Why Use Golf To Develop 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, play golf to network with prospects and clients. There’s certainly some social status about being a golf club member, and for sure, in part there’s the ‘coincidence’ of playing golf and being a business leader.
The characteristics of those who play golf and those who are business leaders shows considerable similarities. 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. This is not the case for the majority of business leaders where 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 that matters and only their actions change the result. This suggests the desire for control – or Directiveness.
76% of golfers play for social reasons (GMI/Mintel) – this demonstrates a desire, if not ability, in the competencies of influence and communication.
So why use golf to develop leadership?
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.
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 (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!
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.
What people need is 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. And one way of ensuring an emotional learning hook is by using the game of golf as a metaphor, 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.
Build on this foundation the safe and realistic learning environment of a business simulation on the golf course and you have leadership development that actually does what it says on the box.
Author: Gainmore Advantage – www.celsim.com
Leadership Development Programme
July 8, 2009 by admin
Filed under Leadership Development
Leadership Development Programme is just one of the leadership development articles at Leader House™. In this article, we will be taking a brief look at what a leadership development programme is and how to build an optimal programme for your employees.
What Is A Leadership Development Programme?
Leadership Development Programmes are tailor-designed schedules of activities that seek to improve the leadership skills of a workforce or group of workers. Leadership development programmes are typically targetted at the graduate intake who have been within a company for 3-5 years. At this critical point in their career – these ‘Generation Y‘ individuals will be looking to move on to the next step in their career. Whether that future is at their current company will depend on how attractive and possible a leadership role will be on their current path. Therefore by targeting leadership development programmes at twenty-something employees, companies are helping to retain talent within their organisation.
How Do I Build A Good Leadership Development Programme?
Good leadership development programmes consist of the following 5 success factors.
1. Multiple leadership training techniques
Employees learn in different ways and favour certain teaching techniques over others. Therefore it would be dangerous to create a course with only one technique in mind. You are not creating a ‘fad diet’ leadership course. You want to create a course that will hit all the bases and have the best chance at really engaging with the participants.
2. Hollistic view of leadership
Many companies take a very narrow view of leadership. Often management skill and strategic thinking are put at the forefront of important topics. While a good leadership development programme should also address people skills, leadership traits and charismatic leadership to deliver a wide picture and full curriculum.
3. Link to On-The-Job Application.
A crucial element in a leadership development programme is the link between theory and practice. Abstract leadership principles may indeed be sound, but the true measure of the success of a leadership programme is whether these principles can be taught in a such a way that they can be instantly applied to the management of the business. This real-life link is the key factor that distinguishes self-help books from life coaches, dieting books from fitness instructors, and management books from good leadership programmes.
4. Respectable length of time
Leadership isn’t a skill that can be perfected overnight. Leadership excellence is often grown over years of experience. In an attempt to replicate this gradual development – it is important that leadership development programmes are low-intensity courses that span several months, as apposed to a one week crash course. By increasing the length of the programme – instructors will be able to use the programme to actually support and enrich the professional development that the manager gains from their day-to-day job. For instance, the manager can discuss problems that they are running into during the application of certain leadership techniques they have learnt in ‘class’, and hence the skills can be perfected and honed over time. And thus the programme and work life becomes incorporated.
5. A meaningful conclusion
Like every task set in a business – the end must be kept in mind. Why is this programme taking place? To prepare young employees to be managers? To improve the ability of senior management? Whatever the objective – the programme should end with a concluding activity that will display the skills that the participants have learned on their course. As well as this being motivational tool to keep participants actively involved with the course, it also helps to build confidence and affirm the belief that they are now capable of achieving more through leadership.
Examples of such events could involve hosting a conference (involving public speaking), implementing an intiative, heading up a new division, or receiving a promotion.
If you keep these sucess factors in mind when creating your leadership development programme – you should see improved results.
Simon Oates – Leader House™
The Pursuit Of Something Better – Review
Pursuit Of Something Better
If you’re looking for a review of “The Pursuit Of Something Better” then you’ve come to the right place. I’m currently reading an advance copy, and will be publishing LeadershipExpert’s official review within a week, so stay tuned!
Introduction
‘The Pursuit Of Something Better’ follows the story of US Cellular – a regional telecoms company, through its journey to becoming home to one of the most vibrant and motivated cultures in the USA. As an underdog in the telecoms industry – US Cellular has to fight to survive in the modern world, but the employees fight for it, due to their extreme loyalty and pride.
On one day every year, the managers from across the organisation leave their positions to attend a conference that announces the results of something very dear to them – the annual employee satisfaction questionaire. Grass-root staff rise to the challenge and the company ticks over just fine without them. The atmosphere at the conference is likened to that of a concert – not an annual review. What on earth has happened at this company to drive such enthusiasm?
Well, you’ll have to buy the book yourself to find out!
Review
Review is coming soon!
Purchase
Pursuit Of Something Better
This title is released on the 15th of August.
You can pre-order this book on Amazon UK here
If you’d like to read a review of this book on other blogs, you can visit here and here.
Winner – Best E-Course: The 11 Forgotten Laws
May 11, 2009 by admin
Filed under Featured, Motivation
Official Winner Of The Leader House ‘Best Leadership E-Course’ Award. May 2009.
Votes (57/73) Average Rating 83%.
Why I Bought The 11 Forgotten Laws
Do you remember that first spark of hope you felt when you watched ‘The Secret’ DVD?
I clearly remember the desire that filled my heart, knowing that – Yes, I can make my dreams come true – FINALLY! Ok, so these sorts of products do often create an immeadiate rush of energy and motivation. After a few weeks however and (to be honest) lazy application of the methods contained in the ‘The Secret’, I started wondering:
- “It seems to work for other people, but I just can’t get it right.”
- “I’m frustrated that sometimes I can get it to work, but sometimes I can’t. What’s the trick?”
- “Why am I having so much trouble?”
- “I think the universe is against me.”
I don’t think I was alone. I mean if you think about, just like anything else, you have to practice many times before you see success at a difficult challenge. A child doesn’t learn to walk without falling over a couple of times, right?
But in practice, everything is easier said and done. When you’re frustrated, it’s hard to stay positive. And it’s especially harder to stay positive when the evidence all around you is screams negativity like the unstable economy or senseless acts of violence such as those recently seen in Mumbai.
I think that many people give up because they think that “‘The Secret’” is the “be all and end all” solution. Well, it’s NOT. ‘The Secret’ is just a small portion of the whole concept. It was never intended, and has never been, the whole answer.
I realised that coming to the conclusion that the Law of Attraction doesn’t work when all I ever did to educate myself was watch ‘The Secret’ 19 times (without really looking at changing the habits of other areas of myr life) is like coming to the conclusion that exercising is not an effective way to lose weight because all I did is run on the treadmill for 2 hours a day while still stuffing myself with fried foods and cheesecakes.
So, I was hungry for new knowledge and sought it out. And discovered that ‘The Secret’ only focuses on one part of a whole host of principles that can help sculpt your life into a happier being.
Check out The 11 Forgotten Laws – Click Here To Visit The Official Website
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What Does The 11 Forgotten Laws E-Course Contain?
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There’s quite alot to fit into this section because this is a bumper pack of resources!
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1. ‘The‘ Original Law Of Attraction Premium Ebook. – ‘Working With The Law’
The original Holliwell classic that inspired the authors of ‘The Secret’ and many others. This is the definitive guide to the law of attraction, also known as manifestation. Find wonderful positive gems of inspiration in this internationally acclaimed book.
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2. 95 Lesson Tracks covering the whole 11 Forgotten Secrets contained on 12 ‘digital’ CDs.
Digital Disc 1 – Working With The Law
Why your mind can be your biggest enemy
How to identify between the two types of human thought that matter
How to stop previous accomplishments feeling meaningless
Digital Disc 2 – The Law of Thinking
An ingredient to add to your thought patterns to help escape past experiences
Help erase anxious thoughts
Why an educated and ethical person can so easily be broke
Digital Disc 3 – The Law of Supply
Age old advice you may only ‘think’ you appreciate fully
The Michael Phelps secret to accelarate your own personal and career advancement
Simple activity to help avoid having to ‘wait’ for anything ever again
Digital Disc 4 – The Law of Attraction
Escape mediocre results coming from half truths
Open the floodgates to your optimism and success
Digital Disc 5 – The Law of Receiving
How to bounce back when your back is up against the wall
A simple system of systematic giving that unleashes impressive returns
Digital Disc 6 – The Law of Increase
Step-by-step system to magnify praise and amplify growth
3 ways to create a massive paradigm shift
Generate confidence and raise your self esteem for public speaking
Digital Disc 7 – The Law of Compensation
How to build a wealth-attracting image
Stop walking past opportunies everyday
3 common but harmful daily habits you need to kill
Digital Disc 8 – The Law of Non-Resistance
Learn this frequent burnout-causing mistake many employees make
What you can learn from nature to experience greater prosperity
Digital Disc 9 – The Law of Forgiveness
An ‘unstoppable’ way to deal with suppressed anger
Embrace this type of affection to feel loved again
Digital Disc 10 – The Law of Sacrifice
Take control of your thinking with ‘rubber bat theory’
2 Habits to help you shoot up as the top performer in your company
Digital Disc 11 – The Law of Obedience
The surprising root to happiness
Nature vs Normal – bringing your life into allignment
Why large and larger problems can be good for you
Digital Disc 12 – The Law of Success
How to survive and even profit from the coming bankruptcy avalanche
Focusing on your hobbies to go from failure to success
And much more
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3. Complete Transcripts of The Audio Course
If you prefer to read rather than listen to this audio course, you’ll be able to to read every teaching contained in the audio lessons in this professional ebook.
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4. Bonus – The Prosperity Programme – Burt Goldman
Module 1 – Make The Law Of Attraction Work For You
In short: The secret to becoming a money magnet
An overwhelmingly simple gesture that could change your life
Rejection negative energies at a whim
The truth about wealth – a billionaire’s shocking confession
Module 2 – Do This To Attract Your Desires
The gift of irresistable persuasion
How a bankrupt and a billionaire are extremely similar
The stunning revelation that drove Bill Negrin to tattoo just two letters on his arm: “PA”.
Beyond sightseeing – One thing to really look out for when visiting a new city
Module 3 – Lifting The Curse of Unfulfilled Desires
How 2 green candles and a yellow cotton cloth helped Leroy Ricol find love
The astonishing technique that’s been turning ordinary people into money magnets since 1979
When money really does come out of thin air – How the author earned $5,560 with a mere thought
Module 4 – The Miraculous Universal Bank Meditation
Attract money to yourself through meditation. A step-by-step guide to entering this rare meditation state
Complete control of your state of mind needs intense meditation and skill, right? Wrong!
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5. Bonus – 3 Hour Video Seminar – Manifest Like A Millionaire – Laura Silva
Each year, delegates of the ‘Million Mind’ conference pay $5,000 a ticket to experience life changing seminars. Access to a recorded session of those seminars is included in this package just to sweeten the deal.
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My Final Recommendation
So in conclusion:
1. Visitors to Leader House have rated this product as their favourite e-course, which is why I’m putting my name behind it.
2. This is a complete guide to the insightful principles that underpin our success in life.
3. Gaining this understanding helped me to become a far more effective leader.
4. There’s enough bonuses to keep you involved with this course for several weeks.
5. It was so peaceful yet exciting listening to a course like this in audio form.
But most of all…
5. It really delivered results for me.
Don’t forget to read the comments below left by visitors, or leave your own comment/review if you’ve purchased The 11 Forgotten Laws. Tell us what you think!
Team Leadership
One of the most difficult tasks that a company’s management team has is building effective communications within their departments. Effective communications with all levels of management as well as co-workers is essential to employee morale as well as increased productivity. The rationale behind that is that a lack of communication skills within the business leadership structure causes stress and tension among the workers. These feelings then develop into feelings of worthlessness and into feelings of inadequacy and inferiority.
Smart people often seek out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and team leadership. These days, most tend to be rather disappointing, but one e-course that is still respected by leadership professionals such as myself is The 11 Forgotten Laws which I consider an essential ‘crash course’ in the principles you need to know to further your teamwork or leadership skills and even find happiness in other areas of your life.
Team leadership skills are essential to the creating a work environment that is both productive and loyal. If the management team leaders are tuned in to the needs and feelings of the workers on their team, the workers are going to care more about the productivity and quality of the work they are assigned to do. Communication involves everyone within a management team, both supervision and employees. A lack of communication in any area within the management team structure will break down the morale, and once moral has decreased for the team, they will no longer be interested in doing any more than the minimum that is expected. In a production environment this may not be as noticeable since there will always be those who don’t pay attention to anything that is going on around them, concentrating solely on their own work; however, in a sale environment, the results can be disastrous.
Unfortunately, some management styles or leadership characteristics prohibit the thought of developing a rapport with employees, let along communication, but be assured that this is the least productive management style and does nothing to help with the moral of the department or the efforts of the corporation in increasing productivity or sales volume. The manager who continually uses this approach without seeing the detrimental effects will certainly be on the losing end of the bonus list at year’s end when it’s too late to turn things around.
What is your management style? Do you tend to rule the department with an iron fist or do you effect communication between workers and supervision? Look at the statistics of your team leadership and see if there are areas needing improvement, and if so, decide if communication that is more effective is the answer to that improvement. The better a team communicates with management, the more equipped each is to understand the need for meeting and improving goals. If you are not communicating effectively with your team, now is the time to improve your communication skills.
Thanks For Reading – Now It’s Time To Act
We mentioned ‘The 11 Forgotten Laws’ audio, reading & video e-course in this article. If you’d like to stop merely thinking and start actually doing then you can read my full review here and see what it did for me, and more importantly – what it can do for you.
Leadership Quotes
April 28, 2009 by admin
Filed under Leadership
Quotes can be pretty influential on our life. Little did we know that just a few strings of words could really make a difference in our life. There are quotes on friendship, relationship, leadership, success and many others that can be pretty inspiring and impactful on us. But is it true that quotes on leadership can make you be a real leader?
Some people are still skeptical regarding the hidden potential of the leadership quotes. You are definitely not to be blamed if you are one of them.
Quotes actually serves more than just the purpose of inspiring someone. These quotes are actually very useful tool in offices and schools. Good quotes on leadership are the ones that are able to move you. Not all quotes can be inspiring as such it is important that you choose one that is able to leave an impact on you after you finish reading it.
As well as use leadership quotes, effective leaders have never been afraid to invest in themselves, and have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. These days, many e-courses tend to be rather disappointing, but I’m pleased to recommend one e-course that is still respected by leadership professionals such as myself:
The 11 Forgotten Laws
. It’s generally seen as an essential and core ‘crash course’ in the laws and secrets you need to know to further your leadership & career and even help find happiness in other areas of your life. Its an excellent base upon which you can build your personal development.
Quotes comes in all length and personally, I would prefer the ones that are short and to the point. Succinct and to the point – that should be your ideal quote.
But why use quotes? Well, quotes are actually great sources of inspiration when you are down in the dumps. Quotes on leadership can give back the life in you and spur up all determination to lead again.
Being a leader is not an easy task and that is why you will definitely got to have all it takes to be one. Quotes of leadership are just like your back up support that reminds you of who you are and what exactly do you do in life.
“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” -Dwight David Eisenhower
Quotes such as this helps to remind you of certain traits or qualities that might have brushed past you while you were leading. Humor, decisiveness, care and concern towards fellow co-workers are just some of the attributes that these quotes posses to keep you reminded of your role and responsibility as the leader.
But the question is, does this quote really work as well as it should do? As aforementioned, not all quotes are worth remembering. Some quotes are just too long winded such that you lost the meaning halfway through reading it. Just choose one of your favorites and know it like it’s the back of your hand.
These quotes are just like positive affirmations that get registered into your brain if you keep on repeating it to yourself. This is a good thing of course as over time, you will realize that you will soon base your leadership on the set of leadership qualities that are said within the quote. As such, it will definitely be handy to know a few quotes.
You do not need to memorize the thick book of quotes just because you think that with more quotes you memorize, the better you will be. Unfortunately it does not work that way. Quotes are meant to the left as it is, and not as a bible that you should read and remember by hard. Quotes on leadership and management can make you be a real leader indeed.
Go grab a quote and make it yours today!