ONLINE GOLF MANAGEMENT COURSES START Feb. 1, 2012: Learn at your own speed and schedule, and take advantage of the off season with online golf management courses from Selkirk College. While the New Year is some ways off, it's not too soon to start thinking about the value of the winter lineup of 10 courses in the Golf Club Operations Online Certificate (GCOOL) Program. GCOOL courses enhance career credentials and boost on-the-job performance both for managers and more junior staff members. To date, more than 200 club employees have completed 300+ GCOOL courses in subject areas such as finance, human resources, marketing, leadership, turf grass, food and beverage cost management, golf shop operations, tournament and special event planning, and more. See the complete lin-up. Learn more...

  HR AS PART OF STRATEGIC TEAM: When Glenn Laverty was vice-president of marketing at Ricoh Canada from 1996 to 2007, he saw human resources as a functional role. He considered it the part of the organization he could turn to for support around performance management, hiring, terminating employees and anything of the sort, he said. Now, as president and CEO of Ricoh since January 2008, he acknowledges he had a “pretty basic view” of HR back then. “Once you transform into the role of CEO, you recognize what you have (in HR) isn’t the function but the role of a strategic partner to take a look at the organization from a people perspective,” Learn more...

  IS YOUR CLUB BLOGGING? Very few clubs have blogs and those that do get very excited for a short time then don’t blog at all. They are a very important part of your overall social media strategy for several reasons. They provide interesting content for your members and guests to view. They also dramatically help you in search engines. Blogging also gives your club a face as you get the chef, pro, greens keeper and other staff members involved. Learn more...

  PUBLIC GOLF COURSES AS CASH COWS: Golf is not the most popular sport in the city, but the Vancouver Parks Board is working on changing that. With the City of Vancouver heading towards a $52-million operating budget shortfall, the park board is  looking at getting new golfers to tee-off at city-run courses to generate revenue. Learn more...

  TRENDS IN THE BEVERAGE SECTOR: Claire Phoenix, managing editor of ‘Beverage Innovation’ magazine, provides her 20 beverage trends of the year. Coffee has been a big mover over the last year, particularly in the Horeca sector, with caramel and vanilla syrups, nuts and Fairtrade products all adding to consumer loyalty and profit margins. Learn more...

  CREATIVITY MOST IMPORTANT FOR CEOs: Creativity is now the most important leadership quality for success in business, outweighing even integrity and global thinking, according to a new study by IBM. The study is the largest known sample of one-on-one CEO interviews, with over 1,500 corporate heads and public sector leaders across 60 nations and 33 industries polled on what drives them in managing their companies in today's world. Learn more...

  SIX BENEFITS OF ONLINE EDUCATION: On the Internet, education is fast becoming acceptable since of its wonderful benefits over traditional schools. According to National Center for Education Statistics – NCES and U.S. Department of Education, distance understanding enrolments rose from 3.1 million in 2001 to an estimated 18 million online degree enrolments by 2010. Learn more...