Author: Tony Bennett
Posted on: 27th Oct 2017
On my latest read of the thought provoking, “If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently”, author Fred Lee, gives his advice on the five behaviours that customers value in those who provide them with services.
Fred observes that hospital patients judge their experience not only by the way they are treated for the disease but also, and more importantly, by the way, that they are treated as a person…
If Fred is right, and incidentally I think that he is, and if this concept transfers across into golf, which I think it does, then the ‘how’ is perhaps more important than the ‘what’? This is an essential point for all, coaches, managers, and leaders to recognise. By the way, the great ones do; that is one reason that they are great.
Content, or perhaps we should call it knowledge, can be learned. In fact, content can be learned by almost anyone on almost any subject. Certainly, there is always content to learn or be updated on, that is the nature of progress. Often people have a fascination for content, and yet they have a hard time sharing that knowledge in a way that can make a difference in the life of someone else. I believe that it is possible to learn enough content for whatever role you have in a short period of time to become good at almost any subject. Learning to share that knowledge however is altogether different.
Back to Fred Lee and his five behaviours. Fred conveniently created the acronym S.H.A.R.E. Essentially these behaviours boiled down to the following values: using initiative, being part of a team, understanding the customer’s feelings, treating them with courtesy and making sure that communication is open and honest.
- S – Sense people’s needs before they ask (initiative)
- H – Help each other out (teamwork)
- A – Acknowledge people’s feelings (empathy)
- R – Respect the dignity and privacy of everyone (courtesy)
- E – Explain what is happening (communication)
So if the ‘how’ is so important then how can golf focus more on how to share experience and knowledge so that it is relevant, timely and useful? There are many answers to this question, and I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Author: Tony Bennett
Read more by Tony Bennett
Tony is the Director of Education & Membership for the Professional Golfers Association’s of Europe, which has the responsibility of over 21,000 golf professionals in 36 member countries worldwide. Tony travels extensively in his role added to which he is an international golf development consultant for the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. He has worked with a many leading golfing organisations and several governments departments while developing innovative and far reaching projects around the World.
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