West Creek Ranch

 

UPDATES: Hiring!

 

Hiring:

 
 
 

Guest Experience Coordinator


To Apply: If this position sounds like the perfect job for you, please send your resume to the West Creek Ranch Operations Manager, Nicole Harkness at Nicole.Harkness@WestCreekRanchMontana.com. For more information feel free to call the ranch at 406-333-5911.

 

The ideal candidate for West Creek Ranch’s Guest Experience Coordinator (GEC) position will live our core values of Putting people first, our associates, and our guests. Leads by example as a quality leader. Includes everyone in day-to-day activities and tasks. Innovates continually, providing new ideas and implementing them when it benefits the associates and guests. Listens and responds to associates and guests to the best of their ability.  Gives back to others by incorporating all other values daily.

The Guest Experience Coordinator (GEC) reports to the Ranch General Manager and will be responsible for leading guest activities, specifically hiking, challenge course, reflective horse sessions, fly fishing, golfing, archery, and any other activities scheduled. The GEC also works with fellow team members who lead guest activities to ensure they understand the purpose of daily intentions and are skilled at leading guest reflection opportunities. The GEC will be a rare combination of technical experience and skill who can uphold the planning logistics and safety requirements of activities on the Ranch, while also embodying the social-emotional awareness and interpersonal skills required to effectively lead groups through often challenging personal growth experiences. The GEC will mentor and train fellow Ranch associates to ensure they have the knowledge and ability to support guests on their Ranch journey by skillfully facilitating reflection sessions and bridging indoor and outdoor experiences.

As a core member of the team, the GEC will also respond to the needs of guest services and fill-in on the Ranch where needed. This could be as a support to housekeeping, dining, dishwashing, transportation, and other duties as needed. This position is seasonal and will work from May 1st through mid-October, with a possible extension into November.

 

Core Responsibilities

  • Collaborate to design and implement experiences that are tailored to the particular guest group and that model the 50/50 approach

  • Lead guest experiences and activities including hiking, challenge course, reflective horse sessions, fly fishing, golfing, archery, and any other activities scheduled, modeling the daily intention and reflection process for peers

  • Train fellow associates on facilitation so that they are skilled in the reflection process and comfortable working with groups on their intentions

  • Manage group dynamics and facilitate group processes, communicating any information to key Ranch and Foundation colleagues that might impact the success of the group during their week

  • Mentor Ranch associates in managing group dynamics and facilitating group processes

  • Committed to actively building a community where all guests and fellow team members feel a sense of belonging and safety

  • Assist in identifying, assessing and managing environmental, physical, social and emotional risk during course activities

  • Adhere to operating procedures, safety policies and emergency procedures as outlined by the Ranch

  • Maintain big-picture vision and keep safety in mind during all group processes

  • Guest services support as needed with a view toward supporting the team and ensuring an exceptional guest experience

Qualifications and Education Requirements

  • Previous experience working for Outward Bound

  • Demonstrated competency in group facilitation and team building

  • Demonstrated ability to teach or train processes to colleagues

  • Demonstrated competency in outdoor experiences and activity logistics

  • Demonstrated ability to assess the abilities of a group and use that information to mitigate risks and ensure positive experiences for the group

  • Previous experience leading a team

  • Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with groups across all ages, backgrounds and abilities

  • Personal initiative and resourcefulness, adaptable and positive even in challenging situations with strong ability to problem solve

  • Ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment

  • Strong social perceptiveness and active listening and learning skills, ability to hear what others are saying and to take the time to understand what isn’t being said

  • Time availability in May to arrive for Challenge Course training on site

  • First Aid and CPR training

Preferred Skills

  • Wilderness First Responder certification, or more

  • Knowledge of Microsoft office

 

Additional Information About West Creek Ranch

Arthur Blank, chairman of the Blank Family Foundation and owner of Mountain Sky Guest Ranch, Paradise Valley Ranch and The Ranch at Dome Mountain near Emigrant, Montana, opened West Creek Ranch in 2018 as a unique convening space for nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. At West Creek, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation provides nonprofit partners with an opportunity to connect, renew and inspire while exploring crucial issues that are aligned with the foundation’s priorities.

Located in Montana’s Paradise Valley, about 25 miles north of Yellowstone National Park, the 6,700- acre West Creek Ranch features spectacular scenery one mile above sea level. West Creek is a one-ofa-kind facility featuring comfortable meeting spaces and rooms, wi-fi and gourmet dining combined with unplugged high-country activities. West Creek offers 5-star service and amenities to ensure that every guest’s needs are met as they embark on a powerful personal and professional experience at the ranch.

West Creek is in big sky country, and we provide partners with an opportunity to engage in big sky thinking. The combination of extraordinary scenery, guided adventure and intentional reflection provide a unique transformational environment for leadership development, innovation labs, strategic planning, executive education, hands-on workshops, and discussion or planning about how to influence the issues that occupy our country and communities.

The West Creek experience is rooted in Arthur Blank’s personal recognition that extended immersion in the world’s most inspiring spaces fosters learning, creativity and self-renewal. We call our approach the 50/50 model to signify that our guests spend half their time inside working on important issues, and half their time outside exploring their ideas through experiences in nature that support their goals. Each year the Blank Family Foundation identifies select organizations to host gatherings that convene colleagues, peer organizations or coalition partners to capitalize on this model and advance the public good.

West Creek Ranch seeks a Guest Experience Coordinator to support the 50% of the time our guests spend in Ranch experiences – horseback riding, hiking, yoga, fly fishing, etc. – and facilitating the connection between those experiences and the goals of the group each week. Deepening relationships and teamwork, creating a risk-taking culture, generating 100 new ideas to solve a sticky problem, bringing thought leaders together to strategize about complex issues and much more — West Creek has the experiences and activities to enrich each group’s goals with deeper meaning and we are looking for a Guest Experience Coordinator to ensure that the 50% of the time each group spends in Ranch experiences is as meaningful as the 50% of time spent indoors in meetings.

We believe that when Ranch experiences are combined with daily intentions and opportunities for reflection that positive change and impact occur. The GEC will facilitate the onsite planning of daily activities for each group so that intention and reflection are at the core of the experiences and so that problem solving, team development, self-discovery, collaboration and communication are rooted in the guest experiences.