Royal Brighton

Managing change within your Club

The trials, tribulations, tantrums and tears of our recent changes

August 2018

•Where we started

•Where we are now

•How we went from A to B

•What causes change

•What can you learn from our pain?

How Royal Brighton effected change

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

"If you want to make enemies,

try to change something“

US President Woodrow Wilson

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• We weren’t in bad shape to start with ….

– Great clubhouse

– Great hard stand and marina

– Great RC boats and equipment

– Lots of junior sailors

– High quality Etchells fleet

– Strong cruising group

– Stable keelboat racing fleet

– Cash in the bank

Where we started

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Great Clubhouse

Great RC boats and equipment

World Class Etchells Fleet

Keelboat racing

• Ageing membership

• Inability to transition juniors to intermediate

• Lack of off the beach racing

• Juniors / Youth sailing boats that no-one else sailed in Victoria

• A 100 year old, uneconomical boatyard being used less and less

• Not much room for OTB boats

• Perceived “Fortress Brighton” exterior sending the message:“Members Only” (i.e. you’re not welcome)

• Reducing membership income

But everything wasn’t rosey in Camelot

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Average age of members 2014 - 2016

Ageing membership

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

2014 2015 2016

• Age profile of members

Transition juniors to intermediate

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

05-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 90-100

• The last club to have a fleet of Sabots and 12ft Cadets in Victoria

• Sabots are a great racing boat, but not so good for learn to sail

• 12ft Cadets were great in their day and good team building boat having

a 3 person crew

• Our juniors seldom went to other clubs, and no-one visited our club!

Orphan boats

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Facilities

– Removed the boatyard and replaced it with OTB storage / rigging area

• Boats we sail

–Optis and Quests replaced Sabots and 12ft Cadets

• Events

–Attracting the right regattas and running high quality, fun events

• Some of this was part of a plan, some of it forced on us, and

some of it we just got lucky

Three areas of change

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Removed the 100 year old slipway and boat yard

– Replaced with a yard with fake grass and OTB boats

– Renovated downstairs area into a bistro open to the

public

– Changed our front and back fences

Facilities

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Average age of the members has reduced for the first time in years

• Kick started the off the beach racing

• Attracted several groups to train out of RBYC

– AS, VIS, VIODA, Laser squads

• Younger RBYC sailors now compete inter-club, interstate and internationally - and we now have “visitors” to our club!

• RBYC has become a venue of choice for regattas

– We are booked out until mid 2020

• Income profile has changed considerably

So what effect has this had

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• For the first time, the average age is decreasing

Average age of membership

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

• Membership fees – 16%

• Marina, hardstand, OTB storage – 25%

• Food and beverage – 50%

• Average monthly food and beverage spend of members

up 70%

Income profile

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Two types of agents of change

– Boiling Frog

– Christmas tree lights

How did we make this change?

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

If you put a frog in boiling water

it will jump out straight away

If you put it in cold water and heat

it slowly, it will sit there and boil

• Boiling Frog scenario

• Slowly ageing membership, slowly declining income

• Christmas tree lights scenario

• Our slipway failed

RBYC managed to have both

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

100 year old slipway pylons failed

• There had been an understanding of the “Boiling Frog” issue

– but there was no compelling date where change was required

– the water was just getting warmed up

• Then hit by “Christmas Tree lights” - the failure of the slipway

• What followed was an independent evaluation comparing:

– Repair the existing slipway

– Replace the entire slipway

– Remove the slipway

• It became evident that the slipway and boatyard were not commercially

viable.

• Very few members worked on their own boats any more

What happened next?

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Committee decided that rather than just remove the

slipway and concrete over the yard that they would look at

the bigger picture and do the job properly

• Decided to create a new café open to the public to

generate a much bigger food and beverage income

stream

• “Significant resistance” to the change in particular

removing the slipway and the yard

Resistance to change

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Obtain an independent review of the financial viability

• Hold a number of meetings with the members

• Listen to objections

• Revise the plan

• Eventually it came to election time

• Re-electing the same Committee recommending the changes gave the Committee the mandate to proceed

Overcoming resistance

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Change from Sabots to Optimists– A number of members purchased Oz Optis and just had them delivered to the club

– RBYC Parents taking their kids to Black Rock so that they could sail Optimists

• Change from 12ft Cadets to Quest Dinghies– Quests are a teenager and adult trainer – Pacer equivalent

– Boats donated by generous members, with the support of the RS dealer

• Our Sabots and 12ft Cadets were donated to other clubs and also a school

The boats we sail

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Resurrection of the George Mac Regatta– Initially a Sabot event, but changed to be an Open event

• Hosting of Sail Melbourne– Loss of World Cup status for Sail Melbourne resulted in a significant drop in funding

for the event

– Needed to find a central venue with less expensive infrastructure costs

• Hosting of selected Class Championships– Preference for State Championships

• Easy to run – volunteers are happy to put in a weekend or two

• Shot in the arm for club sailors – a buzz around the club

• Possibility of attracting members, either in the short or longer term

Hosting selected events

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Fortunate to have good equipment (3 hard bottom boats and 12 rhibs)

• Able to call on good RO’s, course layers etc so quality racing

• Understand the fun element

• DJ onshore

• Bread and a sausage when you come ashore

• Icy poles on the water between races for the kids

– 20 for $2.80

– $21 for 120 Optimists and club volunteers

• (pity about the parking)

Run events that are Quality & Fun

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Run events that are Quality & Fun

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Run events that are Quality & Fun

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

•Change occurs when D x V x F > R

– D - Dissatisfaction with how things are now

– V - Vision of what is possible

– F - First concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision

– R – Resistance

• Because D, V, and F are multiplied, if any one is absent (zero) or low,

then the product will be zero or low and therefore not capable of

overcoming the resistance.

The theory of change – Gleicher formula

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• 1. Communicate a compelling need for change– People need to understand what the problem is and why they can’t continue the way

they’ve always done it

• 2: Get people involved in proposing and making changes– One of the worst things you can do is make people feel like change is being done to them.

Let them air their concerns.

• 3: Be prepared to adapt your own plans based on feedback– Keep your ego in check – you are better to get 95% rather than 0.

• 4: Commit to the change yourself in action and not just words– If you don’t, you can’t expect others to.

• 5: Expect it to take time– It will always take longer than you think

The steps for change

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

• Beware of the boiling frog syndrome

• Don’t buy cheap Christmas Tree lights and beware of 100yo slipways

• Significant change can take place (even at very conservative clubs)

• Keep your eye out for opportunities that might fall in your lap

• Look for the strengths at your club – our changes are not for everyone

• “Town Hall” meetings with members really do work

• Don’t force change upon your members – get them involved

• The number one requirement for a Committee member is a thick skin

What can you learn from our pain?

Australian Sailing | Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Thank you ……