This Time of the Year
“I like to compare the Holiday Season with the way a child listens to
a favorite story.
The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it
takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.”
- Fred Rogers - (Mister Rogers)
We call this time of the year the Holiday Season. In truth that season began way back on the first Monday of September and will run a
full 117 days in 2004 until we welcome in the New Year. A couple of years ago in With Regard to Tradition we dealt
with the actual holidays that occur during this extendedHoliday Season. Least we forget they are: Labor Day, Rosh
Hashanah - Yom Kippur, Ramadan, Los Dias de Los Muertos - Halloween, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas,
Kwanzaa and New Years Day.
| As a side note: Can you believe that it has been five years
since the Y2K debacle? If you will remember the United
States Senate Special Committee on the year 2000 Technology Problem issued its report to the nation on September
22, 1999. In the Executive Summary of that report it stated: What
will happen when the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 1999? A single, specific answer to that question is
still unknown (and, ultimately, unknowable) but the extensive information developed by the Committee and outlined
in this report provides an understanding of the size, scope and nature of the problems that may occur. |
|
When you list them out like that and count the days that means that in this season we have a reason to celebrate
about every 10 days.
Taking nothing away from the other celebrations that occur during this Season
of Holidays, for me the part that I look forward to occur mostly during the month
of December. Beginning with the Jewish
celebration of Hanukkah,
a happy, fun-filled celebration for the young and the young-at-heart and ending with the march of Father Time and the welcoming of a New Year. I especially like this time of
the year because it includes the celebration of family, friends and colleagues.
This year, 2004, those celebrations began early because we were able to welcome back
our colleague Kris Jamtass
as the headman for RCI in
the West. This was especially nice because we count Kris and his lovely wife Joan as dear friends as well as colleagues. Joan and Kris
hosted a backyard BBQ at their new home in Anthem
(just northwest of Phoenix)
and we were greatly impressed with the view, burgers and Joan’s Sweet Potato Chips. Not long thereafter came the ARDA
Rocky Mt. Regional in Avon and the Leadership Conference DC. I had hoped to see Harry McCoy at one or both of these outings, however that was not to be. Our colleague and friend
Steve Peterson advised me
that Harry was yet to recover
enough for extensive travel, but he had high hopes for attending the spring get-together in Orlando. Pray that it is so.
After returning from DC we got into the more traditional swing of things. Mrs.
Gerry and I watched the Macy’s
Parade, had our usual Thanksgiving meal (especially prepared for us by Boston
Market) and enjoyed a quiet afternoon together before tackling decorating
the outside of the house for the season.
The early part of December is typically focused on welcoming back many of our
SCR Owners at our Annual Owners Association Meeting and the
beginning of our seasonal Owners’ Update
presentations. You may remember we introduced readers to this meeting in With
Regard to Enlightenment a few years ago. The next thing on our calendar
was our annual Board Appreciation Dinner. The
members of the Board of Directors
at SCR receive no compensation
for their services, not even a per-diem. During the Holiday Season
the management team, the subordinate officers and their spouses host the Board Members and their respective spouses
with an informal dinner at one of the Valley’s fine restaurants. This fellowship is intended to show our appreciation
for the hard work these volunteers put in during the past year and their spouses for their understanding of the
commitment in time and effort our Board Members
have made.
It was about this time that my sister and brother-in-law came up from Texas for a visit. Delores was the firstborn of my siblings and when I was born three years later, Mom and Pop
introduced her to me by with these words: “This is your Sister.” My wee little mind was only able to grasp the words ‘this is Sister’ and thus to me she was always ‘Sister’. When the twins (Wanda & Sandra) and Steve
joined our family, I introduced ‘Sister’
to them and that was that. As time passed both Mom and Pop often used that endearing term to identify Delores. Anyway, what better time of the
year than the Holiday Season for
a visit from members of my family. In addition to telling stories on (or about) each other and catching up on the
happenings with our immediate families, Mrs. Gerry
had arranged for us to go see a Christmas Show
at the Broadway Palms Dinner Theater.
This ‘Broadway’ type production featured almost every one of our favorite songs of the season and we enjoyed being
able to sing along with the cast of a couple of them. Ed Rogers and Sister
are expert scroungers and one of the highlights of their visit was spending most of that Friday going from (yard,
carport, garage, patio and estate) sale to sale. Truly, “someone else’s junk is our treasure” was the mission of
the day and the intent was to purchase every item at less than half the asking price. Among the ‘good stuff” Sister came away with were two needlepoint
Christmas Stockings and Ed Rogers
was most proud of the old WW1
gas-mask bag and the 3½ foot long old rusty hacksaw. Way too soon it was time for them to return back to
Texas. Bah Humbug!
One of the highlights of the Holiday
Season is our annual Staff Party. I do not use
the term ‘highlights’ frivolously because along with a great luncheon there were many other great things that happened.
In addition to awarding the SCR Team Player of the Year (Jodi-FD
Lead), Supervisor of the Year (Brian-Chief Engineer) and PRO Associate of the Year (Ralph-Comptroller), we have door prizes,
table centerpiece giveaway and our version of ‘select the gift you want’. Among our traditions is the annual shopping
spree by Eric (Director
of Operations) and Lori
(GM). These two spend one whole day shopping with our money. They search out those very special things that will
become part of our ‘select the gift you want’ giveaway. They get all kinds of neat stuff like Power Tools, Spa
Kits, DVD players and Gift Certificates. All in all, they come back with over a dozen such items. On the day of
the party they arrange all these items on tables with a Tin Bucket directly in front of each. As each staff
member arrives at the party they are given an envelope that contains (among other things) two numbered drawing
tickets with stubs. Each of them then visits the gift display and makes their selection or selections by placing
their ticket in one (or two) of the tin buckets, keeping the stub. Throughout the party, Eric and his assistant Vanna - Clark (Director of Guest Services), will
select a bucket of tickets and the associated gift - parade around the room to showcase it, then find someone who
did not place their ticket in that particular bucket and have them draw out one of the tickets. The ticket number is read and the staff member with the matching numbers is awarded the
gift. PS: Sister and Ed Rogers were our special guests at the
party.
At SCR
we have a very successful rental program for our owners' benefit. The structure of the program is that the owner
receives 70% of the gross proceeds and we retain 30% to cover expenses and other things. To clarify the ‘other
things’, we actually use 28% to cover expenses and 2% goes into an ‘employee fund’. This is where and when the
‘other things’ in the associate envelope comes into play. That envelope also contains a check in the amount of
the associates’ share of the ‘employee fund’. That share is determined by a point system where ‘points’ are awarded
to each associate throughout the year for such things as: length of service, completing cross training programs,
outstanding customer service and other meritorious activities. At the end of the year the number of total points
awarded are divided into the amount of funds in the ‘employee fund’ to determine the dollar equivalent of each
point. At the party each associate receives a check that equates to the number of points he/she received, times
the individual point value. Under the length of service criteria each associate receives a point per quarter employed
for each of the first four years of that employment. This means that each associate with over four (4) years of
service starts the year with sixteen (16) points and that an associate joining the staff prior to October receives
a minimum of one (1) point. For each five (5) years of service the associate receives an additional point thus,
an associate with fifteen (15) years of service would have received three (3) additional points and begin the year
with nineteen (19). This seems to be a fair and equitable method of distributing the amount of dollars in the ‘employee
fund’ and has become another ‘highlight’ of the Holiday Season
at SCR.
All the activity centered on the resort this time of the year is made more
special because we have so many colleagues that have been associates for over five years. We know them on the job,
we know them in/from social occasions and we still like them. I have discussed our management methods extensively
in this column thus most of you know that we use what we call horizontal management (as few layers as possible).
This works to an extent because all the key management team has been together for 5+ years. There is little question
that we know each other’s strengths. This is important because it enhances our reliance upon and trusts of each
other. Dealing with strengths is much more positive than being overly concerned with our weaknesses. Yes, we all
have them, however we have found that it is not all that productive to dwell on them. In With regard to Strengths we talked about breaking
out of this "weakness spiral".
One of the new/old Holiday Season traditions at SCR is that the five members of the key management team have what we call the Directors Lunch. This name came about because
four of the five had held or currently hold that title. Eric - Director of Operations, Reyes - Director of Property Services, Clark - Director of Marketing & Guest Services, Lori - former Director of Administration and current General Manager and myself. Part of
that tradition is that I give each of them a couple of books for their management skills library. The trick is
to find two books for each of them that fit. This is becoming more and more difficult because this tradition is
a carryover from our Directors Retreat
where they also receive two books. That adds up to sixteen (16) books each over the last four (4) years or sixty-four
books. That’s not even counting the books that have gone to Robin – Guest Service Manager during that time. Another sort-of tradition is the name drawing
(secret Santa) gift exchanges that occur in some of the operating departments such as Guest Services and Administration.
The one I get to participate in is Administration. One of the tricks we do in that drawing is to provide a list
of three (3) things that we want. This was started to provide the giver with some kind of idea as to what to get
for the associate whose name you drew. I drew Marybeth’s name and her list contained the required three (3) items, one of which was ‘something
from Victoria Secret’. I may have started a new personal tradition with my visit to this store and the assistance
I received from the two young clerks. Such gift exchanges add some spark to the Holiday
Season, however the most common request these
days is the Gift Certificate. That takes all the fun out of shopping, particularly at VS.
Final Thought
While the Holiday Season brings us much joy,
like every other season there is also sadness. For us this season it is the departure of one of our 5+ years associates.
This young lady has been one of the bright spots of our day-to-day existence. During her time with us we watched
her start and finish college at ASU, face and overcome cancer with a courage that all of us wish we possessed.
When she started college she had a vision of what she wanted to do and upon receiving her degree she was able to
get a new job that will start her on the way to fulfilling that vision. Sarah will always be a part of our
SCR family.
Speaking of family, we are also saddened by the situation which requires so many of our young men and women
to be on active duty in our military and unable to be here at home to share the Holiday
Season with their families. Saddened that there is no Peace on Earth for so many
and Good Will to all is out of date. Saddened that so few of our timeshare industry have embraced the mission of
Christel DeHaan and her Christel House because she has identified that the way to Peace on Earth
and Good Will to all is through the children of the world.
Please join me in putting a test to the power of positive thinking. My final thought is that by this time of
the year rolls around in 2005 the majority of our troops will we home and within the warm embrace of their families.
That would make for a great Holiday Season next
year…..
JS 12/04
