is Kansas City BBQ with a twist. We pair competition-style techniques and award-winning flavors with innovative, chef-driven concepts for the ultimate BBQ experience. Whether we’re grilling for six judges or sixty customers, we don’t take shortcuts; expect fresh ingredients, sliced-to-order brisket straight from the smoker, Certified Angus Burgers ground in-house daily, and wood-fired grilled plates served from flame to table. Our customers come for the Q, stay for the craft cocktails, and return for the service.

#2

Jack Stack Barbecue - Freight House

101 W 22nd St Suite 300

Kansas City, MO 64108

(816) 472-7427

https://www.jackstackbbq.com/

Making History With Hickory

To stand out in the competitive Kansas City barbecue scene of the mid 1970s, Jack Fiorella and his wife, Delores, began cooking gourmet meats over hickory wood and created the most extensive barbecue menu in the country. The menu included Certified Angus Beef® Steaks, fresh seafood, award-winning Lamb Ribs and mouth watering side dishes like Hickory Pit Beans and Cheesy Corn Bake.

The Rockhill Grille

2000 Grand Blvd

Kansas City, MO 64108

(816) 389-5800

https://therockhillgrille.com/

If you are hungry after gazing at Belger Arts Center, visit this bar to have a meal. The Rockhill Grille offers you to try tasty pork chops, scallops and tater tots. At this place people can delve deep into delicious dishes, and try good French toasts, key lime pie and cinnamon rolls. It is cool to enjoy delicious bourbon, champagne or gin. Great juice, dark coffee, or tonic are waiting for you at this place. There is a beautiful view from this spot. The efficient wait staff works hard, stays positive and makes this place wonderful. At this bar, visitors can enjoy the spectacular atmosphere and beautiful lounge area.

#4

Lula Southern Cookhouse

1617 Main St

Kansas City, MO 64108

(816) 648-0808

https://www.lulakc.com/

Lula is a Southern Cookhouse that gives a strong nod to Chef Owner Bradley Gilmore’s North Carolina roots. We even named the place after his very own granny! With his business partners, Brittany Socha Gilmore & Chef Owner Brandon West, they are taking delicious southern cooking & making sure you never leave hungry.

Lula serves up lunch, supper, and brunch. They take southern classics and add our twist, creating bold flavors to crave. Recipes are made from scratch & infused with love just like granny used to make.

Novel Restaurant

1927 Mcgee St

Kansas City, MO 64108

(816) 221-0785

https://www.novelkc.com/

A new location is open at 1927 McGee Street in the East Crossroads Arts District of Kansas City, Missouri. The new dining destination is vibrant, spacious, and lives up to its name. The dining room features a fifty foot long tile mosaic across from an open kitchen. The inviting full service granite bar seats up to eighteen guests with views of the outdoor patio planted with native trees and grasses.

Chef Ryan Brazeal and Pastry Chef Jessica Armstrong continue to create a unique culinary experience with locally sourced ingredients and contemporary techniques. The restaurant features rich wood accents and original color palate and architecture to create a comfortable and hospitable dining experience.

Grünauer

101 W 22nd St

Kansas City, MO 64108

(816) 283-3234

http://grunauerkc.com/

Austrian and central European Cuisine is offered in the heart of Kansas City. Brother and sister duo Nicholas and Elisabeth Grünauer collaborated in order to open a namesake Viennese Gasthaus in the historic Freight House in 2010. The restaurant, now in its second decade of success, is their homage to the family’s popular and long-lived restaurant of the same name in Vienna’s artsy Neubau neighborhood. They strive to bring the same inspired Austrian cooking, hospitality and atmosphere to Kansas City’s art and dining hub - The Crossroads.

Farina

19 W 19th St Kansas City, MO 64108

(816) 768-6600

https://farinakc.com/

Farina’s Modern Italian menu is built around classic recipes from every region of Italy—kept pure or re-imagined by the hands and heart of Executive Chef Michael Smith. Chef Smith seeks out the freshest ingredients from local growers and farmers: beautiful produce, fresh herbs and succulent pork, beef and fowl. Fish and shellfish are flown in daily for the restaurant’s menu and oyster bar.

At the heart of Farina (Italian for “flour”) are its pastas. Each ribbon, strand, tube and pocket is rolled, twisted, filled and shaped by hand every afternoon, ready to be topped with savory, luscious sauces that evening. Freshly baked focaccia is served to sop up every delicious bite.

(816) 437-7940

http://www.jaxfishhouse.com

Consistently voted “Best Seafood” wherever they drop our anchor, Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar is known for bringing the freshest, most sustainable seafood to the coastless since 1994.

Not your average fish house: This establishment is known as your good time fish house where you come for that freshy-fresh, always inspired, good time. Nightly you’ll find rocks popping, drinks shaking, and laughter rolling.

The Antler Room

2506 Holmes St Kansas City, MO 64108

(816) 605-1967

http://www.theantlerroomkc.com

The Antler Room is a neighborhood restaurant owned and oper ated by Leslie and Nick Goellner, located in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri. With a focus on the overall experience, they aim to make thier guests feel a warm welcome, whether coming in for a small bite and a glass of wine at the bar, dinner with a friend, or a celebration.

Menus change daily with inspiration stemming from seasonal ingredients, certain preparations, or dishes inspired by travels. They only have one ‘must’ for the dishes we serve: they have to be delicious.

Garozzo’s Ristorante

526 Harrison St Kansas City, MO 64106

(816) 221-2455

http://www.garozzos.com

Michael Garozzo is the owner of both Garozzo’s Italian restaurants in the Greater Kansas City Area. Michael was born and raised on the “Hill” in St. Louis. He began his restaurant career as a busboy, with a dream of one day owning a restaurant. His father Salvatore and uncle Alfio, both waiters in fine restaurants all their lives, encouraged Michael to pursue his dream.

He opened the first Garozzo’s in 1989 “On a wing and a prayer” in the historic Columbus Park Italian neighborhood in Downtown Kansas City, A.K.A The North End. Today there are two popular locations as well as a thriving catering business in the Kansas City area. Garozzo’s prides itself on its signature Chicken Spiedini, a Garozzo’s creation, which has become a Kansas City staple.

DO MORE!

MORE TO CRAVE

With 1,600+ restaurants, even the pickiest eaters will find something to enjoy in Montco, check out our dining guide (free for groups!) to plan ahead.

MORE TO EXPLORE

Enjoy nature with a side of history at Valley Forge National Historical Park . Extend your walk, run, hike or bike ride with our 60+ miles of trails. Or, get wild with a trip to the Elmwood Park Zoo!

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Most people sleep for 8 hours and work for another 8 hours.

How you spend the other 8 hours in a day determines your future.

Many people fill up their time with cheap entertainment…

TikTok, YouTube, Netflix, etc.

Others work to be productive. They workout at a gym, listen to podcasts, or try to self-educate…

While the first category will help you become happier over the short term, the second will help you live a more rewarding life.

If you are someone who takes action and you want a new challenge…

YOU ONLY NEED 5 HOBBIES

ONE TO MAKE YOU MONEY

ONE TO KEEP YOU IN SHAPE

ONE TO STAY CREATIVE

ONE TO BUILD KNOWLEDGE

ONE TO GROW YOUR MINDSET

Industry Confidential

Check in every issue for the unfiltered thoughts of our guest writers and contributors as they discuss the hottest topics in sports tourism. Join the conversation by tweeting us: @pushsports

In this issue, our guest writer discusses a bold idea when thinking about succession.

Do you have a succession plan? No? Take a vacation.

An extended time away will allow you to test your employees for their next role.

Most of us still need a succession plan. If we had to guess how many organizations within sports tourism do not have a succession plan, it would likely come back well over 50 percent. And for a variety of reasons. Usually, the response you hear is that leaders always seem to be too busy with other responsibilities to think about it. Amazingly, there is a way to resolve both problems at once. Take a long vacation.

When asked to write this Industry Confidential article, I thought this suggestion would sound egotistical as if an office cannot survive without me. Ha! But the more I think about it, what process could test our team any better? I certainly cannot think of a better one.

The more you research it, even outside of government looking at for-profit businesses, it becomes evident that taking time away can be an effective way to test your organizational hierarchy and experiment with possible leaders in temporary roles.

It will be hard as those who may test the waters on this idea must not visit the office, call in, or email asking for updates during their time off. Remember watching Seinfeld and J. Peterman? In the last three seasons, Peterman was played by John O’Hurley, as the boss of Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). During the Season 8 opener, we find Peterman having a nervous breakdown. He claims his mind is as “barren as the surface of the moon” and can run the catalog no longer. So,

he travels to Burma (“You may know it as Myanmar now, but it will always be Burma to me.”) and leaves Elaine to run the catalog in his absence. We all remember how badly it goes, as Elaine is far from qualified to manage the day-to-day responsibilities, the staff, or the finances of the clothing catalog accordingly.

In the best scenario, you will find that the interim leaders will be more effective and responsible when you return. You may find it valuable to have those interim leaders continue some responsibilities, making your overall relationship more collaborative. Additionally, you may feel more confident in your succession planning since the interim employees could test out the role and determine if they were qualified. Though if not, thoughtfully list out what development opportunities still need work. At a minimum, having staff rotate in and out while you are on vacation allows you to test your team’s overall strength. This activity enables potential future leadership a chance to experience their next career role. It also allows more senior team members to see the outcome when experienced staff are no longer working on the day-to-day operation and mission.

Hopefully, you will get serious about creating a formal succession plan to include developmental goals for future leaders with determined timelines. However, if you do not, allowing yourself and encouraging your employees to take time off will help prepare your team for any sudden departures.

Vacation time off can truly pay off for these and many other reasons.