As a marina owner, do you find your business in need of a manager? If so, this is a good problem to have. It means that your marina is so successful that you need help with its day-to-day duties. The tricky part is finding the right person to head your marina staff and operations. Signal Connect some advice to help guide you toward a solid hiring decision. We reached out to our many contacts in the marine industry and asked them what they look for in a marina manager. We pulled these eight traits of good marina management from their answers. Happy hiring, marina owners!
How to Run a Successful Marina
Good marina management keeps your business running at peak performance and profitability. For all that to happen, you need a good manager who’s able to inspire your marina staff to do their best each day. To do that, this person must be a natural leader and motivator. Do you believe people are born with these skills, or they can learn them? Either way, your marina manager must have these abilities before their first day on the job.
To help you find someone to lead your marina staff, look for these nine traits in your next manager:
- A People Person: By this, we mean that your marina manager needs to recognize that your staff is the most important asset in your organization. If the manager has this attitude, he or she will be able to easily inspire your team to rise to the occasion and give their best efforts.
- Good Communications Skills: A good manager communicates with each member of his/her diverse team in a clear and concise manner. There should never be any misunderstandings about what your marina manager expects from his/her staff.
- Good Listening Skills: These go hand in hand with the skills mentioned in point No. 2. A marina staff that doesn’t feel its being heard is one that won’t do their best. A good manager will listen to his/her staff because some of the best information he/she will get is from employees who are on the frontlines of the business.
- Patience: Customers and employees will test even the best of people. Marina managers need to keep their cool in order to resolve these situations. Patient managers do a great job of leading by example. Marina staff will see this and emulate the manager’s behavior, which is good for everyone involved. It also takes patience to get an entire staff on the same page, so this quality cannot be overstated.
- Delegating: No one employee can do it all. (This is why you hired marine management in the first place!) The manager you want is someone who knows which tasks to delegate to employees, and which duties he/she needs to handle by themselves. Learning the difference, and knowing who to delegate each task to, is an art and a science. A talented marina manager will know how to handle this.
- Doesn’t Show Favoritism: Playing favorites in one of the worst things a marina manager could do. It creates jealousy and animosity among the staff, who don’t do their best simply out of spite. Your manager should never play favorites under any circumstances. Being a good communicator and capitalizing using the strengths of each employee is one way to reduce the risk of treating your marina staff unequally.
- Integrity: Managers must be seen as honest to staff, customers, and to you, the marina owner. This is done whenever your manager leads by example. If your manager wants his/her employees to project certain qualities, the manager must have and display these qualities each day. This is the essence of leading by example, which many people claim, yet fewer actually do.
- Problem-Solving Skills: As a manager, the person you hire will have to solve problems on the fly. It could be anything from an accident at the dock to an irate customer. With so much going on at your marina, it’s impossible to predict the what’s and whens of the problems that will come up. Your manager will need good decision-making skills in order to handle whatever marina live throws at him/her. This manager also needs to know that he/she will bear the responsibility of the decisions they make.
- Humility: Some people in management positions believe they have to appear invincible and always in control. This attitude actually puts these folks at risk on the job because they’re unable to be humble and admit what they don’t know. This can lead to bad leadership and direction. As a manager of your marina, the employee doesn’t have to know everything. It’s more important that he/she knows where and whom to go to for the answer. Look for someone who has the quality of humility and you will have made a good investment in your marina management.
Internal Promotions Vs. Hiring from Without
When it comes to hiring a marina manager, you have two choices. You can either promote someone who already works for you, or hire someone new. Most human resources experts agree that it’s always best to promote from within, because these folks should already know you, your staff, and your entire operation. If you choose to promote from within, follow these two rules:
- The person you elevate to a management position must have the same qualities you want in a manager as you would expect if you hired someone new.
- Your newly-promoted marina management must be able to be the boss. They will be expected to set aside the friendships they’ve made with your marina staff, and be able to lead the entire team.
If the person you promote to manager isn’t able to meet these demands, you’re left in a terrible position. You’ll lose a good employee, and still find yourself looking for someone to handle marina management. Think long and hard before you decide to promote someone from within. If you have any doubts about the person you want to make manager, it might be better to hire someone from without your organization.
Interviewing for Marina Management
Some marina owners believe that when it comes to hiring a manager, “any warm body will do.” Others believe that it’s better to have nobody than the wrong person for the job. Think about it. The person handling your marina management is expected to lead your team in the day-to-day operations of your business. “Any warm body” cannot do the job; your marina is much more important than that. With everything at stake, it’s much better to take your time to find the right person to manage your business.
When it comes to hiring a manager, it all comes down to the interview. You’re looking for someone who has the qualities listed above. When you interview these marina management candidates, be sure to ask each the following questions:
- What broad attributes do you believe are important to be a good marina manager?
- Give me an example of times when you’ve displayed these traits on the job?
Pay close attention to each candidate’s answers. If one of them makes a solid case for having these qualities, they might be who you want. If they struggle to provide an example of what you’re looking for, they might not be right for the job. The key is paying attention to what each person tells you during the interview process. Hopefully this and all the tips in this post will help you in your quest to find the right person to manage your marina.
DIRECTV for Your Marina!
Sure, a talented manager is great for any marina. You know what is great for your business? Amenities that guests enjoy. There is no better marina amenity than DIRECTV satellite TV services. It’s great to feature this service in your clubhouse and any other place where people get together. DIRECTV gives your guests a reason to stay at the clubhouse and order more food and drinks. This drives up your profits in a proven moneymaking principle called “beer math.” We’re sure that every marina owner wants to increase the profits at their business.
When it comes to marine satellite TV solutions, Signal Connect is the expert. We’ve delivered DIRECTV to marinas on both coasts. Our marine satellite TV experts would love to help you, too. If you’ve been thinking about DIRECTV, you probably have some questions on how it all works. Signal Connect is happy to help you. Just give us a call at 888-233-7563 and ask for one of our marine satellite TV experts. They will answer your questions about installing DIRECTV in your marina and more.
