Actually, this post is intended to be a positive one when I heard that Cams Hall Estate in Fareham, Hampshire (owned by Crown Golf) has got a new FEMALE general manager in the person of Heather Tubb. She is still one of the handful of women running a golf club in Hampshire. Heather Tubb having been part of the management team there since 2007.
She brings over 22 years’ experience in golf and hotel management to the role, in a career which has taken her to a variety of venues including the popular Abbotsley Golf Hotel in Cambridgeshire, where she was Assistant Manager. Heather Tubb, is the first female General Manager in Cams Hall Estate’s 25-year history.
Can diverse golf club workforce outperform homogenous workforce?
You could ask, what is wrong with this or why isn’t it totally a positive news.
Well, basically this is a very good news that there are more and more women in senior positions in golf clubs. However, if you read the statistics of the Golf Club Managers Association from 2015 then you will see that only 20% of golf club managers are women in the UK. According to my sources, GCMA today has got 221 female members (in club management positions) out of their total 1130 active members. So we can say, there were no changes in the last two years.
In 2009 it was even less: 15% (189 full female members and 62 female assistants). Add to this that only 14% of England golfers are women (Scotland: 13%, Wales: 12%; Source: KPMG – Golf Participation Report for Europe, 2016).
This low level of women’s participation in golf and golf club management is not typical solely to the golf club industry. Women are accounting for an average of just 12% of executive teams in the United Kingdom.
I have just read the Grant Thorton International Business Report 2016. This report found that:
- 24% of senior roles are held by women (e.g. HR directors: 23%, CFOs: 21%, CMOs: 11%) in the world, but also in the EU;
- 33% of businesses have no women in senior management
The McKinsey study (Diversity Matters) found that companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians. Although they admit that greater gender and ethnic diversity in corporate leadership doesn’t automatically translate into more profit.
The very same study (Diversity Matters) found that in the United Kingdom, greater gender diversity on the senior-executive team corresponded to the highest performance uplift in their data set: for every 10 percent increase in gender diversity, EBIT rose by 3.5 percent.
I think, if golf clubs could have more women in their management they will have better chances to attract women to golf and in general female golfers. Therefore, female GMs and club managers have also got a role model task in addition to the regular club manager duties and tasks.
Golf clubs with more gender diverse workforce will more likely to be able to respond to a rapidly changing business environment than a homogenous one.
Such diversity in the golf club workforce could help golf clubs in many ways:
- Attract and retain talents,
- Strengthen customer orientation,
- Improve customer experience,
- Increase employee satisfaction,
- Enhance the image of golf and of the golf club.
Your Turn
Did these stats change your thoughts about developing a diverse golf club workforce?
Let me know in the comments below!