Bank Sales Corner

Cracking the Code: Sales Leadership Lessons from the Ryder Cup

  

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You don’t have to be a golfer to enjoy Cracking the Code, Paul Azinger’s account of his role in the 2008 Ryder Cup, the biannual competition pitting the best professional golfers from the United States against their counterparts from Europe. As captain of the U.S. side—which had lost regularly since the mid-1990s-- Azinger was faced with a challenge that many sales leaders easily understand: How to put players in a position to be successful. While you might not have prodigious talents like Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson on your side, you can benefit from Azinger’s insights on leadership.

His account is enlightening. I always thought that the captain’s role was more symbol than substance, and that Azinger’s big decisions revolved around picking the colors for his team’s golf shirts and the menu for the pre-match banquet.  Not true. Azinger spent the two years leading up to the Cup demonstrating that if golf is a game of inches, it pays to sweat all the small details. Here are my takeaways:

1. You need the right players. The selection process for the Ryder Cup does give the Captain the ability to select some players who don’t automatically qualify. Recognizing that the U.S. could choose from a number of talented players, Azinger was more concerned about the personality and temperament of the individuals—he was looking for golfers who would support each other under pressure-- than finding the “best players.” Chemistry mattered. To get an understanding of how the pros he was considering would work out, he relied on a psychologist who used tools like Myers-Briggs and DISC to assess their natural tendencies to divide them into three groups: aggressive players, enthusiastic relaters, and even-tempered “Steady Eddies.”
2. Involve your team in key decisions. After settling on a group of golfers who all had the right psychological profiles, Azinger left it up to his players to select their partners. He allowed the three aggressive players (Mickelson, Andrew Kim and Justin Leonard) to decide who they wanted to play with in the championship. He did the same with the other Captain’s choices. The result was greater camaraderie and commitment.
3. You can’t control everything that happens on the course, but there is a lot that you can do to shape the environment. Azinger recounts how he worried about the cut of the rough and even the limbs on towering trees that might penalize one of his players. He worked closely with the grounds crew at the course to be sure that the pin placements and tees favored the U.S. side. (Note to non-golfers: This is not illegal or unsportsmanlike.)
4. You are responsible for crafting the messages you want your players to deliver. While not scripting everything for the players, he wanted them to think more about golf than how they would respond to reporters’ questions. It worked.
5. Surround yourself with strong lieutenants—his assistants were former captains Dave Stockton and Raymond Floyd—and listen to them. In several instances their insights proved critical.
6. Give immediate feedback. If one of your team members is struggling, talk to him.  Azinger would be quick to point out that how you deliver the feedback—what you actually say, where you do it, the tone of your voice—depends on the individual. Some need to be challenged. Others may require a softer approach.
7. Teammates can help each other. Peer coaching works. In certain situations you might do well to enlist the support of one of your team members to assist another player.

Final note: The U.S. side did prevail in the 2008 Ryder Cup.

Any other books on sales leadership that you’d recommend for bankers? Send the titles to nmiller@mzbierlyconsulting.com and become eligible for a drawing for free passes to upcoming webinars.

Next Webinar for Sales Leaders on February 14, 2011 on Small Business Leadership: Tactics for Coaching Branch Managers. For more details go to http://mzbierlyconsulting.webex.com or call Whit Midkiff at 727-741-0766.