Ryan M Leach said: Thanks for all the information.
I had a meeting this morning with the pro and the laborer (the pro wanted the meeting today). The pro (who is over me) made it clear that I was in charge and I make the final decisions; in my department. I am the one that has to live with those decisions. If the employee does not like the decisions I make, tough luck chuck. However, I need to listen to all's opinions and form my own. If i choose a different I need to explain why I am doing it my way.
The laborer agreed to step back and not be so forth coming. He argued that he was trying to save me the time of making mistakes and wanting me to do it right the first time whether I knew it or not. We are a small crew and can't afford much downtime. He is not gunning for my position as he knows it will not be available. He also argued that if I make a mistake, it makes the team look bad as a whole and does not want that to happen.
I, myself, love being a superintendent. I love all aspects of the course. I guess there will be years of learning and making mistakes. Thanks again for all the advice
Ryan, hope all is going well with your issue. Sorry that I am just now reading it and responding to it. Everything everybody above has typed has merrit.
I though have a different opinion. How do you see yourself at your current club? by this do you have the desire to move up eventually to a bigger better club (a lot of people do). If so why not try to work with this guy instead of against him? No I do not mean he is right at all but rather that it seems he could be a very valuable part of your clubs success going forward. Maybe sitting him down and explaining what it took you to get to the level before him (you desired the position and did what was neccessary to put yourself in position to achieve it). Promise him that you will help him achieve this same goal as long as he is working towards it and keeping the clubs best interest (and your) first. Maybe he may need help with the online learning process or has other weakness's that may hold him back. If he is game, lay out a working timeline for him to make his progress with. start with a evaluation of his work ethic and knowledge of taking care of a course. Maybe use the GSCAA's superintendents self assessment tool online (that may be an eye openor). There is a lot more to being a Superintendet then just physically taking care of the course.
By bring him aboard to your side with his best interest he may turn out to be the best worker you have. You would have to give him plenty of help in his learning but I know I generally find a single worker on my crew that seems to have the makings of a Superintendent and I try to help them along their journey. I generally get loyalty from them because I am not just their boss but their mentor also. Unlike at other clubs my guys know from the get go that if they desire to move up it will most likely have to be at another club and we are both fine with it. I too have a small crew and it is even more important for me to have trusting employees to work for us. Because my duties also require keeping a 51 year old building working (clubhouse) I have to be able to trust the people under me.
I always try to teach anyone that works around me that you do not always get paid money for everything. sometimes you do things for free just to learn from it. If you go to college you are going to pay for the education you would get so why would you expect to get any work education for nothing. In my past I was known to work for contractors over the weekend just to learn their trade. As long as I work hard for them they did not have a problem having a guy that did not know much as a helper as long as he always worked. Those days of practually unpaid labor I learned how to run electrical wiring, install plumbing, build houses or even remodeling houses. When people now see that there is not much I cannot do or at least know about they are convinced I had been to college and not the school of hard knocks. I am living proof to my crew that you can come from the bottom to the top. I feel that is why they are more then willing to do anything for me because from where I came from is where they are currently sitting. Where Iam at is where they want to be. And I am the only one they know that is willing to help them achieve their goals and actually care about them.
Not everyone is like this though and your worker may be one of those. I do know that by helping a worker work towards a lifetime goal of bettering himself will get you a lot of loyalty and hard work in return. Just remember this is a two way street. you have to help by being a mentor (it does not matter how old a mentor is, just that he has more to teach) and showing that you care.
One last thing, if this is the path yall take, ask him to do an evaluation on yourself also. There are two reasons for this, the first is that by allowing him to also show what he feels is your weakness you may be able to improve yourself! the other thing is that a part of a Superintendents duties is to evaluate their workers and he will need to be taught how to achieve this as part of the training.
Who knows, it could work out to be a great move on your part and at the worst you can get rid of him like most of the poster said above.
Good Luck.