Page 20 - GBC English summer 2022

“You need to be extra vigilant about how job insecurity, changed responsibilities (doing more with less), and COVID fatigue have impacted your staff’s mental health and motivation.”
transparency has helped their staff cope, realize shared values, and strive for common goals even as their responsibilities changed.
As a golf course owner or operator, you need to get your employees out of COVID mode and back to being motivated, creative and productive team members. How do you do that? Invest in your staff with training and education and show them that their wellbeing is important to you and to the course. Better still, ask them what they need to help them succeed and cope in this new normal. Find out what they would like to learn to enhance their skills. Provide them with suggestions or offer training that benefits everyone.
Being proactive is another way leaders can be prepared for any crisis/emergency situation. How do you know what you need to know? There’s a myriad of class- es, workshops, and even mentor- ships designed specifically for owners and operators. You can help your people by designing best practices for health and safety, emergency response, dealing with the emotional and mental fallout of witnessing an emergency situation, or providing CPR or first aid. A mentor can work closely with your facility to help you create a crisis-
ready plan and keep it up to date, make sure the right people are trained for emergency response or establish health and safety teams, and empow- er them to help keep the facility compliant and the people safe.
So, will we ever get back to the normal we once knew? Not likely, but as leaders, you will need to use everything in your arsenal to get your teams back on track. The following are six key skillsets that will help you lead your team to a new normal.
1. COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY WITH PEOPLE DURING OR FOLLOWING A CRITICAL SITUATION
You need to be extra vigilant about how job insecurity, changed responsi- bilities (doing more with less), and COVID fatigue have impacted your staff’s mental health and motivation.
Depression, sadness and anxiety are on the rise and there are very real fears of getting sick, another pandemic, more shutdowns, wondering what the future holds, etc. Having open and honest conversations is key to create positive change. Enhancing your listening skills effectively and how to talk to people to put them at ease and treat them with respect every day.
When emotions are high, knowing how to react and respond appro- priately, support others and take care of yourself helps everyone survive and flourish, and gets staff back to productive work more quickly. Be transparent about why changes are being made and ask for your staff’s input when possible.
Having those human, tough conversations during and after a crisis situation is even more important. Find education programs on crisis that focus specifically on the language of crisis, and best strategies to cope. This messaging will be more helpful than you think.
2. MANAGING CHANGE IN UNPREDICTABLE TIMES
During the pandemic, you had to be flexible in the way you ran your facil- ity. Managing change is now more important than ever. It helps staff members understand and buy into the changes. The pandemic has taught us that the services we offer need to be more efficient and beneficial to the people they serve. Transparency and long-term planning are critical for business confidence.
20 Golf Business Canada