What if your club could serve as more than just a dining and recreation venue for aging members, but become a true lifeline of purpose and connection? Clubhouse Manager Kaitlyn Allen, CCM takes us on a fascinating journey through how her background in gerontology transformed her approach to hospitality at Long Cove Club.
Starting with her teenage job at a retirement community, Kaitlyn discovered both the beauty of serving older adults and the ugly reality of elder abuse, initially setting her on a path toward geriatric law before finding her true calling in club management. Her unique perspective reveals how hospitality for older members transcends service to become a matter of dignity, purpose, and identity.
The magic happens in the details from backlit check presenters that eliminate the embarrassment of struggling to read bills in dim lighting to programming that keeps members engaged through tap dancing classes, cultural associations, and wellness activities. These seemingly small touches make profound differences in how members experience their club.
Equally impressive is Long Cove's approach to staff culture through their Leadership and Culture Crew – non-managerial employees from every department who help shape workplace policies and create engaging team experiences. This innovative program has catapulted employee satisfaction into the 95th percentile industry-wide, creating a "palpable" culture where staff refer friends and family because they genuinely love their workplace.
"Hospitality isn't about what you serve, but about making people feel seen, celebrated, and like they still matter." This episode will transform how you approach member engagement at every age.
Follow us on the socials
Private Club Radio Instagram
Private Club Radio Linkedin
Denny Corby Instagram
Denny Corby Linkedin
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show where we give you thescoop on all things private
golf and country clubs, frommastering, leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode we are hangingout with Caitlin Allen, ccm
Clubhouse Manager at Long CoveClub.
She is a Swifty Trivia Queen,certified Disney adult and the
only club manager I've met whocan turn gerontology into
(00:40):
something that sounds kind ofbadass.
And if you're thinking, wait,what is gerontology?
Again, it's the study of aging,not just biology and policy,
but culture, how people age, howwe treat them, what gives them
the dignity and meaning in theirlater years.
And Caitlin, she's taken thatexpertise and poured it into her
role at Long Cove Club likeit's her favorite glass of red
(01:03):
wine.
Her role at Long Cove Club likeit's her favorite glass of red
wine.
We break down how clubs can doway more than just serve meals
and plan events for some oftheir older members and how they
can become lifelines, places ofidentity, connection and
purpose.
And we talk about howgerontology shaped Caitlin's
entire hospitality ethos andcareer, starting with her first
(01:24):
job as a teenage server in aretirement home.
We talk about how tiny toucheslike backlit check presenters
can have such a big impact.
We hear how her club'sleadership and culture crew
flipped employee engagement byempowering non-manager staff as
culture ambassadors.
Caitlin is bold, she'sbrilliant and, honestly, just
(01:47):
really fun to talk to.
We had an incredible,incredible conversation and one
of the moments quotes I might,you know, summarize this a
little bit, but one of myfavorite lines was something
along the lines of Caitlinsaying that hospitality isn't
about what you serve, the linesof Caitlin saying that
hospitality isn't about what youserve, but it's about making
(02:07):
people feel seen, celebrated andlike they still matter, and I
just thought that was phenomenal.
This is a great episode adifferent perspective, a little
bit change of pace.
I really, really enjoy this andCaitlin is just a great human.
Before we get to the episode, Ijust want to give a quick shout
out to some of our show partnersYou're going to hear about them
in the ads and continuing intothe episodes Kenneth's member
(02:30):
vetting Golf Life NavigatorsMembers First, as well as myself
, denny Corby, the Denny CorbyExperience.
If your club is looking for oneof the most fun member event
nights.
I've been trusted by over 350clubs.
If you want to learn more, headon over to dennycorbycom.
There's excitement, there'smystery.
(02:52):
Also there's magic, mindreading and comedy.
A ton of laughs, gasps and holycraps.
And speaking of holy craps, ifyou have not heard about my
event Management in Motion,happening September 22nd at the
monticello motor club, you haveto check it out.
Almost sold out, limited to 50seats.
We have about 18 seats left asof right now.
(03:13):
If you want to learn more, headon over to privateclubradiocom.
Slash management in motion.
We're going to be tearing upMonticello Motor Club with BMWs
M2, 3s and 4s, autox, dragracing, drifting and more, all
while learning relevanteducation from fellow club
leaders and peers.
(03:33):
It's going to be such a blast.
Enough about all that, though.
Let's get to the real reasonwhy you're here, which is for
the episode.
So, private Club Radiolisteners, let's welcome to the
show, caitlin Allen.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
It's great, it's been wonderful.
This is the time in Hilton Head.
It's paradise.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, when's the prime time?
Is it now?
When is your hot spot?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We really heat up in October, september and then
March, april.
That's when the weather's thenicest, it's when all of the
locals are here.
You have a few of the tourists,but a lot of the locals get out
of town.
They fly north for the summer,they head up your way and, yeah,
it slows down a little bit.
But we have a lot morefull-time year-round members
than we did three, six, eightyears ago.
(04:20):
So it's a nice trend.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Did COVID change that ?
Was it like around that thattime shorter shifted there?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
yeah, definitely a big shift.
A lot of people working fromhome and have the ability to go
live wherever they want to liveand retiring so yeah and the
holiday season.
It's an average level ofbusyness.
I I definitely think the springand the fall is that's our
bread and butter.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Nice, nice, you guys have a wait list.
Do you care about a wait list?
Y'all just vibing out having agood time.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I love that.
No, no wait list.
So, being a bundled community,our membership is directly tied
to home sales.
So depending on how many homesare on the market, that's how we
get our new membership.
So interestingly and this waskind of a learning curve for me
no member vetting process.
If you can buy the property,you can be a member.
(05:15):
So culturally that certainlyhas a little influence on the
demographic of membership that'scoming through.
So it really is a tapestry.
It's all sorts of interestingpeople from all over the country
really.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
And you and you know how I feel about vetting.
You know our friends, myfriends, kenneth's member
vetting huge, huge fans.
Now does people just I justthere's clubs.
I think sometimes just don'tjust put a little bit of effort
into looking at who's who'scoming in.
But yeah, that has to create avery unique challenge in terms
of culture and fit, because,even worse, you can't just kick
(05:52):
them out right.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
No, you can't just be like all right see ya, no, I
mean, we had an incident lastyear and their club privileges
were suspended so the familycouldn't come to the clubhouse,
couldn't golf, but you can'tkick them out of their home.
So it is interesting, but I'mlearning a lot being in this
sort of environment.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, yeah.
Are you consuming anything goodlately?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
In terms of food and drink, or are we talking content
and books, books shows, audiobooks, podcasts, I don't know.
Well, aside from private clubradio, I've been getting back
into the Huberman Lab podcast.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Andrew.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Huberman.
He's brilliant in terms ofhealth and wellness.
He's got a new book coming outin a few months called Protocols
, and recently my husband and Idid I don't know if I told you
this we just finished a 75 hardchallenge.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Did you, we did.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And it was our second time doing it together, and
part of that.
As you know, the rules includereading 10 pages of nonfiction a
day.
And so you get through a lot ofbooks that way.
So I reread, I revisited I'mactually just about to finish um
, unreasonable hospitality,which it's like the Bible, but
(07:09):
uh, yeah, so that's, that's itin terms of reading and uh audio
Nice, nice, I'm going to sendyou a book.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
I recommend the third door.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Third door.
Writing that down.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It's just a great audio to listen to because the
author speaks it.
It's just a good feel-goodstory with a good message,
meaning and all that stuffbehind it.
It's a good outlook and way ofthinking.
I don't know.
I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I like content that challenges your way of thinking,
if you can look at something alittle bit differently.
Another podcast I listen tojust out of habit is Dave Ramsey
, and I don't always agree withhim as a human, but I love his
teachings and his philosophy onpersonal finance and managing
your money and real estate, andso that's a get out of my
(07:58):
comfort zone kind of.
I'm listening to it because Ienjoy it and how can I think a
little bit differently?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
yeah, interesting, interesting, yeah, huh how about
you?
So it depends on like who, what, where, when, why and like what
I'm doing is like how I'll kindof consume it a tiny bit, uh,
but smartless, actually justfinished.
Uh, they had on gordon ramsayand I love all of his stupid
(08:24):
shows.
I love it Like Hell's Kitchen,all the shows, kitchen Nightmare
he has a brand new one out.
I love them all.
So that was just a fun listento.
Sometimes some Daily Stoic,every now and then A couple
magic ones.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Of course you know it all varies.
Yeah, my current commute towork is about 30 minutes,
depending on traffic.
And it's over a bridge over thebeautiful marshland and my
previous commute was about twoand a half minutes, so that was
an adjustment for me, but I havereally found.
You know, everyone says it'syour time to get in the right
(09:06):
headspace and decompress after along day, but I really cherish
that time because I get tolisten to podcasts and, you know
, try new things, listen to newpeople, call a friend and I
really expect that.
I was kind of dreading havingto spend an hour of my day at
least in a car when I really wasnot used to that, but that's
kind of magic time right thereit, it is, it is and I like what
(09:30):
.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
What you said is like challenge the thinking.
It's like just like pushthrough it and just be like oh,
like why don't I agree?
And just and just chat, likejust ask yourself the questions.
Um, yeah, it's what I've been.
There was I was just reading amagic book and part of like the
thing was like we stopped.
You know, magicians are just.
(09:50):
You know, people, us in general, stop thinking way too soon we,
we get to the method or we getget to a you know a way of doing
it, and then we just stop, we,and then we just stop.
We don't continue on like oh,but what if we did it this way?
What if we just continuedhaving some fun with it and just
stopped asking what if?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, I love poking holes in things.
That's how you avoid stayingstagnant.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, yeah, so that's just been a fun thing.
Now, how do you properlypronounce it?
Is it gen-tra-l, gen-ra, gen-ra?
You're right, there it isgerontology gerontology,
(10:33):
gerontology geriatric, yepgerontology, older gerontology,
nailed it yeah now there's justa couple words, like just the
way the brain it just goes,we're not gonna do it and I and
I'm like, oh boy, okay,gerontology.
Especially those ologies You'rethere, and for someone who
speaks for a living, it's like,oh, gerontology.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
The science of aging.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Gerontology is not just about medicine or policy,
but to me it's more about theculture of aging.
It's what we value, it's how wetreat people as they get older
and that culture informs how weserve them.
Private clubs often serve anolder demographic, especially in
places like Hilton Head, theSouth coastal towns.
(11:18):
We're not just providing dinner, we're providing purpose, a
reason to gather, to move and toconnect.
To me, it's about dignitydignity, routine and identity.
Uh, I believe a club partbecomes part of someone's
personal culture as they age,and that's awesome that we get
to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
How did?
How does like, how old were youwhen you were like yes, cause,
like that's like a very specifictopic, because like that's like
a very specific topic.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, it is like what sparked it.
I will tell you so.
15 year old caitlin, in highschool, mom and dad told me if
you want to do things withfriends, you need to have some
spending money.
So what did I do?
I got a job and there was aretirement community in our
community and they were hiringservers and I thought I like
food, I could carry a plate.
(12:10):
Sure, let's do it.
So that was my first job everEven.
I mean, I didn't really do muchbabysitting.
It was a waiting table.
So I was in food and beveragefrom the beginning and I loved
it.
I had grandparents up in Canadawho lived in a very similar
facility and it kind of remindedme of my grandparents.
I got to spend my days not justlearning, you know, the art and
(12:31):
the science of food andbeverage, but being around
people who are inspiring for allsorts of different reasons and
listening to them and theirstories that they have to tell
it was magic and I reallyenjoyed that.
I know I told you this storystories that they have to tell
it was it was magic and I reallyenjoyed that.
Um, I did.
I know I told you the storythere.
Um, there was a bit of ascandal at that particular
facility when I was workingthere.
There was some some uglinesshappening with the nursing staff
(12:54):
in terms of um abuse to theresidents a bit of physical, um,
yeah, violation of human rights, getting themselves written
into wills and property, justmisappropriation of a lot of
things.
So I didn't know what the heckwas going on.
I was 15 and I didn't reallyknow what that was.
(13:15):
But up until that point in mylife I'd never really
experienced that kind ofugliness in the world.
So that's what sparked theinterest in becoming my original
goal geriatric lawyer.
And I said this is what I'mdoing with my life, is I'm going
to defend those who can't standup for themselves.
So that kind of mapped mycourse from there on out.
(13:37):
I left that facility, obviously,and I went to work for a
different company, brookdaleSenior Living and it was
incredible.
It was everything, it wasmeaningful, enriching life, and
it was where I was meant to be.
And so I went off to collegeKansas State University, proud
Wildcat and I knew I was goingto law school.
(13:59):
So I got an undergraduatedegree in political science with
a secondary in gerontology andbecause that was a program they
offered at K-State.
And I realized about two weeksinto the political science
classes that I was not cut outfor political science and not
(14:21):
for me.
I had a professor who wasmonotone and maybe that played
into it, but it was noteconomics.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I could not grasp it.
And the teacher was just theworst.
And you're just like and thenit's like you know it's not
nothing helps, and yeah, so itwas.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It was going to be a long four years.
I thought if this is what it'sabout, I need to reevaluate my
priorities.
So I called my parents, my dad,in a panic and I said what do I
do?
And dad gave some wonderfuladvice.
He said you get to go to lawschool with any undergraduate
degree.
I mean, if Elle Woods can do itwith fashion marketing, you can
do it with whatever the heckyou want.
(15:01):
So I was taking an intro tohospitality class and it
resonated and fell headfirst,head over heels, in love with
hospitality.
I kept the secondary degree ingerontology and I loved it.
I continued to work in theretirement home, but then I got
my first internship at a clubthe first summer after my
(15:22):
freshman year of college and,spoiler alert, I did not make it
to law school.
That did not happen because Ireally I found a niche in
private club management yeah, oh, I love that.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I love that.
I remember when we first talked, you said something.
It was like along the lines oflike, hospitality isn't just
service, it's about dignity andpurpose, or something like like
that.
Where does where does that comefrom?
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Well, I mean, you have to understand aging is age,
Aging is emotional.
And hospitality, you're, you're, you're not just creating a
menu and uh, it's a place forthem to gather and to live their
whole full lives.
And you know, it's it.
It isn't service, it isn'ttransactional, it's how can you
(16:17):
enhance a person's life at anyage, you know, not just those of
a, of a, of an older age?
How do you?
You make everybody feel feelrelevant and seen and cared for?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
yeah, because, yeah, do you feel like sometimes they
get some older members can kindof fade into the background?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
yeah, I think, um, you know, in a community club
like ours, any of those oldermembers, they're on fixed income
.
So even the topic of duesincreases, that can be scary to
them because that's not justokay.
We have to drop the clubmembership, that's.
We might have to move, we mighthave to uproot our life, so,
but we know how clubs are.
You have to be thinking andplanning for the future and dues
(17:02):
increases is just kind of partof it, and so you have to make
it a space where people arewilling to continue to pay the
money.
I mean, it has to be relevantfor them and unfortunately, or
fortunately, one of the thingswe get to do is be all things to
all people, and it's especiallysensitive with that group.
When we're redesigning ourclubhouses, are we doing it in a
(17:25):
modern, trendy way that doesn'treally listen or care about
what that population thinks?
Do we look at the branch ladiesdifferently?
Because all they do is come inand sip on the free tea and the
free snack, mix and play cards.
They're not hosting parties,having weddings, coming to the
big events.
So you have to zoom out andlook at the entirety of the
(17:47):
membership and be all things toall people.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, how have you handled that situation?
So, like to rewind, how haveyou handled?
You know people on a fixedincome and it's getting tight
and you know they have thememory what.
What situation have you seenplay out like, have you like
what's what's happened there?
Like how do you have thoseconvert?
Like, how do you what's like,what's the play?
(18:12):
Or, and like, how do you planfor that?
Like, have you like, are youable to now see that coming a
little bit more?
Like, because you've been thereso long, you kind of like see,
like the writing on the wall andDo you get ahead of that?
Is this even?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
a question you want to answer or go into.
Yeah, yeah, you know how oldpeople are and you know when
people start to declinephysically and if somebody loses
a spouse, for example, that'stheir identity and sometimes the
club might be their onlysupport system on the island in
the region.
You know these people mighthave moved down here and all
(18:49):
their family is is elsewhere andthat might make an easy
decision of okay, well, I'mmoving back up to chile,
scranton, pennsylvania, to livewith my, my kids, because that's
my only option.
But we, we want there to beoptions.
We want you to feel that atlong cove you can put an
elevator in your house, you canutilize the, the ramps that
(19:10):
exist at the physical space ofthe clubhouse.
Um, we do offer a legacymembership if somebody does have
to move out of the community,but they've been a member for a
certain length of time.
They do get to maintain someclub privileges at a reduced uh
due structure which, but youhave to have been a member for a
for a length of time.
They do get to maintain someclub privileges at a reduced due
structure, but you have to havebeen a member for a length of
time.
So that's kind of a way to keepthem engaged.
(19:31):
We program around them.
We have obviously bridge,mahjong, all the like, but
beyond that we have an entirecultural association, uh,
dedicated to.
It's really members educatingmembers and it's for all ages
but, um, a lot of people in thatdemographic enjoy it because it
is it's fulfillment in itscommunity.
We have things like tap dancingclasses, where I don't think
(19:55):
there's anyone younger than 65who taps uh.
Physical wellness, we've gotwater aerobics, we've got yoga,
book clubs, bible studies,knitting groups, singers, actors
so giving them a reason tocontinue to come to the club and
be with their people as long asthey possibly can.
I mean, same logic applies whenyou're planning a menu.
(20:17):
Are we taking intoconsideration what the dietary
restrictions might be and whatthe meal preferences might be,
and not to say chef would ever?
design a menu that is bland andboring.
Unfortunately I worked innursing homes so I know you got
the little seasoning MSG packetson the table because the food
has to be planned for people inthat demographic.
But I would even commend ourchef with his, his thoughtfully
(20:40):
designed menus that really doappeal to all audiences and
offering some variety.
So to answer to answer thequestion you asked, we try to
create a space and programmingand a community around keeping
folks members as long aspossible.
We realize ultimately sometimesthere's there's no need for a
single 95-year-old woman to livein her massive multi-story
(21:04):
house at Long Cove if physicallyit doesn't make sense for that
person anymore.
But we try to keep thecommunity alive and give them
reasons to stay.
It is tough when the duesincrease.
I know that's a big reason isI'm on a fixed income.
I can't afford that increaseand maybe we transition them to
legacy membership at that pointand keep them in the fold, so to
(21:26):
speak.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, yeah, how, how can, how can clubs build like
real connection with agingmembers beyond like the
occasional, just normal stuff?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
You know you have to go into school for gerontology.
It taught me what to anticipatewith with aging folks.
But you know hospitality is isanticipation, and you know you
have to understand that people'sneeds change over time.
I mean what I, what I saw inthat nursing home.
(22:00):
That's what happens when peoplelose sight of empathy.
And in a club environment, inthe club space, I feel like we
do the opposite.
We notice, we remember names,we remember preferences,
allergies, we remember thestories, we tell the stories and
it's service also.
It's also dignity that'sdignifying the human experience.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Do you, do you think we train hospitality pros to
serve the older adults Well, ordo you think it's a little
mostly on the fly?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
We do it, but without realizing we do it.
You know.
I mean hospitality, it's.
It's in a world focused onthings, we focus first on people
.
That was actually the motto ofthe K-State hospitality program.
Go Wildcats, but think of thethings that we train a food and
beverage server, you know you'reremembering names.
You're taking patients in care,with ordering, helping with
(22:56):
decision making, walking themthrough choices, making sure
billing things are clear,minimizing distractions and
offering consistency, and thoseare in a food and beverage scope
.
Those are all things that wetrain generally speaking, but it
matters on a different levelfor an aging person who may
struggle to read their ticket.
(23:17):
I mean, I'll tell you somelittle change we made last year
was investing in these little,you know little check presenters
, the books that you get yourthing and you put the card in.
So we got those that they openup and they're backlit.
So as soon as you open it, it'sgot this nice little soft glove
and spend a little money on anew fleet of those.
They look great, they're nice tohold on to, but the wows that
(23:38):
we get from that because a realissue is, you know, people pull
out their phone flashlight toread the thing and the font on
those checks is so small and themembers have really, really
loved that.
So that's just a little exampleof an enhancement that we
didn't do with with the agingpopulation specifically in mind,
but it it it impacted them in alarger way than than we had
(24:00):
originally anticipated when webought the nice books.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, and what?
That was less than two grandprobably.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, easily.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Easily.
Those opportunities exist allday.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
So for less than two grand, you have just these
overly joyed people.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yes, yeah, and I love it, grand you have just this
over like these over, overlyjoyed people.
Yes, yeah, and I love it.
We we sometimes get, especiallythis time of year, we get
reciprocal members fromneighboring clubs and they you
know same demographic across theIsland.
Right, People come and retiredown here and they come and
they're like we don't have theseat our club and they're taking
pictures of them.
And then I get texts from ourfellow club managers like, all
right, where'd you get thosebooks?
I got to hear about them.
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Here's my affiliate code.
Well, there's an idea what am.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I doing.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Just remember us small people when you make it
big.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Monetize.
I'm actually surprised there'snot like a setting on the, on
the systems, where you can putlike make it like a different,
like a bigger font, check so sothey can.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
They can read it better denny, you need to call
the people, call the people atjonas and cobalt and north star
and club essentials and get themon the line.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
That's an idea and club essentials and get them on
the line.
That's an idea.
No, okay, uh, but uh, sorry,that would totally side quest.
Um, that is a great uh, uh,what, what?
What do you think people can dobetter?
Like, how, how can people dobetter?
(25:37):
Because obviously you take thisreally to heart, like you, like
live, like this is like you andlike you found a club, I think,
when we were talking prior,where you would shine in that
environment, and it is thatenvironment, uh, but not
everybody has that environmentor like is in that situation.
How can they just take like alittle bit away?
What are just some like littlethings people can do to enhance
(26:01):
the gerontology experience?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, well, I'll give you.
I'll give you a little anecdote.
So I I do not currently havechildren.
Um, and I, you know, get askedall the time We've been married
for a long time why don't wehave kids?
And I had a.
I had a former supervisor onceand mentor of mine, who we were
talking about that topic andbeing a parent in club
management and the pros and consobviously, and he told me once
(26:27):
he said, being a parent havingsmall kids, he's like.
I empathize on a different levelwith the members of the club
who are parents, because I'm nota member of a club but we have
kids.
So I know what a person withsmall children in a club is
looking for, because I've, in asense, kind of been in their
shoes and so that's an easy one.
(26:48):
But when you're planning, whenyou're doing things, when you're
renovating, when you'redesigning a menu, when you're
building the golf course,whatever it is that you're doing
, think about it as if you weresomebody in their 60s, 70s, 80s,
90s.
You're retired, maybe you havemobility issues, maybe there's
some cognitive decline.
What lens can you look at itthrough to give you a more
(27:10):
holistic view of that person'swants, needs and desires?
And surveying is great becausewhen you survey a membership you
get that demographic and youcan say all right, those in the
70 plus category tend to leanthis way.
But listening to that genuinelyand realizing that every member
(27:32):
is equally as important we have576 memberships and every
single opinion is equally asimportant as the other 575.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
You've moved around a lot.
What's helped you adjust andconnect and kind of like thrive
in each place that you've been.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Great question.
I've been told that moss doesnot grow on me.
I am a rolling stone.
I take that as a compliment.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I like being active Moss does not grow on me.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
I wear that as a compliment.
I like being active.
I wear that with pride.
Yeah, I, uh, I, yes.
So I'm an extrovert by natureand I think the older I get, I'm
becoming one of thoseextroverted introverts where I
do find a recharge at home.
Um, when you go into a newspace, when I go into a new
space, I get excited about who'sthere, not because they're
(28:24):
paying my check every other week, but because I want to know why
they're there, what makes themthem, what makes them excited to
be where they're at.
And moving to Hilton Head wastotally new.
You know, we're not from thisarea, we're from the Midwest.
I spent a little time in theSavannah area, but we're
relatively new to the South, andso not only am I learning a new
(28:45):
set of people, we don't havefamily, our set of friends does
not live here.
So we kind of have to be thoseextroverts where we're going to
go into whatever it might be andwe're going to make the most of
it.
I mean, I have to give kudos toboth the Georgia and the
Carolinas chapters of CMAA.
I mean, obviously all CMAchapters are extremely welcoming
, but, wow, some of my closestbest friends right now are in
(29:09):
those chapters.
I'll throw Florida in there too.
But community is important, notjust for the geriatric
population that we're kind oftalking about today, but for us
as leaders and club managers,having that support system in
that community.
And that doesn't happen byaccident, it happens when you
put yourself out there, andthat's something those who know
me close know, that I'm notafraid to put myself out there.
(29:31):
No moss grows on this rollingstone.
I'll raise my hand, I'll jumpin, I'll volunteer, I'll help
whatever you need, becausethat's where.
That's where the magic happens,if you ask me it's.
It's when you get out of yourpersonal comfort zone and meet
new people.
And I mean I love networking.
I think that's, that's somespecial magic in itself.
(29:52):
Right, there is is your network, and I love figuring out who
knows who.
Oh, you spent some time inChicago.
Do you know these people?
Do you?
Oh, kansas, forget about it.
I know everyone in Kansas.
This is great, but it's alwayssuch a small world and smaller.
Every person you meet.
And that's what you have to do,no matter where you go, is just
(30:12):
be willing to put yourself onthe line.
And I definitely did that atLong Cove, where I said you know
, this is my new home and I'mgoing to make it my home.
So, between the membership andthe team, the team is my family
and I know that's a littlecliche, but they really are.
My family is not here and so Ispend time at work and these
people are the ones that I talkto about everything, and I have
(30:35):
a lot of responsibility as theirleader to to care for them and
their experience, and that thatsort of colors my leadership
style is.
You know, I am responsible.
I bear a heavy, heavy burden ofcaring for these people and
making sure that they'relearning and growing and they're
loving every bit of theirexperience as well.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, and, and speaking of loving and caring,
your, your husband, is also inthe, in the space also.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, he's in the space.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
That's actually where we met was in college.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
It's it's funny the parallels he.
He was sort of in the culinaryside.
He was a, he was a cook in aretirement community and we both
were studying hospitality.
We both had the secondary.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
He was cooking up that bland food.
You were studying hospitality.
We both had the secondary.
He was cooking up that blandfood you were talking about.
He sure was.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I will say our first date.
He made me creme brulee and itwas not bland and I stuck around
.
I said oh, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
I'm not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
You're stuck with me now.
He's very talented, and so he.
He then moved, like we all do,front of house, and um was a
wonderful leader.
He, he bounced around a littlebit too, went to the recruiting
space.
He's actually currently thefull-time recruiter at Long Cove
club.
So he he's my right hand jumpsin, does a lot of bartending, um
, but he's, he's so wonderful, Ilove that man.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
That is so cool.
Yeah, that is so cool.
Yeah, a lot in common, no, andand just the, probably the fun
moments that you create togetherand for the, the members there
too, because, as you kind ofsaid, a lot of them probably may
or may not have family close byor who they get to see often,
(32:16):
so you kind of bring thatfamilial energy that they kind
of lack, whether you know it ornot, maybe.
I don't know, or just kind oflike you know, it really is that
home away from home.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
It is.
It is, and Long Cove reallylives and breathes that.
I mean we're not alone.
There are mother-son employees.
We're not the only.
There's two other husband-wifeduos that work at at the club.
There's siblings, severalparent children actually, and
it's.
It's awesome, you know, itspeaks a lot about the culture
of Long Cove that you care toshare your place of employment
(32:50):
with your most loved familymembers.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, how can clubs help older members reclaim or
reframe purpose?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Great question.
People aren't winding down intheir old age.
They move to the island.
I joke that residents of HiltonHead should be studied, because
consistently, when I hear howold someone is over the weekend,
someone said oh, it's my 63rdbirthday next week and I thought
I would have put you a decadebelow that easily.
(33:23):
And that happens regularly.
People, they're living activelifestyles.
They are not slowing down,they're getting busier, they're
taking up biking, they're takingup kayaking, they're living a
whole person's life and they'remaking the most of their
retirement.
And so we need to lean intothat and program for that.
(33:45):
I call it aspirational aging.
These people, members, theywant experiences, they want a
lifestyle, and we as the clubmanagers, we get to create that
(34:05):
the club managers, we get tocreate that.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
How.
How do you create that spacefor, for that and, like, how do
you create that safe space formaybe people who need more time
or don't communicate like theyused to?
Um, like, how do you like, whatwas that?
Like that, before you werethere, were you able to open
that up like a little bit more?
And, if so, like, how do youstart those steps of being more
(34:29):
open and well communicative?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, I want to give a shout out and a lot of credit
to our general manager, marioCambisano, who has been at this
club for about two and a halfyears.
Manager Mario Cambisano, whohas been at this club for about
two and a half years and I wasnot at Lone Cove prior to him,
so I can't speak to how itoperated before, but with a
(34:53):
shift in the membershipdemographic and the age trending
younger, mario has created anironclad culture and a product
of that is a safe space to becreative.
He allows his department headsand therefore all the management
team and therefore the entiretyof the team, to to try new
things, to to have new ideas andrun with them and to to talk
(35:14):
about how maybe it could be donebetter next time.
But you know, if I if I wantedto say you know, trivia, trivia
is a good example.
We started a trivia program ayear ago.
I thought let's see how it goes.
Trivia might be kind of tired.
Um, that's one of our mostwell-attended events and we do
it every other week and weconsistently break records and
it's crazy, we actually have onethis week that I haven't
(35:37):
written yet.
So thank you for that one.
The ever growing to do list.
Yeah, yep, yep, you know it is.
It's it's permission to try newthings, it's permission to
screw up, it's it's giving you arunway to to think differently,
to challenge the norm Anothercliche you know, if you do what
(35:59):
you always did, you'll alwaysget what you always got.
And we have to be on the frontend, we have to be on the
cutting edge, and if we're not,that's how you get stagnant.
And you know, nobody wants that.
The members don't want, thestaff doesn't want that, the
leadership doesn't want that.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
So what are some things that you've tried that
flopped?
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Oh gosh, good question, Good question.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Since and and and why did you flop?
And what considered it a flop?
Just cause, like you know, youwere talking about you.
You have freedom to try, trysome stuff.
So like what are some things?
And then, on the flip side, wewill talk about like goods also.
So like what are some things?
You're like this is no way,this is going to work.
And all of a sudden you're likeholy cannoli, that was really
really good.
(36:45):
So, because you know, we allhave flops, so like what are
just some?
You're like, oh man, we triedthis, but man, it just stunk.
Like what was something.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I'm thinking back to last year's labor day and I
thought you know, let's themeour labor day right?
We just had Memorial day, wejust had 4th of July.
You know, you get your red,white and blue and yada, yada.
Let's, let's do somethingdifferent for labor day instead
of the patriotic business.
So we themed it denim anddiamonds and I thought, all
right, we've had a lot ofsuccess with some some other
themings.
Like the members love to dressup in costume, the staff loves
(37:19):
to dress up in costume.
Let's do it.
And so Venom and Diamonds wasthe theme, it was awesome,
everyone loved it.
But we brought in a mechanicalbowl, a big inflatable one,
right Like safe for people.
But again, looking at thedemographic, most of the people
there were over 70 years old.
So did we spend a lot of moneyon an inflatable bowl that just
looked really nice there in ourballroom?
(37:40):
Yeah, we did.
There were a couple of kids Imight have got on it.
I'm not going to admit to that.
There might be video.
I don't know.
You can text Mario about thatone, but the sentiment was
appreciated.
So while most of the memberswere like I'm not about to break
a hip, we're not doing that.
They were like that was so fun,that was something new, it was
(38:05):
something different.
So one of those like let's justjust try it and see what
happens what um what?
Speaker 1 (38:13):
what makes for a good trivia night?
So it sounds like you've done abunch of trivia and you have
like you've had like a of triviaand you've had a baseline,
you've had some time on yourbelt.
What makes for a good trivianight at a club from your point
of view?
Because trivia nights atdifferent places, in different
spaces, it is all different.
I'm sure you've maybe gone to afew.
We are not great at it so wetend to not unless we know the
(38:39):
whole theme.
But each place is different andlike there's different rules.
Like how have you found to runa good, successful club trivia
night?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Sure, so we we have a model that we stick to.
It's it's five rounds, eightquestions a piece.
There's always a music round,there's always a connection
round.
I always do an anagram, so westick to the same format.
Therefore, it's the same lengthof time and we have teams.
We require that there are eightpeople per team, but people
(39:09):
bend the rules and there mightbe 14 people on the team, but it
is what it is.
I don't police it.
I give out eight prizes to thewinning team and that's it.
I'm like guys, it's not thatcompetitive.
Um, the consistency in theformat is important.
The questions are important.
Obviously the content.
So every we try to theme itevery.
Every day.
There is a different theme.
This Wednesday we know we'regoing to do like at the cinema
(39:31):
movie night theme, um, butkeeping that fresh, and there's
this excitement surrounding thetheme.
People will come up to thestaff beforehand and say what's
the topic for trivia this week?
And we're like, nope, not goingto tell you.
You've got to come and see.
So there's excitement in thetheme of it and all the hosts
myself, our OG host Mike, mycurrent host, tony and we switch
(39:51):
it up.
Sometimes the tennis pro comesin, sometimes my events
coordinator jumps in, my barmanager comes in so we keep it
fresh that way.
But, um, you can't get too niche.
I I made the mistake a coupletimes, you know I let I let one
of my guys do a roundaboutcryptids and weird folklore out
in the american midwest andpeople are like what the hell
(40:12):
are these questions?
But that was something that wasinteresting to that person and
so I kind of let him run with it.
I had one guy who was reallyinto star wars and so so we did
a Star Wars.
So the learning moment there isall right, you can have a Star
Wars themed round, but maybeit's like okay, you know George
Lucas is from what city?
Or like how can you make it aniche topic?
(40:34):
But the questions themselvesaren't niche.
Music round, I'll tell you, Iget yelled at a lot when the
songs are too top 40 to today'smix, and so I've evolved the
music round to be more diverse,to include all sorts.
A lot of Taylor Swift, obviously, but more music from the 60s
and the 70s, so keeping it fresh.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Support her getting her catalog back.
Hashtag Swifties.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Absolutely, absolutely.
It's a good time for usSwifties, but no trivia is so
much fun.
It is great.
Keep the prizes fresh.
Costumes I got to tell youthese people love a costume,
even if it's just a light-uppair of sneakers, they go crazy
for it.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
It's fun.
What are good prizes?
Speaker 2 (41:19):
So last, I guess two weeks ago, when we hosted Trivia
, we did like a Father's Daysort of theme.
So the first place prize was anempty six-pack, just like beer
carrier six-pack, and they couldcome back into the club and
we'd fill it up for them withsix cans of beer of their choice
.
Second place was did we do aSwiss Army knife?
(41:40):
I think we just did a swissarmy knife like little like 50
cents yeah they loved it.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
They're like this is great um oh, so like, not even
like a swiss, made like a niceswiss army knife like a chintzy
no, this, this is the like thechintzy or the better.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
It broke as soon as they put it in their pocket.
You can't repair anything withthat.
They love it though.
One time we had my anagram wasthis is a funny one, Lorna Dune,
you know, like the littleshortbread cookies.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
And so that was the prize, but I'll never live it
down we.
That was the anagram, and so Idon't even remember what it was
supposed to mix up to be adornnoel.
Of course I do.
A d o r n n o e?
L adorn noel scrambles up tolorna dune.
Except, no, it doesn't, becauseI forgot an o.
There's a whole o missing fromadorn noel.
That's in lorna dune and I, themembers, the entire game.
(42:33):
They were like we can't figureit out.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
We can't figure out that you're like they are so
hard, like this is so easy ohman, their memories really
really going down guys that's sotrue you're like your training
was like kicking in.
You're like, oh man, this isreally bad.
(42:56):
What do I do?
What's in the pitchforks are?
Speaker 2 (43:00):
coming.
Yeah, the next week I wrotearound a trivia called the
elusive o letter o, andeverything started with the
letter o.
They loved it.
You can get a little cheeky too.
Like just cheeky enough yeahthat's one of the fun parts, is
you know, I get to, I get toargue with members because I'm
the one holding the microphoneand the quiz master has final
(43:20):
say.
And when they're like that's notthe right answer.
It's actually this estuary inSouth America is the right
answer and I'll say quiz masterhas final say.
So I get a little joy out ofthat.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
The microphone is power.
It's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Yeah, you know, sure is.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
It is way too much fun, especially when you have
the ability especially when youhave the ability to control.
Oh, it's so much fun you'rewelcome to come anytime.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
We're going to do an office themed just for you yeah,
yeah great hospitality isn'tjust about what we serve.
It's about how we make peoplefeel seen, celebrated and like
they still matter, no matterwhat their age is.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah.
So I was checking out my notesand I remember you were talking
about how to keep members seen,how to keep them visible, and I
might be butchering thatcompletely, but can you go into
that a little bit?
Like how?
Like what does that mean?
And then like, what are signs?
(44:29):
Like how do you, how do youknow?
Like, how do you know when toengage?
Like how do you?
Because I think sometimes, like, let's just say, people do
disengage, if that even is is isa thing.
Maybe stop coming out to thingslike is is there that?
Because I'm sure sometimespeople get busy or whatever but
like, are there ways and signsto tell, like, the difference
between like, hey, maybe try toput in a little bit more effort,
(44:50):
really try to get them out.
You know, let's try to put alittle bit more care versus not.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Yeah, I think being in a community type club it's
easy because they live rightwithin your four walls.
So if there was a seriousconcern, we have security,
that's a whole department thatcould just do a loving wellness
check.
You know, hey, mrs, So-and-sohow you doing.
Haven't seen you in a while,everything good.
But at the club we track who'susing the club and through the
(45:21):
membership department we can usethose data points to see when
people have not visited the clubin extended periods of time.
And it's tricky down herebecause people do go away for
great spans of time, month here,month there.
Some people are gone six monthsout of the year.
But if you know that they'rehere, if you know that they're
in town for a stretch of timeand they're just not utilizing
(45:44):
the club, giving them a call,how do we identify them?
And you know say, hey, this isso-and-so.
You know you usually order thatum, well done burger with extra
crispy French fries to go threenights a week and we haven't
heard from you in a while.
You know how's everything going.
Can I bring one to your house?
So being able to identify thoseopportunities and then having a
(46:05):
plan or a system to have aloving reach out touch point.
What can you do?
What can you offer them?
Inviting them to the club,letting them know hey, I know
you love tap class.
Are you going to come by tapclass?
You know we did.
You know we have a new chairyoga in addition to our standard
yoga.
You know, uh, being proactiveabout those, those opportunities
(46:26):
, and you know, showing themthat you really do care beyond
just that monthly dues check.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure there's an art to how you
approach all of this, meaninglike, how do you raise and bring
things up or offer to helpwithout sounding kind of
patronizing or patronizing isthe right or wrong word but like
, I'm sure there's a, there's anart, you know, to the, to the
(46:56):
ask and bringing it up, and howyou approach certain situations
so like is there, like a, like a.
Share some examples.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
or like the language that you know creates connection
verse, like sounding off, so tospeak yeah, something that
jumps to my mind is we have a, amember who had a fall at the
club a couple of months ago andshe's a great user of the club.
She, she has pretty badscoliosis.
(47:25):
She's literally like if she wassitting here next to me, it
would be like like this it'sadorable, she's adorable, we
love her.
But she, she was coming in thebathroom, somebody was coming
out of the bathroom and the doorgot her, so she's fine.
Um, she went off to the hospitalbut you know, you didn't see
(47:45):
her for a couple of days aftershe got back from the hospital
and we knew nothing was broken.
But she's somebody who comes tothe club multiple times a week
and so we, we reached out andsaid how are you doing?
Security reached out.
Security takes care of her dogwhen she cause she's a single
woman, so security will go andlet the dog out and make sure
everything at the home is takencare of.
(48:07):
If somebody is is not there,but it to answer your question
it's we miss you.
How are you?
We care about you.
It's not a you know.
Hey, we noticed that youraverage spend per week is down
or a little concern, right,that's.
That's taken the human elementout of it.
You gotta, you gotta focus onthe human element.
And if that was you, what wouldyou want?
(48:27):
And so it might be, we sendflowers, it might be we.
We send that well done burgerwith extra crispy French fries
on rye bread to her um on theclub.
And you know, if she's adrinker, we send a bottle of
wine.
But you know, and then youwelcome them back, mrs,
so-and-so, we are so happy tosee you.
How are you doing?
You look great.
Is your family coming into town?
(48:48):
You know, remembering thosethings like that?
She has a dog like that.
Her daughter lives inphiladelphia.
That's what really makes adifference and makes it more of
a human relationship than anemployer, member, team, member,
club, member relationship.
And that's so important.
And, honestly, to be the typeof person who can do that, you
(49:11):
kind of just have to have thatgive a darn.
If you're a leader in anyhospitality space and you don't
naturally or actively worktowards that, that give a darn,
you're not going to besuccessful.
You have to care, and you haveto care genuinely and you have
to be willing to go above andbeyond.
I mean, it's as simple as that.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
And there's gonna be people who will, and they're
gonna be just fine and annoy thecrap out of all of us and uh
it's all right, we roll our eyeswhen they walk into a room,
it's okay how do you get buy-infrom the culture then, like, how
do you ingrain that into thestaff?
where does it start for you guys?
(49:56):
Like, is it part of the hiringprocess?
Do you have your own name of,like the, the employee?
Like, how do you like I'm surethe, I'm sure the cultural or
the hr side is just as good forthe staff as it is for the
members?
And I think you even mentionedhow you have a lot of staff who
(50:18):
you know they have their kids,is very familial, like we talked
earlier.
But like, how do you, how doyou ingrain that?
And then, how do you hire forthat?
Speaker 2 (50:27):
It's that continuous gentle pressure.
It's not something that youtalk about once and all team
training and then you hope thatit just sticks.
It's something that you have tolive and breathe every single
day, every single shift.
You know you have to be able tocommunicate the why.
You know why did you call MsSo-and-so after her fall?
(50:49):
Well, because here's the impactit had and empowerment of staff
is huge.
Imagine if I had.
You know, I don't.
Caitlin doesn't need to be theone to go hand deliver the
bottle of wine and get theattaboys.
That's, that's not something Ineed, but if I can have a staff
member who maybe it's their ideaI want to.
I know her favorite cake ischocolate.
(51:09):
I want to be the one to deliverher chocolate cake and I want
to be the one to give her a hugbecause I'm the one who takes
care of her every Thursday forbridge.
So I want to be that person andletting them run with it and
take ownership and pride is hugeand that's that's culturally
how we live and operate everyday we do.
Actually, I don't think I'vetold you about this.
Long Cove club has somethingcalled the leadership and
(51:30):
culture crew, lcc.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
Yeah, keep going, let's dive into this.
Speaker 2 (51:36):
It's marvelous.
So it's in its infancy it'sonly, oh gosh, under a year old.
And this generated from LindsayFinger, our Director of
Marketing and Communication, andCarrie Correa, our Director of
Human Resources, along withMario.
So we identified staff membersfrom every single department who
we deemed culture czars, if youwill.
(51:59):
They are the non-managerialhourly employee who have that
give a darn and they love theirjob, they love the club they are
bought in and so those peoplemeet.
It used to be every other week,now it's monthly.
They meet and they talk aboutthe employee, the team member
experience.
What does a great workingexperience at long cove look
(52:20):
like?
What makes it?
What are obstacles, what arepotential threats to to a
wonderful employee experience?
So with that, we have createdand we are just getting off the
ground our fantastic orientationprogram.
It is a multi-day orientationexperience.
Every single department head isinvolved.
These employees get to thebrand new team members, get to
(52:44):
full tour the property.
They get to hear about thehistory of the club.
They get to enjoy a meal off ofthe menu with our best servers.
They get to spend one-on-onetime with their department heads
and other department heads.
It's talking about governance,club structure.
You get a crash course in yourbenefits.
It is just like a power-packedcouple of days and that's before
(53:07):
your first shift.
You know, sometimes it's soeasy when you're, when you're
desperate to hire new people, tothrow a polo at them and say
you're on the floor tomorrow,but that doesn't serve.
So even before training starts,you get to come in and you get
to meet people and you havebuilt in tools.
Okay, I know where to go to thebathroom, I know who to come to
(53:28):
If I have a question about that, I know where the parking lot
is.
But beyond that, you're gettingto meet this class of of fellow
folks who are joining the LongCove team at the same time as
you are, and you have built infriends right off the bat.
So we're really excited aboutthat.
But the culture crew I meanit's magic with what they're
doing and it's bolstered ourformal review process.
(53:52):
Every year Different managerswere giving different versions
of the same annual performancereview, and so we've we've
unified that, and so now it'sit's one, one band, one sound,
unified across the board, andit's really cool for those
individuals to get together.
And our pastry chef and thatserver and that guy from the bag
(54:12):
drop and that guy from greensand grounds.
They get together and they'retalking about ways to make Long
Cove the best and keep Long Covethe best.
And we are also really, reallyproud of our recruitment process
.
It is involved.
It is multi-step.
You know you're pre-screened byHR for for job fit and then you
(54:33):
meet with your department headand you will meet with some
other members of that department.
You also meet with a departmenthead and you will meet with
some other members of thatdepartment.
You also meet with a we callthem a cultural gatekeeper.
You'll meet with a fellowdepartment head from somewhere
totally out of your space.
So if you're getting hired to bea security officer.
You might meet with thedirector of the sports center,
(54:53):
and that's the culture.
Are you a fit culturally forLongcove?
So, and then after that youmeet with the general manager.
Mario meets with every singleemployee candidates that we look
to hire and have join our team,and that really makes a
difference in in keeping theones that aren't going to fit
out and making sure that thosewe do bring in are the best of
(55:14):
the best.
Speaker 1 (55:15):
Damn, that's important.
So what?
So you've been doing it a yearnow.
What changes?
Or like what's, what's maybebeen like the biggest thing
you've learned, like what's beenlike maybe the biggest shift,
the biggest change?
I don't know, you know, I thinkthere's always, you know, when
(55:36):
you've done somethingconsistently for that long,
because most people would dosomething like this.
And then let's be honest, what?
Three, four or five monthsusually fizzles or like it's
just not the same, but you've,you've kept it up for a year and
there's still excitement behindit.
It sounds like what have?
What changes have you seen?
What have you feel, felt, found?
(55:56):
Like what's been?
You know, looking back on 12months, what's been the yeah,
and you know what, what have youchanged?
You know like what, what?
Maybe did you start off like oh, this, but it's like, oh,
actually, this is, I think, howit works.
Like you know what's been likethe good, bad, like how have you
adapted it, moved and changedit?
Speaker 2 (56:15):
Sure.
So, last, last June, was ourvery first all team get together
, if you will party.
Uh, previously that's notsomething that had been done.
Departments would have interdepartments.
You know the culinary teammight get together, the golf
team might get together, butnever the entire staff of Lonco,
which you know we waffle arounda hundred employees, so it's
(56:37):
not a massive group.
So in theory it should berelatively easy at least once a
year for us all to get together.
But it had just never happenedbefore.
So when Mario came on board hesaid we got to do it and the
leadership and culture crew kindof took that under their under
their wing and they made itincredible.
You know there's a littleeducational component of you
know we have a 401k.
(56:58):
One of our benefits providerscomes in and does some education
and we have lunch, but thenafter that it's fun.
You know there's team buildingexercises.
This year we had.
Last year we had a good turn.
I think we had about 60 or so.
This year we had about 85.
And out of 100 employees,that's pretty darn good to come
to the club on a Monday on theirday off and spend time with
(57:18):
their coworkers.
So but the leadership culturecrew, they got to talk about
what would make the employeeswant to come and what would make
them excited about it, and sothat influenced.
We got a snow cone truck, wegot a water slide, we got a dunk
tank.
We got the fun stuff.
But we also had a craft forpeople who didn't necessarily
want to go to a water slide.
We got a dunk tank.
We got the fun stuff, but wealso had a craft for people who
didn't necessarily want to godown the water slide and we had
(57:41):
pickleball, and so we had oursports center team teaching
people how to play pickleball,and so you got to experience the
club.
It was held at the club, umyeah, on a monday, and you got
to experience the club groundsas if you were a member and play
on the pickleball courts thatthe members play on, and the
membership is extremelysupportive of this as well.
By the way, they love to see usgetting together Anytime we do
(58:02):
trainings or whatnot.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
They they're really enthusiastic about that, um
sorry, it'd be fun if, like onetime, you got the members to be
like the bartenders and serversand you know just to just to
like, for, like, for like a meal, just let them, yeah, you know,
have them like dress up or befunny.
(58:24):
If you want to get like, havethem have put the uniform and
then have like, have the stafftry to pretend to be other
members.
Speaker 2 (58:36):
Ooh, it's dangerous waters.
I know, I know, but no, I thinkthat'd be fun to have the
members maybe, like you know,even if it's like a barbecue or
something, just yeah, you know,I should say we, we
intentionally do not servealcohol at this event and it's
something that's been talkedabout and some people are like
well, more people would come ifthere was alcohol.
But you know what we pay themand so there's the conflict.
(58:57):
Right, I don't want to pay youand serve you alcohol, drink on
the clock.
But every employee who comes tothat, that's paid time and the
appreciation that exists becauseof that.
And you know, once in a bluemoon, the leadership and culture
crew in our hr department.
You know we've got employeeretention dollars to spend on
things like that and maybe it'srandomly a $10 gas card, maybe
(59:21):
it's, you know, a littleincentive at Christmas time
beyond the bonus.
But they get to come up withthese fun little flash ideas to
dazzle and to wow and to tospend resources for those club
team members to spend their timewhere they could be doing their
day jobs.
They could be in the pastryshop or behind a bar, but
(59:42):
they're sitting in an officebrainstorming, weaving the
dreams of how to keep peopleloving their time at Long Cove.
And one of my favoritebyproducts of this program is
the way that those employees,those team members, they look at
their jobs differently.
They feel a sense ofresponsibility being a part of
that leadership and culture crewand it's so awesome to see them
(01:00:06):
take pride and in a lineup or apre-shift or just walking
around.
You can see them living andbreathing the things that we as
leaders in management, you knowwe go to conferences and
seminars to learn how to getpeople inspired, but sometimes
it can fall on deaf ears.
Right, we're the manager.
It's our job to get peopleexcited about.
You know chit, accuracy andthings like that, but these
(01:00:28):
people are really, reallydemonstrating what it means to
be a proud member of the teamand it's a big source of pride
for me.
I'm not even a part of thegroup, by the way.
It's marketing big source ofpride for me.
I'm not even a part of thegroup, by the way.
It's marketing human resourcesand Mario.
So the rest of the departmentheads are not directly involved,
other than our role in theorientation program.
But to see the success of thisgroup is so inspiring and I'm so
(01:00:49):
proud.
And I definitely want to shoutout Lindsay Finger, carrie
Correa for their hard workbecause it's really made a
difference in a short you know ayear short window of time and
we see it continuing tostrengthen.
It's exciting to dream up whatthey might be doing next.
Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Have you seen an increase in employees referring
other people or positions openat the club Like?
Has that been like a metricthat you've seen or tracked or
can tell about?
Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Absolutely, and in in response to that, we've just
rolled out a formal referralprogram where any employee
smarter.
Yeah Well, yeah, I mean I feellike it's common sense.
Most clubs have something likethat.
We, we did not have somethingformally like that, but more and
more people have asked can Irecommend my cousin to work here
(01:01:39):
?
And we didn't want there to bea question of should we?
It's like, yeah, obviously weshould.
And so at our team meeting wejust had our all team employee
party we rolled it out where ifan employee recommends someone
and they stay for 90 workingdays, there's a cash prize at
the end of that 90 days andwe're basically just it's
(01:02:00):
already been happening and sonow we're saying thank you for
that and getting ahead of it andoffering a little incentive.
And I mean it's awesome to workwith people you love.
And I mean I told you how manyfriends and families and
siblings and parents andchildren already work together,
and so we're actually you knowfunny story we had a young man
recently.
He hasn't even started, hestarts in four days.
(01:02:21):
He interviewed, he did a onenight kind of a stage shift in
the kitchen with chef.
He said yep, I love it here, Ican feel it, I can smell it.
You guys are.
You guys are rock stars, I'mall in.
He's a line cook, you can smellit and, uh, you know, you can
tell, you can tell walking intoa place that's a great place to
work or not.
Um, and Long Cove's got itgoing on for sure.
(01:02:42):
But he, he hasn't even startedyet and he said, hey, here's my
sister, she's a server at thisrestaurant and you know, I, I
love working with my sister andI think she'd love it here too,
so you should interview her.
We just hired his sister.
I mean, it's amazing.
He hasn't even had his firstday on the job and he believes
that Long Cove is a wonderfulplace to be.
He's right, by the way, it isan incredible place.
(01:03:03):
Um, but that's what it's allabout is is we want that culture
to be palpable.
You should be able to cut itwith a knife and, uh, we work
hard at it and everybody isbought into that vision.
It's a big source of pride forme.
Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Yeah, has it always been that way or has it started
to crank up more over the pastcouple of years?
Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
I would say it's definitely ramped up.
There's always going to bepeople who aren't fully bought
into the vision and the feelingis, you know, grab an oar and
row in this direction or youknow you can hop out of the
canoe.
And there are people along theway who hop out of the canoe and
you know you wish them well ontheir way.
But if somebody is not going tobe bought into the vision, then
(01:03:52):
there's just no place for themin an organization.
If they're going to be adetractor and that's something
else we could touch on is thenet promoter score of a
membership is something that welook at and take into
consideration when we makedecisions.
But we also just measured thenet promoter score of our
employees.
We just did an employee surveythrough club benchmarking and
(01:04:14):
Long Cove ranked in the 95thpercentile in terms of employee
satisfaction.
We outpaced industry average onevery single metric, except
maybe one in that survey and wewere proud to show those results
at a recent employee party.
And I've even heard chatteramongst the staff.
(01:04:34):
They keep saying 95thpercentile, 95th percentile.
Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
As you're dangling the gift cards.
How good are we guys?
How good are we?
Yes, stop it.
No, but it's little things likethat.
It's just showing that you careand just those little surprises
, those little perks that peopleappreciate.
It's just showing, hey, we'reall here to you know, we're
(01:04:59):
going to work hard, play hard.
Here's our culture, here's ourculture, here's our vibe.
It's amazing that you'vecreated that too, in a place
where people have to be there,so like cause, there's clubs
where people have the worldmeeting.
You know, they could reallychoose their membership, they
could do whatever and like theydon't, you know, continue
(01:05:20):
thinking.
They just stop thinking andlike they don't do the work.
But you guys are.
You know, limitations forcecreativity.
It's amazing to hear how muchpositivity and good, good work
you and the club are doing.
Thank you so much for coming on.
I feel like we're going to talka few more times.
There's so much more we candive into, but thank you for
(01:05:40):
coming on, thank you for sharingand really appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Denny, thank you so much.
It's been an honor.
Speaker 1 (01:05:46):
Hope you all enjoyed that episode.
I know I did.
Caitlin, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing it, for
all you do for your club andyour people, and the people who
are there Really appreciate it.
If you want to learn more aboutmanagement in motion, head over
to privateclubradiocom slashmanagement in motion.
A couple of seats left.
We're going to have so much fun.
(01:06:07):
That is this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, danny Corby.
Catch y'all on the flippityflip.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show where we give you thescoop on all things private
golf and country clubs, frommastering, leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode we are hangingout with Caitlin Allen, ccm
Clubhouse Manager at Long CoveClub.
She is a Swifty Trivia Queen,certified Disney adult and the
only club manager I've met whocan turn gerontology into
(00:40):
something that sounds kind ofbadass.
And if you're thinking, wait,what is gerontology?
Again, it's the study of aging,not just biology and policy,
but culture, how people age, howwe treat them, what gives them
the dignity and meaning in theirlater years.
And Caitlin, she's taken thatexpertise and poured it into her
role at Long Cove Club likeit's her favorite glass of red
(01:03):
wine.
Her role at Long Cove Club likeit's her favorite glass of red
wine.
We break down how clubs can doway more than just serve meals
and plan events for some oftheir older members and how they
can become lifelines, places ofidentity, connection and
purpose.
And we talk about howgerontology shaped Caitlin's
entire hospitality ethos andcareer, starting with her first
(01:24):
job as a teenage server in aretirement home.
We talk about how tiny toucheslike backlit check presenters
can have such a big impact.
We hear how her club'sleadership and culture crew
flipped employee engagement byempowering non-manager staff as
culture ambassadors.
Caitlin is bold, she'sbrilliant and, honestly, just
(01:47):
really fun to talk to.
We had an incredible,incredible conversation and one
of the moments quotes I might,you know, summarize this a
little bit, but one of myfavorite lines was something
along the lines of Caitlinsaying that hospitality isn't
about what you serve, the linesof Caitlin saying that
hospitality isn't about what youserve, but it's about making
(02:07):
people feel seen, celebrated andlike they still matter, and I
just thought that was phenomenal.
This is a great episode adifferent perspective, a little
bit change of pace.
I really, really enjoy this andCaitlin is just a great human.
Before we get to the episode, Ijust want to give a quick shout
out to some of our show partnersYou're going to hear about them
in the ads and continuing intothe episodes Kenneth's member
(02:30):
vetting Golf Life NavigatorsMembers First, as well as myself
, denny Corby, the Denny CorbyExperience.
If your club is looking for oneof the most fun member event
nights.
I've been trusted by over 350clubs.
If you want to learn more, headon over to dennycorbycom.
There's excitement, there'smystery.
(02:52):
Also there's magic, mindreading and comedy.
A ton of laughs, gasps and holycraps.
And speaking of holy craps, ifyou have not heard about my
event Management in Motion,happening September 22nd at the
monticello motor club, you haveto check it out.
Almost sold out, limited to 50seats.
We have about 18 seats left asof right now.
(03:13):
If you want to learn more, headon over to privateclubradiocom.
Slash management in motion.
We're going to be tearing upMonticello Motor Club with BMWs
M2, 3s and 4s, autox, dragracing, drifting and more, all
while learning relevanteducation from fellow club
leaders and peers.
(03:33):
It's going to be such a blast.
Enough about all that, though.
Let's get to the real reasonwhy you're here, which is for
the episode.
So, private Club Radiolisteners, let's welcome to the
show, caitlin Allen.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
It's great, it's been wonderful.
This is the time in Hilton Head.
It's paradise.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, when's the prime time?
Is it now?
When is your hot spot?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We really heat up in October, september and then
March, april.
That's when the weather's thenicest, it's when all of the
locals are here.
You have a few of the tourists,but a lot of the locals get out
of town.
They fly north for the summer,they head up your way and, yeah,
it slows down a little bit.
But we have a lot morefull-time year-round members
than we did three, six, eightyears ago.
(04:20):
So it's a nice trend.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Did COVID change that ?
Was it like around that thattime shorter shifted there?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
yeah, definitely a big shift.
A lot of people working fromhome and have the ability to go
live wherever they want to liveand retiring so yeah and the
holiday season.
It's an average level ofbusyness.
I I definitely think the springand the fall is that's our
bread and butter.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Nice, nice, you guys have a wait list.
Do you care about a wait list?
Y'all just vibing out having agood time.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I love that.
No, no wait list.
So, being a bundled community,our membership is directly tied
to home sales.
So depending on how many homesare on the market, that's how we
get our new membership.
So interestingly and this waskind of a learning curve for me
no member vetting process.
If you can buy the property,you can be a member.
(05:15):
So culturally that certainlyhas a little influence on the
demographic of membership that'scoming through.
So it really is a tapestry.
It's all sorts of interestingpeople from all over the country
really.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
And you and you know how I feel about vetting.
You know our friends, myfriends, kenneth's member
vetting huge, huge fans.
Now does people just I justthere's clubs.
I think sometimes just don'tjust put a little bit of effort
into looking at who's who'scoming in.
But yeah, that has to create avery unique challenge in terms
of culture and fit, because,even worse, you can't just kick
(05:52):
them out right.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
No, you can't just be like all right see ya, no, I
mean, we had an incident lastyear and their club privileges
were suspended so the familycouldn't come to the clubhouse,
couldn't golf, but you can'tkick them out of their home.
So it is interesting, but I'mlearning a lot being in this
sort of environment.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, yeah.
Are you consuming anything goodlately?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
In terms of food and drink, or are we talking content
and books, books shows, audiobooks, podcasts, I don't know.
Well, aside from private clubradio, I've been getting back
into the Huberman Lab podcast.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Andrew.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Huberman.
He's brilliant in terms ofhealth and wellness.
He's got a new book coming outin a few months called Protocols
, and recently my husband and Idid I don't know if I told you
this we just finished a 75 hardchallenge.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Did you, we did.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And it was our second time doing it together, and
part of that.
As you know, the rules includereading 10 pages of nonfiction a
day.
And so you get through a lot ofbooks that way.
So I reread, I revisited I'mactually just about to finish um
, unreasonable hospitality,which it's like the Bible, but
(07:09):
uh, yeah, so that's, that's itin terms of reading and uh audio
Nice, nice, I'm going to sendyou a book.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
I recommend the third door.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Third door.
Writing that down.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It's just a great audio to listen to because the
author speaks it.
It's just a good feel-goodstory with a good message,
meaning and all that stuffbehind it.
It's a good outlook and way ofthinking.
I don't know.
I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I like content that challenges your way of thinking,
if you can look at something alittle bit differently.
Another podcast I listen tojust out of habit is Dave Ramsey
, and I don't always agree withhim as a human, but I love his
teachings and his philosophy onpersonal finance and managing
your money and real estate, andso that's a get out of my
(07:58):
comfort zone kind of.
I'm listening to it because Ienjoy it and how can I think a
little bit differently?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
yeah, interesting, interesting, yeah, huh how about
you?
So it depends on like who, what, where, when, why and like what
I'm doing is like how I'll kindof consume it a tiny bit, uh,
but smartless, actually justfinished.
Uh, they had on gordon ramsayand I love all of his stupid
(08:24):
shows.
I love it Like Hell's Kitchen,all the shows, kitchen Nightmare
he has a brand new one out.
I love them all.
So that was just a fun listento.
Sometimes some Daily Stoic,every now and then A couple
magic ones.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Of course you know it all varies.
Yeah, my current commute towork is about 30 minutes,
depending on traffic.
And it's over a bridge over thebeautiful marshland and my
previous commute was about twoand a half minutes, so that was
an adjustment for me, but I havereally found.
You know, everyone says it'syour time to get in the right
(09:06):
headspace and decompress after along day, but I really cherish
that time because I get tolisten to podcasts and, you know
, try new things, listen to newpeople, call a friend and I
really expect that.
I was kind of dreading havingto spend an hour of my day at
least in a car when I really wasnot used to that, but that's
kind of magic time right thereit, it is, it is and I like what
(09:30):
.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
What you said is like challenge the thinking.
It's like just like pushthrough it and just be like oh,
like why don't I agree?
And just and just chat, likejust ask yourself the questions.
Um, yeah, it's what I've been.
There was I was just reading amagic book and part of like the
thing was like we stopped.
You know, magicians are just.
(09:50):
You know, people, us in general, stop thinking way too soon we,
we get to the method or we getget to a you know a way of doing
it, and then we just stop, we,and then we just stop.
We don't continue on like oh,but what if we did it this way?
What if we just continuedhaving some fun with it and just
stopped asking what if?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, I love poking holes in things.
That's how you avoid stayingstagnant.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, yeah, so that's just been a fun thing.
Now, how do you properlypronounce it?
Is it gen-tra-l, gen-ra, gen-ra?
You're right, there it isgerontology gerontology,
(10:33):
gerontology geriatric, yepgerontology, older gerontology,
nailed it yeah now there's justa couple words, like just the
way the brain it just goes,we're not gonna do it and I and
I'm like, oh boy, okay,gerontology.
Especially those ologies You'rethere, and for someone who
speaks for a living, it's like,oh, gerontology.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
The science of aging.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Gerontology is not just about medicine or policy,
but to me it's more about theculture of aging.
It's what we value, it's how wetreat people as they get older
and that culture informs how weserve them.
Private clubs often serve anolder demographic, especially in
places like Hilton Head, theSouth coastal towns.
(11:18):
We're not just providing dinner, we're providing purpose, a
reason to gather, to move and toconnect.
To me, it's about dignitydignity, routine and identity.
Uh, I believe a club partbecomes part of someone's
personal culture as they age,and that's awesome that we get
to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
How did?
How does like, how old were youwhen you were like yes, cause,
like that's like a very specifictopic, because like that's like
a very specific topic.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, it is like what sparked it.
I will tell you so.
15 year old caitlin, in highschool, mom and dad told me if
you want to do things withfriends, you need to have some
spending money.
So what did I do?
I got a job and there was aretirement community in our
community and they were hiringservers and I thought I like
food, I could carry a plate.
(12:10):
Sure, let's do it.
So that was my first job everEven.
I mean, I didn't really do muchbabysitting.
It was a waiting table.
So I was in food and beveragefrom the beginning and I loved
it.
I had grandparents up in Canadawho lived in a very similar
facility and it kind of remindedme of my grandparents.
I got to spend my days not justlearning, you know, the art and
(12:31):
the science of food andbeverage, but being around
people who are inspiring for allsorts of different reasons and
listening to them and theirstories that they have to tell
it was magic and I reallyenjoyed that.
I know I told you this storystories that they have to tell
it was it was magic and I reallyenjoyed that.
Um, I did.
I know I told you the storythere.
Um, there was a bit of ascandal at that particular
facility when I was workingthere.
There was some some uglinesshappening with the nursing staff
(12:54):
in terms of um abuse to theresidents a bit of physical, um,
yeah, violation of human rights, getting themselves written
into wills and property, justmisappropriation of a lot of
things.
So I didn't know what the heckwas going on.
I was 15 and I didn't reallyknow what that was.
(13:15):
But up until that point in mylife I'd never really
experienced that kind ofugliness in the world.
So that's what sparked theinterest in becoming my original
goal geriatric lawyer.
And I said this is what I'mdoing with my life, is I'm going
to defend those who can't standup for themselves.
So that kind of mapped mycourse from there on out.
(13:37):
I left that facility, obviously,and I went to work for a
different company, brookdaleSenior Living and it was
incredible.
It was everything, it wasmeaningful, enriching life, and
it was where I was meant to be.
And so I went off to collegeKansas State University, proud
Wildcat and I knew I was goingto law school.
(13:59):
So I got an undergraduatedegree in political science with
a secondary in gerontology andbecause that was a program they
offered at K-State.
And I realized about two weeksinto the political science
classes that I was not cut outfor political science and not
(14:21):
for me.
I had a professor who wasmonotone and maybe that played
into it, but it was noteconomics.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I could not grasp it.
And the teacher was just theworst.
And you're just like and thenit's like you know it's not
nothing helps, and yeah, so itwas.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It was going to be a long four years.
I thought if this is what it'sabout, I need to reevaluate my
priorities.
So I called my parents, my dad,in a panic and I said what do I
do?
And dad gave some wonderfuladvice.
He said you get to go to lawschool with any undergraduate
degree.
I mean, if Elle Woods can do itwith fashion marketing, you can
do it with whatever the heckyou want.
(15:01):
So I was taking an intro tohospitality class and it
resonated and fell headfirst,head over heels, in love with
hospitality.
I kept the secondary degree ingerontology and I loved it.
I continued to work in theretirement home, but then I got
my first internship at a clubthe first summer after my
(15:22):
freshman year of college and,spoiler alert, I did not make it
to law school.
That did not happen because Ireally I found a niche in
private club management yeah, oh, I love that.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I love that.
I remember when we first talked, you said something.
It was like along the lines oflike, hospitality isn't just
service, it's about dignity andpurpose, or something like like
that.
Where does where does that comefrom?
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Well, I mean, you have to understand aging is age,
Aging is emotional.
And hospitality, you're, you're, you're not just creating a
menu and uh, it's a place forthem to gather and to live their
whole full lives.
And you know, it's it.
It isn't service, it isn'ttransactional, it's how can you
(16:17):
enhance a person's life at anyage, you know, not just those of
a, of a, of an older age?
How do you?
You make everybody feel feelrelevant and seen and cared for?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
yeah, because, yeah, do you feel like sometimes they
get some older members can kindof fade into the background?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
yeah, I think, um, you know, in a community club
like ours, any of those oldermembers, they're on fixed income
.
So even the topic of duesincreases, that can be scary to
them because that's not justokay.
We have to drop the clubmembership, that's.
We might have to move, we mighthave to uproot our life, so,
but we know how clubs are.
You have to be thinking andplanning for the future and dues
(17:02):
increases is just kind of partof it, and so you have to make
it a space where people arewilling to continue to pay the
money.
I mean, it has to be relevantfor them and unfortunately, or
fortunately, one of the thingswe get to do is be all things to
all people, and it's especiallysensitive with that group.
When we're redesigning ourclubhouses, are we doing it in a
(17:25):
modern, trendy way that doesn'treally listen or care about
what that population thinks?
Do we look at the branch ladiesdifferently?
Because all they do is come inand sip on the free tea and the
free snack, mix and play cards.
They're not hosting parties,having weddings, coming to the
big events.
So you have to zoom out andlook at the entirety of the
(17:47):
membership and be all things toall people.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, how have you handled that situation?
So, like to rewind, how haveyou handled?
You know people on a fixedincome and it's getting tight
and you know they have thememory what.
What situation have you seenplay out like, have you like
what's what's happened there?
Like how do you have thoseconvert?
Like, how do you what's like,what's the play?
(18:12):
Or, and like, how do you planfor that?
Like, have you like, are youable to now see that coming a
little bit more?
Like, because you've been thereso long, you kind of like see,
like the writing on the wall andDo you get ahead of that?
Is this even?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
a question you want to answer or go into.
Yeah, yeah, you know how oldpeople are and you know when
people start to declinephysically and if somebody loses
a spouse, for example, that'stheir identity and sometimes the
club might be their onlysupport system on the island in
the region.
You know these people mighthave moved down here and all
(18:49):
their family is is elsewhere andthat might make an easy
decision of okay, well, I'mmoving back up to chile,
scranton, pennsylvania, to livewith my, my kids, because that's
my only option.
But we, we want there to beoptions.
We want you to feel that atlong cove you can put an
elevator in your house, you canutilize the, the ramps that
(19:10):
exist at the physical space ofthe clubhouse.
Um, we do offer a legacymembership if somebody does have
to move out of the community,but they've been a member for a
certain length of time.
They do get to maintain someclub privileges at a reduced uh
due structure which, but youhave to have been a member for a
for a length of time.
They do get to maintain someclub privileges at a reduced due
structure, but you have to havebeen a member for a length of
time.
So that's kind of a way to keepthem engaged.
(19:31):
We program around them.
We have obviously bridge,mahjong, all the like, but
beyond that we have an entirecultural association, uh,
dedicated to.
It's really members educatingmembers and it's for all ages
but, um, a lot of people in thatdemographic enjoy it because it
is it's fulfillment in itscommunity.
We have things like tap dancingclasses, where I don't think
(19:55):
there's anyone younger than 65who taps uh.
Physical wellness, we've gotwater aerobics, we've got yoga,
book clubs, bible studies,knitting groups, singers, actors
so giving them a reason tocontinue to come to the club and
be with their people as long asthey possibly can.
I mean, same logic applies whenyou're planning a menu.
(20:17):
Are we taking intoconsideration what the dietary
restrictions might be and whatthe meal preferences might be,
and not to say chef would ever?
design a menu that is bland andboring.
Unfortunately I worked innursing homes so I know you got
the little seasoning MSG packetson the table because the food
has to be planned for people inthat demographic.
But I would even commend ourchef with his, his thoughtfully
(20:40):
designed menus that really doappeal to all audiences and
offering some variety.
So to answer to answer thequestion you asked, we try to
create a space and programmingand a community around keeping
folks members as long aspossible.
We realize ultimately sometimesthere's there's no need for a
single 95-year-old woman to livein her massive multi-story
(21:04):
house at Long Cove if physicallyit doesn't make sense for that
person anymore.
But we try to keep thecommunity alive and give them
reasons to stay.
It is tough when the duesincrease.
I know that's a big reason isI'm on a fixed income.
I can't afford that increaseand maybe we transition them to
legacy membership at that pointand keep them in the fold, so to
(21:26):
speak.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, yeah, how, how can, how can clubs build like
real connection with agingmembers beyond like the
occasional, just normal stuff?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
You know you have to go into school for gerontology.
It taught me what to anticipatewith with aging folks.
But you know hospitality is isanticipation, and you know you
have to understand that people'sneeds change over time.
I mean what I, what I saw inthat nursing home.
(22:00):
That's what happens when peoplelose sight of empathy.
And in a club environment, inthe club space, I feel like we
do the opposite.
We notice, we remember names,we remember preferences,
allergies, we remember thestories, we tell the stories and
it's service also.
It's also dignity that'sdignifying the human experience.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Do you, do you think we train hospitality pros to
serve the older adults Well, ordo you think it's a little
mostly on the fly?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
We do it, but without realizing we do it.
You know.
I mean hospitality, it's.
It's in a world focused onthings, we focus first on people
.
That was actually the motto ofthe K-State hospitality program.
Go Wildcats, but think of thethings that we train a food and
beverage server, you know you'reremembering names.
You're taking patients in care,with ordering, helping with
(22:56):
decision making, walking themthrough choices, making sure
billing things are clear,minimizing distractions and
offering consistency, and thoseare in a food and beverage scope
.
Those are all things that wetrain generally speaking, but it
matters on a different levelfor an aging person who may
struggle to read their ticket.
(23:17):
I mean, I'll tell you somelittle change we made last year
was investing in these little,you know little check presenters
, the books that you get yourthing and you put the card in.
So we got those that they openup and they're backlit.
So as soon as you open it, it'sgot this nice little soft glove
and spend a little money on anew fleet of those.
They look great, they're nice tohold on to, but the wows that
(23:38):
we get from that because a realissue is, you know, people pull
out their phone flashlight toread the thing and the font on
those checks is so small and themembers have really, really
loved that.
So that's just a little exampleof an enhancement that we
didn't do with with the agingpopulation specifically in mind,
but it it it impacted them in alarger way than than we had
(24:00):
originally anticipated when webought the nice books.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, and what?
That was less than two grandprobably.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, easily.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Easily.
Those opportunities exist allday.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
So for less than two grand, you have just these
overly joyed people.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yes, yeah, and I love it, grand you have just this
over like these over, overlyjoyed people.
Yes, yeah, and I love it.
We we sometimes get, especiallythis time of year, we get
reciprocal members fromneighboring clubs and they you
know same demographic across theIsland.
Right, People come and retiredown here and they come and
they're like we don't have theseat our club and they're taking
pictures of them.
And then I get texts from ourfellow club managers like, all
right, where'd you get thosebooks?
I got to hear about them.
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Here's my affiliate code.
Well, there's an idea what am.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I doing.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Just remember us small people when you make it
big.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Monetize.
I'm actually surprised there'snot like a setting on the, on
the systems, where you can putlike make it like a different,
like a bigger font, check so sothey can.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
They can read it better denny, you need to call
the people, call the people atjonas and cobalt and north star
and club essentials and get themon the line.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
That's an idea and club essentials and get them on
the line.
That's an idea.
No, okay, uh, but uh, sorry,that would totally side quest.
Um, that is a great uh, uh,what, what?
What do you think people can dobetter?
Like, how, how can people dobetter?
(25:37):
Because obviously you take thisreally to heart, like you, like
live, like this is like you andlike you found a club, I think,
when we were talking prior,where you would shine in that
environment, and it is thatenvironment, uh, but not
everybody has that environmentor like is in that situation.
How can they just take like alittle bit away?
What are just some like littlethings people can do to enhance
(26:01):
the gerontology experience?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, well, I'll give you.
I'll give you a little anecdote.
So I I do not currently havechildren.
Um, and I, you know, get askedall the time We've been married
for a long time why don't wehave kids?
And I had a.
I had a former supervisor onceand mentor of mine, who we were
talking about that topic andbeing a parent in club
management and the pros and consobviously, and he told me once
(26:27):
he said, being a parent havingsmall kids, he's like.
I empathize on a different levelwith the members of the club
who are parents, because I'm nota member of a club but we have
kids.
So I know what a person withsmall children in a club is
looking for, because I've, in asense, kind of been in their
shoes and so that's an easy one.
(26:48):
But when you're planning, whenyou're doing things, when you're
renovating, when you'redesigning a menu, when you're
building the golf course,whatever it is that you're doing
, think about it as if you weresomebody in their 60s, 70s, 80s,
90s.
You're retired, maybe you havemobility issues, maybe there's
some cognitive decline.
What lens can you look at itthrough to give you a more
(27:10):
holistic view of that person'swants, needs and desires?
And surveying is great becausewhen you survey a membership you
get that demographic and youcan say all right, those in the
70 plus category tend to leanthis way.
But listening to that genuinelyand realizing that every member
(27:32):
is equally as important we have576 memberships and every
single opinion is equally asimportant as the other 575.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
You've moved around a lot.
What's helped you adjust andconnect and kind of like thrive
in each place that you've been.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Great question.
I've been told that moss doesnot grow on me.
I am a rolling stone.
I take that as a compliment.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I like being active Moss does not grow on me.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
I wear that as a compliment.
I like being active.
I wear that with pride.
Yeah, I, uh, I, yes.
So I'm an extrovert by natureand I think the older I get, I'm
becoming one of thoseextroverted introverts where I
do find a recharge at home.
Um, when you go into a newspace, when I go into a new
space, I get excited about who'sthere, not because they're
(28:24):
paying my check every other week, but because I want to know why
they're there, what makes themthem, what makes them excited to
be where they're at.
And moving to Hilton Head wastotally new.
You know, we're not from thisarea, we're from the Midwest.
I spent a little time in theSavannah area, but we're
relatively new to the South, andso not only am I learning a new
(28:45):
set of people, we don't havefamily, our set of friends does
not live here.
So we kind of have to be thoseextroverts where we're going to
go into whatever it might be andwe're going to make the most of
it.
I mean, I have to give kudos toboth the Georgia and the
Carolinas chapters of CMAA.
I mean, obviously all CMAchapters are extremely welcoming
, but, wow, some of my closestbest friends right now are in
(29:09):
those chapters.
I'll throw Florida in there too.
But community is important, notjust for the geriatric
population that we're kind oftalking about today, but for us
as leaders and club managers,having that support system in
that community.
And that doesn't happen byaccident, it happens when you
put yourself out there, andthat's something those who know
me close know, that I'm notafraid to put myself out there.
(29:31):
No moss grows on this rollingstone.
I'll raise my hand, I'll jumpin, I'll volunteer, I'll help
whatever you need, becausethat's where.
That's where the magic happens,if you ask me it's.
It's when you get out of yourpersonal comfort zone and meet
new people.
And I mean I love networking.
I think that's, that's somespecial magic in itself.
(29:52):
Right, there is is your network, and I love figuring out who
knows who.
Oh, you spent some time inChicago.
Do you know these people?
Do you?
Oh, kansas, forget about it.
I know everyone in Kansas.
This is great, but it's alwayssuch a small world and smaller.
Every person you meet.
And that's what you have to do,no matter where you go, is just
(30:12):
be willing to put yourself onthe line.
And I definitely did that atLong Cove, where I said you know
, this is my new home and I'mgoing to make it my home.
So, between the membership andthe team, the team is my family
and I know that's a littlecliche, but they really are.
My family is not here and so Ispend time at work and these
people are the ones that I talkto about everything, and I have
(30:35):
a lot of responsibility as theirleader to to care for them and
their experience, and that thatsort of colors my leadership
style is.
You know, I am responsible.
I bear a heavy, heavy burden ofcaring for these people and
making sure that they'relearning and growing and they're
loving every bit of theirexperience as well.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, and, and speaking of loving and caring,
your, your husband, is also inthe, in the space also.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, he's in the space.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
That's actually where we met was in college.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
It's it's funny the parallels he.
He was sort of in the culinaryside.
He was a, he was a cook in aretirement community and we both
were studying hospitality.
We both had the secondary.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
He was cooking up that bland food.
You were studying hospitality.
We both had the secondary.
He was cooking up that blandfood you were talking about.
He sure was.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I will say our first date.
He made me creme brulee and itwas not bland and I stuck around
.
I said oh, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
I'm not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
You're stuck with me now.
He's very talented, and so he.
He then moved, like we all do,front of house, and um was a
wonderful leader.
He, he bounced around a littlebit too, went to the recruiting
space.
He's actually currently thefull-time recruiter at Long Cove
club.
So he he's my right hand jumpsin, does a lot of bartending, um
, but he's, he's so wonderful, Ilove that man.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
That is so cool.
Yeah, that is so cool.
Yeah, a lot in common, no, andand just the, probably the fun
moments that you create togetherand for the, the members there
too, because, as you kind ofsaid, a lot of them probably may
or may not have family close byor who they get to see often,
(32:16):
so you kind of bring thatfamilial energy that they kind
of lack, whether you know it ornot, maybe.
I don't know, or just kind oflike you know, it really is that
home away from home.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
It is.
It is, and Long Cove reallylives and breathes that.
I mean we're not alone.
There are mother-son employees.
We're not the only.
There's two other husband-wifeduos that work at at the club.
There's siblings, severalparent children actually, and
it's.
It's awesome, you know, itspeaks a lot about the culture
of Long Cove that you care toshare your place of employment
(32:50):
with your most loved familymembers.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, how can clubs help older members reclaim or
reframe purpose?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Great question.
People aren't winding down intheir old age.
They move to the island.
I joke that residents of HiltonHead should be studied, because
consistently, when I hear howold someone is over the weekend,
someone said oh, it's my 63rdbirthday next week and I thought
I would have put you a decadebelow that easily.
(33:23):
And that happens regularly.
People, they're living activelifestyles.
They are not slowing down,they're getting busier, they're
taking up biking, they're takingup kayaking, they're living a
whole person's life and they'remaking the most of their
retirement.
And so we need to lean intothat and program for that.
(33:45):
I call it aspirational aging.
These people, members, theywant experiences, they want a
lifestyle, and we as the clubmanagers, we get to create that
(34:05):
the club managers, we get tocreate that.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
How.
How do you create that spacefor, for that and, like, how do
you create that safe space formaybe people who need more time
or don't communicate like theyused to?
Um, like, how do you like, whatwas that?
Like that, before you werethere, were you able to open
that up like a little bit more?
And, if so, like, how do youstart those steps of being more
(34:29):
open and well communicative?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, I want to give a shout out and a lot of credit
to our general manager, marioCambisano, who has been at this
club for about two and a halfyears.
Manager Mario Cambisano, whohas been at this club for about
two and a half years and I wasnot at Lone Cove prior to him,
so I can't speak to how itoperated before, but with a
(34:53):
shift in the membershipdemographic and the age trending
younger, mario has created anironclad culture and a product
of that is a safe space to becreative.
He allows his department headsand therefore all the management
team and therefore the entiretyof the team, to to try new
things, to to have new ideas andrun with them and to to talk
(35:14):
about how maybe it could be donebetter next time.
But you know, if I if I wantedto say you know, trivia, trivia
is a good example.
We started a trivia program ayear ago.
I thought let's see how it goes.
Trivia might be kind of tired.
Um, that's one of our mostwell-attended events and we do
it every other week and weconsistently break records and
it's crazy, we actually have onethis week that I haven't
(35:37):
written yet.
So thank you for that one.
The ever growing to do list.
Yeah, yep, yep, you know it is.
It's it's permission to try newthings, it's permission to
screw up, it's it's giving you arunway to to think differently,
to challenge the norm Anothercliche you know, if you do what
(35:59):
you always did, you'll alwaysget what you always got.
And we have to be on the frontend, we have to be on the
cutting edge, and if we're not,that's how you get stagnant.
And you know, nobody wants that.
The members don't want, thestaff doesn't want that, the
leadership doesn't want that.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
So what are some things that you've tried that
flopped?
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Oh gosh, good question, Good question.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Since and and and why did you flop?
And what considered it a flop?
Just cause, like you know, youwere talking about you.
You have freedom to try, trysome stuff.
So like what are some things?
And then, on the flip side, wewill talk about like goods also.
So like what are some things?
You're like this is no way,this is going to work.
And all of a sudden you're likeholy cannoli, that was really
really good.
(36:45):
So, because you know, we allhave flops, so like what are
just some?
You're like, oh man, we triedthis, but man, it just stunk.
Like what was something.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I'm thinking back to last year's labor day and I
thought you know, let's themeour labor day right?
We just had Memorial day, wejust had 4th of July.
You know, you get your red,white and blue and yada, yada.
Let's, let's do somethingdifferent for labor day instead
of the patriotic business.
So we themed it denim anddiamonds and I thought, all
right, we've had a lot ofsuccess with some some other
themings.
Like the members love to dressup in costume, the staff loves
(37:19):
to dress up in costume.
Let's do it.
And so Venom and Diamonds wasthe theme, it was awesome,
everyone loved it.
But we brought in a mechanicalbowl, a big inflatable one,
right Like safe for people.
But again, looking at thedemographic, most of the people
there were over 70 years old.
So did we spend a lot of moneyon an inflatable bowl that just
looked really nice there in ourballroom?
(37:40):
Yeah, we did.
There were a couple of kids Imight have got on it.
I'm not going to admit to that.
There might be video.
I don't know.
You can text Mario about thatone, but the sentiment was
appreciated.
So while most of the memberswere like I'm not about to break
a hip, we're not doing that.
They were like that was so fun,that was something new, it was
(38:05):
something different.
So one of those like let's justjust try it and see what
happens what um what?
Speaker 1 (38:13):
what makes for a good trivia night?
So it sounds like you've done abunch of trivia and you have
like you've had like a of triviaand you've had a baseline,
you've had some time on yourbelt.
What makes for a good trivianight at a club from your point
of view?
Because trivia nights atdifferent places, in different
spaces, it is all different.
I'm sure you've maybe gone to afew.
We are not great at it so wetend to not unless we know the
(38:39):
whole theme.
But each place is different andlike there's different rules.
Like how have you found to runa good, successful club trivia
night?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Sure, so we we have a model that we stick to.
It's it's five rounds, eightquestions a piece.
There's always a music round,there's always a connection
round.
I always do an anagram, so westick to the same format.
Therefore, it's the same lengthof time and we have teams.
We require that there are eightpeople per team, but people
(39:09):
bend the rules and there mightbe 14 people on the team, but it
is what it is.
I don't police it.
I give out eight prizes to thewinning team and that's it.
I'm like guys, it's not thatcompetitive.
Um, the consistency in theformat is important.
The questions are important.
Obviously the content.
So every we try to theme itevery.
Every day.
There is a different theme.
This Wednesday we know we'regoing to do like at the cinema
(39:31):
movie night theme, um, butkeeping that fresh, and there's
this excitement surrounding thetheme.
People will come up to thestaff beforehand and say what's
the topic for trivia this week?
And we're like, nope, not goingto tell you.
You've got to come and see.
So there's excitement in thetheme of it and all the hosts
myself, our OG host Mike, mycurrent host, tony and we switch
(39:51):
it up.
Sometimes the tennis pro comesin, sometimes my events
coordinator jumps in, my barmanager comes in so we keep it
fresh that way.
But, um, you can't get too niche.
I I made the mistake a coupletimes, you know I let I let one
of my guys do a roundaboutcryptids and weird folklore out
in the american midwest andpeople are like what the hell
(40:12):
are these questions?
But that was something that wasinteresting to that person and
so I kind of let him run with it.
I had one guy who was reallyinto star wars and so so we did
a Star Wars.
So the learning moment there isall right, you can have a Star
Wars themed round, but maybeit's like okay, you know George
Lucas is from what city?
Or like how can you make it aniche topic?
(40:34):
But the questions themselvesaren't niche.
Music round, I'll tell you, Iget yelled at a lot when the
songs are too top 40 to today'smix, and so I've evolved the
music round to be more diverse,to include all sorts.
A lot of Taylor Swift, obviously, but more music from the 60s
and the 70s, so keeping it fresh.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Support her getting her catalog back.
Hashtag Swifties.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Absolutely, absolutely.
It's a good time for usSwifties, but no trivia is so
much fun.
It is great.
Keep the prizes fresh.
Costumes I got to tell youthese people love a costume,
even if it's just a light-uppair of sneakers, they go crazy
for it.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
It's fun.
What are good prizes?
Speaker 2 (41:19):
So last, I guess two weeks ago, when we hosted Trivia
, we did like a Father's Daysort of theme.
So the first place prize was anempty six-pack, just like beer
carrier six-pack, and they couldcome back into the club and
we'd fill it up for them withsix cans of beer of their choice
.
Second place was did we do aSwiss Army knife?
(41:40):
I think we just did a swissarmy knife like little like 50
cents yeah they loved it.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
They're like this is great um oh, so like, not even
like a swiss, made like a niceswiss army knife like a chintzy
no, this, this is the like thechintzy or the better.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
It broke as soon as they put it in their pocket.
You can't repair anything withthat.
They love it though.
One time we had my anagram wasthis is a funny one, Lorna Dune,
you know, like the littleshortbread cookies.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
And so that was the prize, but I'll never live it
down we.
That was the anagram, and so Idon't even remember what it was
supposed to mix up to be adornnoel.
Of course I do.
A d o r n n o e?
L adorn noel scrambles up tolorna dune.
Except, no, it doesn't, becauseI forgot an o.
There's a whole o missing fromadorn noel.
That's in lorna dune and I, themembers, the entire game.
(42:33):
They were like we can't figureit out.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
We can't figure out that you're like they are so
hard, like this is so easy ohman, their memories really
really going down guys that's sotrue you're like your training
was like kicking in.
You're like, oh man, this isreally bad.
(42:56):
What do I do?
What's in the pitchforks are?
Speaker 2 (43:00):
coming.
Yeah, the next week I wrotearound a trivia called the
elusive o letter o, andeverything started with the
letter o.
They loved it.
You can get a little cheeky too.
Like just cheeky enough yeahthat's one of the fun parts, is
you know, I get to, I get toargue with members because I'm
the one holding the microphoneand the quiz master has final
(43:20):
say.
And when they're like that's notthe right answer.
It's actually this estuary inSouth America is the right
answer and I'll say quiz masterhas final say.
So I get a little joy out ofthat.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
The microphone is power.
It's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Yeah, you know, sure is.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
It is way too much fun, especially when you have
the ability especially when youhave the ability to control.
Oh, it's so much fun you'rewelcome to come anytime.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
We're going to do an office themed just for you yeah,
yeah great hospitality isn'tjust about what we serve.
It's about how we make peoplefeel seen, celebrated and like
they still matter, no matterwhat their age is.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah.
So I was checking out my notesand I remember you were talking
about how to keep members seen,how to keep them visible, and I
might be butchering thatcompletely, but can you go into
that a little bit?
Like how?
Like what does that mean?
And then like, what are signs?
(44:29):
Like how do you, how do youknow?
Like, how do you know when toengage?
Like how do you?
Because I think sometimes, like, let's just say, people do
disengage, if that even is is isa thing.
Maybe stop coming out to thingslike is is there that?
Because I'm sure sometimespeople get busy or whatever but
like, are there ways and signsto tell, like, the difference
between like, hey, maybe try toput in a little bit more effort,
(44:50):
really try to get them out.
You know, let's try to put alittle bit more care versus not.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Yeah, I think being in a community type club it's
easy because they live rightwithin your four walls.
So if there was a seriousconcern, we have security,
that's a whole department thatcould just do a loving wellness
check.
You know, hey, mrs, So-and-sohow you doing.
Haven't seen you in a while,everything good.
But at the club we track who'susing the club and through the
(45:21):
membership department we can usethose data points to see when
people have not visited the clubin extended periods of time.
And it's tricky down herebecause people do go away for
great spans of time, month here,month there.
Some people are gone six monthsout of the year.
But if you know that they'rehere, if you know that they're
in town for a stretch of timeand they're just not utilizing
(45:44):
the club, giving them a call,how do we identify them?
And you know say, hey, this isso-and-so.
You know you usually order thatum, well done burger with extra
crispy French fries to go threenights a week and we haven't
heard from you in a while.
You know how's everything going.
Can I bring one to your house?
So being able to identify thoseopportunities and then having a
(46:05):
plan or a system to have aloving reach out touch point.
What can you do?
What can you offer them?
Inviting them to the club,letting them know hey, I know
you love tap class.
Are you going to come by tapclass?
You know we did.
You know we have a new chairyoga in addition to our standard
yoga.
You know, uh, being proactiveabout those, those opportunities
(46:26):
, and you know, showing themthat you really do care beyond
just that monthly dues check.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure there's an art to how you
approach all of this, meaninglike, how do you raise and bring
things up or offer to helpwithout sounding kind of
patronizing or patronizing isthe right or wrong word but like
, I'm sure there's a, there's anart, you know, to the, to the
(46:56):
ask and bringing it up, and howyou approach certain situations
so like is there, like a, like a.
Share some examples.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
or like the language that you know creates connection
verse, like sounding off, so tospeak yeah, something that
jumps to my mind is we have a, amember who had a fall at the
club a couple of months ago andshe's a great user of the club.
She, she has pretty badscoliosis.
(47:25):
She's literally like if she wassitting here next to me, it
would be like like this it'sadorable, she's adorable, we
love her.
But she, she was coming in thebathroom, somebody was coming
out of the bathroom and the doorgot her, so she's fine.
Um, she went off to the hospitalbut you know, you didn't see
(47:45):
her for a couple of days aftershe got back from the hospital
and we knew nothing was broken.
But she's somebody who comes tothe club multiple times a week
and so we, we reached out andsaid how are you doing?
Security reached out.
Security takes care of her dogwhen she cause she's a single
woman, so security will go andlet the dog out and make sure
everything at the home is takencare of.
(48:07):
If somebody is is not there,but it to answer your question
it's we miss you.
How are you?
We care about you.
It's not a you know.
Hey, we noticed that youraverage spend per week is down
or a little concern, right,that's.
That's taken the human elementout of it.
You gotta, you gotta focus onthe human element.
And if that was you, what wouldyou want?
(48:27):
And so it might be, we sendflowers, it might be we.
We send that well done burgerwith extra crispy French fries
on rye bread to her um on theclub.
And you know, if she's adrinker, we send a bottle of
wine.
But you know, and then youwelcome them back, mrs,
so-and-so, we are so happy tosee you.
How are you doing?
You look great.
Is your family coming into town?
(48:48):
You know, remembering thosethings like that?
She has a dog like that.
Her daughter lives inphiladelphia.
That's what really makes adifference and makes it more of
a human relationship than anemployer, member, team, member,
club, member relationship.
And that's so important.
And, honestly, to be the typeof person who can do that, you
(49:11):
kind of just have to have thatgive a darn.
If you're a leader in anyhospitality space and you don't
naturally or actively worktowards that, that give a darn,
you're not going to besuccessful.
You have to care, and you haveto care genuinely and you have
to be willing to go above andbeyond.
I mean, it's as simple as that.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
And there's gonna be people who will, and they're
gonna be just fine and annoy thecrap out of all of us and uh
it's all right, we roll our eyeswhen they walk into a room,
it's okay how do you get buy-infrom the culture then, like, how
do you ingrain that into thestaff?
where does it start for you guys?
(49:56):
Like, is it part of the hiringprocess?
Do you have your own name of,like the, the employee?
Like, how do you like I'm surethe, I'm sure the cultural or
the hr side is just as good forthe staff as it is for the
members?
And I think you even mentionedhow you have a lot of staff who
(50:18):
you know they have their kids,is very familial, like we talked
earlier.
But like, how do you, how doyou ingrain that?
And then, how do you hire forthat?
Speaker 2 (50:27):
It's that continuous gentle pressure.
It's not something that youtalk about once and all team
training and then you hope thatit just sticks.
It's something that you have tolive and breathe every single
day, every single shift.
You know you have to be able tocommunicate the why.
You know why did you call MsSo-and-so after her fall?
(50:49):
Well, because here's the impactit had and empowerment of staff
is huge.
Imagine if I had.
You know, I don't.
Caitlin doesn't need to be theone to go hand deliver the
bottle of wine and get theattaboys.
That's, that's not something Ineed, but if I can have a staff
member who maybe it's their ideaI want to.
I know her favorite cake ischocolate.
(51:09):
I want to be the one to deliverher chocolate cake and I want
to be the one to give her a hugbecause I'm the one who takes
care of her every Thursday forbridge.
So I want to be that person andletting them run with it and
take ownership and pride is hugeand that's that's culturally
how we live and operate everyday we do.
Actually, I don't think I'vetold you about this.
Long Cove club has somethingcalled the leadership and
(51:30):
culture crew, lcc.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
Yeah, keep going, let's dive into this.
Speaker 2 (51:36):
It's marvelous.
So it's in its infancy it'sonly, oh gosh, under a year old.
And this generated from LindsayFinger, our Director of
Marketing and Communication, andCarrie Correa, our Director of
Human Resources, along withMario.
So we identified staff membersfrom every single department who
we deemed culture czars, if youwill.
(51:59):
They are the non-managerialhourly employee who have that
give a darn and they love theirjob, they love the club they are
bought in and so those peoplemeet.
It used to be every other week,now it's monthly.
They meet and they talk aboutthe employee, the team member
experience.
What does a great workingexperience at long cove look
(52:20):
like?
What makes it?
What are obstacles, what arepotential threats to to a
wonderful employee experience?
So with that, we have createdand we are just getting off the
ground our fantastic orientationprogram.
It is a multi-day orientationexperience.
Every single department head isinvolved.
These employees get to thebrand new team members, get to
(52:44):
full tour the property.
They get to hear about thehistory of the club.
They get to enjoy a meal off ofthe menu with our best servers.
They get to spend one-on-onetime with their department heads
and other department heads.
It's talking about governance,club structure.
You get a crash course in yourbenefits.
It is just like a power-packedcouple of days and that's before
(53:07):
your first shift.
You know, sometimes it's soeasy when you're, when you're
desperate to hire new people, tothrow a polo at them and say
you're on the floor tomorrow,but that doesn't serve.
So even before training starts,you get to come in and you get
to meet people and you havebuilt in tools.
Okay, I know where to go to thebathroom, I know who to come to
(53:28):
If I have a question about that, I know where the parking lot
is.
But beyond that, you're gettingto meet this class of of fellow
folks who are joining the LongCove team at the same time as
you are, and you have built infriends right off the bat.
So we're really excited aboutthat.
But the culture crew I meanit's magic with what they're
doing and it's bolstered ourformal review process.
(53:52):
Every year Different managerswere giving different versions
of the same annual performancereview, and so we've we've
unified that, and so now it'sit's one, one band, one sound,
unified across the board, andit's really cool for those
individuals to get together.
And our pastry chef and thatserver and that guy from the bag
(54:12):
drop and that guy from greensand grounds.
They get together and they'retalking about ways to make Long
Cove the best and keep Long Covethe best.
And we are also really, reallyproud of our recruitment process
.
It is involved.
It is multi-step.
You know you're pre-screened byHR for for job fit and then you
(54:33):
meet with your department headand you will meet with some
other members of that department.
You also meet with a departmenthead and you will meet with
some other members of thatdepartment.
You also meet with a we callthem a cultural gatekeeper.
You'll meet with a fellowdepartment head from somewhere
totally out of your space.
So if you're getting hired to bea security officer.
You might meet with thedirector of the sports center,
(54:53):
and that's the culture.
Are you a fit culturally forLongcove?
So, and then after that youmeet with the general manager.
Mario meets with every singleemployee candidates that we look
to hire and have join our team,and that really makes a
difference in in keeping theones that aren't going to fit
out and making sure that thosewe do bring in are the best of
(55:14):
the best.
Speaker 1 (55:15):
Damn, that's important.
So what?
So you've been doing it a yearnow.
What changes?
Or like what's, what's maybebeen like the biggest thing
you've learned, like what's beenlike maybe the biggest shift,
the biggest change?
I don't know, you know, I thinkthere's always, you know, when
(55:36):
you've done somethingconsistently for that long,
because most people would dosomething like this.
And then let's be honest, what?
Three, four or five monthsusually fizzles or like it's
just not the same, but you've,you've kept it up for a year and
there's still excitement behindit.
It sounds like what have?
What changes have you seen?
What have you feel, felt, found?
(55:56):
Like what's been?
You know, looking back on 12months, what's been the yeah,
and you know what, what have youchanged?
You know like what, what?
Maybe did you start off like oh, this, but it's like, oh,
actually, this is, I think, howit works.
Like you know what's been likethe good, bad, like how have you
adapted it, moved and changedit?
Speaker 2 (56:15):
Sure.
So, last, last June, was ourvery first all team get together
, if you will party.
Uh, previously that's notsomething that had been done.
Departments would have interdepartments.
You know the culinary teammight get together, the golf
team might get together, butnever the entire staff of Lonco,
which you know we waffle arounda hundred employees, so it's
(56:37):
not a massive group.
So in theory it should berelatively easy at least once a
year for us all to get together.
But it had just never happenedbefore.
So when Mario came on board hesaid we got to do it and the
leadership and culture crew kindof took that under their under
their wing and they made itincredible.
You know there's a littleeducational component of you
know we have a 401k.
(56:58):
One of our benefits providerscomes in and does some education
and we have lunch, but thenafter that it's fun.
You know there's team buildingexercises.
This year we had.
Last year we had a good turn.
I think we had about 60 or so.
This year we had about 85.
And out of 100 employees,that's pretty darn good to come
to the club on a Monday on theirday off and spend time with
(57:18):
their coworkers.
So but the leadership culturecrew, they got to talk about
what would make the employeeswant to come and what would make
them excited about it, and sothat influenced.
We got a snow cone truck, wegot a water slide, we got a dunk
tank.
We got the fun stuff.
But we also had a craft forpeople who didn't necessarily
want to go to a water slide.
We got a dunk tank.
We got the fun stuff, but wealso had a craft for people who
didn't necessarily want to godown the water slide and we had
(57:41):
pickleball, and so we had oursports center team teaching
people how to play pickleball,and so you got to experience the
club.
It was held at the club, umyeah, on a monday, and you got
to experience the club groundsas if you were a member and play
on the pickleball courts thatthe members play on, and the
membership is extremelysupportive of this as well.
By the way, they love to see usgetting together Anytime we do
(58:02):
trainings or whatnot.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
They they're really enthusiastic about that, um
sorry, it'd be fun if, like onetime, you got the members to be
like the bartenders and serversand you know just to just to
like, for, like, for like a meal, just let them, yeah, you know,
have them like dress up or befunny.
(58:24):
If you want to get like, havethem have put the uniform and
then have like, have the stafftry to pretend to be other
members.
Speaker 2 (58:36):
Ooh, it's dangerous waters.
I know, I know, but no, I thinkthat'd be fun to have the
members maybe, like you know,even if it's like a barbecue or
something, just yeah, you know,I should say we, we
intentionally do not servealcohol at this event and it's
something that's been talkedabout and some people are like
well, more people would come ifthere was alcohol.
But you know what we pay themand so there's the conflict.
(58:57):
Right, I don't want to pay youand serve you alcohol, drink on
the clock.
But every employee who comes tothat, that's paid time and the
appreciation that exists becauseof that.
And you know, once in a bluemoon, the leadership and culture
crew in our hr department.
You know we've got employeeretention dollars to spend on
things like that and maybe it'srandomly a $10 gas card, maybe
(59:21):
it's, you know, a littleincentive at Christmas time
beyond the bonus.
But they get to come up withthese fun little flash ideas to
dazzle and to wow and to tospend resources for those club
team members to spend their timewhere they could be doing their
day jobs.
They could be in the pastryshop or behind a bar, but
(59:42):
they're sitting in an officebrainstorming, weaving the
dreams of how to keep peopleloving their time at Long Cove.
And one of my favoritebyproducts of this program is
the way that those employees,those team members, they look at
their jobs differently.
They feel a sense ofresponsibility being a part of
that leadership and culture crewand it's so awesome to see them
(01:00:06):
take pride and in a lineup or apre-shift or just walking
around.
You can see them living andbreathing the things that we as
leaders in management, you knowwe go to conferences and
seminars to learn how to getpeople inspired, but sometimes
it can fall on deaf ears.
Right, we're the manager.
It's our job to get peopleexcited about.
You know chit, accuracy andthings like that, but these
(01:00:28):
people are really, reallydemonstrating what it means to
be a proud member of the teamand it's a big source of pride
for me.
I'm not even a part of thegroup, by the way.
It's marketing big source ofpride for me.
I'm not even a part of thegroup, by the way.
It's marketing human resourcesand Mario.
So the rest of the departmentheads are not directly involved,
other than our role in theorientation program.
But to see the success of thisgroup is so inspiring and I'm so
(01:00:49):
proud.
And I definitely want to shoutout Lindsay Finger, carrie
Correa for their hard workbecause it's really made a
difference in a short you know ayear short window of time and
we see it continuing tostrengthen.
It's exciting to dream up whatthey might be doing next.
Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Have you seen an increase in employees referring
other people or positions openat the club Like?
Has that been like a metricthat you've seen or tracked or
can tell about?
Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Absolutely, and in in response to that, we've just
rolled out a formal referralprogram where any employee
smarter.
Yeah Well, yeah, I mean I feellike it's common sense.
Most clubs have something likethat.
We, we did not have somethingformally like that, but more and
more people have asked can Irecommend my cousin to work here
(01:01:39):
?
And we didn't want there to bea question of should we?
It's like, yeah, obviously weshould.
And so at our team meeting wejust had our all team employee
party we rolled it out where ifan employee recommends someone
and they stay for 90 workingdays, there's a cash prize at
the end of that 90 days andwe're basically just it's
(01:02:00):
already been happening and sonow we're saying thank you for
that and getting ahead of it andoffering a little incentive.
And I mean it's awesome to workwith people you love.
And I mean I told you how manyfriends and families and
siblings and parents andchildren already work together,
and so we're actually you knowfunny story we had a young man
recently.
He hasn't even started, hestarts in four days.
(01:02:21):
He interviewed, he did a onenight kind of a stage shift in
the kitchen with chef.
He said yep, I love it here, Ican feel it, I can smell it.
You guys are.
You guys are rock stars, I'mall in.
He's a line cook, you can smellit and, uh, you know, you can
tell, you can tell walking intoa place that's a great place to
work or not.
Um, and Long Cove's got itgoing on for sure.
(01:02:42):
But he, he hasn't even startedyet and he said, hey, here's my
sister, she's a server at thisrestaurant and you know, I, I
love working with my sister andI think she'd love it here too,
so you should interview her.
We just hired his sister.
I mean, it's amazing.
He hasn't even had his firstday on the job and he believes
that Long Cove is a wonderfulplace to be.
He's right, by the way, it isan incredible place.
(01:03:03):
Um, but that's what it's allabout is is we want that culture
to be palpable.
You should be able to cut itwith a knife and, uh, we work
hard at it and everybody isbought into that vision.
It's a big source of pride forme.
Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Yeah, has it always been that way or has it started
to crank up more over the pastcouple of years?
Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
I would say it's definitely ramped up.
There's always going to bepeople who aren't fully bought
into the vision and the feelingis, you know, grab an oar and
row in this direction or youknow you can hop out of the
canoe.
And there are people along theway who hop out of the canoe and
you know you wish them well ontheir way.
But if somebody is not going tobe bought into the vision, then
(01:03:52):
there's just no place for themin an organization.
If they're going to be adetractor and that's something
else we could touch on is thenet promoter score of a
membership is something that welook at and take into
consideration when we makedecisions.
But we also just measured thenet promoter score of our
employees.
We just did an employee surveythrough club benchmarking and
(01:04:14):
Long Cove ranked in the 95thpercentile in terms of employee
satisfaction.
We outpaced industry average onevery single metric, except
maybe one in that survey and wewere proud to show those results
at a recent employee party.
And I've even heard chatteramongst the staff.
(01:04:34):
They keep saying 95thpercentile, 95th percentile.
Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
As you're dangling the gift cards.
How good are we guys?
How good are we?
Yes, stop it.
No, but it's little things likethat.
It's just showing that you careand just those little surprises
, those little perks that peopleappreciate.
It's just showing, hey, we'reall here to you know, we're
(01:04:59):
going to work hard, play hard.
Here's our culture, here's ourculture, here's our vibe.
It's amazing that you'vecreated that too, in a place
where people have to be there,so like cause, there's clubs
where people have the worldmeeting.
You know, they could reallychoose their membership, they
could do whatever and like theydon't, you know, continue
(01:05:20):
thinking.
They just stop thinking andlike they don't do the work.
But you guys are.
You know, limitations forcecreativity.
It's amazing to hear how muchpositivity and good, good work
you and the club are doing.
Thank you so much for coming on.
I feel like we're going to talka few more times.
There's so much more we candive into, but thank you for
(01:05:40):
coming on, thank you for sharingand really appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Denny, thank you so much.
It's been an honor.
Speaker 1 (01:05:46):
Hope you all enjoyed that episode.
I know I did.
Caitlin, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing it, for
all you do for your club andyour people, and the people who
are there Really appreciate it.
If you want to learn more aboutmanagement in motion, head over
to privateclubradiocom slashmanagement in motion.
A couple of seats left.
We're going to have so much fun.
(01:06:07):
That is this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, danny Corby.
Catch y'all on the flippityflip.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!