The Cultural Environment

The teams that we coach are located in many different physical environments; clubs, schools, cities, neighborhoods; each having different Cultural identities. Your team will be unique and will require different types of leadership and coaching. Consistency is key when building Culture. Stick with the basic ingredients. The following are what we believe to be the key ingredients of Culture:

1. Authentic and Real. This has to be the best version of you to bring out the best version in others. Members of the team need to keep it real. This is especially true for coaching. Emulating other teams and leaders can be positive; but striving to be a carbon copy of another team's culture won’t work. They are different teams. Be your authentic self!

2. Co-learning. You are always learning and growing as a human being. So are your players. Embracing a growth mindset is imperative. You are modeling learning for your players and team. Continuous learning means you are learning right alongside your players. Sharing this love of learning permits you to try to be 1% better today than you were yesterday.

3. Co-creating. Culture is alive and being shaped by everyone in it. Understanding this is key. Everyone on your team is a partner in creating the culture - a shared responsibility. Players create it. Coaches create it. Parents create it. Ownership of the culture is cultivated through shared leadership and shared creation.  

4.  Standards and Expectations. Culture is the way we do things. You strive to have high standards for your teams. You have high expectations - inspiring others to raise their bar. Standards define the expected behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs of your PACK members. These serve as our operating instructions. Guiding and influencing individual and collective actions.

5. Collaboration. This is key for your team. Your team members need to serve one another. Team before self. Players need to compete for and with each other; not against. This is collaboration - teamwork. The best in you brings out the best in us. And your best versions bring out the best US. We are all learning and growing together. A spirit of collaboration and service allows your players to be committed to a critical ideal of collaboration. Being the best player for the team versus being the best player on the team.

6.  Defining success. Success needs to be defined for your team. This definition is unique from team to team. As Chapter 2 in Grassroots Coaching outlines, you need to understand how you define success as a coach. This allows you to help your team create a framework for winning and losing, moving your team beyond the lights and numbers on the scoreboard. The environment and spirit of your team is shaped by your perspective on success. Your players play and compete for many different reasons. Their reasons need to be understood and celebrated. Aspiring to achieve personal bests and set records. Learning how to play the game. Learning teamwork. For some people, learning to follow instructions. With others focused on acquiring the character skills that sports can teach. Success is what you define it to be. Why are we better for having played the game? Remember, it’s the journey. Never the destination. 

7. Make mistakes. The ‘It’ is in the Response. Sports and teams are a classroom. Learning sports skills and strategies. Better understanding and leading yourself. Developing character skills. Discovering previously hidden talents and abilities. A wonderful and magical environment. The one critical element for this learning and growth. Mistakes. Mistakes are going to happen. Efforts are not going to go your way every time. Perfection is not possible. The ‘It’ for your team and players is in our response to mistakes. The juice of any mistake comes after. Create environments where mistakes are celebrated as learning opportunities. Make mistakes fast and move beyond them faster.

8. Responsibilities and Rights. Being part of our team is a privilege. This privilege comes with both rights and responsibilities. As discussed in Chapter 2, individuals have rights as members of the team – the Right to be respected, to feel safe, to experience the game at their level. These rights help your players feel appreciated and valued. Their Rights as team members are in concert with their Responsibilities to the team. The team is greater than any single member. Our team members are accountable to each other to honor everyone’s Rights; while delivering on our Responsibilities.  

9. Person. Player. Performer. All of your players were people before they joined your team, and they will be people long after. You are focused on the development of the whole person. Not just the athlete. The person matters most of all. This is a holistic approach. A Paddler, Kicker, Golfer, Soccer Player, Shot putter, all describe athletes and performers, not people. Certainly, teach sport skills and aid with high level performance of those skills. Move beyond titles and labels. Develop the person first.

10. Buy-in.  Ownership is developed through the process of co-creating your team Standards and Expectations. Ownership brings selective perception to your team. You all see things in the same way, because you co-created it. For your team, sharing the same values, behaviors and beliefs is critical to foster buy-in and commitment. Committed individuals work for the good of the team. Accountability and Responsibility to the team flow directly from one’s Commitment.

11. Purpose. Our purpose needs to be clearly defined. Striving to win, sure. Striving to create a high functioning and positive team, yes. And Our purpose is much greater. It represents our Why and it is more intricate. Why are we coaching? What is our mission as a member of this team? Our purpose needs to be bigger than wins and losses, trophies or medals. This distinction can be subtle and yet, very important. A culture needs a clear purpose that is beyond winning and beyond the game. Our culture needs to be focused on aiding people in becoming the best version of themselves.

Your team will co-create its own unique values and ethics. We believe this, this, and this. Therefore, we behave in this way. The application of the cultural ingredients establishes your team environment. Behavior strategies emerge from your need to actualize and live out your beliefs. Uncertainty of action is overcome through the use of strategies. Consistently living out your values is the goal for any high functioning team.