Gregg Patterson: Delivering “The BOOST”

POSTED ON July 16, 2024 @ 11:29 am

The Reflective Experience –Delivering “The BOOST”2024

Gregg Patterson

Founder and President

“Tribal Magic!!!”

Needing EARNED Confidence

Manager-Mentors are responsible for delivering The Confidence BOOST to the Upwardly Mobile—and the Upwardly Mobile are responsible for demanding The Confidence BOOST from their Manager-Mentor.

Let me explain………..

The Upwardly Mobile are bright and enthusiastic “strivers”, filled with Upside Potential, primed with education and hungry for success BUT are inexperienced, “wet behind the ears”, uninitiated in the inner workings of clubdom, fearful of the unknown and desperately lacking in EARNED Confidence.

These, The Upwardly Mobile, are often filled with “I ain’t good enough” thinking, traumatized and demoralized by self-doubt, hesitant to act, fearful they’ll do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, dress the wrong way and respond the wrong way to questions they get asked.

Experienced and successful managers appreciate the distinction between Earned Confidence—built on experience—and Faux Confidence built on bluff and bluster, on arrogance, narcissism and ignorance. Mentor-Managers know that confidence needs cultivation and that they, the experienced, are the cultivators of confidence in The Upwardly Mobile. Those who deliver The BOOST—and those who insist on getting BOOSTed—appreciate that a “how to” roadmap is needed. Here’s the map…

The BOOST Mindset

The foundation of BOOST starts with a BOOST Mindset.

The “Confident Manager” Mindset. Managers need to have Earned Confidence, secure in their position and their abilities, able to avoid “roadblocking jealousy”—the fear that the BOOSTed will outshine them in the eyes of members and staff.

A BOOST-er Mindset. Managers who BOOST must exhibit a genuine, sustained enthusiasm for delivering the experiences and the reflective opportunities needed to generate confidence in the Upwardly Mobile.

A BOOST-Me Mindset. The Upwardly Mobile need to be HUNGRY for The BOOST, eager to pursue the experiences, insights, coaching, mentoring and discipline needed to create Earned Confidence.

A Curiosity Mindset. Both the BOOSTER and the BOOSTED need to be curious about “what’s needed” to deliver experience-based confidence.

A “Tell Me The Truth” Mindset. The Upwardly Mobile need to be receptive to The Truth, tough enough to hear The Truth and responsive enough to change when The Truth is delivered.

An Idea Banking Mindset. The Upwardly Mobile need to create a computerized and properly inventoried network of people, places, ideas and visuals for reference and use in the future.

A Resilience Mindset. Failure is a great teacher and The Upwardly Mobile need to toughen up and see bruises as growth opportunities. A willingness to “push the envelope” and fail at a project, a presentation or an encounter will add steel to the STRIVER’s emotional psyche.

An “I Ain’t There Yet” Mindset. Those seeking Earned Confidence need to say less and do more, to downplay their abilities and accomplishments, admit to being challenged by an assignment but primed to “give it a go”, avoid bragging about past accomplishments and reaching out for help to make excellence happen

A Humor Mindset. The sting of getting smacked down and beaten up is soothed with humor and humor is a must have during the journey to Earned Confidence.

BOOST Tactics

The Upwardly Mobile get BOOSTED and gain Earned Confidence when they pursue experience, reflect deeply on those experiences, derive first principles from those reflections and generate tactics for applying those insights and principles in real world situations.

Managers who deliver The BOOST and the Upwardly Mobile who get BOOSTED do the following.

Cultivate Competence. Knowing the job, doing the job and understanding the job is the prime requisite of Earned Confidence.

Get Structured Education. The Upwardly Mobile need to pursue ongoing formal in-person and online education in management and related subjects—undergraduate and graduate school, Junior College, BMI programs and CCM certification.

Read Lots. Readings “done right” and “discussed right” deliver a deeper understanding of the club business, of people behaviors and of the issues underpinning good management. Assignments must be given—books, magazines, White Papers, Board Minutes, Committee Minutes, Strategic Plans, Member Surveys and newspapers.

Schedule One-On-Ones—with the GM. Frequent scheduled and unscheduled meetings are a must-do. In the GM’s office, in the Upwardly Mobile’s “comfort space”, during walk and talks inside and outside the clubhouse.

Schedule One-On-Ones—with the Department Heads. Regularly scheduled as well as impromptu.

Schedule Mentoring Times with “Outside-The-Club” Mentors. Identify the competent, the interesting and the willing outside the club. Schedule meetings. Discuss past, current and future experiences, issues and ideas. Do caffeine and conversation LOTS.

Schedule Walk-Arounds with the GM. Scheduled tours of the club during which issues are discussed and signals are given that the Upwardly Mobile “have the goods.”

Cultivate “The Right Look”. Discuss the proper Dress and Grooming for the place they’ll be at and the situations they’ll be in.

Practice Communications. Write articles, the minutes, memos and letters to the members. Develop and practice conversational skills. Wander the club and talk to members. Speak often at staff training sessions and department meetings. Style matters. Clarity matters. Impact matters.

Master “The Signals”. Teach “signal reading”—those signals given by The Striver and those given by others TO The Striver. Explain what the signals mean and how to change the signals delivered.

Develop FAQ Sheets. Identify, document and discuss the questions that’ll be asked when walking the club, talking to members, yakking with staff, encountering Committees and speaking with board members.

Leave Them In Charge. BOOSTERs need to exit the club and let The Strivers resolve issues on their own.

Give Research Assignments. Have the Upwardly Mobile do research into a particular subject, draft a White Paper, write an article for the newsletter, give a presentation to the senior staff and submit the research finding to the board and applicable committees.

Give “Creativity” Assignments. Give the Upwardly Mobile assignments that stretch their creative and organizational abilities. Observe how they find ideas and critique the creative ideas they’ve found.

Assign “Push the Envelop” Projects. GM’s should give—and The Upwardly Mobile should insist on—a few “high risk projects” that push the envelope into The Failure Zone. “Stretch assignments” provide growth opportunities and do wonders for the confidence foundation.

Attend Meetings. The Upwardly Mobile need to sit in on committee and board meetings as “silent observers”, taking the minutes yet prepped and prepared to respond to questions they may be asked.

Conduct Pre-Meeting Upbriefs. Before attendance, the BOOSTER should meet with The Striver and review and discuss the meeting agendas.

Conduct Post-Meeting Debriefs. After the meeting, the BOOSTER should review and discuss what was said, what was decided, what the Minutes should include, what should be done differently at future meetings.

Attend Association Meetings—Area LAN meetings, chapter meetings, annual chapter conferences and the World Conferences should be attended in-person or via ZOOM and debriefed with the BOOST’er once experienced.

Visit Area Clubs. Schedule visits—alone or together with the GM—to every club of EVERY type within 20 miles of the home club. Talk to the GM, the department heads and—if possible—some of the staff.

Discuss Future Scenarios. Identify situations that might arise—operationally and strategically—in the future and discuss possible responses to those situations.

Create an Idea Bank. Inventory the Network of people, place, ideas and visuals that have been experienced and created. Document, review, discuss, use.