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Aptitude + Attitude = Altitude
Technical aptitude alone is insufficientJimmy Conners, winner of 109 professional singles tennis titles says "There's a thin line between being #1 or #100 and mostly it's mental."
In his well-researched book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman shows that it's our attitude more than our aptitude that determines our altitude. Whilst our society lauds intellectual giants and power, Goleman's research concludes, "At best, IQ contributes about 20 percent to the factors that determine life success, which leaves 80 percent to other forces." Other EQ researchers, Robert Cooper and Ayman Sawaf consider this too conservative. In their book, Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organizations, they write, "- IQ may be related to as little as 4 percent of real-world success - over 90 percent may be related to other forms of intelligence - it is emotional intelligence, not IQ or raw brain power alone, that underpins many of the best decisions, the most dynamic and profitable organizations, and the most satisfying and successful lives. Malcolm Higgs and Vic Dulewicz set out to disprove this "faddish idea" relenting after their own research that actually, Emotional Intelligence is of far greater importance than IQ and something they term "management quotient".
There's a growing consensus in the academic and popular literature that our attitude and our mindset are more important than our technical capability that make a difference to our success. As Zig Ziglar puts it, "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude."
Difference makers have a better attitudeConsider all the things that Tiger could use as an excuse at the 2008 US Open:
- Hadn't played in a competition for 2 months
- Recent knee operation - reduced fitness
- Further damaged knee on swing during the tournament
- Highly skilled and determined competitors
- Poor first round
- Pressure of historical wins
- Expectations very high on his performance
- Does not need the money
After blowing a three shot lead with 8 holes to play, Woods rallied and came to the 18th hole and stood over a birdie put to avoid an infamous defeat. He came through. Sudden death on the 7th saw an end to his fierce competition and Woods again took the trophy.
How many of us would find that sort of resilience within us?
Three steps to achieving your successIt's all very well understanding and believing that our attitude is more important than our aptitude, but exactly what can we do about it? What makes the difference that you can develop?
There appears to be three major differences between those that achieve great success in their field, and those who remain in the obscurity of mediocrity.
- Successful people know what they want to achieve. They have a clearly defined goal.
- They are constantly seeking ways to learn and improve.
- They consistently present a positive attitude.
This isn't intended to be an exhaustive and comprehensive list of must haves, but to highlight key difference makers that anyone is able to adopt.
Clear goal you are pulled towardThere's plenty of discussion on setting goals for yourself and how important it is to have a clear vision, a picture of your future.
Rather than go through all of that now, I'd refer you back to a couple of other articles I've written on the subject. Here though, I'd like to explore three different modes of how you get to your goal:
Push mode, Pull mode and Drift mode:
Push Mode
If you have to drive others towards an objective, even drive yourself towards it, I call this being in push mode.
Push mode is typified by focusing your attention on problems that need to be resolved, or things that need fixing. Many people use a 'todo' list or a GTD (getting things done) system. Are you one of them? Take a look at yours now and see if it is a list of problems.
The fun, creative or enjoyable things rarely make it onto a 'todo' list - rather there is a tendency to say that once the list is done and I have time, then I'll do the fun stuff.
What's more, you will already know that the things we pay attention to are the things that grow and the things we don't pay attention to tend to fade away. So if we focus on problems (call them challenges or issues if you must but they are still the same thing), we will find that the problems grow. So here's a radical thought, if we focus our attention on interesting, exciting, fun things, they will grow. And our problems, won't they fade away?
"But you don't understand. I have to get this report done, I have a ton of emails to clear, I have to attend this meeting, I have calls to make to angry customers, and if I don't I'll get fired. I simply don't have time to talk to people, take it easy, smell the flowers..."
And when your stress levels have made you so sick that you can't work, let alone afford the hospital bills you'll feel what exactly? Accomplished? Valued? Important?
Nothing more satisfying than lying in bed recovering from a heart attack knowing how much your contribution is missed.
I'm not saying that these things (some of them anyway) don't need to be done but that by not focusing on them, they will (and do) fade away. Oftentimes, they just get done. Without stress, without worry.
In Push Mode, we are continuously pushing ourselves (and others) towards our goals relying on our own effort to keep us on our straight and planned track. Obstacles that we face in our way are enemies to progress which may force us to re- plan our route. Our motivation stems form outside forces, the concrete and measurable goal is frequently thought to be motivation enough and any resistance to achieving the goal, self-inflicted or external resistance, is just another obstacle.
In Push Mode, when progress is slow, we re-plan and consider time management a priority. Only, unless you have discovered the secret to warping the space-time continuum, you cannot actually manage time.
Pull Mode
Pull Mode, on the other hand, is about leadership and paying attention to growth and improvement.
Rather than focusing attention on problems to be solved or fixed or overcome, in Pull Mode we take time to clearly envision our future and allow the goal to pull us towards it. The results of Push Mode and Pull Mode may appear to be the same (that is the achievement of the goal) but Pull Mode takes less effort and allows our unconscious activity to take precedence over conscious linear processing.
The idea of Pull Mode is that you create a vision of the future that is so compelling for you (and perhaps for others) that you cannot help but be drawn towards it. The things that you need to do on the way become minor irritants that simply get done and anything that really is not important is not done and fades into insignificance.
"Hold on, what if something that is important is not recognised as being important?" Excellent question. Things that appear to need to be done, whether important or not, on your journey are your friends - they are obstacles to your progress but think of them in terms of friends, or learning opportunities.
Let me take a personal example if I may. Two things about running a business that I personally do not enjoy: 1, Filing, 2. Doing the accounts. I appreciate that some people just adore filing and doing the accounts but I don't. In Push Mode, I resist doing them until I absolutely have to or, usually, risk a penalty. It is the penalty that drives me to do it. I still hate doing it but I dislike paying a penalty more. In Pull Mode, these things still come across my path but now I see them as friends - the chance to look again at scraps of notes, letters or offers. I have learned to change my mindset from doing the filing to my enjoyment of a clear desk and in-tray and just do it. It's no longer something I resist. Do I enjoy doing it? No, I don't if I think about it consciously, I just let it happen.
"But what if it should be done and its not that critical or important?" The chances are, for me, that it won't get done. Importantly, if I find myself resisting doing something, I stop, tune into my thought processing and ask myself why I am resisting it?
For example, keen observers may have noted that I didn't talk about doing my accounts in Pull Mode above. You'd be right. It is something that I continued to resist - I can't really explain what it is about doing the accounts that I just don't want to do, and I found this quite strange considering that I do enjoy building spreadsheets of budgets and am quite au fait with P&L and Balance Sheet - and then it occurred to me that I like thinking through future scenarios, but what's done is done. I honestly can't be bothered about it. Now, of course, there's legal compliance... and I realised further, I really don't like to be told that I have to do something. So what did I learn from this resistance? I learned that I am quite happy considering the future and do not wish to have to create organisation of the past. Decision? Outsource to someone capable and trusted.
In Pull Mode, you only do the things that you want to do that move you towards your goal such that the work you are doing is effortless. Obstacles that need to be overcome that meet with your own resistance are a warning flag to you that something else is going on - stop and allow yourself to consider what the resistance is trying to tell you.
"Isn't it possible then that you'll go into Pull Mode, and miss the important things that need to be done?"
Sure it's possible, but unlikely to be important in the achievement of the goal. Things that are a requirement in your society but have no direct relationship to the achievement of your goal. Yet there's a third mode of being that is neither Push nor Pull, and that's Drift Mode.
Drift Mode
The stresses of Push Mode, always making things happen and forever coming up against obstacles and 'time-wasters', causes many people to fall into Drift Mode rather than Pull Mode.
Drift Mode is quite different to Pull Mode, somewhat 'New-Agey' in influence where one just 'lets things happen'. call it karma, fate, life forces, whatever - it generally involves emptying your mind of worries and anxieties and just letting life happen to you. Whatever way the wind blows, you drift along with it.
You might end up on an agreeable shore when you allow yourself to drift over the seas of life, or you might end up somewhere unpleasant, or. most probably, you'll just continue drifting along.
Pull Mode is different because there is a clear and articulated vision of your compelling goal that is pulling you towards it. The aimlessness of Drift Mode may be refreshing for a while, but the anxieties of life will soon catch up and cause as much stress as Push Mode already does for the vast majority of people.
PushMePullYou
This mythical creature in Dr Doolittle provides a metaphor for how many leaders feel about leadership. They are in Push Mode for themselves, driving the agenda and encountering resistance of their 'followers' who have to be pulled, some suggest dragged kicking and screaming, in the chosen direction.
No wonder many leaders are exhausted. Many drive themselves to an early grave or opt-out entirely and fall into Drift Mode.
"How do I know which mode I'm in?"
Do you take pride in hard work? Do you brag about working more than 50 hours a week? Do you use ToDo lists? Do you think that in order for things to happen, that you have to make them happen?
If you answer yes to most or all, you're in Push Mode.
Do you have a compelling vision of your future self? Find your work effortless? Know that everything that needs to be done will be done?
Sounds like Pull Mode.
Have a sort of idea what I want in the future? Take it easy whenever possible and avoid unpleasant tasks? If things happen they happen, if they don't 'they don't?
Drift Mode.
"Surely it's better for your health to be in Drift mode than Push Mode?" Sure, if you have a lot of savings or a rich family to fall back on. But if you have no goal in life, just what are you doing here?
What can I learn?People who achieve great success are always learning. They seek ways to improve and are prepared to work through the difficulties of change required to become better.
Peter Senge in his book, The Learning Organization, expands in great detail about his idea for organizations to constantly seek improvement in everything. But what about learning at a personal level? What if you are currently at the top of your game? Surely you've already learned.
Our learning journey can go through a series of steps and the height of our performance is determined by our technical ability and our mindset, our aptitude and our attitude.
The journey is not always easy or straightforward. Let's return to Tiger Woods...
Prepared to change
You're at the top of your game, you're doing better than anyone has ever done in your field. Technically, you are the best in your business. You earn more than anyone else in the same line of business. You have a serious competitive advantage. Why would you decide to change something fundamental about the way you do what you do?
After seven years and 142 tournaments in a row, Tiger Woods finally joined the ranks of mortal golfers when he missed the cut at the Byron Nelson Championship May 13, 2005. Golf pundits argue that changing his swing is to blame.
There was another reason, his knee. A physical problem that seems to not want to go away. But what makes Tiger stand out so much from the rest is not just his aptitude for the game, his superior technical skill... it's his mindset. In spite of being in a great deal of pain... he overcame it with a determination, the will and resilience that allowed his technical brilliance to shine.
A Positive attitudeWe all have days (sometimes weeks and months) where everything seems to be going wrong. Whatever you try to do, however clear your goal - there just doesn't seem to be any progress.
Sports psychologists refer to the period when everything is going well and peak performance is apparent as being 'in the zone'. Golfers who find their rhythm and the ball lands just so. The athlete who has trained and is at their physical and mental peak runs the race of their life. The business person who's found themselves in the right place at the right time with the right product or service.
Yet most of the time, we just ain't there. We yank the club and the ball lands in the bunker. Our business would be just great if we just land this additional sale.
Some days, it's hard to wake up and find the energy to put on a brave face and go out there knowing that today probably isn't that day, hoping that it is but not really believing it. We known we have to learn and improve but just when is my breakthrough going to come.
It may not come today, but one thing I can assure you of - something about today is better than yesterday.
What's better today?
Being prepared to learn and change and put in the required effort is a critical step in constantly improving. But this carries the suggestion that we should focus on what is wrong, or what needs improving.
If we're going to consider being in "pull-mode" towards our goals and ambitions, a much better question to ask is "what's better today?"
When you meet someone, or write a message it is 'normal' to ask "how are you?" or "How do you do?" Now in doing so, do you really, truthfully want to know the answer?
"Well, I've had this terrible problem with my stomach and I didn't sleep too well last night for all the stress I'm under and..."
How would you respond if instead I asked you "what's better today?"
Would you reflect on improvements made? Would it cause you to think about some things have indeed moved forward?
Try it, I dare you! It makes it a whole heap easier to keep on going towards that goal.
Your ChoicePeople who have achieved great success know what they want to achieve and have a clear vision of their future.
They recognise that their technical ability, their aptitude is one (small) part that contributes to their achievement and constantly strive to improve.
Most importantly, they keep on keeping on, keep turning up and are prepared to learn and change whilst maintaining a positive attitude.
Even Tiger has a bad round of golf - nothing like as bad as most of us but bad for him. Do you see him quitting?
You were created to be an soar at altitude like an eagle not peck the dirt like a chicken.
Dr. John Kenworthy GAINMORE Leadership, GAINMORE Golf
Gainmore Golf Community | Leadership Knowledge Network
Blogs: MyBlog |Gainmore Advantage Blog | Golf Blog
Cause or effect?
Are you at cause for influencing yourself to greater things or are you at the effect of others, the environment and the outside world. Are you a thermometer, or a thermostat?In golf, there are only two things that affect your game. Yes, sorry, just the two things. The first is physics. The golf ball, your clubs, how you swing your club, the course, are all subject to the laws of physics.
You might say that the weather changes the way the ball behaves. Yes indeed it can and does, cool air temperatures effect the turbulence of the air and hence the flight of the ball… just physics.
You might suggest that your swing technique changes the way you strike the ball and hence its direction and distance - yes true - just physics.
The only part of golf that is not directly about physics is the “you” part - not your technique, strength, everything physical is, well physics. No, the only non-physical part is mental. There are those that will scientifically argue that this too is physics - after all, the mental part is about electrons, neurons etc that obey the laws of physics. Yes this may be true, however, there is an important distinction, you can do nothing about the laws of physics. Not a thing. Rien. Zip. Nada. Naff all. Zero. You can’t change it - you can use it - because the laws of physics don’t change - knowing what physics is at work and how to use that knowledge to increase distance, improve direction and so on - now that’s useful knowledge - see, you now wish that you’d paid more attention in school! The distinction is that the mental part of the game is something that you can change. Yes the neurons and so on that carry the messages and inform the parts of the body to do what they do will do so, because they obey the laws of physics. It is the message that they carry that you can change. Now, since this actually applies to everything in your life it could be a revelatory moment for you in everything.
So, we come back to the basic critical decision point. Are you at cause or effect? Do you cause your golf ball to fly in a particular direction? Yes, of course you do. Do you allow your playing partner to effect your playing? Do you allow the weather to effect your playing? The answer is that all things going on in your surroundings will effect your playing - because they effect your mental attitude, they effect the message that you send to your muscles.
How much you allow external events to effect your playing is your choice!
It’s important to preface this section with a reminder that everyone, every single human being has a choice to do something, or not do it. To learn something, or not to. Everything we do in this life is a choice. Yes, there are many many (far too many) people on this planet who do not have a good choice - or a ‘real’ choice. There are, too many people who’s struggle for life overwhelms their choices in life. The choice to live or die in such circumstances, is however difficult or impossible, still a choice. Please realise that I am not denigrating anyone here, nor am I saying it’s easy simply because I assert that they have a choice. I simply want to ensure that you have a mindset that you can be at choice. Improving the opportunities for choice for the millions of those with little real choice is another matter entirely.
So, if you are at choice, which frequency do you listen, cause or effect?
How you influence others is somewhat obvious, but how you influence yourself is perhaps a little more obscure. We will take the obvious route first and then apply it to self. Leadership development and golf development work best when we are very strongly focussing on your self-leadership - how you lead yourself to greatness in golf, in business, in life. Leadership, unlike golf though, should pay much more attention - because leadership is pretty much all about influencing others.
Influence is a two-way street. Everything you do and say has some influence on others - you are part of their external environment. You even exert a small degree of gravitational force on others, indeed, you exert gravitational force on the planet! Not a lot admittedly, but your mass does attract other mass. You knew that you should have paid attention in science class now. Just as an aside, it’s quite a useful factoid for use when you have gained a few pounds of weight - you do so in order to become more attractive! That’s put paid to the glamour magazines!
The same is trues for other people exerting their influence over you. Everything that other people say or do is a part of your external environment and that exerts an influence in turn over your behaviour.
The external environment beyond other human beings, also has some influence over you. The weather for example - when it is raining, it is quite likely that you would alter your ‘normal’ behaviour by carrying an umbrella, or wearing a rain-proof coat. You know for sure that the weather can have a major influence over your golf. When there is lightning, you would wisely move away from the fairways under the trees or into the clubhouse. Being struck by lightning is one influence that everyone can do without.
The problem with influence is that human beings have a tendency to assume that there is little you can do to change the way something influences you. Well, let me put this straight. You can and you do!
Let us take an example of something that influences us and we do something about it - almost fight its influence on our lives. One that affects us all and that is our friend gravity. You see, gravity is ever present in our lives - there are a few exceptions but since that involves travelling into space I think I can safely assume that does not include you. If, by chance you have travelled into space - my question is - how far can you hit a drive out there? Must be awesome.
Back to earth. Gravity is a pretty constant force acting on our bodies - in order to combat the effects of gravity we develop muscles and utilise energy to stand against it. Only when we are physically damaged - break a leg, twist an ankle, suffer paralysis and so on, do we truly appreciate how much effort is involved in keeping our body upright and moving. When we are reasonably fit and well, we think little or nothing of getting up from a chair and walking, and most of the time, we do all this unconsciously. We have programmed our brain to take care of operating the correct muscles, keeping balance, walking, and all the while supplying those muscles and cells with energy through breathing and circulating our blood. Now, if you had to consciously work out how to do all this stuff that we simply take for granted, you’d not have a great deal of time to think about much else - at least, not consciously.
What’s the point of this? Well, it’s simple really - there are many many things occurring in your life, including when you practice and play golf, that influence your behaviour. Some things we cannot change - gravity, weather, daylight, animals etc. and we can choose to what extent we allow such to affect us and our behaviours. We can choose to be at cause for ourselves or at the effect of the environment and others. In other words, I’m disabling your potential for ‘excuses’.
How do you influence yourself?
When I have asked this question in our workshops, I usually meet with blank stares at first. I call them ‘blank stares’ because to be looked at as if you are completely off your trolley isn’t something I choose to reinforce. The first response from that first brave soul suggests that there is no need to influence oneself. Basically, it runs like this: I decide to do something, I tell myself to do it, and I do it. No influence is required. I don’t have to ask myself nicely, or threaten myself with unpleasant consequences, or persuade myself that it will be worthwhile. Really? If we could slow down the thought processes going on, you might think differently.
Let’s take a slightly different approach. I suspect that you have, inside you, at least two ‘voices’ - the pro voice and the con voice. The optimist and the pessimist. The good and the bad. You may have more, you may not consider them as ‘voices’ - that’s OK, I hope that you can work with me on the concept for a little while.
Let’s say that this is two radio stations, 55.5 and 66.6. The first station on 55.5 is supportive - bolstering your ego, always proud of you and your achievements. The second, on 66.6 is the doubter, always casting doubts in your mind, running you down, always suggesting that others are trying to get you, that you should not listen to 55.5, it always lets you down - you never realise the dreams that 55.5 suggests. 66.6 reminds you of the difficulties you had the last time you tried to do this or that. How nothing ever works for you, that it’s all about luck and fate and chance and that you just are not a lucky person. If you buy a lottery ticket, you will always miss by one number at best. That nobody else deserves to win anything either. Basically, this is a bad voice.
I can imagine some of you nodding your heads as you read this. Don’t worry, you’re not schizophrenic - this is normal, everyone has this going on. Some days it’s like a continuous debate, others, one or both are quiet with little to say. You know you have a problem when you cannot distinguish between the voices and which of you is real.
So, which station do you tune into?
Here’s the two stations output for a few common golfing scenarios…
66.6
Approaching the first Tee on competition day: ‘Well, it’s a lovely morning with plenty of gusty breezes to knock your ball off centre, and a touch of rain in the air, but very unpredictable whether it’ll rain now or later. You did some good practice yesterday but you know it’ll all go to pieces today don’t you? You know that you always screw up on the first drive and there’s no mulligans today. See your competition today, wow, that first group were good weren’t they. No chance you’ll keep up with them is there. Still, perhaps you can just enjoy the game for a change and not worry about winning or losing - after all you know you’ll lose, so why get your hopes up? Ridiculous game, I don’t know why you bother, should have stayed home and cut the grass. be more useful than out here, being mocked by your friends… oh no, talking of which, there they are, why do they have to come and watch my first drive. They’ll cough or chatter just as I’m lining up, I know they will. Oh well, my turn now, what a disaster, prepare for the worst and don’t get angry…
First Tee shot: So nicely lined up, but then anyone can put a ball on a tee can’t they. Now settle down, breath, how’s the grip - that instructor why did he have to change my grip, it won’t work. Right align my club, look up, look down, those people down there, are in my line, why do they have to stand there, don’t they know they could be hit… calm yourself, that’s right, may as well get calm now, because once you hit it there won’t be any calm left. And if you screw up this drive, it’ll all be downhill for the whole day. never recover, so get this right. Wiggle the bum, yes nice, settle, legs bent just right, what if my weight shifts before I strike then hit those people standing there. I wouldn’t mind hitting that smug bastard - he’s such a flash git. Custom clubs, custom balls, bet he cheats, never puts a foot wrong, wipe that smug grin off his face, I’ll show ‘im. Back swing, nice, but is it right, no of course not, arm down, elbow’s bent at the wrong time, as usual, THWACK….. follow-through may as well let go of the club, it’ll go further anyway.
In spite of this, by some divine intervention, the ball soars through the air and lands smack down the middle of the fairway, 220 yards at least beautifully set up for a second onto the green and a possible birdie: Whoa - didn’t know you had it in you. Nice shot, so lucky, you’d never do that again, not in a month of Sundays.
Still, plenty of time to screw up yet…
ENOUGH!
Sorry, I just can’t write anymore of this - it’s just too depressing. Is this you? And, were you the one who said that they didn’t influence themselves?
55.5 on the same situation…
What a beautiful day, a few gusts, possible rain in the air. Be a good idea to look at the trees as we walk down the course, see where the gusts are going. if it rains, we’ll change clubs and, quick, borrow an umbrella from Jim there, he can pop back and get another from his car. So nice that my friends are here to cheer me on. Great guys. Now I’m going to show them a great drive. I can see it now, smack down the middle of the fairway, perfect for a chip up to the green and a birdie. I can’t wait to pick up that trophy at the end of the day. Good to have some strong competition - nothing better than a real challenge.
First Tee shot: Breath nice and deep, slow my heartbeat and see that drive. A little gusty from left to right over those trees, just align a fraction to the left because this ball’s going to soar above that line. Glove, into the zone. Complete focus, nice alignment, well done, now a beauty practice swing, nice and loose in the shoulders. Firm stance, good lad, check alignment, now trust your swing. THWACK.
In spite of this, by some divine intervention, the ball soars through the air and too far to the left, way over to the left and lands smack down into the rough by the trees, maybe even really in the trees: Beautiful drive, well done, aligned just a little too far left, so we’ll make sure to fix that. I think maybe the wind dropped as well. Nice lay-up for the second shot - I can use that chip techniques I learned from watching Seve on TV, good for a par if I’m really in the rough, and good for a birdie if it’s not too long. Good, well done.
Now, which station do you want to listen to? The one that derides you no matter how great you are, or the one that supports you and encourages you no matter how poor the shot?
“I don’t care” says someone, so long as I hit great shots I’ll put up with either. Fair enough. Which one do you think will help you enjoy your game? Which one will help you towards a stroke lying ill in bed feeling miserable and no-one coming to visit because you don’t even like yourself, let alone anyone else?
Extreme? Sadly no. Go find the most miserable-faced player in your local club and ask them which station they tune into…
Dr John Kenworthy
CCO GAINMORE™ Golf
GAINMORE™ Leadership
<Leadership Links
It is well known that the game of golf is often considered a business necessity. Business leaders play golf - in fact Mintel’s research shows that 44% of senior managers, executives and professionals in the UK have played the game (BRB/Mintel 2006). Not only will you find that golf is the game of choice for nearly half the business leaders in the UK, the game provides a wonderful prism to examine leadership in a new and enlightening way.Whether you are an avid player, play once a month with clients, have joined a game on a company outing or you have never actually picked up a club, golf provides valuable lessons and a means of exploring your leadership journey.
Most new golfers arrive at a driving range, grab a driver and hold on to it with a tight grip for fear of their new tool flying from their grasp as they hack away at an elusive white ball. Too tight a grip on the club causes stress in the body that reduces range and accuracy - likewise, the new leader often finds it difficult to take a step back from micro-managing and setting impossible targets that usually result in teams fighting the rough spots of low morale and hiding in bunkers of blame and recrimination. Just as golf has developed a few trusted basic grips - each providing a lightness of touch with control that allows the club to do the work in the right direction, a leader learns the balance between control and letting-go. The routine of how you place your club in your hand and set-up for each shot becomes ingrained and almost instinctive - yet the best players continue to work on this most basic of the game (Mahoney, 2000) to prepare for different course, a different lie and innovations in technology afforded by new clubs.
If you have a speck of athletic ability and reasonable hand-eye co-ordination, an untrained novice golfer will, with perseverance, improve. The air-shots and ‘hitting the big green ball first’ shots will become less frequent and you will begin to strike the ball higher and further. But there comes a time, when even the most enthusiastic of beginners finds that improvement stops - the ‘natural’ talent has taken you as far as it can - you are either good in spite of your technique or bad because of it or like most golfers, plain mediocre. The same can be said of leadership. A speck of leadership ability, some reasonable people skills and a position to exercise them will show improvement with practice and time. Don’t worry about the lost balls of disillusioned staff or the odd key client left in a ditch - with enthusiasm and practice the new leader’s influencing skills are better timed, motivational feedback misfires with less frequency and team productivity gradually increases. It will, of course, plateau. The improvements made in leading others slow to a trickle and you have reached your ‘natural’ leadership level.
The best golfers in the world are not just ‘natural’ talent - sure they may have a higher athletic ability than you, and they may (rarely) naturally create a new technique that gives them the edge for a long time (the Vardon grip is one example that comes to mind). The best players deliberately work on their skills and their mindset - and they work on it day after day after day. Similarly, the best leaders in the world don’t claim to be ‘born leaders’ - yes, their particular circumstances, upbringing and personality might enable them to more easily achieve success as a leader than others, but like professional golfers, they work on it, learn from experience, reflect in action and change an approach when it is appropriate.
Take dead aim is perhaps the most frequently used phrases in golf - it means to focus your attention entirely on where you want the ball to go - rather than focusing on what you wish to avoid (Sanders, 2001). The issue with the latter, focusing on what you want to avoid will, inevitably, lead you to achieve just that - what you wanted to avoid! Psychologists refer to this as the power of intention - what we focus on is what we get. It’s no different in leadership. A leader who focuses everyone’s attention on not letting key accounts get poached by competitors or cutting costs because of economic decline will get what they seek - poached key accounts and economic decline (the accountants may be happy for a while because costs are cut and margins improved but an extra 10% of no revenue is not growth! A good leader knows this, and not only has clear targets; they will take dead aim on those targets and ensure that everything is brought to bear to bring them to fruition.
A good golfer is keenly aware of his or her attitude to the ball; the stance taken will influence the direction of the ball flight along with the grip and the swing (Locander and Luechauer, 2007). The loft and distance of flight is determined by the choice of club and the ground on which the ball lies. The decisions are made in moments after scanning the environment and choosing the precise target to place the ball ready for the next shot - or indeed, into the hole. Likewise, a good leader knows the best attitude to adopt that will influence stake-holders, ensuring that the right resources are available and handled with appropriate skill. Decisions may be caused through a change in circumstance or simply a need for direction, and considering the environmental variances, the good leader identifies the target, creating visceral images of what the leader and the team can expect to see when they achieve the target. Like good golf coaches, effective leaders use compelling images to engage people and provide feedback on achievement (Hurst, 2002).
Golfers know that the rub of the green can change a game in an instant. The most perfect drive can land in the middle of the fairway and take an unlucky bounce off into a hazard, and there’s the unintentional slice that hits a tree rebounding back onto the green and straight into the cup. Moments of despair and moments of pure joy. The exceptional golfer celebrates good fortune with humility and learns from misfortune, without rancour. At moments of intense pressure, exceptional golfers keep their head and focus entirely on the job in hand - taking dead aim with the best attitude and the right club.
Golf is a unique sport in that it is the golfer against the environment and is governed by self-enforcement of the rules. Whatever another player does or does not do - does not change the situation. It is just you and physics and a comprehensive set of rules that you, the player, are responsible for imposing… on yourself. The golfer must know, play by and enforce the rules of the game. As leaders, the actions of our competitors, our suppliers, government, customers and so on do cause a change for us - we need to be acutely aware of changes in the environment, make plans and react to changes led by our own rules. If you see someone using the ‘foot wedge’ on the golf course you can be pretty certain that you can’t trust them, let alone trust them in business. That, however, brings me to another topic “Golf doesn’t build character, it reveals it!” which I shall save until another time.
Golf can teach us many lessons about leadership and here we have dipped into a few:
• Adjust your gentle grip to the circumstance
• Build the fundamentals and continue to work on them
• Take dead aim on your target and adjust yourself and resources according to the environment
• Celebrate good fortune with humility and adversity with level-headedness
• Know the rules and play by them
If you would like to know more about the GAINMORE Leadership Golf Challenge and how we can help you transform your leaders - whether your business issues are Strategy, Business Planning, Teamwork, Change, Marketing, Operations, Finance - we will work with you to design a solution that will address your ongoing needs. Call us on +44 (0)207 1935218 or visit the website at www.gainmoreleadership.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
BRB/Mintel (2006) GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel
David Hurst (2002). The Swing of Things: Keys to Learning Golf and Management , Leadership in Action, 22(3), 1.
Ray Mahoney (2000). Leadership and learning organisations. The Learning Organization, 7(5), 241-243.
William B Locander, David L Luechauer. (2007). Leadership As Golf. Marketing Management, 16(3), 66-68.
Don Sanders (2001). Go for the green. InSync Press, Sanford, FL. 2001
Dr John Kenworthy
CCO GAINMORE™ Golf
GAINMORE™ Leadership
<Why use golf to develop leadership?
The connection between golf and leadership
There’s a surprising similarity between playing the game of golf and leadership. Once the analogies are made clear to you, you’ll wonder perhaps why you didn’t see it before. By the time you’ve finished reading this, you’ll know the major connections and feel compelled to find out more.35% of registered golfers in the UK are senior managers, professionals or executives , according to Mintel. This rises to 43.3% of London Golfers. And 12.8% of all golfers in the UK are senior managers, executives or professionals - that’s about 1.8 million golfers are senior managers, executives and professionals in the UK alone! (Source: GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel) 44% of senior managers executives and professionals in the UK have played, do play or would like to play golf. (Source: BMRB/Mintel) Add another 1.4 million managers (Source: GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel) and you realise just how big a sport golf has become - and it id predominantly ABC1 who play the game, and still predominantly male - 83%!
In part, business leaders, particularly those with some marketing or sales role - deliberately play golf to network with prospects and clients. In part there’s certainly some social status about being a golf club member, and for sure, in part there the ‘coincidence’ of playing golf and being a business leader.
What Mintel’s research doesn’t highlight though is that there’s more to it than that. The characteristics of those who play golf and those who are business leaders shows considerable similarities. Let’s take, for example, the desire to score well (even win) a round of golf. To be concerned about one’s personal performance and strive to improve it relates to a strong personal ‘Achievement Orientation’. I want to do well because I want to do well.
There are differences too, and important ones. On the golf course, the golfer is playing against the course. It is one of very few sports where the play of others has no effect on the golfer’s performance at all… unless he (and it is predominantly still ‘he’) allows it (the closest similar sport is downhill skiing). This is not the case for the majority of business leaders who’d personal performance can be impacted by the performance of others. So the golf course is the place where a player can assuredly adopt the attitude, it’s MY performance and only MY performance that matters and only their actions change the result. This suggests the desire for control - or Directiveness.
Some of the reasons golfers choose to play the game shows that 76% of them play for social reasons (Source: GMI/Mintel) - this demonstrates a desire, if not ability, in the competencies of influence and communication.
So why use golf to develop leadership?
It seems that the game of golf attracts business leaders more than other groups - & perhaps the conclusions above suggest why. So it became increasingly obvious to our team that golf could be both an attractive idea for development within this group, and that the game of golf itself could be deliberately used to develop the competencies and behaviours associated with great leadership.
Indeed, many of our clients confirm the attraction of golf for our senior management training programmes by requesting training to take place at golf clubs, so the team can play golf after the training course. Albeit, not everyone on the programmes did play golf, the senior managers and board members invariably did.
Our research into using simulations has shown that given a truly safe environment to practice the tools and techniques of leadership and management, participants not only learn more (23% greater learning) than using more traditional methods like case studies, they enjoy it more (17% greater) and demonstrate greater transfer of new behaviours to the workplace (26% greater transfer). Not only this, but studies in societies where females are considered disadvantaged in management showed a greater improvement in demonstrated management and leadership competencies after a simulation based programme than a traditional programme over their male counterparts - 16% greater improvement in demonstrated competencies. The key to the success of using simulations is that they provide a realistic, safe environment to practice the tools, techniques and behaviours of great leadership (Source: Kenworthy 2005)
Is golf a safe, realistic environment?
The great thing about golf is that it is one of the very few activities that provides a genuinely level-playing field - through the well-established handicapping system. It may not be perfect, but it’s very close. This means that a scratch golfer competes fairly with a complete beginner. There are also rules within which the game must be played - these represent the constraints of doing business. There are established game rules that encourage pairs or foursomes to work together, and there are rules to foster individual competition - sometimes in business we want our leaders to be entrepreneurial and ‘go-getters’ - leading by example, at other times, we want them to be team leaders, or team players. Caddies, provide a perfect metaphor for coaches and mentors. The course itself provides a varied environment, shifting according to things beyond the control of the player, but observable by them. The hole provides a target, the course provides for a strategic plan to achieve the real goal. The points scored can directly relate to revenue or profit. The clubs and balls are resources - even the golf pro can be a consultant resource.The game of golf provides a fantastic platform to learn leadership - its safe and fair, it’s as realistic as you need it to be and it’s fun!
So what about the non-golfers?
So what about the non-golfers? Why would they participate - and let’s face it, in an organisation you don’t want to alienate the non-golfers by forcing them to participate in something they wouldn’t normally… or would you?For our Leadership Golf Challenge programmes we always offer golfers and non-golfers technical lessons before the event. We arrange with our certified golf pro’s to put a special series of lessons for the new players - most often they perform better than those who’ve been playing for years because they don’t bring along so many bad habits. We’ve even designed a special programme exclusively for non-golfers - called ‘Hackers Days’ - which combine technical golf instruction with the Leadership Golf Challenge.
Can you just play golf to develop leadership?
There’s certainly something about the game of golf that shares characteristics of great leadership, but whether it’s the playing golf that develops the person as a leader or that the leadership capability makes for a golfer is an unanswered question. Like any powerful training programme, leadership development needs a supporting, robust model of development. Unfortunately it’s not much use telling someone to BE Jack Welch, or even to tell someone what it is that Jack Welch does - that doesn’t make you a leader. Nor, can we simply seek to develop the 10 principles, 7 habits, 12 big things etc. of the best leaders in the world - leadership is personal - the first step in becoming a leader is to take charge of yourself and align your personal values to achieving what you want to achieve. If it were that simple then there wouldn’t be a leadership issue anywhere in the world today.Solid Foundations
Effective leadership development (indeed for adults to learn anything effectively) needs the learner to go through three learning processes according to Bloom - cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning. That we need to develop knowledge about leadership, associate a feeling or emotion with the desire to learn the knowledge and physically put that knowledge into practice.Most business leaders have some knowledge about what constitutes ‘good’ leadership - though few practice it all the time. They may have seen ‘good’ leadership exemplified by others in their past or present. They may have read a book on leadership - such as the 7 Habits. Where these most often fail to become new behaviours is twofold - Firstly, most examples of ‘good’ leadership are often carried out ‘naturally’ by the person demonstrating them - we often refer to them as ‘born leaders’. They are ‘good’ leaders, but they don’t consciously know what it is that they do - and therefore they are unable to share with others what they should or could do. Most books, on the other hand, tend to focus on one of two aspects - how to be a leader - here is Mr Great CEO and this is what he did, you must do the same. or they distil ‘best’ behaviours and provide a checklist for you to do ‘good’ leadership.
In the former situation, the ‘born leader’ is unable (or unwilling) to give you the requisite knowledge to learn. In the latter (books), they often fail to make an emotional connection to implement the knowledge (other than you’ve bought the book therefore you must want to learn), or they provide simplistic implementation checklists, do this, then this then this at work. If the new ‘habit’ doesn’t work first time, the book provides little or no guidance as to what you should do now. GAINMORE Advantage changes all that.
The GAINMORE Model provides a synthesis of the tools, techniques, attitudes and attributes of ‘good’ leadership within a structured model supported with templates that enable you to physically learn the behaviours. We are using the game of golf as a metaphor and as an emotional learning hook, and golf provides a means for you to put your behaviours into physical practice for yourself first - i.e. self-leadership, then you can use the templates at work. All practised within a safe and realistic environment that is fun.
The GAINMORE Model is developed from three major areas of thought leadership in the fields of management learning, psychology and leadership. It is a personal development model that provides the solid foundations on which the Leadership Golf Challenge is built. Build on this foundation the safe and realistic learning environment of a business simulation on the golf course and you have a leadership development programme that actually does what it says on the box.
If you would like to know more about the GAINMORE Leadership Golf Challenge and how we can help you transform your leaders - whether your business issues are Strategy, Business Planning, Teamwork, Change, Marketing, Operations, Finance - we will work with you to design a solution that will address your ongoing needs.
Call us on +44 (0)207 1935218 or visit the website at www.gainmoreleadership.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
For full references, please contact the author
john@gainmoreleadership.co.uk
