Going Out With a Great Idea

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
March 2008
 

Next month, the April issue of C&RB will again provide a special report on the latest and greatest ideas being implemented by pace-setting clubs and resorts. And this will include a fresh look at how many properties now use “the idea process” as an ongoing approach to management, as we did last year in featuring the Kansas City (Kan.) Country Club.

So as we prepare for another Ideas issue, we thought it would be fitting to first “honor” KCCC’s outgoing General Manager, Gregory Webb (cited in last year’s article as the “Ideas Guru”), by relating one last great idea he came up with to serve as a fitting farewell to his staff before leaving the club business (just temporarily, we hope; Greg is moving with his wife and son to Mazatlán, Mexico, to spend more time as a family and introduce their son to another culture while still relatively young).
For his final annual employee holiday party after 8 1/2 years at KCCC, Greg decided he wanted to go beyond the “usual boring conga and limbo lines, Elvis impersonators, and karaoke singers.” Instead, he invented a new game called “Hide Your GM.”

“We found a local marketing organization that sells custom-painted bobble-heads,” Webb relates. “We took pictures for the model and e-mailed them in.” He then drew up a plan for engaging everyone at the party through a scavenger hunt, with teams of employees trying to find bobble-heads that would be hidden throughout the property, to earn extra raffle tickets for their team.

“After getting the bobble-heads, we hid them in various locations and took digital pictures to later use as clues,”explains Webb. “After taking the pictures, we collected the bobble-heads and waited until just before the party to rehide them—we didn’t want anyone to find one early!”

Since some departments would have an advantage over others in interpreting the clues, Webb decided to make the teams random. When employees checked in for the party, they were given one of 10 different stickers to wear. The sticker determined the team.

“At the appointed time, we instructed the employees to find their teammates. Then we handed out the rule sheets and read the rules aloud, in English and in Spanish,” says Webb.

After a countdown, every team ripped open their envelope with clues, and the hunt was on.

Teams were limited to finding two bobble-heads, “to help keep things balanced,” Webb notes.

Ever the Idea Man, as a parting gift to the industry (again only for now, we hope), Webb suggests these other ground rules for clubs that might want to stage similar treasure hunts themselves—with or without bobble-heads:

• Ensure 100% participation by closing the bar when the fun begins
• Make it clear that if a room is not lit, nothing is hidden in it, and also that nothing is hidden in the restrooms
“Employee parties are an important part of any club culture,” Webb notes. “If you keep them fresh and show that you care by putting in time and attention, the staff will be grateful.”