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Reflections on the Club Experience
Essays On Club Operations (scroll down for latest)

Gregg Patterson

CMAA

Gregg Patterson has been the General Manager of The Beach Club for the past twenty-two years. He has also been Adjunct Professor at Cal Poly Pomona since 1987. He holds an M.P.S. Degree from Cornell University and a B.A. in British Imperial History from Colgate University. In addition to his ongoing responsibilities at The Beach Club and Cal Poly, Mr. Patterson has been a visiting lecturer at various club manager seminars and assistant manager conferences around the country; has taught at Cornell University and UNLV; has been active on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of CMAA; and has taught at BMI II since 1990. Prior to becoming General Manager of The Beach Club in 1982, Mr. Patterson was Assistant Manager of the Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles from 1980 to 1982 and a Systems Analyst for the Army Club Systems after receiving his graduate degree from Cornell in 1979. In addition, Mr. Patterson is the President and C.E.O. of Patterson Airlines, a closely held flying service based in southern California and President of the "The Reflective Experience", a speaking business headquartered in Los Angles, California.

(Here is more information from Gregg's CMAA member page. )
http://www.cmaa.org/prodev/sp_guide/patterson.htm

For The Essays on Club Operations Scroll down.

Ethics, Staff Development, Communications, Youth Programs, "Club Sense"

Creating Youth Programs That Capture and Retain Members in the Private Club Environment Children and the family have become an increasingly important part of the total private club experience. For many clubs, the "family experience" is a new direction fraught with confusion, uncertainty and resistance. This presentation addresses the need for youth oriented family programs and systematically outlines the different steps a manager should take in developing such a program for their club.

Designing Effective Employee Orientations
This presentation discusses the dynamics of the new employee orientation and provides a checklist for designing a customized program for the hospitality workplace.

Teaching "Club Sense" to New Members, New Employees and the Board

The Theory of "Club Sense"

Tactical and Strategic "Club Sense"

The Universals — The Guiding Principles that Need to be Shared

The "Do This Checklist" — A Tactical Approach

The Downside to a "Club Sense-less" Clubhouse

Creating the Service Mindset in the Generation "X" Personality

The Concept of Service and the "Universal Human Condition"

Management Themes and Club Trends for the 21st Century

Identifying the 21st Century Employee: Gen X’ers and the Net’ers

Attracting and "Nurturing" Gen X and Net’er Employees

Developing and Maintaining the Service Mindset

Gregg Patterson
The Beach Club
201 Palisades Beach Road
Santa Monica, CA 90402-1499
(310) 395-3254 – Phone
(310) 395-8857 – FAX
E-mail: gjpair at aol.com

Essays On Club Operations

“To see the universe in a grain of sand…….”

1. Foreword

Clubs are a unique niche within the hospitality business. That said, many of the operational and strategic issues club professionals address are universal to this and every other industry. The reflective act, more than the focus of that reflection, is the key.

The following essays were written to deal with issues specific to my own club, that is The Beach Club, here in Santa Monica, California. I’d like to believe that my career commitment to this special little community has broadened rather than narrowed my perspective on the human and the organizational “condition.” There is always philosophy in the details. The following were written in an effort to understand those guiding principles and the actions that are needed to be consistent with those thoughts.

Club managers will benefit directly by reading these pieces as will other hospitality professionals who deal with the very same issues in a slightly different context. If we understand “the big issues” then the rest will be no more than details. The following suggest guiding principles and offer tactical guidance and methods for their application. Understand that there’s nothing “abstract” in all this---the insights have been gained through that revered school of hard knocks and are truly derived from real-world experience.

The Beach Club has become my world, my universe, my prism into the larger issues of business and people. I’m sure that the eighteenth century British poet William Blake would be pleased to hear this since the thought seems consistent with his own. belief that each of us needs:

To see the world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

Enjoy the reading and the reflective opportunities these provide.

Table of Contents

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Understanding Club Culture Ride On……….

2007

Gregg Patterson, General Manager

The Beach Club

Chautauqua---Huh?

I love Conference.

And to do conference right, I need to bike.

Huh?

To do conference right, I need to bike fifty miles a day, wear spandex shorts, eat pizza off paper plates, drink beer from long necks, patch flat tires, and wipe chain grease off my legs.

Huh?

To do conference right, I need to rub shoulders with association presidents, executives from Ireland, tennis pros from Vancouver, CCMs, no-CCMs, college professors, chefs, Assistant Managers, students, wives, husbands, boyfriends, the fat, the skinny, the wimpy, and the stud-ly---all fellow bikers with sweaty gloves, odd colored shirts, dorky helmets and clacking shoes. Ma buddies.

Understanding Club Culture - The Turning Point
By Gregg Patterson, GM, The Beach Club

A piece of land adjoining our club has become available for purchase. Beach front property. Prime location. Expensive. Assessments will be needed. Debt will be needed. Dues will be raised.

And we’ve never had an assessment, never had debt, never raised the dues precipitously. We’ll have to now. We’ve lived frugally, kept our appetites in check, watched every dollar. It’s been our culture. But things will be different. The culture will change.

We may have arrived at a juncture in the club’s century long journey. New roads will be taken. We’re at a turning point.