Has your company created “the tiger effect”?
Stephen Long, Ph.D.
You’ve spent millions of dollars on training, and what do you have to show for it? Training programs are the first to be cut during tough times, and I’m not here to argue that they shouldn’t. Most training programs lack sufficient evaluation and have negligible impact on the bottom line. In the 1990s, training went from being a privilege to a right. Employees expect to be continually educated without being held accountable for applying the information in a profit-generating way. What’s worse is that many employees leave after being educated. Why should you continue to educate your competitor’s workforce?
CEOs recognize the dilemma: should I cut back on training and risk losing good people, or should I continue to pour money into programs that provide little or no return on investment? Your business instincts tell you to cut, but your Human Relations people tell you that it would be unfair to your employees. You know that training should provide a competitive advantage, but isn’t there a better way to advance the performance average?
The problem is illusion. Training companies explain how they will create significant behavior changes in their employees, but they don’t tell you how that behavior change affects your bottom line. The assumption is that a significant change in behavior correlates with a significant change in the final result. I’m here to refute that assumption. The key is to make a minor behavior change with the right people that creates the substantial effect of creating a culture of performance.
Let’s look at the PGA Tour and what I call “The Tiger Effect”. Tiger Woods is the number one ranked player in the world and possibly the most recognized athlete on the planet. It is safe to say that Tiger is a Level Six Executor, someone who maximizes his potential and creates the greatest return on his work. Since Tiger turned pro in 1996, a lot has changed for the PGA Tour. Television ratings increased, television contracts increased, sponsorships increased, and golf participation increased across the country, especially in urban areas. CBS reports that when Tiger is in contention, ratings go up 100%. Sports marketers are in awe of The Tiger Effect. They realize how powerful a superstar can be and that makes their job easier.
What about the effect Tiger has had on his fellow PGA Tour players? Has there been an improvement in the performance of the best players? Has the culture changed? In the five years before Tiger joined the PGA Tour, the top 10 players averaged 69.73 strokes per round. In the five years since Tiger joined the tour, the scoring average has improved .18 strokes per round to 69.55. That’s an improvement of nearly one stroke per tournament for each player.
That may not mean much to you and your Saturday morning $10 Nassau, but at the highest levels of competition, it means millions of dollars. In 2000, Phil Mickelson earned $2,283,611 more than David Duval with a meager .16 average scoring lead. In 1999, David Duval held a .20 lead over Davis Love III, resulting in an increase in earnings of $1,166,578. After the 2005 season, Tiger was still the money leader and scoring leader. Tiger was .38 strokes better than the tour’s No. 2 in scoring and money, Vijay Singh, and earned more than $2.6 million more than Vijay. Overall, Tiger was 25% more efficient at scoring less than half a hit per round than his main rival. What is more revealing is the difference between the best players on the tour. Vijay outpointed Jim Furyk, #3 on the tour in stroke rate and #4 in money, by just .23 strokes per round. With that trivial difference, Vijay made over $3.7 million more than Furyk. These players are still well below Tiger’s scoring average, but have taken steps to improve their game just so they can compete with him. Culture changes when talented people develop.
You can ask about the team. There have certainly been advances in golf equipment over the last 10 years and the United States Golf Association has conducted numerous studies on the effects equipment has had on performance. Each and every one of the studies has found that there have been no significant differences in the score of technological advances in golf equipment. Tiger has done what Callaway, Titleist and even Nike couldn’t do: he has improved the performance of the best players in the world and changed the culture of the PGA.
A superstar like Tiger Woods makes everyone around him better, and it’s not because of his shoes or a sports drink. Tiger’s former swing coach, Butch Harmon, has said that Tiger’s advantage comes from his competitive spirit. The best players follow Tiger and work to improve, but they don’t lead. The Tiger Effect is about leadership. Tiger has attracted the best players to compete with him. They haven’t caught him and the current generation of players probably never will, but his games have gotten better thanks to Tiger’s leadership and excellence. The players who will catch and outpace Tiger are probably in high school today.
Undermining the tiger effect
A player like Tiger Woods appears once in a generation, but right now there are several superstars in his organization. The problem is that his competitive spirit has not been developed. Many business leaders have created a long list of debilitating habits when it comes to developing their best people. These habits prevent the best people from leading the rest of your employees to higher levels of productivity. Here is a short list of attitudes that undermine the “Tiger Effect”.
1. Leave the best people alone: Most business leaders are problem solvers, and the best people rarely show any signs of trouble. The fact is, these people are your leaders, and if they don’t develop, the rest of your organization will suffer.
2. Don’t mess with success. If a band is producing at a high level, why would you mess with it? Because complacency leads to plateaus and then ultimately to failure.
3. Play it safe: It’s human nature to play not to lose when you’re doing well, but innovation stifles when you try not to screw things up.
4. Training is for the mediocre: Training programs are developed for the “average” 70% of your employees. Training companies don’t make money when you make money. They make money when more and more of their people sign up for their programs. Get more for your money by funneling training dollars to your top 15%.
5. Only IQ Matters: Identifying ability by IQ score, SAT score, or school reputation is naïve. For years, the CEOs of companies like Bank of America, Shell Oil, and Verizon Communications have pressured college presidents to downplay SAT scores for admission because they realize that success doesn’t matter. it is based only on cognitive intelligence.
6. People do not change. It’s not that people don’t change; people cannot change if they are not given the opportunity. When your best people develop professionally, your company’s performance will improve dramatically.
Create the tiger effect
Level Six’s Leadership Social Operating System has developed performance and leadership programs specifically for the high performers in your company to create a culture of performance. Our programs are empirically based on a concept that measures how competitive an organization is. It was claimed that Tiger Woods’ advantage comes not from his shoes or his sports drink but from his competitive spirit. Level Six Leadership has empirically shown that competitive spirit can be cultivated and maximized through the development of competitive skill sets. The key is to tap into the individual nuances of your best people to create a culture of performance.
Creating the Tiger Effect is relatively simple and inexpensive compared to other change management initiatives. As the leader of your organization, you can do two things to get things moving in the right direction. The first has to do with your expectations. Require that all training programs have an impact on the bottom line. And most importantly, forget about the idea that massive behavior change creates meaningful results. A minor change from your best people creates significant results as the Tiger Effect illustrates. Leadership is not about adopting a new policy or rebuilding an organization chart. Leadership is about unlocking the potential of your best people.
High-performing companies realize that success is a springboard, not a pedestal. Nurture your most talented people and your company will grow exponentially through a culture of performance.
You can learn how you can create your own personal tiger effect through Level Six Performance: A Gold Medal Formula for Professional and Personal Success published by Champion Press.