PGA Level 3 Seminar: Day 2

Rise and shine! Get up early for Day 2 and attend the optional Resume and Cover Letter Q&A breakout session led by Bill Cioffoletti (PGA) and Michelle Hupfer (PGA). It’s the same as the one in Level 2, but there’s an Activity in the Level 3 Work Experience Portfolio requiring you to submit a resume and cover letter for a job you’d like to apply for in the future. It helps to have fresh notes.

Then Debbie Foley (PGA) opened Tuesday’s session with a tip for taking the Level 3 Test Battery. As I posted yesterday, There are no Food & Beverage Control or Career Enhancement Seminars here at Level 3. They are self-study courses, meaning that you have to read the Course Manuals on your own time. Turns out there’s no Human Resources Management Seminar at Level 3 either!

After talking it over tonight, my roommate and I were lamenting the fact they don’t condense more of today’s Supervising and Delegating Seminar to allow for more of the Human Resources concepts to be covered, especially after lunch. There’s a reason why Apprentices fail the self-study courses more than any of the others!

Much like Golf Car Fleet Management (Level 1) or Turfgrass Management (Level 2), you have to study most of this Course Manual on your own. A majority of the Day 2 Seminar focuses on Supervising and Delegating, not Human Resources. Study that Course Manual, and then be on the lookout for me to post the Study Guide in the coming months.

Next, it was time for an interesting role-playing scenario. We separated into two groups: Head Golf Professionals and Assistant Golf Professionals for a delegating experience involving the planning of a golf outing for a local Chamber of Commerce at an upscale golf resort. The difference between perception versus reality alone was worth the exercise.

The rest of the morning focused on The Performance System and the characteristics for an effective performance system in which managers can maximize the abilities of the people they supervise.

Mike Nedelcoff (PGA) told us the system involves setting clear expectations communicated to willing performers with adequate capabilities who are given resources that allow them to respond to input with appropriate actions reinforced by meaningful consequences and adjusted through timely feedback.

There are really just four elements of the system: 1) performance expectations, resources, and input, 2) performing the task, 3) results and consequences, and 4) feedback.

In the afternoon, we talked about the five principles of motivating work: skill variety, whole task, significant work, autonomy, and feedback. Skill variety is exactly how it sounds – when the performer uses more skills to complete a task. Whole task is when the performer is involved in the complete task from start to finish.

Significant work gives performers a task they believe has real significance. Autonomy gives performers the freedom to determine the best way to do a job. Feedback is the response the performer gets about their achieved results relative to their goals. For most employees, receiving appreciation for doing good work is more important to them than simply making more money for doing it.

Delegating work is another way managers can build partnerships with and empower their performers. Mike told us, “Great managers are great delegators.” I think he’s right. I know the feeling I get when my manager delegates a task to me, and then gives me the autonomy to do what I feel is best. “The only thing you’re going to be remembered for whether you’re a manager or a coach,” said Mike, “is did you have a positive impact on someone else’s life?” You cannot run any operation by yourself. The more you think about “we” as opposed to “I”, the more successful you will be as an organization.

Blogger’s Notes:
Being back at the PGA Education Center for the 3rd time in less than three years got me thinking – being at the Level 3 Seminar is a really big deal! If you’ve made it this far, you’ve really accomplished something. From here, you can practically see the finish line. There are just a few more steps to take.

I emailed PGA Business Operations Director Erik Nielsen (PGA) for some stats about Level 3 graduates. On average, it takes about four to four-and-a-half years for Associates to complete the PGA Professional Golf Management (PGM) Program. About 350 Associates graduate the PGM Program (via the seminar system in Florida) and are elected to PGA Membership each year. Another 310-340 are elected via the university PGM Programs annually.

After today’s Seminar, we met back up as a group to putting the finishing touches on our Final Experience PowerPoint presentation. Then it was off for a quick bite to eat and back to the room to work on the Work Experience Portfolio.

I like to work on it at the end of each day specifically to attempt the Activities relating to the topics we covered in the Seminar that day while the ideas are still fresh in my mind. That way, if I have any questions, I can ask a PGA Education faculty member while I’m still here.

In little over an hour, my Portfolio completion percentage jumped up 15 percentage points from almost 12% to nearly 27%. If you’ve made it this far, I don’t have to tell you to treat this like a business trip. You already know.

Preview of Day 3: Advanced Teaching Seminar, Day 1 (8:30a-4:30p)
These are my favorite days in any Seminar, and in Level 3, there are two Advanced Teaching Seminars. Rafael Floriani (PGA) and Eric Hogge (PGA) will be teaming up for this interactive indoor/outdoor session. I’ve never met Eric before, but I hear he’s good! I also just looked at the weather, and there’s rain in the forecast for Thursday. Hopefully, we can still get everything done that we need to accomplish.