Different Strokes

One of my favorite shows growing up was Different Strokes. Gary Coleman was brilliant as young Arnold Drummond (“What you talkin’ about Willis?”). While that was can’t miss TV back then, the title of this week’s Monday Huddle Up isn’t about the show. It’s about messaging. Great messaging actually. Let me explain…..

Mike Krahe has been my golf coach for the last 3-4 years. He has been acknowledged by several magazines and golf organizations as one of the leading instructors in the country (40 under 40 type stuff). Mike’s superpower is that he is a great teacher, which I’ve been able to tap into these past few years.

There is an old saying, “Different strokes for different folks.” It means that different people do things different ways. This includes learning, and of course, teaching. People receive information in differing ways. So to be a great teacher, one must find a way to communicate with their students in a way they can understand and remember. Mike is a master at this type of teaching, which I got to see firsthand recently.

Those that follow this weekly scribe know that the Huddle Up Group logo is usually at the top of this email. This week we changed it up to show you a photo of a group of family and friends, along with Coach Mike (far left). Coach Mike put on a one hour clinic for 10 of us, five kids and five adults. Our group had beginners, veteran players, first timers, and two single digit handicaps. So we had quite a spread between our best player (Nick) to a first timer (Jon M.). So to be effective, Coach Mike had to pull out all the stops to help each student improve in a short period of time.

For each player, Mike would watch them hit a couple of shots, then ask them a question or two usually around what other sports they play or have played in the past. Then he would go right to work with some explanation of what he saw in their swings and a drill to help them improve. In each case, there was success within 2-3 minutes. One video we shot showed one of the kids start hitting the ball straight in less than 90 seconds. The guy is amazing.

Back to the messaging part. For each of the 10 students, Mike talked to them in a different way. For one he talked to them about striking the tee below the ball rather than focusing on the ball itself (boom!). For another he asked that the young player think about holding her teddy bear with her elbows (smash!). For the best player in the group, Mike worked on his right hand grip pressure and how the left thumb should be tucked under the right palm (bang!).

In each and every case, there was a different message that the student could understand and remember.

We as leaders need to remember this theory. Different people learn in different ways. They respond differently to alternate messaging. We need to make sure we take a page out of Coach Mike’s book and find the right methodology to meet our followers at their level so they have the best chance to shine.

To borrow from an old ad campaign, be like (Coach) Mike.