5 min Insights: Podcast #1- Are the assumptions Gather was founded on still true?
In our new series, we reflect back on past episodes of the Gather Global Podcast and offer you a five minute read of the Key Insights from each episode.
For the team at Gather it’s been a year of intense listening, observing and learning from you, the Gather Community and the wider industry. Looking back, what assumptions were Gather founded on? Are they still true?
1. THERE ARE GREAT PEOPLE IN GOLF AND ENERGETIC CREATIVITY, BUT…
There continue to be some golf industry events where many people working in the golf industry feel an energy and positive vibe during the event, but then struggle to work out how they can replicate that energy and test new ideas when they go back to their day to day work.
2. IT’S POWERFUL TO LISTEN TO THE VOICES AND OBSERVATIONS OF PEOPLE WHO COME IN TO WORK IN THE GOLF INDUSTRY FROM OUTSIDE...
In many cases they feel that it’s hard to identify if some of the strange ways of operating and approaching things are just something they have a personal niggle with, or if genuinely they are part of wider systemic and fundamental issues within golf. The longer these new people remain within the industry, they report that these are indeed wider issues and affect many people.
3. WHAT EVIDENCE IS THERE TO SUGGEST THAT THE GOLF INDUSTRY IS BROKEN?...
Many people report feelings of frustration about barriers within the golf industry, but do people just put up with them because friends and outsiders say: “it must be great to work in the sport you love”?
a. *to re-iterate: The game of golf is not broken. But over 100 years of golf, especially in the UK, we’ve just over-complicated the industry that supports it. Let’s press the reset button.
4. HEAD IN THE SAND STRUGGLES…
A lot of people still feel siloed, they work with their head down, but struggle to meet other good people who work outside of their sector.
5. ‘PUSHING THE NEEDLE’, ‘BEING DISRUPTIVE WITH A PURPOSE’ AND ‘PUTTING GOOD PEOPLE IN A ROOM’ ARE STILL HUGELY USEFUL VALUES…
They have served as a constant checkpoint for us as we have progressed on the first 12 months of this journey. They still absolutely hold strong. They are our Brand Promise to you and we implore you to continue holding us to account for them.
6. IF PEOPLE ARE STRUGGLING, OR THINGS AREN’T MOVING AT PACE AS THEY NEED TO –COLLABORATION DOES WORK…
12 Gather Roulette networking events, 22 Mentor Rooms, Hacks and Mini-Hacks. All of these have led to, so far, 2563 unique connections between good people in the golf industry. We know the specific impact that many of these connections have led to and the more we collectively make going forward, the greater the power to impact change.
7. LET’S BE OPEN TO EVOLUTION RATHER THAN REVOLUTION…
There are still plenty of key challenges to be solved, but if another industry has already cracked one of these, let’s be open to learning from that. We don’t need to feel daunted that the wheel needs to be reinvented.
8. THE TALENT DRAIN FEAR IS STILL VERY REAL, MAYBE EVEN MORE NOW THAN 12 MONTHS AGO…
We still fear for good talent leaving the industry, we know this from 12 months of listening to you and listening to leaders within golf. We are doing a Golf Workforce, a Roulette X Hack Mash-up and a Gather White Paper, all specifically looking at how we start to address this critical topic.
9. GATHER IS STILL ABOUT TAKING A BROKEN INDUSTRY, AND SAYING “IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY”...
It's about joining a group of like-minded people who agree that it's time to change things for the better.
10. MANY PEOPLE STILL TALK A GOOD GAME ABOUT SOLVING THE INDUSTRY PROBLEMS, BUT WE NEED GENUINE ACTION TO BACK IT UP…
We need to keep having ‘Elephant in the Room’ conversations and bringing important challenges to the table, but…with an objective to find solutions together and the bravery to try new things, fail and learn.
11. THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY LOVES TO LEARN FROM OTHERS – AND SO MANY GREAT PEOPLE ARE CURRENTLY OFF THE RADAR…
As the result of networking with fellow Gather Members, new business has been gained, collaborative projects have been formed on a national scale, people have learned game changing insights from podcasts with other interesting members from around the world. We speak to amazing new people every single week – how valuable could that be for you if you wanted to do the same?
12. YOU! YES YOU - CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE – SCREW IMPOSTER SYNDROME!…
We all have this fear at times. Gather was a big leap for us. We were scared of how people viewed us. But screw it, we dream of an amazing golf industry full of great people, taking risks, trying new ideas, embracing change. There’s only one way it will happen.
IF YOU INITIALLY MISSED THE FIRST GATHER GLOBAL PODCAST, YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE FULL CHAT BELOW!
Jazzaddict's Intro by Cosimo Fogg (201) is licensed under a Creative Commons License.