The Ryder Cup, which starts today (Friday, 26 September) is more than a gripping golf tournament. It’s a test of nerve, a masterclass in teamwork, and a stage where chemistry often beats raw talent. While fans see the drama and rivalries, HR leaders can look deeper, because the lessons in resilience, empathy, and adaptability resonate far beyond sport.
In today’s volatile business landscape, where 40% of CEOs doubt their organisations will remain competitive over the next decade without major transformation HR must be at the centre of the response.
Much like Ryder Cup captains shaping winning teams, HR leaders can shape the conditions for people to thrive under pressure, collaborate and perform. Here are a few things the Ryder Cup can teach HR professionals:
Empathy is a performance multiplier
At the Ryder Cup, pairings are rarely based on who has the lowest handicap. Captains look at who communicates well, whose temperaments balance each other, and who can lift a teammate after a bad hole. Success depends on empathy – supporting rather than criticising when things go wrong. You’ll never see a captain belittling a player for a bogey!
The same principle applies in workforce planning and leadership development. Research shows employees with empathetic managers report lower stress, less burnout, stronger morale, and higher performance. Yet, according to Businessolver’s 2024 State of Workplace Empathy report, 63% of CEOs, 47% of HR professionals, and 42% of employees admit they struggle to show empathy consistently.
For HR, embedding empathy into leadership programs, coaching, and feedback processes is no longer optional – it is essential for retention and performance. Often, it’s about small but powerful shifts in language. Compare: “This may take longer, but it’s an investment in your growth” versus “I can do it faster myself.” Or: “This project didn’t go as planned, but let’s explore how to prevent it next time.” HR’s task is to help leaders notice and practice these empathetic approaches until they become second nature.
Team dynamics are more than a resume
History shows Ryder Cup captains often ignore the leaderboard to pair players who complement each other’s style. Chemistry, not credentials, wins matches.
HR leaders face the same truth in hiring, team building, and succession planning. High-performing teams are defined not just by technical skills but by trust, collaboration, and clarity of purpose.
Listening is the skill that unlocks this chemistry. HR can lead the way by teaching managers to:
- Enter conversations without assuming the outcome.
- Suspend judgment to hear perspectives that differ from their own.
- Prioritise presence. Sometimes listening without immediate solutions is the most powerful response.
Resilience comes through psychological safety
Golfers at the Ryder Cup endure intense scrutiny. What separates champions from challengers is not avoiding failure – it’s recovering from it together.
Organisations are no different. McKinsey research shows teams with psychological safety are significantly more effective and more loyal. HR leaders create the conditions for this resilience by embedding norms that normalise risk-taking, encourage experimentation, and value diverse input.
When HR integrates psychological safety into leadership frameworks, appraisal systems, and learning programs, teams stop fearing mistakes – and start learning from them. That is when innovation becomes possible.
Building team spirit has to be natural
For HR professionals, the Ryder Cup offers a timely reminder that authentic team spirit cannot be engineered on demand.
European golfer Justin Rose recently suggested that the US team was trying to “force team spirit.” Although of course a lot of this is about media mind games, it also highlights a trap many organisations fall into.
Team cohesion doesn’t come from one-off bonding activities or slogans, but from the everyday environment leaders create. HR professionals can foster this by encouraging open communication, building trust through transparency, and ensuring employees feel connected to a shared purpose. Rather than pushing team spirit, the goal should be to create conditions where it develops naturally; through consistent collaboration, recognition of contributions, and a culture of respect.
Self-awareness is a huge advantage
Top golfers succeed because they know themselves. They understand when to take risks, when to lean on a partner, and how they react under stress. Self-awareness gives them an edge.
For business, it’s the same. Cornell and Green Peak Partners found that 79% of executives have blind spots in how they are perceived. HR plays a pivotal role in addressing this by helping leaders uncover their style, understand its impact, and flex to fit the needs of their teams.
At Insights, we’ve seen how structured development tools such as Insights Discovery, designed to increase self-awareness, can scale emotional intelligence across organisations and elite sports teams, giving leaders and athletes the agility they need in today’s unpredictable world.
HR as the quiet captain
If the Ryder Cup teaches us anything repeatedly, it’s that winning isn’t about the biggest name on the team sheet. It’s about how the team performs when the stakes are highest and support one another. Captains succeed by reading the room, knowing their players, and adjusting strategy in real time.
That’s exactly the opportunity for HR. By embedding empathy, fostering safety, prioritising chemistry, and building self-awareness, HR leaders function as the quiet captains who enable organisations to flourish under pressure.
Mark Leisegang is a learning and development expert. He is currently Practice Lead – Education, at global people development company Insights.He has delivered more than 250 Insights Discovery workshops, has worked with Executive and Senior Teams across many sectors including financial, tourism, retail, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and technology, and has delivered sessions across Africa, APAC, Europe and the Middle East.
