Charlie's Staff Blog | Tuesday, November 8, 2022
“The greatest among you will be your servant.” (Matthew 23:11)
After so many failed efforts over the past two years, I refrain from making any prognostications about our financial performance, but if I did, I would say we will finish 2022 in a positive financial position. Though membership has leveled off, it has maintained a slightly favorable performance for the year, a tribute to the hard work of our entire team. The recommendation from the operations team to reinstitute the joining fee has proven to be a strong positive for us, not only generating much-needed revenue, but enhancing the influence of the “no joining fee” offers marketing engineers. Child Care continues to make progress, as the impact of having a stable staff team has reinstilled confidence in our families. Outdoor Environmental Education has grown significantly this fall, as have our youth sports programs. The rebuilding of our economic engine has become much more of a reality, though, our reliance on state and federal grants still plays a critical role in our overall stability. Nick Cail, our association grants writer, remains busy, and his contribution remains vital to our overall fiscal health. Clearly, every aspect of our operation is essential to our well-being, and every one of you plays a critical role in our progress.
Last week, I took a tour of the Emergency Food Network’s operations. They use a portable unit for their administrative offices, and since we are relocating our offices in July of 2023, we took a look at a mobile unit as a possible option. It actually was a beautiful unit, and with the possibility of using some of the back fields at the Morgan Y, it could make sense, especially since we could reuse it as a possible early learning center once we build the new Names Y. We are definitely going to downsize the office space, but we still need space for the functioning of our association, though we considered no space at all to save the money. Stephanie Halvorson, our Executive Assistant, is spearheading the process, and hopefully, we will have decided on a new location by the end of the year. Bruce Caudill, our VP/Chief Information Officer, reminds me that he needs over 90 days to set up the infrastructure for our association, and to ensure that everything is operating perfectly before we move into a new location.
The tour of the Emergency Food Network was fascinating and inspiring. The work they are doing to feed people in Pierce County is nothing short of miraculous. It was very clear that the entire team has a laser focus on their mission and everything they do is aligned with feeding as many people as possible. They all talk about “efficiencies”, that every penny saved means more food for individuals and families. Their team is ferociously focused and passionate about the task at hand. They cannot afford to waste a second of effort, or a kernel of rice, because they know that it means less food for someone and that directly translates to saving a life. Though they are compassionate to people, they are intense about their work, and there is a clear recognition, if someone is not stepping up, people go without food.
When I left the tour, I was asking myself about our mission; “Is everyone on our team clear on what our priorities are, can they clearly connect their work to a specific end goal?” Since I read the book by Jim Collins, “Good to Great”, I have always felt we strived to fulfill the Hedgehog Principle which was an integral component of greatness as defined by Collins. We are passionate about serving our members through quality programs; we are the best in the world in our delivery, and membership drives our economic engine. As aligned as I do feel we are to those principles, there are some flaws in it as well. I do not have doubt in our passion for our work; I see all of you pour your hearts out on a daily basis in serving our members. You are clearly the strength of our association.
Are we the best in the world in what we do? I am confident that there is no one in the world who does anything close to what we do. We have beautiful facilities and offer an unparalleled menu of programs and services. Over the years, competitors have targeted components to what we offer; more swim programs are popping up, with competitors threatening to open in Puyallup and Gig Harbor, but as so many have discovered in the past, it is not a great economic plan to just offer swim lessons. Nevertheless, competitors draw people from our program, because they are looking for something very specialized for their kids and themselves. As we have seen, it is difficult for us to offer “enough” swim services because we are also trying to serve so many, and offer a variety of services in the pool. Water fitness has become extremely popular, and adult swim and recreation swim are desired by our members as well. Are we the best in the world in offering swim lessons, or are we the best at offering a variety of services to as many people as possible? What would it look like if we committed to being the best in the world at offering youth swim lessons? It is a challenge to set aside adequate time for the youth to learn to swim, but our team is amazing at meeting the challenge, and I still believe we are the best in the world at offering quality swim lessons for youth.
For the past 40 years, membership has been the economic engine for the Y. We have ridden the wave of adult fitness to successfully drive our success. Is our economic engine adult fitness, or is it membership? We inherently know that families are our true target group because they can take advantage of all that we have to offer, but when you walk into our facilities, a disproportionate amount of space is dedicated to adult fitness. What is our focus? Is it the adult, youth, or family? Can we be the best in the world at everything, or are we trying to be the best in the world at providing the very best we can to as many different people as we can?
I do think we are extremely ambitious in our efforts to build an economic structure around the services we offer. I believe what we do is great for the community because we do extend our services to people who would otherwise be unable to access these services without financial support. I also believe that what we offer is unique to the community because we address the whole person, mind, body, and spirit. It is our mission to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. I also think the work we are doing in DEIB is directing us to fulfill our mission to serve all, which will enable us to be able to address the needs of people who, historically, have not been as represented in our Y’s.
I do think it is difficult for us to completely satisfy the Jim Collins model that defines Good to Great. It is not easy for us to serve as many different people as we do and still achieve the guidelines Collins has established for greatness. Being the best in the world at any one thing requires a laser focus on that one thing, but I believe our team’s commitment and devotion to impacting people through our programs and services are unparalleled and fulfill the guideline of greatness. By offering what we do, at the level we do, we do provide a great service to so many in our community.
I also know we are great because of the heart of our team. We do bring passion and a strong commitment to making a difference, and that makes our Y great!
#OneY #StayStrong #StayWithUs