Communication for Impact and Influence: a Case Study Using Georgia Ball

Mrs Clarke, Mr Frampton and Mrs Martin-Guruge have set up a Yr12 group which explores communication for impact and influence and we are planning to roll this out to other year groups over the coming months. We were struck by the recent viral video of golfer Georgia Ball and would like to offer three different perspectives as a taster of the sorts of things we will be discussing and thinking about. If you are interested, look out for more information on joining!

Mrs Clarke - As Mr Frampton and Mrs Martin-Guruge say Georgia is modest and polite in her response - I think that she shows a quiet confidence and it is impressive how measured she is and that she remains calm. She has since said she is a humble person who would not want to start an argument. To me, Georgia seems confident in herself and self-assured. These are all qualities which I admire but I wonder if this approach would be enough to get her noticed in the workplace? Would she be viewed as ‘safe’ and ‘competent’ rather than someone who is ‘ambitious’ and ‘determined’? Does Georgia give the impression that she knows how talented she is?

Helena Morrissey wrote in the Telegraph recently that women tend to believe that working hard will lead to promotion and success - it won’t if they aren’t noticed or recognised as having the skills and experience for the next step. Is this what Georgia is doing? She quietly and efficiently gets on with developing her swing but doesn’t feel the need to shout about her high level of expertise and chosen approach. 

We have been thinking about ‘career activism’ in our group with girls in Year 12 and how we can position ourselves to make an impact. The advice is simple - we need to speak up more as women, seek out opportunities to be noticed and not be afraid of expressing ambition. In short, we need a strategy if we want to make the jump from good to great.

Mr Frampton - 

‘He was just giving advice,’ say the comments below the video. He was and, given in the correct way and in the right setting, of course, advice can be helpful. But there’s an awful lot of assumptions being made here. That Georgia wanted said advice, for a start. 

‘You shouldn’t be doing that,’ he says. Forthright, even aggressive in tone, but as Georgia has commented since the video, the advice was right. Still, as she says words to the effect of multiple times in the video, ‘I’m changing my swing and need to work on different aspects.’ 

It gets worse.‘See how much better that was,’ he continues, rather patronisingly taking credit for the perceived improvement. Georgia stutters a little, seems to start saying something, then reverts to repeating her point about working on different aspects of her swing, seemingly ignored. 

Is this treatment because she is female in a male dominated golfing world? Is it because she is younger than him? Is it even something to do with her clothing? ‘Would you look at those terrible leggings,’ say comments from viewers of the video. Did he also make a judgement of her competence based on them? We will never know. Reading many other comments on the video, however, it seems Georgia is not alone in experiencing this treatment.

Even if you wouldn't go so far as to call it ‘mansplaining’, surely we can agree that talking in this way, to anyone, is at best, cringeworthy, and worst, wrong? Does this man always offer unsolicited advice to random strangers, or to fellow male golfers? If he doesn't, then maybe it really does have something to do with her being female? Bias is often unconscious, and we shouldn't take it so personally if we are called up on it- you don’t realise you are doing it, that’s the point!

Lots of people have commented that Georgia was too modest, too polite, and should have spoken up. Maybe she should have, but to my mind, it is obvious that the advice was not wanted. We should instead be focusing on the actions of the other golfer who steamrollered over any indications to the contrary. 

In schools, we do lots of work on consent and I can’t help but feel that there are so many similar lessons to be learned here. On the importance of asking rather than just doing, of reading body language, of listening and responding to the actions of the other person. Time and time again I hear people say, in relation to sexual consent, ‘but, they didn’t say no.’ True, but that doesn’t mean they said ‘yes’ either. Is it too much to ask, in the bedroom, or on the golf course, to not assume?

Go watch the video yourself and make up your own mind.

Mrs Martin-Guruge - The media frenzy around this video had me watching it several times and considering how the conversation might have changed with a different communication style.

The anonymous man probably had very good intentions. Georgia Ball has explained in subsequent interviews that in the golfing community, people often offer each other advice and share expertise, which enables everyone to grow, and can be supportive and helpful.

I couldn’t help but wonder, however, what this conversation would have looked like if he had taken more of a coaching approach. 

Personal development coaching, which is offered at PGS, has its origins in Sports Coaching. One of the pioneers was Timothy Gallway, a tennis coach who realised that rather than telling tennis players he coached what to do or not do on court, when he instead focused on the ‘inner game’ - the mind, confidence and internal aspects, it improved their play. This approach is explained in his multi-million bestselling book, ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’.

 

When someone is coaching, whether as a sports, career, executive or personal development coach (to name a few areas of coaching), they are listening carefully to the other person, using what is defined in coaching as ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ listening: picking up on the words and language used, plus noticing non-verbal cues such as body language, facial expressions and tone. Perhaps it is easy as the viewer of this viral video (sat at home, able to replay it) to notice that, whilst remaining polite and respectful, Georgia Ball’s tone, laughter, and very striking facial expression at one point, are signs that the advice is not in line with her intentions and goals in that moment.

Had he noticed this, and been more curious about what she was saying, would the conversation have taken a different turn?

What would the impact have been had he taken more of a coaching approach, treating the conversation as a partnership rather than fixating on offering advice? What would have happened had he asked open, coaching style questions, beginning with ‘what’ or ‘how’, such as: 

‘How will the swing change develop your skill?’ or ‘What impact will this swing change have on your game?’

‘What types of swing have you tried before?’

‘What’s your goal?’

What would have happened if he had followed his statement of ‘I’ve been playing golf for 20 years’ with ‘what’s your background in golf?’

Advice has its place and people become better versions of themselves as a result of advice, especially when learning from someone more experienced. Sometimes, however, we have to go through life’s swing changes, try things out for ourselves, hit the ball into the wrong place, or miss the shot completely. When we find our own way (which might be supported by a coach), it can be far more empowering when we achieve our goals.