Page 44 - GBC English Winter 2022

At the virtual 2021 Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show, delegates submitted ideas in advance for the Great Canadian Idea Share that showcased their best money-saving and revenue-generating ideas. The top 10 semi-finalists were chosen and they presented their ideas live during the virtual event with delegates voting for their top 4 favourite ideas.
It was a competitive process with many creative and impressive ideas from members across the country. The top 4 finalist ideas will be featured in the Golf Business Canada magazine. Compliments of Tee- On Software, each of the 4 finalists received a gift card from Home Hardware, with the winner walking away with a cool $5,000 gift card!
Leadership Development
Slade King, Play Golf Calgary, AB slade@playgolfcalgary.com
We realized that moving forward; it is going to be tougher and tougher to find young people to fill career management positions. We were also not doing a great job formalizing any type of teaching or mentorship. So, we decided to create a Leadership Development Program for managers and assistant managers.
We compiled the best books, podcasts, websites, and newsletters that our senior managers have learned from over the years. Every- thing from golf-specific skills, where we created our own Play Golf Calgary Certifications in topics like Agronomy, Leagues and Tourna- ments, Retail Management, Fertilizer Practices, to general personal devel- opment topics like, nutrition, sleep, time management and budgeting.
We used a software program called Basecamp to outline the task each week. Managers completed the task, learned something new, and opened up discussions between managers and assistants, different departments, and different team members at our different courses.
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Thetaskkeptourseniormanagers accountable to teach their assistants specific learning outcomes and everyone knew exactly what they would learn over the season.
Once the material was gath- ered and all of the to-do lists and timelines were set, it was easy to duplicate for each new person that wanted to participate. This year, we had 6 managers and 8 assistants going through the program. Next season we are opening up a condensed version to any of our staff who are interested in bettering themselves as well as expanding to more managers and assistants who want to participate.
Moving forward, we see this program as a differentiator in hiring and keeping quality staff. By giving them goals and making them feel a part of something bigger; they will now have a clearly outlined path on how they can progress in the company. It is important to give them something bigger than just trying to compete with wages from the course down the street.
2021 Winner: Girls Golf and Social
Carly Peister, Merry-Hill GC, ON
Finalist: Food Truck
Kevin Graf, Serenity Golf Club, AB
Finalist: Leadership Development
Slade King, Play Golf Calgary, AB
Finalist: Non-Amazing, Need Not Apply
Barry Forth, Copetown Woods GC, ON