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29 Head Professionals interviewed for this study reported significant (transforma onal) learning resulted when they were truly challenged, strug- gled, failed and yet persisted. Situa ons such as: • Working for a difficult leader and constantly having to adapt one's personal approach and learn new things quickly. • Failing to win a job compe on at their own or another club and forced to self- reflect and figure out why? • Being fired. • Struggling to meet the minimum job requirements of a new role and being told about it. • Trying to balance work responsibili es (especially the long hours) with home/ family commitments following a marriage, having children or moving to a new loca on). • Accep ng a lesser role and having to work extra hard to regain confidence and job status They described how these situa ons forced them to quickly reflect on what was happening , accept that in some cases things were out of their control, pull together a plan of ac on and commit to execu ng the plan no ma er what. My first three years at the club was a real struggle with all the demands at work and home… I wanted to quit but didn't… I really had to dig deep and work through all the challenges…and I became a stronger person as a result. -- Debbie Savoy-Morel While well-cra ed developmental experienc- es are beneficial to learning key job-related skills, it would seem that the greatest learn- ing occurs when golf professionals encounter hardship, are making mistakes that have real business consequences, and are le on their own to work things out. Most importantly, if these experiences are then followed by a reflec on phase whereby the golf professional considers ques ons such as "What were the impacts of my ac ons?" and is able to discuss his/her thoughts with an experienced peer or manager and receive construc ve feed- back, transforma on learning may occur. When I was 20 yrs old I was fired by my Head Professional who was my mentor…he told me my a tude was bad and I wasn't a good role model for the younger staff… he was right…I wouldn't have hired me…I was forced to reflect on my behavior and decide if I wanted the job… I did and I asked for / got my job back…I learned not to take any job for granted. -- Cory Kartusch RECOMMENDATION: DESIGN DEVELOPMENTAL EXPERIENCES THAT WORK Doing more of the same or what one is good at will not maximize growth. All experiences are not created equal in terms of triggering the kind of transforma onal learning required to accelerate your career. What is required is the careful cra ing of and selec on of the right experience, for the right person, at the right me. The first step is taking the me to systema cally design on-the-job transforma onal experiences. The on-the job experience must challenge the emerging golf professional to: 1. Take responsibility to complete a task they have not done before, is important to business/golf club or resort and is viewed as important to the golf professional (i.e., the knowledge and/or skill to be learned will benefit him/her down the road). 2. Deal with adversity during task comple on such as not having complete informa on, resources, me, commitment from colleagues, support from leadership, etc. Experiences where risk of failure is real and the individual will be forced to build new rela onships and seek help from others. 3. Challenge their current mindset, beliefs or biases about a situa on, the people involved, the club, or the golf industry's way of opera ng. 4. Reflect on learnings from the task experience and not just the outcome achieved (e.g., What happened? Why? How could I do things differently next me?).