Happier employees mean better customer service-and members who keep coming back. Here are some easy ways to grow your employee satisfaction and boost your club’s long-term success.
A critical question that has plagued clubs for as long as managers have watched over employees is: How do we improve the job satisfaction of our staff?
One successful method for doing so is to involve employees in the decision making process. Allowing employees to share their expertise and opinions may foster a culture of trust and cooperation. But how do you put this method into action? The answer may lie in proper decision making. Let us examine four approaches to making a decision.
The Solo Flyer
The first approach is when a manager makes a decision without any input whatsoever from the employees. This approach may be seen as inconsiderate by workers who may feel that management is intentionally disregarding their importance to the company.
The Closed-Door Whisperer
The second decision making approach involves the manager approaching select employees individually and seeking advice or input before then passing along the decision to the remainder of the staff. This may get certain employees involved, but may leave others feeling alienated.
The Meeting Leader
Using the third approach to make a decision involves the ubiquitous group meeting.
Following a briefing on the decision, the employees share their opinions with the manager, all with theperipheral benefit of giving a manager a much better understanding of what will satisfy their needs. You can see a trend in these three approaches: the greater the degree of inclusion of employees in managerial decision-making, the greater the degree of employee job satisfaction.
The Vote-Collector
The fourth approach in decision making involves gathering employees together who will be affected by the decision and allowing them-as a group-to decide the course of action which should be taken. Some managers may be apprehensive to turn over so much control to their employees. However, under the proper conditions, this approach may prove quite satisfying to employees and managers alike-and may result in a positive solution that employees will fully support. After all, it was their idea.
So, how can you decide which approach to use? Consider the case of the club manager who needs to purchase new basic uniforms for her staff.
First, the manager must consider what degree of knowledge is needed to make a decision that will provide for the best solution. When faced with three or four standard uniform styles, most people would be able to make a selection without any type of special knowledge.
Second, the manager should examine the time allotted for this decision making process. The more time available for the decision-making process, the more that you will be able to involve your employees in the decision. Short of a true disaster, it is hard to imagine that such a decision on these uniforms must be made with a split- second determination.
Third, the manager must consider the degree to which the employees have personal stakes in the matter. Employees with greater vested interests in the decision surely will want to be involved. Most people would consider what they wear to be a means of personal expression-surely an issue in which employees would feel a personal interest.
Here we can see that the third and fourth approaches would seem to work best in this uniform-purchasing situation. Using these methods achieves our goal- involving employees in such ways to improve their job satisfaction, all without tying the hands of managers or holding up the decision-making process. This improved satisfaction will lead to what every club manager hopes for-improved employee retention and a higher level of club employee satisfaction.
Dr. Linsley T. Deveau is Senior Full Professor in the College of Hospitality Management at Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida he can be contacted at 561.237.7856 or by email at ldeveau@lynn.edu .
