In the third instalment of a four-part series, we spoke with Royal Troon’s Club Secretary Stephen Anthony about the importance of team culture.
How much of a team effort does it take to deliver a successful event like The Open?
Delivery of a successful event is all about team effort and there are many teams and dare I say many meetings to attend. I don’t think many people will understand how many organisations and teams are involved in putting on an event of this magnitude and without all teams working as one it would not have been as successful as it was. From The R&A, South Ayrshire Council, Police, Fire, Ambulance, Coastguard, Security Advisers, local clubs, Championship Committees, volunteers, the club itself and many more, you will understand to some degree the number of teams and the big team that it involves.
As an example, there were three cardiac arrests in the venue during The Open and with all teams working together all three survived. Without that teamwork the chances are that one or more might not.
From the club’s perspective, I am indebted to my managers, in particular my Course Manager, Billy McLachlan, who was overseeing his fourth Open in charge and his sixth in total, and my clubhouse Manager, Helen Stockton, who was with me for the 2016 Open and the teams they had supporting them. The event both outside on the course and inside the clubhouse would not have been the success it was without them. Again, the hours that were put into the preparation and delivery of the event and the service were not counted by them, but you can imagine what it takes to provide meals for 2,500 formal diners as well as ‘grab and go’ food and beverages throughout the event for the 600 or so members with up to three guests each.
Are you conscious of being the one who has to set the tone for other club staff in terms of your work ethic and mind set?
My work ethic and mindset have never been challenged ever since I started my working life and as I have always said to all, I do not expect any member of staff to put in the hours that I do. I am not therefore conscious of being the one who has to set the tone for other club staff but if you lead by example staff will support and follow you. If you are seen to care about what you do then others will see that and again will follow your example.
When a major event comes to an end, do you have a debrief to discuss how things went and consider key learnings from it?
Each Convener on the Championship Committee writes a report that includes meeting notes, schedules and key learnings from the week itself for their area of responsibility. Likewise, the heads of department pull together their notes and schedules from the many meetings held prior to the Championship and their findings from the event and add these to their files. A number of separate debrief meetings are held with an overall debrief meeting held by the Championship Committee before all reports are brought together into an overall report. This is submitted to and discussed with The R&A at a final debrief meeting between the Championship Committee and The R&A.
The learnings from our experience are shared with the next host club to hopefully assist them and, as happened this year, we used our findings from 2016 and those from more recent Opens to prepare and deliver this Open.
