Why staff retention should be your club’s top priority

Separating people from their jobs is difficult. There is only stress all around. In the movie “Up in the Air,” George Clooney worked full-time for a firm that spent the day terminating people, because their clients found firing their own employees distasteful. The last time I was separated, it was due to our largest client cutting their agreement by half. When the CEO called me down to his office the next day to discuss things, he said: “It’s not personal…it’s just business.” Yeah, right! Tell my wife that, or the credit card companies. Note: when it involves a person, it’s always personal!

This post has invested many words over time on the value of diligence in hiring. It is difficult. It takes time, a long time, to find the best person for any particular role. In this new world of work, while hiring remains a serious challenge, retaining talented staff can be just as taxing. In any leadership plan, developing a strong team has to be at the top of the list. This includes solid recruitment, proper care and attention, and continuing to lay out expectations for the role while sharing their scorecard.

In this In My Opinion post, I provide three thoughts about what retention can be. While being in charge has many priorities, locating and retaining good people should be high on the list. It all starts with outreach —the first communication —and it never stops. Developing good relationships with your team is just as important as the relationships with members. Think otherwise? Try to create world-class service as you spend your days working to prevent good people from walking out the door. Here are three thoughts on retention:

Retention is a matter of priority. No doubt, your daily to-do list can read like a book chapter: long and challenging. Certainly, when one accepts a leadership role, the daily to-do list comes as part of your welcoming swag. In 2025, retention should come before the A’s on that list. Communicating, spending time with, listening, really listening to every employee should be integral parts. Every meeting, every stop and talk in the clubhouse, should have with it the idea of strengthening the bonds between you and the team member. Retention should be a top daily priority.

Retention is a matter of time. There are the things you hope to do today, and then there are the fires that demand immediate action. Many managers I have known through the years place service to staff as a nice thing to do, “when there is time.”…