Suggested reading (Human resources column)

Many golf course superintendents use their off-season to bone up on education, often focusing on supervision and personnel management. With more than 300 new business books published each year, selecting the right one isn’t easy. Other than “Human Resource Management for Golf Course Superintendents,” written by Tom Maloney and me, books I suggest are classified as general management literature. Some are about supervision, others are about general leadership.

Supervision
A recent study found the most important ingredient of employee job satisfaction is a worker’s relationship with his immediate supervisor. Here are three books to help you improve that relationship:

“Gung Ho: Turn on the People in any Organization” is a story with a message. A new general manager is appointed to a failing manufacturing plant as punishment for finding a fatal flaw in the company president’s strategic plan. With not much of an idea about how to avoid the expected result (plant and personal failure), she learns Gung Ho from the department head of the best department in the plant. Gung Ho has three parts:

1. The spirit of the squirrel – worthwhile work. Workers who are engaged in their work are more focused and productive. This includes understanding how their work makes the world a better place, the indispensable values of the organization and the shared goal all are seeking to achieve.

2. The way of the beaver – in control of achieving the goal. Workers must feel they understand the goal and are in control of achieving it. This includes input into decisions and challenging but achievable goals.

3. The gift of the goose – cheering each other on. Workers are focused on achievement and continue to improve when they receive praise and constructive feedback and when they can measure their progress toward success.

“Everyone’s a Coach: Five Business Secrets for High-Performance Coaching” has been a hit with many golf course superintendents. Ken Blanchard’s co-author, Don Shula, provides many football-related examples. The authors use the letters of the word “coach” to convey their message:

Conviction-driven. Start with the importance of a vision (the quality of the golf course) and add several personal characteristics, including keeping winning and losing in perspective, valuing fairness more than popularity, leading by example and enjoying what you do.

Overlearning. Successfully completing a task in all situations, including difficult ones, requires mastering the task rather than just learning it. This means continuing training and practice until the task is mastered.

Audible-ready. Even when the task is overlearned, there will be times when the employee must make decisions to change the procedure because of unusual situations (golfers, weather). Employees must understand why they do what they do, be engaged in the outcome and know what to do when an audible is needed.

Consistency. You must be consistent when establishing and administering consequences and providing positive, redirection and negative feedback. A Shula quote says a lot: “Good performance should always be treated differently that poor performance.”

Honesty-based. Great integrity is the basis of leading by example.

“Now Discover Your Strengths” is for management book connoisseurs. Marcus Buckingham is a guru of management thought. In the book, he carefully articulates the importance of building on your and your employees’ strengths rather than being consumed by overcoming weaknesses. He and his co-author lay out the core of focusing on strengths as identifying one’s talents. Then they identify 34 talents and assist you in specifying your greatest strengths.

Leadership
“Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Company and Your Life” is the best book written about vision. A story that’s an easy read makes the abstract concept of vision concrete, real and usable. The examples for developing a significant purpose, values and a picture of the future include personal and business applications.

“Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service” is an easy to read story about customer service. It’s about a man who helps businesses succeed by making their customers raving fans. The hero of the story loves to golf. The three steps to create raving fans are:

• Decide what you want. Create a vision of perfection centered on the customer (the golfer).
• Discover what the customer (golfers) wants. Discover the customers’ vision of what they want, then alter your vision.
• Deliver the vision plus one percent. Improve systems and enhance training to ensure consistency.

“Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t” reports results of a study about the leadership characteristics of companies successfully making the leap from good to great. This book has become the reference point for professional development in many businesses.

The now-common statement “get the right people on the bus …” comes from the conclusion in the book that getting the right people in leadership positions is the basis of business success.

If you don’t read management books regularly, start with one that has a story containing the message. GCN