Build a House You Would Want to Live In- Culture Creation in the Team Environment

Mike Stacey

Introducing Ideas

Team culture is the ‘house' you'll live in for a season, so forethought's a necessity to new construction or renovation. Strength coaches have the opportunity to shape culture around the weight room and what we do for the team. This article is goaled at identifying questions relevant to your situation whose answers may help in planning culture change.

Sharing a Language

To ensure we're reading from the same book, we should define terms:

Culture is the expression of a team's values, attitudes, beliefs, and goals about sports, competitions, and relationships through members' behaviors (Taylor, 2013)

Team culture is intangible and multifaceted – it's difficult to pinpoint one thing as representative of the whole. However aspects of the culture are visible through the behaviors of players and staff. Individuals within the team environment shape and are shaped by team culture which itself provides a plastic framework that suggests acceptable behavior (Henriksen, 2015). Since the influence of culture is far- reaching, changes require forethought to the impact on numerous interlinked moving parts.

Initiatives targeting other areas of team functioning may impact the culture. This might include efforts to:

Influence team cohesion (Henriksen, 2015; Surya, Benson, Balish, Eys, 2015; Waldron, 2007a)
Establish values (Bucci, Bloom, Loughead, Caron, 2012; Cruickshank & Collins, 2012; Valle?e,

2015)
Form an identity (Yukelson, 1997)
Encourage leadership behaviors (Henriksen, 2015; Valle?e, 2015)
Perform a team building intervention (Cruikshank & Collins, 2012)
Manage attributions (Gillham, 2017)
Establish traditions (Henriksen, 2015)
Engage in goal-setting (Bucci, Bloom, Loughead, Caron, 2012; Cruickshank & Collins, 2012;

Gillham, 2017; Vallee, 2016)

Conversely, management of team culture may directly or indirectly impact these areas. Culture change or creation isn't simple, but forethought can make the process more manageable.

Prior to Beginning

Before you formulate plans, assess your situation. This will help you decide what type of adjustments will best suit your team, estimate the scope of the change, and select the resources to mobilize. Underperforming teams may need a change in culture (i.e., doing what's already being done, but better), a change of culture (i.e., introducing new principles and practices), or elements of both, but, regardless of performance, your first priority is still assessment (Cruickshank & Collins, 2012). In assessing what's present and what's needed, remember that the culture doesn't strictly serve you and what you want – a positive outcome requires input from the people culture effects.

Check the Pulse of the Community

Players and staff are likely those you're most interested in targeting. Before getting started, identify relationships and their statuses; real or perceived power differentials; plus the needs, preferences, values, and goals of significant individuals within the organization (Cruickshank & Collins, 2012; Yukelson, 1997). Compare the values and views on best practices that the team's head coach believes will create a high-performance culture to those of the players and staff. In the ideal situation, staffers' contributions to team culture are addressed as well as ways each unique position can work together to bring about a desired result. A staffers profession may have a code of conduct – ensure there's no conflict between the fulfillment of professional responsibilities and some component of the team culture. Remember that a culture grows from what both players and staff believe is best in terms of conduct and approach (Cruickshank & Collins, 2012). Simply – know your audience

Pending your level of play and sector, there may be external influences on the culture. Without creating an exhaustive list, these influencers might be: the team's ownership; members of the athletic department; front office staff; board; alumni; donors; parents, family, and significant others; fans; and the media (Cruikshank & Collins, 2012). In trying to identity these people, think about who can apply pressure to or influence staff; players; impact resources; inflow of fans; public opinion with its impact on staff, players, player families, attendance; and team status or composition. Institutions with a religious affiliation or specific philosophy might suggest attitudes and values to espouse in your job description.

Identifying influencers and ‘reading' the environment is especially important if you're new to an established organization. Know the community and learn about the people who live in it. Getting others on board with a culture change effort requires trust and respect (Cruickshank & Collins, 2012). Should you be an assistant coach entering an existing culture, you'll likely benefit from examining the dynamics within your organization. Understanding your role and how to operate in a way that contributes to the culture positively could facilitate your transition process.

Know Your Best Role

As a head strength and conditioning coach in a team setting, you may have significant say in how your training environment operates. In an assistant role, you likely have less say and may need to support what the head team and strength coach suggest are best practices. There are general questions that might help strength coaches direct their efforts in planning for culture change:

Does the team's head coach have a distinctive culture, culture-building plan, or framework organized already?
Does the head coach have values, attitudes, goals, or norms that he would like supported through coach and player behavior?
Can you build a weight room culture that supplements or supports the team head coach's vision in a way that's agreeable to you both?
Does the head coach have interest in supporting you in your role, the culture of your training environment, and ensuring player conduct expectations are upheld?
If you're overseeing a strength staff, do you have an approach to keeping the “flow of power” regulated in a way that keeps everyone pulling in the same direction and reasonably happy (Cruickshank & Collins 2012)

• Are you closely partnered with other support staff (e.g. athletic trainer or physical therapist) and need to consider their own satisfaction with their power, goals, values, attitudes, and needs as their role overlaps with yours?

A Section on Private Industry – Personal Thoughts Guided by the Literature and Experience, Really

Winning more games is often a primary purpose of culture change in team settings; your motivations may differ in private industry. There's likely overlap in rationale and best practices, but there's meaningful considerations aside from a winning record. I'm not an expert, but I'll do my best to point out what I can with help from the literature and my [albeit limited] work experience.

With work in the private sector, you may need to ask yourself questions about the nature and intent of your culture shaping efforts before the purpose and goals of the overall plan take shape:

Who's the target of your culture shaping efforts?
Is it okay to target that specific group?
Will the result or process of culture change be good for business?
Is the plan practical?

Ideally, with culture building, you have an idea everyone involved can get behind. Private industry presents an unique challenge in this regard given you have people coming and going consistently at different times of year, some stable year-round customers, players and general population who are transitory to different extents, and a stable staff (barring seasonal interns – bless them). These considerations make that first question a little bit trickier.

Answering the second question, you might assess your role and obligations. Many people want to be difference-makers or have a significant impact on a team – but did anyone ask you to do that in a way other than via physical performance enhancement? Obviously, we don't work in a vacuum and players will have takeaways from their experiences. However, how much you push certain values, beliefs, attitudes, norms, or goals and whether it's acceptable given what the player, coach, or parents are seeking from you is a consideration.

The third and fourth questions may require a realistic assessment of your resources. You might think about the time and capital needed to enact your vision. These questions aren't meant to discourage and their pertinence is up for debate. The hope is that asking the right questions will contribute to the development of perspectives and future questions with value to your culture building efforts.

Conclusion

One culture building practice or ‘template' should not be used as a coverall for every team at one level or across all industries. What practices worked well in one situation occurred within a specific environment and should be evaluated for efficacy in a new context. Learn about your situation and ask wise questions, so the plan fits your situation. The task of assessing team culture might sound herculean, but it's possible. If it appears to be too much or that your strength are elsewhere, specialists exist who can help coordinate and deploy a culture building effort.

References

Bucci, J., Bloom, G.A., Loughead, T.M., & Caron, J.G. (2012) Ice hockey coaches' perceptions of athlete leadership. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 24, 243-259.

Cruickshank, A., & Collins, D. (2012). Culture change in elite sport performance teams: Examining and advancing effectiveness in the new era. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 24, 338–355.

Gillham, A. (2017). Improving attribution patterns for strength and conditioning contexts. NSCA- Coach, 4(2), 6-8.

Henriksen, K. (2015). Developing a high-performance culture: A sport psychology intervention from an ecological perspective in elite orienteering. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 3, 141-153.

Surya, M., Benson, A.J., Balish, S.M., & Eys, M.A. (2015). The influence of injury on group interaction processes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 27, 52-66.

Taylor, J. (2015). Build a positive and high-performing sports team culture. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201307/build-positive-and-high-performing- sports-team-culture

Valle?e, C.N., & Bloom, G.A. (2016). Four keys to building a championship culture. International Sport Coaching Journal, 5, 170-177.

Waldron, J.J. (2007a). Reducing hazing in team sports. Retrieved from: http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/resources/resources-for-coaches/reducing-hazing-in-sport-teams/

Waldron, J.J. (2007b). Encouraging good sport conduct in athletes. Retrieved from: http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/resources/resources-for-coaches/encouraging-good-sport-conduct- in-athletes/

Yukelson, D. (1997). Principles of effective team building interventions in sport: A direct services approach at Penn State University. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 9, 73-96.

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