Golfers watch a tee shot on the fourth tee during the World Hickory Golf Championship at the Gullane golf course in East Lothian, Scotland September 24, 2009. The PGA World Hickory Open takes place over two days at the Gullane number 2 course with thirty four golfers taking part using old hickory clubs. REUTERS/David Moir (BRITAIN SPORT GOLF)David Moir/Reuters
With many managers sitting at their desks dreaming of being on the links again, it's a good time to ponder their approach on the golf course - and what it says about their leadership style
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John Kenworthy, chief coaching officer of business training consultancy Celsim in Singapore, says there are six leadership styles we see on the fairways and in the boardrooms. On trainingzone.com, he urges you not to choose the style you believe you should have, but acknowledge the one most comfortable for you - and its potential weaknesses.
The conqueror
On the golf course, this player dominates, blasting a drive as far as possible with delight. He or she goes for broke on every shot. As a leader, the conqueror revels in challenges, including adversity. "The more impossible others consider the position, the more the conqueror defies the odds. They want results, and they want them now. Excuses will bring wrath, and success will bring a new challenge. Seldom satisfied with the result, it can always be better," he writes.
The conjuror
Conjurors excel in the bunker and get bored with routine fairway shots. They find excitement in difficult lies and troublesome shots. Similarly, conjuror leaders triumph over adversity again and again. They seem intent on making their own lives difficult, deliberately placing themselves and their teams into corporate sand traps that provide new challenges.
The craftsman
This clear-headed, technical player is always tinkering with his or her game, quietly and consistently adopting a low-stress, on-the-fairway, approach. Craftsman leaders are similarly solid and consistent, aiming for a smooth-running business that they can improve in small, incremental steps.
The cavalier
These exhibitionists live for the moment when they can bend a shot around a tree and soar over the water to land near the pin. They like to wow their fellow players and the crowd with their flamboyant shot-making ability. Cavalier leaders are also show-offs at work, but Mr. Kenworthy stresses that it's not necessarily egotistically but simply because it motivates them. "Often, they will stun the audience with acts of derring-do and controversial behaviours. These leaders enjoy the limelight and are more frequently in the press."
The conductor
These are the unsung heroes of the regular round with friends, organizing, cajoling, hustling and bolstering spirits. They are more concerned with everyone else's enjoyment than their own, believing that taking part is more important than winning. Mr. Kenworthy notes that few of the world's top golfers fit this style, although without them the amateur game and local competitions wouldn't last long. Most leaders would like to be conductors, bringing the symphony around them together in perfect harmony to reach a particular goal.
The chess player
These are the strategists, positional players who carefully plot their rounds, shot by shot, hoping to win through consistent, planned performance. Again, most executives would like to be strategists but Mr. Kenworthy stresses that often such managers are too careful to be true leaders - spending their time thinking and analyzing, rather than acting. Chess player leaders, he advises, "understand the environment, the context, the shifting positions of the competition, and play a solid game along known successful routes, not too greedy and with contingencies for rough times. They understand foremost, who they are and what drives them; secondly they know their people and leverage their strengths and deploy all their resources to best effect."
RELATIONSHIPS / A LETTER MIGHT CHANGE YOUR OPINION OF A COLLEAGUE
Ohio State University professor Jeffrey Ford asked managers studying for an MBA under him to write a letter to three people they didn't like at work. The note needed to acknowledge the person for something he or she had done that the manager had not acknowledged, such as completing a project on time. It also had to address something about the person that the writer appreciated; apologize for a mistake or misunderstanding the manager was responsible for but had not owned up to; and amend an agreement that had been broken.
The managers writing the letters were surprised at how much more affinity they had for the person they disliked after the exercise. "They discovered that it was their interpretations, assessments, evaluations and conclusions about the other person that was the source of their liking or disliking them, not the other person. They realized that they could be responsible for their affinity toward others and that, if they were willing, they could shift that affinity," he writes on his blog, professorford.com.
POWER POINTS
Interrupt the interruptions
Consultants Jason and Jodi Womack suggest keeping an "agenda list" for each person you interrupt the most during a typical day. Instead of getting up to talk, calling or e-mailing the person, write what you need to connect about on a list. Then approach the person with multiple items, perhaps at a scheduled daily check-in. If you can request a similar agenda list from the person who interrupts you the most, you'll be a double winner. Jason Womack Co. newsletter
Calm and curious
Consultant Patricia Katz asks: "What might life be like if we substituted calm and curious for fast and furious?" Pause Newsletter
In customer service, empathy must be measured
Consultant Rick Reilly says that companies measure customer service effectiveness by whether the employee apologized, facilitated a solution within a given time frame, and followed up after the initial encounter. But that misses a critical factor: Did the employee adequately display empathy for the aggrieved customer? DestinationCRM.com
Keep best stuff above fold
Want to keep surfers' eyes on your site? Web expert Jakob Nielsen suggests keeping the material most important for your site visitor's goals or your business intentions "above the fold" - on the initial screen. His research found viewers spend 80.3 per cent of their time above the fold and 19.7 per cent scrolling below. However, if you have a long article, it's best to present it as one scrolling canvas. Useit.com
The past is the predictor
Research by David Zhu, a professor at Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business, found that corporate directors who sat on boards which, in the past, had approved a higher-than-average premium to acquire a new business were more likely to favour a high sweetener again. Those who had tended to approve lower-than-average premiums were similarly cautious in other takeovers. So their past history seems more important than current takeover dynamics. He also found board discussions amplify the majority's position, so that, whatever the leanings of board members on entering the meeting, the final decision will be more extreme.