Tee'd off with seminars and meetings, but need to improve your links in the sector? Try swinging instead. James Hughes visits a golf course, a cricket pitch and a karaoke bar in search of fun ways to network.
It is 38 degrees and there isn't a cloud in the sky. On a golf course in Stowmarket, Suffolk, 34 men and women are hacking balls up smooth fairways and putting gently on neatly mown greens. There is nothing unusual about a corporate golfing event, but the players aren't the typical professionals you'd expect at such a match: they don't work in the private sector or have telephone-number salaries.

In fact, they're all housing professionals, and this meeting of the Society of Housing-Associated Golfers is just one example of the new kind of networking event that is replacing the tired round of formal dinners and hotel away-days with cricket matches and karaoke nights.

Tee and sympathy
The SHG is the brainchild of Stephanie Doylend, golf aficionado and executive assistant at East Anglian registered social landlord Flagship Housing Group. Two years ago, having played the odd round with like-minded colleagues from other housing associations, Doylend saw the potential for a regular event to bring together all the people with whom she usually played golf.

Doylend approached the top golfers from several RSLs, housebuilders, architects and banks, asking them to play, once a year, in August. Usually about 30 turn up.

The patrons pay £40 to the golf club for a round and a three-course meal in the clubhouse's dining room. Doylend says the main reason people attend is to network, but adds that there is the added benefit of breaking away from the daily routine. "You meet new contacts but really it's there for us all to meet on a far less formal occasion," she states. "The job can be draining, and it is fun to do something we all enjoy and have in common that isn't housing."

Into the swing
Invited to experience the matter first-hand, I meet the SHG at the clubhouse at noon, and am immediately introduced to my playing partners: Tony Tann, director and general manager of housing repair company John Youngs, and Mike Ladbrook, senior partner at quantity surveyors Davis Langdon and Everest. Having swapped shirts, ties and polished shoes for short-sleeves, slacks, spiked shoes and golf gloves, we crunch along the gravel path to the first hole.

The apprehension that affects all golfers before they play that first shot has gripped us. Tann says: "It is always difficult off the first tee because the first shot can shape your whole round: you are always nervous about how the day will go."

Once the first shot is out of the way, the edginess subsides and we banter about the golf courses we'd most like to play on. This course is a parkland – long, with wide-open fairways but lots of tricky trees to avoid. Strolling to our next shot, we meet other golfers whose wayward strokes have forced them to stray onto our fairway.

When Paul Tyrell, a financial adviser from the Royal Bank of Scotland, accidentally wanders onto our hole, Ladbrook emits a jokey shout of: "Get orf our land!"

But aside from this display of nimbyism, references to work and conversation about housing are notably absent. Tann explains: "This is 50% golf and 50% networking. You get a wider spectrum of people as well, which is why it is better than a usual function. Out here is a better environment to meet. Well, until you slice a shot into the trees and lose your ball."

As the last putt drops after a round of four and a half hours, it's time for the easiest hole on the course, the 19th. At the bar, I talk to Graham Howe, a housing specialist from the construction company JS Hay, about how golf events compare to average networking functions. "I go to events at hotels and conference centres and it's a very stuffy affair. Golf is entirely different. Suddenly, you all have something in common that isn't work."

The hills are alive …
Miles away from Suffolk, another unusual social event is taking place, and it's also as much to do with networking as it is about letting off steam at the end of the week. It is Shepherds Bush Housing Association's Friday night karaoke evening. The nervous energy in the pub in Hammersmith is palpable: not only are the staff understandably anxious about singing in front of their colleagues, but it is also the club's first meeting.

However, as David Clayton, a keyworker housing unit manager, steps up to the mike and delivers an enthusiastic rendition of Eminem's hit Stan, his colleagues shout their encouragement and the ice breaks. He is followed by several other would-be singers, each taking their turn to belt out the classics. As Clayton leaves the stage, he laughs out loud, saying, "I don't think I'm going to be doing that again soon."

It was marketing officer Renee Cheshire who first had the idea of organising a karaoke evening. Bored with the usual quiz night, Cheshire enlisted the help of customer service officer Debby Lynch, a former professional gospel singer, who jumped at the chance to be part of the new club.

Cheshire hired the equipment and booked the pub while Lynch roped in 10 victims to help organise the evening and the songs. SBHA has an entertainment kitty that covered the event for around £200.

On the night, there is a good deal of singing – though not all of it is very musical – and nerves are steadied by large amounts of Dutch courage. The conversation veers from England's latest performance in the cricket to discussions about colleagues. Nobody talks about housing.

"We are here to have fun, not talk about work," says Renee Cheshire. "It's brilliant fun. I was so dreadful, someone came up and helped me sing Madonna's Like a Prayer, but it didn't matter. It was great and everyone got to sing at least once."

As the evening progresses and other patrons fill the pub, people not even part of the SBHA group join in the fun as the night descends into a free-for-all songfest.

The event is such a success that Cheshire and Lynch plan to make it a regular occasion. Lynch comments: "It's a night purely designed for having fun. It helps to strengthen bonds between people. You can socialise with colleagues outside the office and not have to talk about work. Plus you get to sing – and that always makes you feel better."

Building an innings
In Aldershot, Surrey, cricket-playing housing professionals have taken advantage of a business league set up by Aldershot Cricket Club. Club chairman Malcolm Kerry, a cricket coach and former player, launched the scheme when he asked 12 local firms, including housing associations, to make up teams to play each other whenever they got the chance. The pilot has turned out to be a success, with many local businesses, including Pavilion Housing Group, sponsoring the initiative.

All the money raised through sponsorship and funding goes to the cricket club and training youngsters. So far, well over £200,000 has been invested in the scheme, with funding secured from the National Lottery and Sport England, the charity responsible for promoting sport. Next year, as long as the money keeps coming in, the league will be a fully fledged competition with double the numbers taking part. "We started this league not only to arrange for cricket players from local businesses to get a game, but also for those who hadn't played since school," says Reed.

The rules of the business league say that at least two women have to be part of the team, with everyone getting a bat for four overs.

But nobody stands on ceremony and it's all good fun – which is fortunate, as today, Pavilion are slaughtering their opponents, a local firm of solicitors.

The captain of Pavilion, development manager Dominic Gaskill, has played cricket for Aldershot since he was nine. But others have never touched a cricket bat before and it doesn't matter. Beer is a vital team member, and most of the players are friends.

While the housing professionals bat and run, children are being trained in the nets, practising batting and bowling.

"It is actually quite important for grass roots cricket," says Gaskill. "We sponsor the league, which then goes to the club. It is also a great team-building exercise for the Pavilion people who get to do something different outside of work. Competition can be a little sparse, but everyone gets a go."

The cricket, the golf and the karaoke are part of a wider trend within the profession to improve office relationships through leisure. Other activities include go-karting and the football tournament held by the Housing Corporation.

Of course there will be those who question whether such events achieve very much when there is such little reference to work. But any good networking event should be about more than discussing the latest budget. Just ask anyone who's been on one, and they will tell you that such events build relationships with office colleagues and cement bonds with contacts and suppliers in a way that brings tangible benefits to business in the long term – and that is worth any number of meetings.

Source

Housing Today