One of the challenges that Luke is taking on as part of his apprenticeship is ‘change’ management. We have jointly agreed that it would be good for this change programme to not only be good for the club, but also be:
- better for members
- better for the committee
- better for the environment
- raise money for charity in the process
Even though the benefits of the change Luke is suggesting are very obvious; motivating people to change the habits of a lifetime is no easy challenge.
The goal – within 12 months persuade members to enter their scores digitally on their mobile phones as they go round the course, rather than on a piece of card.
He has persuaded the management that:
Members would benefit:
- by saving time ie fill the card in once digitally rather than twice, once on paper, then once digitally on the terminal
- less queuing up to use the clubhouse terminal
- a contingency should the clubhouse terminal go down
- accurate point scoring, as the system does it for you rather than you having to work it out
Committees would benefit:
- cards more readable (digital)
- leader boards easier?
- other – Luke is investigating potential benefits with the Committee
The environment would benefit:
- less trees cut down
- less energy required to print the cards
- less petrol used delivering them
The charities would benefit:
- because the club will incentivise the change – Luke has negotiated £100 for the men’s charity and £100 for the ladies charity if he hits key milestones
- ladies trained on mobile phone card entry after the game rather than using the terminal ie for the ladies, data is entered via a mobile phone not the terminal. NB Paper cards can still be used as you go round – but 100% conversion from terminal to mobile within 12 weeks – earns the ladies £100 for MNDA
- ditto for men – 100% conversion within 12 weeks earns £100 for On Course Foundation
- effectively the terminal becomes redundant apart from emergency / exceptional use
This gets Luke to stage one – everyone can enter scores on their phones and the only habit broken is the more recent one – using a clubhouse terminal.
Stage 2 – direct score entry on your mobile as you go round, rather than double entry – Luke is discussing this with Dick, Sue and the committee and another charitable incentive will be offered by the club.
This is an exciting initiative and is on England Golf’s radar!!
Good luck Luke!!
