Hank Haney is an award-winning golf instructor who works with Tiger Woods and other tour pros. The following is an excerpt from his latest book, Hank Haney’s Essentials of the Swing.
I try to help all my students figure it out for themselves. You never really “own” knowledge until you’ve gone through that process – and that holds true for every student I’ve had over the years, including tour players. Blindly following instruction isn’t going to give you the understanding you need to be the best golfer you can be. My goal here is to give you some understanding of what happens in the swing, not just something to try the next time you go out to play. If I’m giving you a lesson, I start with an idea of what your model swing looks like, then I give you an A to Z plan to get there. And you can’t get to Z without seeing where A, B, C and the rest of the letters put you.
What I find so interesting, and one of the reasons why Hank Haney is such an effective teacher and coach, is because he understands well what makes people tick. He understands that people really need to know the why behind the what, so that they can fully commit to the approach. In golf, the difference between a few strokes in a handicap can all be related to the golfer’s ability to commit fully to a shot: to trust the club, remove all doubt, and envision only the perfect execution. By giving his students the understanding behind the approach and the technique, Hank is addressing those critical issues and allowing his students to fully commit.
Well, that’s the nuance in engagement for sales reps that can be the difference in closing deals or not. Fostering belief in the products and the company, trusting the strategy, confronting all objections and giving them only reason to envision the perfect execution – every time.
Take a look at the Hank Haney statement when I remove the words specific to golf. Read only the words that remain, and you’ll see the brilliance of Hank Haney is in the universality of his message. This is exactly what we consult to our clients, and a fundamental element in our change management and engagement programs. The second part speaks to the fundamental approach of setting a foundation and then building on it in sequence. In communications, that means giving the underlying understanding of what and why as the foundation, and then moving into the how.
I try to help all my students figure it out for themselves. You never really “own” knowledge until you’ve gone through that process – and that holds true for every student I’ve had over the years, including tour players. Blindly following instruction isn’t going to give you the understanding you need to be the best golfer you can be. My goal here is to give you some understanding of what happens in the swing, not just something to try the next time you go out to play.
If I’m giving you a lesson, I start with an idea of what your model swing looks like, then I give you an A to Z plan to get there. And you can’t get to Z without seeing where A, B, C and the rest of the letters put you.
So you need to give your people the fundamental understanding behind the need. “Because I said so” does not work with adults (and it actually doesn’t work with kids either, but when they’re too young to appreciate straight rationale and the consequence of their actions, sometimes you have no choice).
Why is it so important to know “why”. Because I said so.
See, it doesn’t work very well! And the answer is because we’re people, not machines, and we have an insatiable curiosity that when not satisfied can disrupt our ability to operate at peak performance. Plus, when left to our own devices and in absence of provided answers, we’ll develop our own theories, which can further disrupt performance and leave employees harboring misguided judgments. And those ideas compound the initial feelings of confusion, aggravation and even that there’s a lack of respect, creating disgruntled employees for really no reason at all.
So if Side A of answering the “why” is about keeping employees engaged, then Side B is about making sure they are equipped. That’s right – equipping your sales force is more than just giving them lots of stuff. Equipping them is also about educating them enough to be capable of carrying on a sustained, intellectual dialogue with customers. And not just about your products. Reps must be able to answer questions and present solutions on a range of topics in order to provide the requisite consult of a trusted partner in this ultra-competitive business climate.
Therefore, your training must go beyond FAQ’s and bullet lists. And one critical piece of that education is the “why”. Understanding the reasons why things are will allow your reps to adapt the conversation to your customer, and to provide customized solutions to their challenges. Even if the topics are internally focused, giving employees the “why” will allow them to adjust to unexpected conditions, deal with situational anomalies…even call an audible if necessary.
This is what Hank Haney is talking about. When you’re giving instruction, you need to provide the “why”, not just the “what”, if you want the student to have the ability to apply the learning to real world situations – which can never be exactly duplicated in training simulations. As Hank says, “blindly following instruction isn’t going to give you the understanding you need to be the best…you can be.”
So give your people the knowledge they need to be their best, the tools to deliver success, and the answers they need to feel good about it. And you will be rewarded with happier employees, improved performance, greater customer satisfaction and increased sales.
And if you want to know how to improve your golf game, then read Hank’s new book and maybe you’ll get some “why” for yourself.
