A win is a win, right?
Yes, but it becomes a huge win when you take the 2014 British Open at the tender age of 25. Especially when it's your third major win. And you're on the way to a grand slam!
All great victories should be celebrated. All great victories are ripe with lessons to be learned. And young Rory McIlroy’s victory gives stadium managers insight into what it takes to achieve operational greatness.
It’s an interesting concept when you step back and realize that athletes role-play every day. They define techniques and ‘hit the ball’ over and over again. It’s a constant pursuit of perfection and it’s never ending.
Majors like Rory make sacrifices, and learn and understand their trade down to a science. It’s the only way they can outperform their competition more times than none.
We’re not saying you’re trying to win the British Open. But you need to understand the importance of learning – not only your trade – but how your team works together. Your ability to achieve operational greatness is directly proportional to the time you take to fully train and prepare your staff for the ultimate test – game day.
Run through protocols to handle for different incidents, with all your staff. This will provide them with a holistic view of the operation – how it works and the understanding of fluidity. Your operation is only effective if it has complete purpose.
Practice and put in the hard work like Rory. Don’t wait to educate your staff on possible hazards at your venue either. Share insights now. It’ll enhance their awareness. The result will be operational greatness on every level, for every game day.
Use the ‘off-season’ to define communication lines, protocols and workflows that support your goal of operational greatness. Your patrons, staff and boss will appreciate the results.
Greatness comes when your guests’ experience - each and every game day – is exceptional. So how well trained and rehearsed is your team? How ready are you to provide greatness to your guests? Hesitant? Check out our blog about the four must-have tools to enhance the guest experience on game day.
All your preparation will be center stage for the masses to witness. It’s a live event. And your talents will be tested. Let’s bring home a victory.
Communication lines established. Check. Protocols in place. Check. Workflows…are flowing, efficiently. Check.
Your all-star team is ready for game day, but what lies ahead is uncertain. Prepare for the unexpected.
You’re expecting the common incidents and guest requests: intoxicated patrons rooting for opposing teams are fighting, season ticket holders complaining about broken cup holders, and the lady who always needs a wheelchair and gives your ushers a hard time.
But do you have the confidence to handle the incidents you least expected? The ones off the beaten path? Like someone falling out of a window onto other patrons? You should be. These are the occurrences that really count.
You are prepared for this. You practiced and practiced with your team. And no matter what’s thrown your way, you acquired the confidence and peace of mind to deliver a game day experience people will continuously look forward to – for every game.
That’s what Rory did this Sunday. When Sergio Garcia began catching up, Rory persevered with absolute confidence and peace of mind.
"Keep going about my business," McIlroy told ESPN's Tom Rinaldi. "I knew Sergio was getting pretty close but I knew I still had the par 5s coming up on the back nine which gave me a little bit of a peace of mind."
Expect uncertainty. But possessing absolute confidence in your operational effectiveness (and strengths) long term will give you the peace of mind you worked so hard for.
"I feel like I've come a long way in the past 18 months. A lot has happened to me. My determination and hard work has really paid off." – Rory McIlroy
Now your well-oiled machine is delivering operational effectiveness. Celebrate the wins. Hard work through preparation and confidence, before and during events is something you mastered.
Take what you accomplished and look it over. As a stadium manager we know you work to deliver total operational effectiveness AND greatness – all the time – but you might experience obstacles on occasion.
Rory McIlroy doesn’t always win, but he’s great at getting more victories than none. Manage and use your analytics to determine where in your operation you have a handful of missing pieces.
Ask yourself: What went well about the event? What can we improve upon? What should we do differently next time?
Answer these questions when reviewing each event to shed light on how your current operational effectiveness measures up. Are you great? Find the obstructions in your stadium’s operation. And now you can figure out all the associated problems.
For instance, analyzing incident response times provides you understanding about your weaknesses…and strengths. Use them to improve your processes and strengthen your protocols even more. Response times also have a ripple effect influencing other areas of your operation. These effects can be good or bad. Faster response minimizes short term and long term impacts of incidents.
Response times can be the determining factor for a successful ‘British Open win’ type of game day or a ghastly ‘World Cup loss like Brazil.’
Practice with perfection in mind to instill absolute confidence in your operational effectiveness. Define the statistics important to your operation, measure them – and most importantly – use them.
Strive to be a better stadium manager like Rory strives to be a better golfer.
Rory gets the Claret Jug. You get operational greatness.
Everyone’s a winner. And that’ll give us a little peace of mind too.
Click here to see how you can implement integrated operation management software to supercharge your operational effectiveness today.
Click here to read the recap on Rory McIlroy’s 2014 British Open victory.