Collaborating During COVID

Entry Details

At the beginning of the pandemic, just like all of you, we knew we had to do more to keep our members safe, not just within our clubs, but within our chapter. While it seemed everyone was scrambling for information and trying to decipher fact from fiction, we decided to work smarter, not harder. We knew that if we were trying to find information for our members, that our allied associations must be doing the same. We also knew that we had a lobbyist who was in touch with everything that was happening within the Governor's office so we decided to take the first step to getting everyone together, virtually of course.

Since late March the Georgia Allied Association Group consisting of the Georgia CMAA Chapter, Georgia State Golf Association, Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Association, and the PGA Georgia Section met weekly along with their state lobbyist in order to gather information for their members and disseminate it in a manner that is easily deciphered.

During the height of the pandemic they met three times a week. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10am for a call to go over the Governor's Executive Orders and discuss what they meant to our industry. By collaborating together, it allowed us to help see how these executive orders affected all facets of the club and not just the F&B side or the golf side, etc. It allowed us to the see the effects as a whole which definitely assisted in some decision making. Once a week the allied association group drafted a letter to send out to their respective members. This letter provided a consistent update to all members, please see a sample letter attached.

By working together, the allied association group also reached out to clubs that are not part of our associations to share some of the information gathered with them. We wanted to make sure all clubs in Georgia were armed with the same safety information as our members.

Now that the majority of the Executive Orders have expired the allied association meetings take place once a week. If our lobbyist hears of anything during the week from the Governor's office that we should be aware of he lets us know at which time we can schedule an additional call if needed. We plan to continue this weekly meeting for the foreseeable future as we now see this standing meeting as a vital part of our overall operation.

Implementation

Our chapter members have been extremely grateful for the updates produced by the Georgia Allied Association group. They have been very well received with members being very appreciative for the insight they have provided. With members being inundated at times with information and having to decipher between what is accurate and what is not, when they receive an email from the allied association group, they can rest assured knowing the information has not only been approved by their chapter, but also from all of the other golf sections in Georgia as well as from their state lobbyist. To a busy club manager, that peace of mind is invaluable, always.