Private Club Radio Show
Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the industry's weekly source for education, news, trends, and other current developments in the world of private clubs.
Hosted by the talented entertainer and industry expert, Denny Corby,
the podcast offers a unique perspective on the private club industry, featuring expert guests, product spotlights, predictions, and more.
Whether you're involved in a golf club management, yacht clubs, athletic clubs, or business clubs, the Private Club Radio Show is the essential podcast for
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Private Club Radio Show
450: Aging with Dignity: How Clubs Can Become Lifelines, Not Just Amenities w/ Kaitlyn Allen, CCM
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.
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Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs, from mastering, leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light. Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place. I'm your host, denny Corby. Welcome to the show. In this episode we are hanging out with Caitlin Allen, ccm Clubhouse Manager at Long Cove Club. She is a Swifty Trivia Queen, certified Disney adult and the only club manager I've met who can turn gerontology into something that sounds kind of badass.
Speaker 1: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, how we treat them, what gives them the dignity and meaning in their later years. And Caitlin, she's taken that expertise and poured it into her role at Long Cove Club like it's her favorite glass of red wine. Her role at Long Cove Club like it's her favorite glass of red wine. We break down how clubs can do way more than just serve meals and plan events for some of their older members and how they can become lifelines, places of identity, connection and purpose. And we talk about how gerontology shaped Caitlin's entire hospitality ethos and career, starting with her first job as a teenage server in a retirement home. We talk about how tiny touches like backlit check presenters can have such a big impact. We hear how her club's leadership and culture crew flipped employee engagement by empowering non-manager staff as culture ambassadors. Caitlin is bold, she's brilliant and, honestly, just 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 my favorite lines was something along the lines of Caitlin saying that hospitality isn't about what you serve, the lines of Caitlin saying that hospitality isn't about what you serve, but it's about making people feel seen, celebrated and like they still matter, and I just thought that was phenomenal. This is a great episode a different perspective, a little bit change of pace. I really, really enjoy this and Caitlin is just a great human.
Speaker 1:Before we get to the episode, I just want to give a quick shout out to some of our show partners You're going to hear about them in the ads and continuing into the episodes Kenneth's member vetting Golf Life Navigators Members First, as well as myself, denny Corby, the Denny Corby Experience. If your club is looking for one of the most fun member event nights. I've been trusted by over 350 clubs. If you want to learn more, head on over to dennycorbycom. There's excitement, there's mystery. Also there's magic, mind reading and comedy. A ton of laughs, gasps and holy craps.
Speaker 1:And speaking of holy craps, if you have not heard about my event Management in Motion, happening September 22nd at the monticello motor club, you have to check it out. Almost sold out, limited to 50 seats. We have about 18 seats left as of right now. If you want to learn more, head on over to privateclubradiocom. Slash management in motion. We're going to be tearing up Monticello Motor Club with BMWs M2, 3s and 4s, autox, drag racing, drifting and more, all while learning relevant education from fellow club leaders and peers. It's going to be such a blast. Enough about all that, though. Let's get to the real reason why you're here, which is for the episode. So, private Club Radio listeners, let's welcome to the show, caitlin Allen.
Speaker 2:It's great, it's been wonderful. This is the time in Hilton Head. It's paradise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when's the prime time? Is it now? When is your hot spot?
Speaker 2:We really heat up in October, september and then March, april. That's when the weather's the nicest, 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 more full-time year-round members than we did three, six, eight years ago. So it's a nice trend.
Speaker 1:Did COVID change that? Was it like around that that time shorter shifted there?
Speaker 2:yeah, definitely a big shift. A lot of people working from home and have the ability to go live wherever they want to live and retiring so yeah and the holiday season. It's an average level of busyness. I I definitely think the spring and the fall is that's our bread and butter.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, you guys have a wait list. Do you care about a wait list? Y'all just vibing out having a good time.
Speaker 2: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 homes are on the market, that's how we get our new membership. So interestingly and this was kind of a learning curve for me no member vetting process. If you can buy the property, you can be a member. So culturally that certainly has a little influence on the demographic of membership that's coming through. So it really is a tapestry. It's all sorts of interesting people from all over the country really.
Speaker 1:And you and you know how I feel about vetting. You know our friends, my friends, kenneth's member vetting huge, huge fans. Now does people just I just there's clubs. I think sometimes just don't just put a little bit of effort into looking at who's who's coming in. But yeah, that has to create a very unique challenge in terms of culture and fit, because, even worse, you can't just kick them out right.
Speaker 2:No, you can't just be like all right see ya, no, I mean, we had an incident last year and their club privileges were suspended so the family couldn't come to the clubhouse, couldn't golf, but you can't kick them out of their home. So it is interesting, but I'm learning a lot being in this sort of environment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Are you consuming anything good lately?
Speaker 2:In terms of food and drink, or are we talking content and books, books shows, audio books, podcasts, I don't know. Well, aside from private club radio, I've been getting back into the Huberman Lab podcast.
Speaker 1:Andrew.
Speaker 2:Huberman. He's brilliant in terms of health and wellness. He's got a new book coming out in a few months called Protocols, and recently my husband and I did I don't know if I told you this we just finished a 75 hard challenge.
Speaker 1:Did you, we did.
Speaker 2:And it was our second time doing it together, and part of that. As you know, the rules include reading 10 pages of nonfiction a day. And so you get through a lot of books that way. So I reread, I revisited I'm actually just about to finish um, unreasonable hospitality, which it's like the Bible, but uh, yeah, so that's, that's it in terms of reading and uh audio Nice, nice, I'm going to send you a book.
Speaker 1:I recommend the third door.
Speaker 2:Third door. Writing that down.
Speaker 1:It's just a great audio to listen to because the author speaks it. It's just a good feel-good story with a good message, meaning and all that stuff behind it. It's a good outlook and way of thinking. I don't know. I like that.
Speaker 2:I like content that challenges your way of thinking, if you can look at something a little bit differently. Another podcast I listen to just out of habit is Dave Ramsey, and I don't always agree with him as a human, but I love his teachings and his philosophy on personal finance and managing your money and real estate, and so that's a get out of my comfort zone kind of. I'm listening to it because I enjoy it and how can I think a little bit differently?
Speaker 1: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 kind of consume it a tiny bit, uh, but smartless, actually just finished. Uh, they had on gordon ramsay and I love all of his stupid 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 listen to. Sometimes some Daily Stoic, every now and then A couple magic ones.
Speaker 2:Of course you know it all varies. Yeah, my current commute to work is about 30 minutes, depending on traffic.
Speaker 2:And it's over a bridge over the beautiful marshland and my previous commute was about two and a half minutes, so that was an adjustment for me, but I have really found. You know, everyone says it's your time to get in the right headspace and decompress after a long day, but I really cherish that time because I get to listen to podcasts and, you know, try new things, listen to new people, call a friend and I really expect that. I was kind of dreading having to spend an hour of my day at least in a car when I really was not used to that, but that's kind of magic time right there it, it is, it is and I like what.
Speaker 1:What you said is like challenge the thinking. It's like just like push through it and just be like oh, like why don't I agree? And just and just chat, like just ask yourself the questions. Um, yeah, it's what I've been. There was I was just reading a magic book and part of like the thing was like we stopped. You know, magicians are just. You know, people, us in general, stop thinking way too soon we, we get to the method or we get get 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 continued having some fun with it and just stopped asking what if?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love poking holes in things. That's how you avoid staying stagnant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so that's just been a fun thing. Now, how do you properly pronounce it? Is it gen-tra-l, gen-ra, gen-ra? You're right, there it is gerontology gerontology, gerontology geriatric, yep gerontology, older gerontology, nailed it yeah now there's just a 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're there, and for someone who speaks for a living, it's like, oh, gerontology.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The science of aging.
Speaker 2:Gerontology is not just about medicine or policy, but to me it's more about the culture of aging. It's what we value, it's how we treat people as they get older and that culture informs how we serve them. Private clubs often serve an older demographic, especially in places like Hilton Head, the South coastal towns. We're not just providing dinner, we're providing purpose, a reason to gather, to move and to connect. To me, it's about dignity dignity, routine and identity. Uh, I believe a club part becomes part of someone's personal culture as they age, and that's awesome that we get to do that.
Speaker 1:How did? How does like, how old were you when you were like yes, cause, like that's like a very specific topic, because like that's like a very specific topic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is like what sparked it. I will tell you so. 15 year old caitlin, in high school, mom and dad told me if you want to do things with friends, you need to have some spending money. So what did I do? I got a job and there was a retirement community in our community and they were hiring servers and I thought I like food, I could carry a plate. Sure, let's do it. So that was my first job ever Even. I mean, I didn't really do much babysitting. It was a waiting table.
Speaker 2:So I was in food and beverage from the beginning and I loved it. I had grandparents up in Canada who lived in a very similar facility and it kind of reminded me of my grandparents. I got to spend my days not just learning, you know, the art and the science of food and beverage, but being around people who are inspiring for all sorts of different reasons and listening to them and their stories that they have to tell it was magic and I really enjoyed that. I know I told you this story stories that they have to tell it was it was magic and I really enjoyed that. Um, I did. I know I told you the story there. Um, there was a bit of a scandal at that particular facility when I was working there. There was some some ugliness happening with the nursing staff in terms of um abuse to the residents a bit of physical, um, yeah, violation of human rights, getting themselves written into wills and property, just misappropriation of a lot of things.
Speaker 2:So I didn't know what the heck was going on. I was 15 and I didn't really know what that was. But up until that point in my life I'd never really experienced that kind of ugliness in the world. So that's what sparked the interest in becoming my original goal geriatric lawyer. And I said this is what I'm doing with my life, is I'm going to defend those who can't stand up for themselves. So that kind of mapped my course from there on out.
Speaker 2:I left that facility, obviously, and I went to work for a different company, brookdale Senior Living and it was incredible. It was everything, it was meaningful, enriching life, and it was where I was meant to be. And so I went off to college Kansas State University, proud Wildcat and I knew I was going to law school. So I got an undergraduate degree in political science with a secondary in gerontology and because that was a program they offered at K-State. And I realized about two weeks into the political science classes that I was not cut out for political science and not for me. I had a professor who was monotone and maybe that played into it, but it was not economics.
Speaker 1:I could not grasp it. And the teacher was just the worst. And you're just like and then it's like you know it's not nothing helps, and yeah, so it was.
Speaker 2:It was going to be a long four years. I thought if this is what it's about, 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 wonderful advice. He said you get to go to law school with any undergraduate degree. I mean, if Elle Woods can do it with fashion marketing, you can do it with whatever the heck you want. So I was taking an intro to hospitality class and it resonated and fell headfirst, head over heels, in love with hospitality. I kept the secondary degree in gerontology and I loved it. I continued to work in the retirement home, but then I got my first internship at a club the first summer after my freshman year of college and, spoiler alert, I did not make it to law school.
Speaker 2:That did not happen because I really I found a niche in private club management yeah, oh, I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that. I remember when we first talked, you said something. It was like along the lines of like, hospitality isn't just service, it's about dignity and purpose, or something like like that. Where does where does that come from? What does that mean?
Speaker 2: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 for them to gather and to live their whole full lives. And you know, it's it. It isn't service, it isn't transactional, it's how can you enhance a person's life at any age, you know, not just those of a, of a, of an older age? How do you? You make everybody feel feel relevant and seen and cared for?
Speaker 1:yeah, because, yeah, do you feel like sometimes they get some older members can kind of fade into the background?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think, um, you know, in a community club like ours, any of those older members, they're on fixed income. So even the topic of dues increases, that can be scary to them because that's not just okay. We have to drop the club membership, that's. We might have to move, we might have to uproot our life, so, but we know how clubs are. You have to be thinking and planning for the future and dues increases is just kind of part of it, and so you have to make it a space where people are willing to continue to pay the money.
Speaker 2:I mean, it has to be relevant for them and unfortunately, or fortunately, one of the things we get to do is be all things to all people, and it's especially sensitive with that group. When we're redesigning our clubhouses, are we doing it in a modern, trendy way that doesn't really listen or care about what that population thinks? Do we look at the branch ladies differently? Because all they do is come in and 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 and look at the entirety of the membership and be all things to all people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how have you handled that situation? So, like to rewind, how have you handled? You know people on a fixed income and it's getting tight and you know they have the memory what. What situation have you seen play out like, have you like what's what's happened there? Like how do you have those convert? Like, how do you what's like, what's the play? Or, and like, how do you plan for that? Like, have you like, are you able to now see that coming a little bit more? Like, because you've been there so long, you kind of like see, like the writing on the wall and Do you get ahead of that? Is this even?
Speaker 2:a question you want to answer or go into. Yeah, yeah, you know how old people are and you know when people start to decline physically and if somebody loses a spouse, for example, that's their identity and sometimes the club might be their only support system on the island in the region. You know these people might have moved down here and all their family is is elsewhere and that might make an easy decision of okay, well, I'm moving back up to chile, scranton, pennsylvania, to live with my, my kids, because that's my only option. But we, we want there to be options. We want you to feel that at long cove you can put an elevator in your house, you can utilize the, the ramps that exist at the physical space of the clubhouse.
Speaker 2:Um, we do offer a legacy membership 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 some club privileges at a reduced uh due structure which, but you have to have been a member for a for a length of time. They do get to maintain some club privileges at a reduced due structure, but you have to have been a member for a length of time. So that's kind of a way to keep them engaged. We program around them.
Speaker 2:We have obviously bridge, mahjong, all the like, but beyond that we have an entire cultural association, uh, dedicated to. It's really members educating members and it's for all ages but, um, a lot of people in that demographic enjoy it because it is it's fulfillment in its community. We have things like tap dancing classes, where I don't think there's anyone younger than 65 who taps uh. Physical wellness, we've got water aerobics, we've got yoga, book clubs, bible studies, knitting groups, singers, actors so giving them a reason to continue to come to the club and be with their people as long as they possibly can. I mean, same logic applies when you're planning a menu. Are we taking into consideration what the dietary restrictions might be and what the meal preferences might be, and not to say chef would ever?
Speaker 2:design a menu that is bland and boring. Unfortunately I worked in nursing homes so I know you got the little seasoning MSG packets on the table because the food has to be planned for people in that demographic. But I would even commend our chef with his, his thoughtfully designed menus that really do appeal to all audiences and offering some variety. So to answer to answer the question you asked, we try to create a space and programming and a community around keeping folks members as long as possible. We realize ultimately sometimes there's there's no need for a single 95-year-old woman to live in her massive multi-story house at Long Cove if physically it doesn't make sense for that person anymore. But we try to keep the community alive and give them reasons to stay. It is tough when the dues increase. I know that's a big reason is I'm on a fixed income. I can't afford that increase and maybe we transition them to legacy membership at that point and keep them in the fold, so to speak.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, how, how can, how can clubs build like real connection with aging members beyond like the occasional, just normal stuff?
Speaker 2:You know you have to go into school for gerontology. It taught me what to anticipate with with aging folks. But you know hospitality is is anticipation, and you know you have to understand that people's needs change over time. I mean what I, what I saw in that nursing home. That's what happens when people lose sight of empathy. And in a club environment, in the club space, I feel like we do the opposite. We notice, we remember names, we remember preferences, allergies, we remember the stories, we tell the stories and it's service also. It's also dignity that's dignifying the human experience.
Speaker 1:Do you, do you think we train hospitality pros to serve the older adults Well, or do you think it's a little mostly on the fly?
Speaker 2:We do it, but without realizing we do it. You know. I mean hospitality, it's. It's in a world focused on things, we focus first on people. That was actually the motto of the K-State hospitality program. Go Wildcats, but think of the things that we train a food and beverage server, you know you're remembering names.
Speaker 2:You're taking patients in care, with ordering, helping with decision making, walking them through choices, making sure billing things are clear, minimizing distractions and offering consistency, and those are in a food and beverage scope. Those are all things that we train generally speaking, but it matters on a different level for an aging person who may struggle to read their ticket. I mean, I'll tell you some little change we made last year was investing in these little, you know little check presenters, the books that you get your thing and you put the card in. So we got those that they open up and they're backlit. So as soon as you open it, it's got this nice little soft glove and spend a little money on a new fleet of those.
Speaker 2:They look great, they're nice to hold on to, but the wows that we get from that because a real issue is, you know, people pull out their phone flashlight to read the thing and the font on those checks is so small and the members have really, really loved that. So that's just a little example of an enhancement that we didn't do with with the aging population specifically in mind, but it it it impacted them in a larger way than than we had originally anticipated when we bought the nice books.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what? That was less than two grand probably.
Speaker 2:Yeah, easily.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:Easily. Those opportunities exist all day.
Speaker 1:So for less than two grand, you have just these overly joyed people.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and I love it, grand you have just this over like these over, overly joyed people.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and I love it. We we sometimes get, especially this time of year, we get reciprocal members from neighboring clubs and they you know same demographic across the Island. Right, People come and retire down here and they come and they're like we don't have these at our club and they're taking pictures of them. And then I get texts from our fellow club managers like, all right, where'd you get those books? I got to hear about them. I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1:Here's my affiliate code. Well, there's an idea what am.
Speaker 2:I doing.
Speaker 1:Just remember us small people when you make it big.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:Monetize. I'm actually surprised there's not like a setting on the, on the systems, where you can put like make it like a different, like a bigger font, check so so they can.
Speaker 2:They can read it better denny, you need to call the people, call the people at jonas and cobalt and north star and club essentials and get them on the line.
Speaker 1: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 do better? Like, how, how can people do better? Because obviously you take this really to heart, like you, like live, like this is like you and like you found a club, I think, when we were talking prior, where you would shine in that environment, and it is that environment, uh, but not everybody has that environment or like is in that situation. How can they just take like a little bit away? What are just some like little things people can do to enhance the gerontology experience?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I'll give you. I'll give you a little anecdote. So I I do not currently have children. Um, and I, you know, get asked all the time We've been married for a long time why don't we have kids? And I had a. I had a former supervisor once and mentor of mine, who we were talking about that topic and being a parent in club management and the pros and cons obviously, and he told me once he said, being a parent having small kids, he's like.
Speaker 2:I empathize on a different level with the members of the club who are parents, because I'm not a member of a club but we have kids. So I know what a person with small children in a club is looking for, because I've, in a sense, kind of been in their shoes and so that's an easy one. But when you're planning, when you're doing things, when you're renovating, when you're designing a menu, when you're building the golf course, whatever it is that you're doing, think about it as if you were somebody in their 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s. You're retired, maybe you have mobility issues, maybe there's some cognitive decline. What lens can you look at it through to give you a more holistic view of that person's wants, needs and desires? And surveying is great because when you survey a membership you get that demographic and you can say all right, those in the 70 plus category tend to lean this way. But listening to that genuinely and realizing that every member is equally as important we have 576 memberships and every single opinion is equally as important as the other 575.
Speaker 1:You've moved around a lot. What's helped you adjust and connect and kind of like thrive in each place that you've been.
Speaker 2:Great question. I've been told that moss does not grow on me. I am a rolling stone. I take that as a compliment.
Speaker 1:I like being active Moss does not grow on me. That's amazing.
Speaker 2: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 nature and I think the older I get, I'm becoming one of those extroverted introverts where I do find a recharge at home. Um, when you go into a new space, when I go into a new space, I get excited about who's there, not because they're paying my check every other week, but because I want to know why they're there, what makes them them, what makes them excited to be where they're at.
Speaker 2:And moving to Hilton Head was totally new. You know, we're not from this area, we're from the Midwest. I spent a little time in the Savannah area, but we're relatively new to the South, and so not only am I learning a new set of people, we don't have family, our set of friends does not live here. So we kind of have to be those extroverts where we're going to go into whatever it might be and we're going to make the most of it. I mean, I have to give kudos to both the Georgia and the Carolinas chapters of CMAA. I mean, obviously all CMA chapters are extremely welcoming, but, wow, some of my closest best friends right now are in those chapters. I'll throw Florida in there too.
Speaker 2:But community is important, not just for the geriatric population that we're kind of talking about today, but for us as leaders and club managers, having that support system in that community. And that doesn't happen by accident, it happens when you put yourself out there, and that's something those who know me close know, that I'm not afraid to put myself out there. No moss grows on this rolling stone. I'll raise my hand, I'll jump in, I'll volunteer, I'll help whatever you need, because that's where. That's where the magic happens, if you ask me it's. It's when you get out of your personal comfort zone and meet new people. And I mean I love networking. I think that's, that's some special magic in itself. Right, there is is your network, and I love figuring out who knows who.
Speaker 2:Oh, you spent some time in Chicago. Do you know these people? Do you? Oh, kansas, forget about it. I know everyone in Kansas. This is great, but it's always such a small world and smaller. Every person you meet. And that's what you have to do, no matter where you go, is just be willing to put yourself on the line. And I definitely did that at Long Cove, where I said you know, this is my new home and I'm going to make it my home. So, between the membership and the team, the team is my family and I know that's a little cliche, but they really are. My family is not here and so I spend time at work and these people are the ones that I talk to about everything, and I have a lot of responsibility as their leader to to care for them and their experience, and that that sort of colors my leadership style is. You know, I am responsible. I bear a heavy, heavy burden of caring for these people and making sure that they're learning and growing and they're loving every bit of their experience as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, and speaking of loving and caring, your, your husband, is also in the, in the space also.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's in the space.
Speaker 1:That's actually where we met was in college.
Speaker 2:It's it's funny the parallels he. He was sort of in the culinary side. He was a, he was a cook in a retirement community and we both were studying hospitality. We both had the secondary.
Speaker 1:He was cooking up that bland food. You were studying hospitality. We both had the secondary. He was cooking up that bland food you were talking about. He sure was.
Speaker 2:I will say our first date. He made me creme brulee and it was not bland and I stuck around. I said oh, I'm not.
Speaker 1:I'm not going anywhere.
Speaker 2: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 little bit too, went to the recruiting space. He's actually currently the full-time recruiter at Long Cove club. So he he's my right hand jumps in, does a lot of bartending, um, but he's, he's so wonderful, I love that man.
Speaker 1:That is so cool. Yeah, that is so cool. Yeah, a lot in common, no, and and just the, probably the fun moments that you create together and for the, the members there too, because, as you kind of said, a lot of them probably may or may not have family close by or who they get to see often, so you kind of bring that familial energy that they kind of lack, whether you know it or not, maybe. I don't know, or just kind of like you know, it really is that home away from home.
Speaker 2:It is. It is, and Long Cove really lives and breathes that. I mean we're not alone. There are mother-son employees. We're not the only. There's two other husband-wife duos that work at at the club. There's siblings, several parent children actually, and it's. It's awesome, you know, it speaks a lot about the culture of Long Cove that you care to share your place of employment with your most loved family members.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how can clubs help older members reclaim or reframe purpose?
Speaker 2:Great question. People aren't winding down in their old age. They move to the island. I joke that residents of Hilton Head should be studied, because consistently, when I hear how old someone is over the weekend, someone said oh, it's my 63rd birthday next week and I thought I would have put you a decade below that easily. And that happens regularly. People, they're living active lifestyles. They are not slowing down, they're getting busier, they're taking up biking, they're taking up kayaking, they're living a whole person's life and they're making the most of their retirement. And so we need to lean into that and program for that. I call it aspirational aging. These people, members, they want experiences, they want a lifestyle, and we as the club managers, we get to create that the club managers, we get to create that.
Speaker 1:How. How do you create that space for, for that and, like, how do you create that safe space for maybe people who need more time or don't communicate like they used to? Um, like, how do you like, what was that? Like that, before you were there, were you able to open that up like a little bit more? And, if so, like, how do you start those steps of being more open and well communicative?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to give a shout out and a lot of credit to our general manager, mario Cambisano, who has been at this club for about two and a half years. Manager Mario Cambisano, who has been at this club for about two and a half years and I was not at Lone Cove prior to him, so I can't speak to how it operated before, but with a shift in the membership demographic and the age trending younger, mario has created an ironclad culture and a product of that is a safe space to be creative. He allows his department heads and therefore all the management team and therefore the entirety of the team, to to try new things, to to have new ideas and run with them and to to talk about how maybe it could be done better next time. But you know, if I if I wanted to say you know, trivia, trivia is a good example. We started a trivia program a year ago. I thought let's see how it goes.
Speaker 2:Trivia might be kind of tired. Um, that's one of our most well-attended events and we do it every other week and we consistently break records and it's crazy, we actually have one this week that I haven't 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 new things, it's permission to screw up, it's it's giving you a runway to to think differently, to challenge the norm Another cliche you know, if you do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. And we have to be on the front end, 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, the staff doesn't want that, the leadership doesn't want that.
Speaker 1:So what are some things that you've tried that flopped?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, good question, Good question.
Speaker 1:Since and and and why did you flop? And what considered it a flop? Just cause, like you know, you were talking about you. You have freedom to try, try some stuff. So like what are some things? And then, on the flip side, we will 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 like holy cannoli, that was really really good. So, because you know, we all have flops, so like what are just some? You're like, oh man, we tried this, but man, it just stunk. Like what was something.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking back to last year's labor day and I thought you know, let's theme our labor day right? We just had Memorial day, we just had 4th of July. You know, you get your red, white and blue and yada, yada. Let's, let's do something different for labor day instead of the patriotic business. So we themed it denim and diamonds and I thought, all right, we've had a lot of success with some some other themings. Like the members love to dress up in costume, the staff loves to dress up in costume. Let's do it.
Speaker 2:And so Venom and Diamonds was the theme, it was awesome, everyone loved it. But we brought in a mechanical bowl, a big inflatable one, right Like safe for people.
Speaker 2:But again, looking at the demographic, most of the people there were over 70 years old. So did we spend a lot of money on an inflatable bowl that just looked really nice there in our ballroom? Yeah, we did. There were a couple of kids I might 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 that one, but the sentiment was appreciated.
Speaker 2:So while most of the members were 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 something different. So one of those like let's just just try it and see what happens what um what?
Speaker 1:what makes for a good trivia night? So it sounds like you've done a bunch of trivia and you have like you've had like a of trivia and you've had a baseline, you've had some time on your belt. What makes for a good trivia night at a club from your point of view? Because trivia nights at different places, in different spaces, it is all different. I'm sure you've maybe gone to a few. We are not great at it so we tend to not unless we know the whole theme. But each place is different and like there's different rules. Like how have you found to run a good, successful club trivia night?
Speaker 2:Sure, so we we have a model that we stick to. It's it's five rounds, eight questions a piece. There's always a music round, there's always a connection round. I always do an anagram, so we stick to the same format. Therefore, it's the same length of time and we have teams. We require that there are eight people per team, but people bend the rules and there might be 14 people on the team, but it is what it is. I don't police it. I give out eight prizes to the winning team and that's it. I'm like guys, it's not that competitive.
Speaker 2:Um, the consistency in the format is important. The questions are important. Obviously the content. So every we try to theme it every. Every day. There is a different theme. This Wednesday we know we're going to do like at the cinema movie night theme, um, but keeping that fresh, and there's this excitement surrounding the theme. People will come up to the staff beforehand and say what's the topic for trivia this week? And we're like, nope, not going to tell you. You've got to come and see. So there's excitement in the theme of it and all the hosts myself, our OG host Mike, my current host, tony and we switch it up. Sometimes the tennis pro comes in, sometimes my events coordinator jumps in, my bar manager comes in so we keep it fresh that way.
Speaker 2:But, um, you can't get too niche. I I made the mistake a couple times, you know I let I let one of my guys do a roundabout cryptids and weird folklore out in the american midwest and people are like what the hell are these questions? But that was something that was interesting to that person and so I kind of let him run with it. I had one guy who was really into star wars and so so we did a Star Wars. So the learning moment there is all right, you can have a Star Wars themed round, but maybe it's like okay, you know George Lucas is from what city? Or like how can you make it a niche topic? But the questions themselves aren't niche. Music round, I'll tell you, I get yelled at a lot when the songs are too top 40 to today's mix, and so I've evolved the music round to be more diverse, to include all sorts.
Speaker 2:A lot of Taylor Swift, obviously, but more music from the 60s and the 70s, so keeping it fresh.
Speaker 1:Support her getting her catalog back. Hashtag Swifties.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. It's a good time for us Swifties, but no trivia is so much fun. It is great. Keep the prizes fresh. Costumes I got to tell you these people love a costume, even if it's just a light-up pair of sneakers, they go crazy for it.
Speaker 1:It's fun. What are good prizes?
Speaker 2:So last, I guess two weeks ago, when we hosted Trivia, we did like a Father's Day sort of theme. So the first place prize was an empty six-pack, just like beer carrier six-pack, and they could come back into the club and we'd fill it up for them with six cans of beer of their choice. Second place was did we do a Swiss Army knife? I think we just did a swiss army knife like little like 50 cents yeah they loved it.
Speaker 1:They're like this is great um oh, so like, not even like a swiss, made like a nice swiss army knife like a chintzy no, this, this is the like the chintzy or the better.
Speaker 2:It broke as soon as they put it in their pocket. You can't repair anything with that. They love it though. One time we had my anagram was this is a funny one, Lorna Dune, you know, like the little shortbread cookies.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so that was the prize, but I'll never live it down we. That was the anagram, and so I don't even remember what it was supposed to mix up to be adorn noel. Of course I do. A d o r n n o e? L adorn noel scrambles up to lorna dune. Except, no, it doesn't, because I forgot an o. There's a whole o missing from adorn noel. That's in lorna dune and I, the members, the entire game. They were like we can't figure it out.
Speaker 1:We can't figure out that you're like they are so hard, like this is so easy oh man, their memories really really going down guys that's so true you're like your training was like kicking in. You're like, oh man, this is really bad. What do I do? What's in the pitchforks are?
Speaker 2:coming. Yeah, the next week I wrote around a trivia called the elusive o letter o, and everything started with the letter o. They loved it. You can get a little cheeky too. Like just cheeky enough yeah that's one of the fun parts, is you know, I get to, I get to argue with members because I'm the one holding the microphone and the quiz master has final say.
Speaker 2:And when they're like that's not the right answer. It's actually this estuary in South America is the right answer and I'll say quiz master has final say. So I get a little joy out of that.
Speaker 1:The microphone is power. It's so much fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, sure is.
Speaker 1:It is way too much fun, especially when you have the ability especially when you have the ability to control. Oh, it's so much fun you're welcome to come anytime.
Speaker 2:We're going to do an office themed just for you yeah, yeah great hospitality isn't just about what we serve. It's about how we make people feel seen, celebrated and like they still matter, no matter what their age is.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I was checking out my notes and I remember you were talking about how to keep members seen, how to keep them visible, and I might be butchering that completely, but can you go into that a little bit? Like how? Like what does that mean? And then like, what are signs? Like how do you, how do you know? Like, how do you know when to engage? Like how do you? Because I think sometimes, like, let's just say, people do disengage, if that even is is is a thing. Maybe stop coming out to things like is is there that? Because I'm sure sometimes people get busy or whatever but like, are there ways and signs to tell, like, the difference between like, hey, maybe try to put in a little bit more effort, really try to get them out. You know, let's try to put a little bit more care versus not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think being in a community type club it's easy because they live right within your four walls. So if there was a serious concern, we have security, that's a whole department that could just do a loving wellness check. You know, hey, mrs, So-and-so how you doing. Haven't seen you in a while, everything good. But at the club we track who's using the club and through the membership department we can use those data points to see when people have not visited the club in extended periods of time.
Speaker 2:And it's tricky down here because people do go away for great spans of time, month here, month there. Some people are gone six months out of the year. But if you know that they're here, if you know that they're in town for a stretch of time and they're just not utilizing the club, giving them a call, how do we identify them? And you know say, hey, this is so-and-so. You know you usually order that um, well done burger with extra crispy French fries to go three nights 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?
Speaker 2:So being able to identify those opportunities and then having a plan or a system to have a loving 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 tap class? You know we did. You know we have a new chair yoga in addition to our standard yoga. You know, uh, being proactive about those, those opportunities, and you know, showing them that you really do care beyond just that monthly dues check.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm sure there's an art to how you approach all of this, meaning like, how do you raise and bring things up or offer to help without sounding kind of patronizing or patronizing is the right or wrong word but like, I'm sure there's a, there's an art, you know, to the, to the ask and bringing it up, and how you approach certain situations so like is there, like a, like a. Share some examples.
Speaker 2:or like the language that you know creates connection verse, like sounding off, so to speak yeah, something that jumps to my mind is we have a, a member who had a fall at the club a couple of months ago and she's a great user of the club. She, she has pretty bad scoliosis. She's literally like if she was sitting here next to me, it would be like like this it's adorable, she's adorable, we love her. But she, she was coming in the bathroom, somebody was coming out of the bathroom and the door got her, so she's fine.
Speaker 2:Um, she went off to the hospital but you know, you didn't see her for a couple of days after she got back from the hospital and we knew nothing was broken. But she's somebody who comes to the club multiple times a week and so we, we reached out and said how are you doing? Security reached out. Security takes care of her dog when she cause she's a single woman, so security will go and let the dog out and make sure everything at the home is taken care of. If somebody is is not there, but it to answer your question it's we miss you. How are you? We care about you.
Speaker 2:It's not a you know. Hey, we noticed that your average spend per week is down or a little concern, right, that's. That's taken the human element out of it. You gotta, you gotta focus on the human element. And if that was you, what would you want? And so it might be, we send flowers, it might be we. We send that well done burger with extra crispy French fries on rye bread to her um on the club. And you know, if she's a drinker, we send a bottle of wine. But you know, and then you welcome them back, mrs, so-and-so, we are so happy to see you.
Speaker 2:How are you doing? You look great. Is your family coming into town? You know, remembering those things like that? She has a dog like that. Her daughter lives in philadelphia. That's what really makes a difference and makes it more of a human relationship than an employer, member, team, member, club, member relationship. And that's so important. And, honestly, to be the type of person who can do that, you kind of just have to have that give a darn. If you're a leader in any hospitality space and you don't naturally or actively work towards that, that give a darn, you're not going to be successful. You have to care, and you have to care genuinely and you have to be willing to go above and beyond. I mean, it's as simple as that.
Speaker 1:And there's gonna be people who will, and they're gonna be just fine and annoy the crap out of all of us and uh it's all right, we roll our eyes when they walk into a room, it's okay how do you get buy-in from the culture then, like, how do you ingrain that into the staff?
Speaker 1:where does it start for you guys? Like, is it part of the hiring process? Do you have your own name of, like the, the employee? Like, how do you like I'm sure the, I'm sure the cultural or the hr side is just as good for the staff as it is for the members? And I think you even mentioned how you have a lot of staff who you know they have their kids, is very familial, like we talked earlier. But like, how do you, how do you ingrain that? And then, how do you hire for that?
Speaker 2:It's that continuous gentle pressure. It's not something that you talk about once and all team training and then you hope that it just sticks. It's something that you have to live and breathe every single day, every single shift. You know you have to be able to communicate the why. You know why did you call Ms So-and-so after her fall? Well, because here's the impact it had and empowerment of staff is huge. Imagine if I had. You know, I don't.
Speaker 2:Caitlin doesn't need to be the one to go hand deliver the bottle of wine and get the attaboys. That's, that's not something I need, but if I can have a staff member who maybe it's their idea I want to. I know her favorite cake is chocolate. I want to be the one to deliver her chocolate cake and I want to be the one to give her a hug because I'm the one who takes care of her every Thursday for bridge. So I want to be that person and letting them run with it and take ownership and pride is huge and that's that's culturally how we live and operate every day we do. Actually, I don't think I've told you about this. Long Cove club has something called the leadership and culture crew, lcc.
Speaker 1:Yeah, keep going, let's dive into this.
Speaker 2:It's marvelous. So it's in its infancy it's only, oh gosh, under a year old. And this generated from Lindsay Finger, our Director of Marketing and Communication, and Carrie Correa, our Director of Human Resources, along with Mario. So we identified staff members from every single department who we deemed culture czars, if you will. They are the non-managerial hourly employee who have that give a darn and they love their job, they love the club they are bought in and so those people meet. It used to be every other week, now it's monthly. They meet and they talk about the employee, the team member experience. What does a great working experience at long cove look like? What makes it? What are obstacles, what are potential threats to to a wonderful employee experience?
Speaker 2:So with that, we have created and we are just getting off the ground our fantastic orientation program. It is a multi-day orientation experience. Every single department head is involved. These employees get to the brand new team members, get to full tour the property. They get to hear about the history of the club. They get to enjoy a meal off of the menu with our best servers. They get to spend one-on-one time with their department heads and other department heads.
Speaker 2:It's talking about governance, club structure. You get a crash course in your benefits. It is just like a power-packed couple of days and that's before your first shift. You know, sometimes it's so easy when you're, when you're desperate to hire new people, to throw 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 have built in tools. Okay, I know where to go to the bathroom, I know who to come to If I have a question about that, I know where the parking lot is. But beyond that, you're getting to meet this class of of fellow folks who are joining the Long Cove team at the same time as you are, and you have built in friends right off the bat. So we're really excited about that. But the culture crew I mean it's magic with what they're doing and it's bolstered our formal review process.
Speaker 2:Every year Different managers were giving different versions of the same annual performance review, and so we've we've unified that, and so now it's it's one, one band, one sound, unified across the board, and it's really cool for those individuals to get together. And our pastry chef and that server and that guy from the bag drop and that guy from greens and grounds. They get together and they're talking about ways to make Long Cove the best and keep Long Cove the best. And we are also really, really proud of our recruitment process. It is involved. It is multi-step. You know you're pre-screened by HR for for job fit and then you meet with your department head and you will meet with some other members of that department. You also meet with a department head and you will meet with some other members of that department. You also meet with a we call them a cultural gatekeeper. You'll meet with a fellow department head from somewhere totally out of your space.
Speaker 2:So if you're getting hired to be a security officer. You might meet with the director of the sports center, and that's the culture. Are you a fit culturally for Longcove? So, and then after that you meet with the general manager. Mario meets with every single employee candidates that we look to hire and have join our team, and that really makes a difference in in keeping the ones that aren't going to fit out and making sure that those we do bring in are the best of the best.
Speaker 1:Damn, that's important. So what? So you've been doing it a year now. What changes? Or like what's, what's maybe been like the biggest thing you've learned, like what's been like maybe the biggest shift, the biggest change? I don't know, you know, I think there's always, you know, when you've done something consistently for that long, because most people would do something like this. And then let's be honest, what? Three, four or five months usually 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 behind it. It sounds like what have? What changes have you seen? What have you feel, felt, found? Like what's been? You know, looking back on 12 months, what's been the yeah, and you know what, what have you changed? You know like what, what? Maybe did you start off like oh, this, but it's like, oh, actually, this is, I think, how it works. Like you know what's been like the good, bad, like how have you adapted it, moved and changed it?
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 2:So, last, last June, was our very first all team get together, if you will party. Uh, previously that's not something that had been done. Departments would have inter departments. You know the culinary team might get together, the golf team might get together, but never the entire staff of Lonco, which you know we waffle around a hundred employees, so it's not a massive group. So in theory it should be relatively easy at least once a year for us all to get together. But it had just never happened before.
Speaker 2:So when Mario came on board he said we got to do it and the leadership and culture crew kind of took that under their under their wing and they made it incredible. You know there's a little educational component of you know we have a 401k. One of our benefits providers comes in and does some education and we have lunch, but then after that it's fun. You know there's team building exercises. 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 their day off and spend time with their coworkers. So but the leadership culture crew, they got to talk about what would make the employees want to come and what would make them excited about it, and so that influenced. We got a snow cone truck, we got a water slide, we got a dunk tank. We got the fun stuff.
Speaker 2:But we also had a craft for people who didn't necessarily want to go to a water slide. We got a dunk tank. We got the fun stuff, but we also had a craft for people who didn't necessarily want to go down the water slide and we had pickleball, and so we had our sports center team teaching people how to play pickleball, and so you got to experience the club. It was held at the club, um yeah, on a monday, and you got to experience the club grounds as if you were a member and play on the pickleball courts that the members play on, and the membership is extremely supportive of this as well. By the way, they love to see us getting together Anytime we do trainings or whatnot.
Speaker 1:They they're really enthusiastic about that, um sorry, it'd be fun if, like one time, you got the members to be like the bartenders and servers and 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 be funny. If you want to get like, have them have put the uniform and then have like, have the staff try to pretend to be other members.
Speaker 2:Ooh, it's dangerous waters. I know, I know, but no, I think that'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 serve alcohol at this event and it's something that's been talked about and some people are like well, more people would come if there was alcohol.
Speaker 2:But you know what we pay them and so there's the conflict. Right, I don't want to pay you and serve you alcohol, drink on the clock. But every employee who comes to that, that's paid time and the appreciation that exists because of that. And you know, once in a blue moon, the leadership and culture crew in our hr department. You know we've got employee retention dollars to spend on things like that and maybe it's randomly a $10 gas card, maybe it's, you know, a little incentive at Christmas time beyond the bonus. But they get to come up with these fun little flash ideas to dazzle and to wow and to to spend resources for those club team members to spend their time where they could be doing their day jobs. They could be in the pastry shop or behind a bar, but they're sitting in an office brainstorming, weaving the dreams of how to keep people loving their time at Long Cove.
Speaker 2:And one of my favorite byproducts of this program is the way that those employees, those team members, they look at their jobs differently. They feel a sense of responsibility being a part of that leadership and culture crew and it's so awesome to see them take pride and in a lineup or a pre-shift or just walking around. You can see them living and breathing the things that we as leaders in management, you know we go to conferences and seminars to learn how to get people inspired, but sometimes it can fall on deaf ears. Right, we're the manager. It's our job to get people excited about.
Speaker 2:You know chit, accuracy and things like that, but these people are really, really demonstrating what it means to be a proud member of the team and it's a big source of pride for me. I'm not even a part of the group, by the way. It's marketing big source of pride for me. I'm not even a part of the group, by the way. It's marketing human resources and Mario. So the rest of the department heads are not directly involved, other than our role in the orientation program. But to see the success of this group is so inspiring and I'm so proud. And I definitely want to shout out Lindsay Finger, carrie Correa for their hard work because it's really made a difference in a short you know a year short window of time and we see it continuing to strengthen. It's exciting to dream up what they might be doing next.
Speaker 1:Have you seen an increase in employees referring other people or positions open at the club Like? Has that been like a metric that you've seen or tracked or can tell about?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and in in response to that, we've just rolled out a formal referral program where any employee smarter.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, yeah, I mean I feel like it's common sense. Most clubs have something like that. We, we did not have something formally like that, but more and more people have asked can I recommend my cousin to work here? And we didn't want there to be a question of should we? It's like, yeah, obviously we should. And so at our team meeting we just had our all team employee party we rolled it out where if an employee recommends someone and they stay for 90 working days, there's a cash prize at the end of that 90 days and we're basically just it's already been happening and so now we're saying thank you for that and getting ahead of it and offering a little incentive. And I mean it's awesome to work with people you love. And I mean I told you how many friends and families and siblings and parents and children already work together, and so we're actually you know funny story we had a young man recently.
Speaker 2:He hasn't even started, he starts in four days. He interviewed, he did a one night kind of a stage shift in the kitchen with chef. He said yep, I love it here, I can feel it, I can smell it. You guys are. You guys are rock stars, I'm all in. He's a line cook, you can smell it and, uh, you know, you can tell, you can tell walking into a place that's a great place to work or not. Um, and Long Cove's got it going on for sure.
Speaker 2:But he, he hasn't even started yet and he said, hey, here's my sister, she's a server at this restaurant and you know, I, I love working with my sister and I 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 first day on the job and he believes that Long Cove is a wonderful place to be. He's right, by the way, it is an incredible place. Um, but that's what it's all about is is we want that culture to be palpable. You should be able to cut it with a knife and, uh, we work hard at it and everybody is bought into that vision. It's a big source of pride for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, has it always been that way or has it started to crank up more over the past couple of years?
Speaker 2:I would say it's definitely ramped up.
Speaker 2:There's always going to be people who aren't fully bought into the vision and the feeling is, you know, grab an oar and row in this direction or you know you can hop out of the canoe. And there are people along the way who hop out of the canoe and you know you wish them well on their way. But if somebody is not going to be bought into the vision, then there's just no place for them in an organization. If they're going to be a detractor and that's something else we could touch on is the net promoter score of a membership is something that we look at and take into consideration when we make decisions. But we also just measured the net promoter score of our employees. We just did an employee survey through club benchmarking and Long Cove ranked in the 95th percentile in terms of employee satisfaction. We outpaced industry average on every single metric, except maybe one in that survey and we were proud to show those results at a recent employee party. And I've even heard chatter amongst the staff. They keep saying 95th percentile, 95th percentile.
Speaker 1: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 like that. It's just showing that you care and just those little surprises, those little perks that people appreciate. It's just showing, hey, we're all here to you know, we're going to work hard, play hard. Here's our culture, here's our culture, here's our vibe. It's amazing that you've created that too, in a place where people have to be there, so like cause, there's clubs where people have the world meeting. You know, they could really choose their membership, they could do whatever and like they don't, you know, continue thinking. They just stop thinking and like they don't do the work. But you guys are. You know, limitations force creativity. It's amazing to hear how much positivity and good, good work you and the club are doing. Thank you so much for coming on. I feel like we're going to talk a few more times. There's so much more we can dive into, but thank you for coming on, thank you for sharing and really appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Denny, thank you so much. It's been an honor.
Speaker 1:Hope you all enjoyed that episode. I know I did. Caitlin, thank you so much for coming on and sharing it, for all you do for your club and your people, and the people who are there Really appreciate it. If you want to learn more about management in motion, head over to privateclubradiocom slash management in motion. A couple of seats left. We're going to have so much fun. That is this episode. Until next time. I'm your host, danny Corby. Catch y'all on the flippity flip.
