Welcome to our blog series, "Everything Seaplace", where we uncover the hidden gems and captivating stories of Seaplace.
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In a recent exclusive interview, we had the privilege of sitting down with Wendy Chihowski, the General Manager of Seaplace, who has been a cornerstone of our community for over 27 years. Starting as a receptionist and rising to her current role in 2020, Wendy's journey is a testament to dedication, resilience, and visionary leadership.
Throughout the interview, Wendy shared invaluable insights into the evolving role of a general manager, the challenges of adapting to new laws and property demands, and the keys to building a cohesive, dedicated team. Her personal anecdotes on work-life balance and management style provide a rare glimpse into the ethos that has shaped Seaplace's success under her stewardship.
This conversation is more than just a look behind the scenes; it's an inspiration and a guide for anyone passionate about community management, leadership, and the impact of dedicated service.
Watch the full interview here to discover the secrets behind Seaplace's thriving community and the visionary leadership of Wendy Chihowski.
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Full Video Transcript:
Hi everyone. Welcome to another edition of Everything Sea Place. My name is Mike Renick. I am your host for this video. I have great news to share. I will be right back.
Hey everyone. My guest today is Wendy Chihowski. Did I get that right? Yes, you did. Everyone, we call her Wendy. This is probably the first time I have ever used your last name, so I am glad that I got it right.
Everyone knows Wendy, but I do not know that everyone knows all about Wendy. So, Wendy, Wendy is the general manager here at Seaplace. But let us go back and in round figures you do not have to be precise in terms of how many years have you been at Sea Place? - It will be 27 in June. - So, you, you have been here more than a couple of years.
More than a couple. My kids were in second and, or first and second grade when I started here. - So that now means they are past school - In their thirties. Yes. I am old. So - No, wait, look at this right here. See this.
So, you have been here a long time. So, it, I know you know this property better than anyone else. We are fortunate that we have had the continuity. You have been in different positions. What did you start out here back 27 years ago - As a receptionist - And from there you went to where - The financial secretary running the whole office. That was by myself for a lot of years after that.
- Okay. And then, and I do not want to put you on the spot because this is not pre-rehearsed or anything like that. But ultimately after you worked up to what we call either the assistant general manager or the operations director. Right. And there is probably some steps between that. And then how long ago did they appoint you or promote you to general manager? - In 2020. - 2020. So that is the best decision Seaplace has ever made. And you know me well enough to know that I do not say things to blow smoke because I get in trouble all the time for what I say. So, I mean that sincerely.
So, it is the strong leadership you bring into the office in terms of nurturing employees and stuff like that. But if I ask you to describe your management style, how, how would you describe it? Your approach to your team?
- My team. I let my team know that I would not ask them to do anything I would not do myself. So, I never give them anything outrageously to do. I am always right there with them. So, - And the respect that you have, you know, you garnered from your team is second to none. I have never seen that anywhere in terms of the, the loyalty, the, the whole thing. And again, it is just who you are as a person that that does that they respect when you ask them to do something and you are always in there, their camp trying to do the best thing for them.
As we go forward though, let me ask you today, do you think the general manager's job has changed and what it was maybe five, 10 years ago?
Yes, there is more things that are coming up and new changes in laws and everything that are changing along the way with everything. That is one thing about this job. No day is ever the same. It is different every single day.
So, I am going go down a tangent than when you define day. because I know how much time she puts in off the clock. In fact, Wendy and I have a little game. What, what is our game about you being off the clock? - I am not supposed to be on the property. Yes. - So, this is a loyalty of her staff. Her staff hides her when she is on here when she is not supposed to be. But that is her dedication to Seaplace. But in addition to the laws changing and stuff like that, our camp, our not supposed to use that word, our property is 50 years old. Yes. And it is getting older. So, there is more challenges coming with that. And we have a different demographic of owner. You know, people are changing the, the newer folks want different things than the older folks and things like that.
Again, this is not rehearsed, so I do not mean to put you on the spot. If, you know if this is not fair, I will withdraw it. But what is your biggest challenge today? Sitting in the general manager's chair? What of you and your peers, what do you face? And you probably cannot name one, you can name a hundred. Right. But what, what Alan, we have one of the board members here off on the side and he has to be careful because he misbehaves during this video. I am going to tell his wife.
So, what, what is one of the biggest challenges you have here? Is it working more with contractors, more working with staff? - It is, it is not, it is just all the changes that are happening and all the projects that have to be done because we are such an older property and to maintaining it at the level that everybody is used to. There is a lot more that has to be done than there had to be done in the past. So, there is a lot of things that are changing and need to be upgraded and you know, things like that going on and the laws changing. Make it even bigger because with these new law change, there are a lot of new rules that we have to follow and have to get up to speed by. By next year at this time, we will be planning a whole different budget. It will be different because we have to be fully funded next year. So, so we are going, unless something else changes, but right now, next year is the day where we have to be fully funded and we will be working on that budget instead of a budget like we are working on now.
So, we are going have to go into even down to the more micro detail than we have ever had to when we build it. Yes ma'am. And, and we years out in the road down to that level of detail. Yes.
Again, not rehearse. So, I am just asking some questions. This is going be fun because I know it does not exist. But if I ask you, what do you like to do in your free time, how would you answer that? - I like to be with my family. Okay. My family's very close. We always do things together. We always try to find time to go away and do something together. - And I think that kind of shows on your management style here in terms of your work family, how you nurture things and your, you know, you, you have some outings that we do for the employees. Yes, we do. And stuff like that. So, we - Have a good group here. It is, they all get along and they all work as a team together. It is, it is great to see them work like that.
It is, let me ask you this, how tough it is. Your Board changes every year. Yes. And I have seen the, the, I do not know if not flexibility, but the adaptability because you get different leaders you work with all the time and, and even in a board of nine people, you have nine different personalities. Yes. How do you do that? I do not think I; I know I could not. So how do you do - That?
Some years? Some years it is more of a challenge than others, you know, to adapt because you are used to doing things one way. One set of one group wants things this way, well now we are going this direction, and this group wants it this way. So, you have to adapt, and you have to be able to change on a dime and move. And if it is something you do not like, you think, well it is only a year, so it will change again next year. - It, and you know, when you look at the skill sets for a general manager's job, I, I think adaptability is probably right up that, you know, you've got to know this stuff, you've got to be a people person, all that kind of stuff. But the adaptability because the boards that you report to are volunteers. Yes, - They are. - Yes. So, I always, - And they put in a lot of hours. A lot of hours.
I always tease Wendy that I like my position being on the board because they cannot fire a volunteer because I have tried so hard for so long and I failed miserably. But I really, is there anything else you want to share? The purposes for this, this video is for folks to get to know you on a little bit different level. - What do you want to know?
Any, any, do you, so let me, let me close with this maybe. So, things are changing, workloads are getting heavier. The job is more challenging than it used to be. That is not going change anytime soon, is it? No, it is not. That is going to continue to - Grow. It is not. That is, that is my job. - So as we go forward, we have to continue to look, is staffing the right thing? Do we need to change staffing because of that? Right. Right. And all those kind of things. And we look at things that are outsourced with the supplier. Do we bring it in, or you know, the other way around. But I want to, I, I mean I say this from, we, - We look at that a lot. Especially when we were having trouble hiring. We were actually looking at bringing janitorial from outside and it just did not work out that way because they could not get staffing either. So that is when the personnel committee came in and we you up things for everybody, so it was easier to hire people they wanted to drive out here then it is challenging right now. You know, it is like these people that started here during the summer are now seeing what the traffic is going home at night.
So, it is a challenge to get people to come out here sometimes and work and even contractors. Some contractors you call say I am not going a Longboat anymore. - Yes, no, I get that. So, another one of your biggest strengths is when this board took over, we asked you what you needed to fix some of the challenges and you laid out what it was and this board brought it forward to you, I think.
Yes, you did. I see the role of the volunteer board is nothing more than giving you the tools to be successful. And we all know that once you have those tools, success is easy. It just happens and it’s a, it is all a, a part of who you are. It is part of your leadership, it is part of, of how you relate to everyone.
But I just want to say thank you for everything that you do here at Seaplace. Seaplace would not have the reputation that it has today if you were not sitting in that chair. Well thank you. And I am so happy that you are sitting in that chair. We butt heads occasionally correct. Oh, a few times. So, a few times. But I, I think at the end of the day, I mean, I hope I leave the message that there is nobody else that should be sitting in that chair.
Thank you very much. Great things. And it, it is, it is our Seaplace the way it is. But I, again, thank you for everything. I appreciate you taking the time to do this video. I teased her a lot because she does not like to be on camera, so she did it. So, this is very good. I appreciate it, Wendy.
This is my one and only Right. Thank you for everything. Oh, we just shook on that. I am, I am sorry. I did not hear that. I am well. We will have to see it. It is. Thanks Wendy. T
