What Golf Taught Me About Leading Teams

I played golf seriously for years. The lessons are not the ones you usually read about.

I played golf seriously for years before an injury stopped me. I still photograph it — the concentration, the body mechanics, the quiet internal battle between what you planned and what your hands actually do. Golf is one of the few sports where nobody can help you in the moment of execution. The coach, the caddie, the data — all of it is preparation. When you stand over the ball, you are alone with your decision.

That is remarkably close to what happens in leadership. And the lessons are not the ones you usually read about.

You Cannot Fix Your Swing During the Round

Every golfer knows this. You can adjust. You can compensate. But you cannot rebuild your swing mechanics between holes. The swing you brought to the course is the swing you play with today.

Teams work the same way. The behavioural patterns your people bring to a project are what you have. You cannot redesign someone's strengths in the middle of a deadline. A detail-focused person will not become a big-picture thinker because the situation demands it. An idea generator will not suddenly develop patience for process documentation.

The Approach Shot Is Where Rounds Are Won or Lost

Casual observers watch the drive. Experienced golfers know the approach shot decides the score. It requires reading the terrain, judging distance precisely, and choosing between safe and aggressive — with full awareness of what happens if you get it wrong.

In teams, the approach is how you bring a decision to the group. Not the decision itself — the way you introduce it. A leader who drops a major change into a meeting without reading the room is hitting a blind approach shot into a green they have never seen. The technically correct decision, delivered without understanding the terrain, ends up in the bunker.

Overswinging Looks Powerful. It Produces Worse Results.

The most common mistake in amateur golf is swinging too hard. It feels powerful. It looks committed. And the ball goes sideways. The best players swing at 80% — controlled, repeatable, precise.

Leadership has the same trap. The leader who is in every meeting, reviewing every document, driving every decision looks committed. They are overswinging. The team stops thinking independently because the leader has taken over every shot. Creativity disappears. Initiative dies. People wait for instructions instead of acting on their own judgement.

The discipline is knowing when 80% involvement produces better results than 100%. Trusting the team to execute — even when you could do it differently — is the leadership equivalent of a smooth, controlled swing. Less visible effort. Better outcome.

Overused strengths are one of the five hidden demotivators. Read *Before You Motivate, Remove What Demotivates*. For what happens when a strength stays on too long, read *When Strengths Go Too Far*.

Practice Rounds and Match Rounds Are Different

In a practice round, there are no consequences. You try shots. You experiment. You fail without cost. In a match round, every shot counts and the pressure changes your decision-making.

Teams need both. Training sessions, coaching conversations, honest feedback — these are practice rounds. The environment must be safe enough to try things, make mistakes, and learn without judgement. A team that only operates in match-round mode — where every interaction is high-stakes and every mistake is visible — never develops. They just perform, under increasing pressure, until someone breaks.

The best teams I have worked with understand this difference instinctively. They create space to practise being a team — not just to perform as one.

Experience Does Not Mean Repeating the Same Round

A golfer with 20 years of experience who has never adjusted their approach has one year of experience repeated 20 times. The same is true in leadership. Years on the job do not automatically produce wisdom. Wisdom comes from reflecting on what worked, what failed, and why — then changing behaviour based on what you learned.

I have coached teams led by people with decades of experience who were still making the same mistakes they made in their first year. Not because they lacked intelligence. Because nobody ever gave them honest feedback about their behavioural patterns — and they never sought it.

The golfer who improves films their swing, studies it, and accepts uncomfortable truths about their mechanics. The leader who improves seeks observer feedback, sits with it, and accepts uncomfortable truths about their impact on others.

Only 17.7% of people achieve that level of self-awareness. Read *Self-Awareness: You Think You Know Yourself. Your Team Sees Something Different.*

The Scorecard Does Not Explain the Round

A scorecard shows the result. It does not show the decision-making, the recovery shots, the moments of discipline or panic that produced that result. Two players can shoot the same score through completely different rounds — one grinding through difficulty, the other coasting on early luck.

Team results work identically. The quarterly numbers do not explain the team dynamics that produced them. A team hitting targets while burning out is not the same as a team hitting targets while growing stronger. The score looks the same. The sustainability is completely different.

The Real Lesson

Golf taught me that execution under pressure reveals who you are, not who you planned to be. Your technique, your temperament, your ability to recover from a bad shot — all of it becomes visible when it matters.

Teams are the same. Behaviour under pressure is the truest data you will ever get about how your team works. Not what people say in planning meetings. What they do when the plan falls apart.

That is what behavioural assessment measures. Not intentions. Not personality. What actually happens when the pressure arrives and the wrapping paper tears.

For the nine-role behavioural framework that makes this visible, read *Belbin Team Roles: The Practitioner's Guide to What Teams Actually Need*.

Ready to see how your team performs under pressure? *Start with the assessment*.

All in-article photographs by Mats Soomre. #MomentsBySoomre

Behaviour under pressure is the truest data you will ever have about your team. Not the planning meeting. Not the offsite. The day the project fell apart and you watched who recovered and who did not. Start with *your own Belbin profile →*. Then look at the people who steadied the team last time it mattered, and build around them. Build their understudies before the next crisis arrives.

Photo by Mats Soomre · #MomentsBySoomre · moments.soomre.com