by Ed Shanaphy, CMAA

We often say “mentoring,” but what we really mean—especially within private clubs—is advancing. Mentorship is not simply guiding or teaching; it’s creating an environment where your staff can grow, achieve, and in turn, enhance the member experience. Every interaction between staff and member is an opportunity to refine skill, build confidence, and elevate service.

A club manager’s greatest legacy is not the number of events executed or budgets balanced—it’s the people they’ve advanced. Let’s explore the three pillars that define true mentorship and the art of advancing your team.

It’s never easy to step back. Club managers often feel compelled to solve problems immediately or answer every member’s question directly. But effective delegation is a deliberate act of trust. By creating space between yourself, your employee, and the member, you give staff the autonomy to think, act, and grow.

This “space” is the classroom of real-world learning. When staff handle member concerns—without you stepping in—they develop confidence, accountability, and ownership. It may be uncomfortable at first, especially when mistakes occur, but that discomfort is often where growth begins.

True mentoring means allowing your team to make—and learn from—those mistakes while providing them a framework to succeed the next time around.

Mentorship isn’t only an internal process. In the private club world, education extends to the membership itself. Members often view every staff action as a direct reflection of the manager. Therefore, when staff are learning and developing, transparency is essential.

Mentorship isn’t only an internal process. In the private club world, education extends to the membership itself.

Educating the board, committees, and membership about your mentoring approach helps manage expectations. It allows members to see the broader purpose behind delegating responsibility or giving a new team member more visibility.

This communication builds understanding—and trust. When members recognize that your club is cultivating leaders, they become partners in that mission rather than critics of the process. The result? A more collaborative, supportive environment where both staff and members are invested in each other’s success.

Here’s the unspoken truth about being a great mentor: it means you’ll be hiring more often.

When you invest deeply in staff development, you inevitably create talent that’s ready to move on—sometimes to new roles within the club, often to new opportunities in the wider industry, and occasionally to entirely new careers.

That’s not a loss; it’s a sign of success. Each advancement reflects your ability to identify potential, nurture it, and prepare it for the next challenge. Your club gains a reputation as a place where professionals grow—and that attracts even stronger candidates in the future.

Yes, mentoring creates more work: more coaching, more recruiting, more onboarding. But it also creates a culture of excellence and a network of alumni who carry your leadership principles into every role they take on.

To mentor is to advance—not just your staff, but your club’s culture and future. Delegation allows learning to occur. Education aligns staff growth with member understanding. Advancement ensures your leadership extends far beyond your own tenure.

A great manager measures success not by how indispensable they are, but by how capable their team becomes in their absence. Mentorship, then, is the art of making yourself unnecessary—because you’ve built a staff strong enough to lead without you.