Following a daily regimen of “prove and improve” has helped Michael Stott, CCM, CCE, direct the escalating success of Baltimore (Md.) Country Club and reach a personal pinnacle—Excellence in Club Management Awards recognition.
After a devastating fire swept through Baltimore, Md., in the winter of 1904, burning more than 1,500 buildings in 30 hours, Mayor Robert McLane captured the grit and essence of the mid-Atlantic city when he told the Baltimore News, “We shall make the fire of 1904 a landmark not of decline, but of progress.” Two years later, the rebuilding had already progressed to the point that the Baltimore American declared, “One of the great disasters of modern time had been converted into a blessing.”
Achievements at Baltimore CC Under Michael Stott’s Leadership• Compliments-to-complaints ratio improved from 23:1 to 32:1 in three years (goal is 25:1). Harvesting, using and promoting several thousand pounds of local produce from on-campus garden in club’s culinary program contributed to increase, by creating strong new sense of pride and appreciation among membership. |
Michael Stott, CCM, CCE, hails originally from Michigan, but he clearly shared the same drive when he arrived in Maryland almost exactly 100 years later to direct one of Baltimore’s most venerable institutions, Baltimore Country Club (which survived the 1904 fire as a six-year-old club). And since Stott became Baltimore CC’s General Manager and Chief Operating Officer in 2003, his operating mantra of “prove and improve” has kept an already respected and honored club on a steady path of advancement—an especially impressive achievement given the challenges of the recession that rose up to present particularly ominous threats to traditional, city-oriented clubs shortly after Stott’s arrival.
With characteristic humility, Stott cites his supporting staff at Baltimore CC, along with the motivation and strength he draws continuously from his faith and family, as the primary reasons for how he and his Baltimore CC team have been able to keep the club well-positioned in a fast-changing environment, despite its especially challenging operating profile (nearly 3,500 members and 375 employees that are spread out over two campuses seven miles apart, and that include nearly 190,000 sq. ft. of clubhouse space and other facilities, two 18-hole golf courses, and over 480 total acres).
When he contemplates all of the achievements and initiatives that led to his being named the winner of The James H. Brewer Award, through the 2014 Excellence in Club Management Awards co-sponsored by the McMahon Group and Club & Resort Business, Stott also feels compelled to balance the ledger by admitting that he once thought it would be OK to offer a Maryland crab cake made with salmon.
But when probed about his management approach, Stott makes it clear that an unrelenting drive to avoid complacency and to engage the entire team in a collective push for continuous improvement has been vital to staying out in front of all that an operation of Baltimore CC’s scope involves.
“Leaders do discomfort well,” he says. “You can never forget that you’re only as good as your last burger or Board meeting. While yesterday may have been a good day, today has to be better.”
At the same time, Stott has learned that as a leader, one of his biggest responsibilities is to create an atmosphere of encouragement that does not transfer that discomfort to those around him. “It’s important to make sure everyone maintains an optimistic, positive perspective that’s focused on opportunity and solutions, as opposed to blame and fault,” he says. “We may not always get it right, but we want to have the right attitude and reasons for deciding what to try and how to go about trying it.”
Ideas Implemented Successfully at Baltimore CC Under Michael Stott’s Leadership• Manager-in-Development program has helped to identify emerging food-and-beverage management talent and develop their operational and leadership abilities. The yearlong program rotates participants through quarterly experience in a la carte, banquet, outlet and general clubhouse management duties. |
A key to making the right decisions, Stott adds, is the importance that he places on listening and learning, both as a personal operating principle and a major point of emphasis to his staff. “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion,” he says, citing Proverbs 18:2.
Adhering devoutly to this approach, Stott believes, was a key reason why Baltimore CC “came out of the recession in better condition than we went into it.” In addition to forging ahead with what has now totaled nearly $30 million in capital investments during Stott’s 13-year tenure, including major restorations of its two golf courses, the club has put a major focus on what he describes as “not just talking about being a family-friendly club, but showing it.”
Beyond also putting a renewed emphasis on the enhancement of pool, tennis and fitness facilities, this has involved creating new staff positions dedicated to membership development, communications, events (both club and private), and family activities. Collectively, these changes and their resulting initiatives and efforts have led to an injection of new membership that’s lowered Baltimore CC’s average age from 64 to 53 in the time Stott has been there, he reports.
Still—and not surprisingly—Stott feels there’s more that can be done to further expand the relevance of Baltimore CC and awareness of all that it can offer, both to existing members and potential ones. It hosted the Senior Players Championship for three consecutive years from 2007-09, adding to its storied golf legacy as one of only two clubs in the world to have hosted a men’s U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Men’s U.S. Amateur, U.S. Walker Cup, U.S. Women’s Open and Champions Tour major. With the East Course at the Five Farms campus restored to its full A.W. Tillinghast-designed glory, the club may now be ready to add new chapters to that history. And beyond what golf can now offer, Stott and his staff remain hyper-focused on finding ways to maintain “cutting-edge appeal that rivals anything in town” for tennis, dining and everything else the club provides.
“That’s the cool thing about the club business,” enthuses Stott, who also found time to earn an MBA in 2010 while in the midst of steering Baltimore CC through the recession. “It offers great opportunity for entrepreneurialism, and the freedom to plan and execute a lot of exciting projects. You just have to stay true to your responsibilities and learn how to find, and follow, the right direction.”
Honoring ExcellenceThe Excellence in Club Management (ECM) Awards were established by the McMahon Group, Inc., the St. Louis-based consulting firm, in 1997 and have been co-sponsored by Club & Resort Business since 2006. The annual awards are selected through nominations submitted on behalf of qualified candidates by other parties. Award recipients are selected solely on the basis of their achievements at the club they currently manage; “lifetime achievements” are not considered. Awards in four categories are given each year: A Selection Committee comprised of a peer group of leading club managers conducts the judging for the ECM Awards; the McMahon Group and Club & Resort Business are not involved in the selection of the winners. The Selection Committee for the 2015 Awards was chaired by Kevin Vitale, CCM, General Manager/COO of Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, N.J. A full listing of judges, in addition to information on past winners and on how to nominate candidates for future years’ awards, can be found at the special website for the ECM Awards, www.clubmanageraward.com. The deadline for submitting nominations for the 2016 ECM Awards is November 11, 2016. In addition to in-depth articles in Club & Resort Business that detail the achievements of each ECM winner, individual presentation ceremonies are held at their clubs. All winners are also honored at the Excellence in Club Management Awards Dinner, held each year in conjunction with the Club Managers Association of America World Conference. The 2015 Awards Dinner was held this February in San Diego, Calif., and sponsored by ClubCorp, Denehy Club Thinking Partners, ForeTees LLC, Preferred Club, Toro and Yamaha Golf Car. |
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