Wentworthville Leagues Club, better known as Wenty Leagues, renovated the club and then realised they needed to renovate their operations.
Following discussions with Sam Ekinci, Managing Director of Allied Risk Solutions, during an earlier risk and needs analysis, they engaged
Allied in February 2014 to further review their operations. Allied interviewed the Duty Managers and provided the club with an executive
summary of their current business risk position relating to training, operations and licensing requirements with recommendations and
proposed future outcomes.
Glenn Kovacs, Gaming and Operations Manager at Wenty Leagues, chose the “Allied Portfolio Package”, which is part of the ClubsNSW
ClubPATHWAYS program, and covers the four training areas they needed:
- Duty Manager Training & Coaching program
- Leadership Excellence – for supervisors and talent team in succession planning
- Customer Service and Compliance – for frontline staff and
- the Armed Robbery Safety Training for all staff.
The Duty Manager Training and Coaching program provided Wenty Leagues with a structured and localised training program for the club and
their managers. They wanted to empower their managers to take a greater level of responsibility and accountability in a proactive way.
“A key aspect of the program has been to have Sam Ekinci on site working with me and our HR Manager Rebecca Green,” Glenn observed.
“The competencies in the various modules of the Allied program have been included in our performance management framework
and weekly checking of the managers’ reports, follow ups, discussions and performance outcomes are documented by Sam and actioned by our
HR department, ensuring there is a balance between education and reinforcement. The weekly coaching is one of the keys to the success,”
Glenn said.
With around 15 managers, line supervisors and other managers who show promise in growing with the business already engaged in this program,
there has been exceptional improvement in all operational areas.
Six months before implementing the Customer Service and Compliance Training, Wenty Leagues implemented the Allied Risk Analyser program.
It was a surprise for them to find the gaps that existed in their business for training, operations and licensing risks. They found that
78 per cent of their incidents were happening on the front door whilst only 22 per cent were occurring in the club. However their front line
staff did not have any training in dealing with difficult customers and the decisions they were making were impacting on the licence.
Having reviewed the statistics, it made sense to educate the frontline staff on the legal framework, specifically Section 77 of the NSW
Liquor Act relating to non-voluntary exclusion of persons from licensed premises.
Conducted twice a year, to date around 40 staff have trained in this area with the expansion of the program designed to ensure most of the
staff will be trained in areas of conflict management, report writing and legal aspects within the next year.
Leadership training, through the Leadership Excellence program, has resulted in more engaged staff and a greater level of commitment to
service excellence leading to an improvement in departmental efficiencies and higher standards. Leadership Excellence improved the free
flow of communication and has developed the leadership styles of those involved, resulting in a number of internal promotions.
To date approximately 50 supervisors and emerging talent at team leader level have started or completed this program, which is creating
confidence in the possibility of better career path opportunities for staff. In turn this results in higher staff retention through
better engagement and happier work lives.
Finally, as all clubs are a target for armed robbery, Allied Risk Solutions provided Wenty Leagues with a risk assessment of their current
exposure and amended their Armed Robbery Safety program to make it relevant and specific to the club’s individual, site-based needs.
Because the course is localised for the club, staff have embraced the program.
With half of the staff trained already, Glenn expects the full complement of 260 will complete the training by the end of the first year,
with Allied’s Online Robbery Safety training to be utilised in the following year as a convenient and regular refresher.
“There is a level of excitement and energy throughout the club and the management team as they take on additional responsibilities,
ownership and accountability. Duplication and double handling that required additional resourcing to manage inefficiencies in the business
have been removed,” Glenn said. “The return on investment is evidenced by the club having an overall financial growth each quarter, and a
part of the club’s financial success has to be attributed to the engagement and efficiency levels of our staff and managers, who
have been part of the Allied training programs.”
For more information on these programs, contact the ClubsNSW Member Enquiries Centre on 1300 730 001 or enquiries@clubsnsw.com.au or Sam Ekinci on
(02) 9635 0477 or sam@alliedrisk.com.au.
