The Timeshare Beat: Jerry Sikes; With Regard to Three Cs and an I

Cooperation is the principle of all markets and many marriages. -Mason Cooley-

Some collaboration has to take place in the mind between the woman and the man before the art of creation can be accomplished. -Virginia Woolf-

Continuous improvement is attained more readily by a concern with the quality of results than with the purity of motives. -Eric Hoffer-

The prevailing economic conditions require that we all take a hard look at the costs that we pass on to our clients. This condition exists in every aspect of timesharing or vacation ownership. Development and acquisition cost are high as are those for sales and marketing of the product. Annual assessments or maintenance fees continue to rise due to inflation factors and other incomes are lower because of the diminishing discretionary dollars available to resort guests.

Those of us in resort operations know full well that it’s unusual that one thing, in and of itself, can have a significant impact on the operating budgets, however a combination of things may well produce dramatic change. If we instill a degree of cooperation between our various departments some collaboration will most always occur that will lead to continuous improvement.

Picture if you will that little red train that was attempting to chug its way up a grade with over a dozen boxcars and a caboose stretched out behind. Then envision a little blue train running along side on another set of tracks with only one boxcar and a caboose. The second little train signals the first that when it (the red train) passes the junction, the blue train will cross onto the red train tracks, hookup and push with all its might. Don’t you know that with this cooperation and collaboration both trains will be able to crest the grade in record time and the train master will note that by working together in such a manner the trains should be able to haul almost two dozen boxcars and need only one caboose on the next trip.

Some may indicate that there is very little difference in cooperation and collaboration. In reality there is a major difference and that difference is the thing that sets up the opportunity for continuous improvement. Cooperation denotes that those involved are associates while collaboration adds the element of a common goal. It is this common goal which invokes the continuous, or its possibility.

The age-old conflicts between operating departments, the front desk and housekeeping concerning the late check-out, almost everyone and the accounting staff in the area of timely submission of invoices, the maintenance man who leaves a mess in a unit for some other associate to clean up, almost every associate and the payroll clerk regarding the punch detail, the tennis pro and the dirty courts, the communication gaps caused by language differences, and so on. These are some of the everyday occurrences that are so commonplace that we often ignore them, the damages they do to the spirit of cooperation, the barriers they raise, which inhibit collaboration, and ultimately bring improvement to a standstill.

You will already have noticed that these occurrences have almost nothing to do with the bricks and sticks, the utilities and grass, or the pots and pans. They are all about the most valuable of our resources, the human component. Because most of these human resources have all of the five basic senses intact doesn’t mean that they have the common sense to cure themselves of ailments on the job. In fact the opposite is often the case. We humans often hear or see something that hurt our feelings, lose touch with reality and react, and then we smell victory and the taste of revenge. Then we find out that the symptoms of our ailment have worsened.

In all humans there is a very fragile factor that relies on all five of our senses for substance. Once this factor has been disrupted it is extremely difficult to restore it to the same level of its prior existence. On the job its absence creates havoc on most every level, and until such time as it becomes abundant, cooperation, collaboration and continuous improvement will occur infrequently if at all. That factor is trust.

Final Thought

To put this idea of trust into focus one only needs to get into the mind of that little red train struggling up that grade knowing full well that by pressing on it would eventually prevail. Just when its effort was at max, it receives a signal from the little blue train on the next track that it was going to cross over and hook up. Does little red believe that the other train is going to hook on for a free ride or that it intends to add its power and push so that both will reach the summit with ease?

Do we react with skepticism on the job? Do we always wonder what’s in it for that associate offering assistance, especially unsolicited assistance or do we say thanks and offer to return the favor whenever necessary?

The foundation is in the trust and as that trust begins to solidify the blocks of cooperation begin to interlock into a solid entity that becomes a team. As the team begins to recognize its strength synergy follows, collaboration becomes commonplace and with that improvement occurs. As the cycle begins anew with expanding trust, cooperation and collaboration follow and the improvements become continuous.

When times become tough the smart operator gathers around himself/herself those he/she genuinely trusts and asks for their cooperation in assessing the situation. It is through this collaboration solutions are forthcoming which invariably make things better. The questions remains thus.... Are you worthy of trust? Can you activate the three C’s and an I?