A Coach's Guide to Culture Maintenance

Mike Stacey

**if you have any questions or would like to discuss this article with Mike directly, feel free to reach out to him at [email protected]**

Culture impacts the whole organization. It reflects and sets the fluid framework for acceptable values, attitudes, beliefs, and goals about training, competition, lifestyle, and intrateam relationships – all of which are expressed through member behavior (Henriksen, 2015; Taylor, 2013). ‘Build a House You Would Want to Live In' helped highlight specifics of your situation and identify areas where you'd like to effect change. This article helps you write blueprints to build your house.

The Approach: ‘Changing Hearts and Minds' May Not Be Your Best Bet

You can exclusively focus on development of your leadership abilities or getting a team to adopt your values – the effort involved will depend on the group – but I believe collaboration is easier and will enable more efficient resource allocation. Cruckshank and Collins (2012) make a case for this approach:

…the aim is to create a high-performing culture and not just a high-performing manager, we advocate careful provision of resources into optimizing the manager's [coach's] leadership qualities…Instead, optimal effectiveness is likely to arrive from a focus on how the manager [coach] can promote members' generation and regulation of compatible beliefs and expectations (p. X).

The upshot is a culture that captures and reinforces what's important to staff and players while empowering them to support the culture. Guiding the process while you remit some control requires a ‘leap of faith.' Coach Vallee did this at the University of Windsor and published her method of turning a struggling women's basketball program into a championship team (Vallée & Bloom, 2016). The foundation for building new or adjusting an existing culture is team values.

Foundational Beliefs

Values have an impact that moves outward from beliefs to thoughts and behaviors. Values are the guiding principles behind what we do and how we act (Wethner & Coleman, 2013). For a culture to ‘work,' an implementation plan and player buy-in are paramount. This is because you're relying on athletes to make everyday decisions that adhere to team values and ensure shared beliefs are lived out by new and veteran players (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012). A canned media response fits well here: “Obviously, someone has to wear the W or the L and that's usually the coach, but, ultimately, it falls on the backs of the guys right here in the locker room.” Coaches provide guidance and own responsibility for outcomes, but the choice to live a culture that secures wins is up to the players.

Weigh how your values jibe with those of your players. Identifying athletes' individual values and what team values they believe are important is best broached as a group discussion or ‘chalk talk' using a visual aid, like a whiteboard (Wood, 2015; Yukelson, 1997; Taylor, 2016). Writing key points helps you graphically build off an idea and easily circle back to something later in conversation. Have a similar discussion with your staff to establish a common set of values that you want as the foundations for your behavior towards one another, outside influencers, and concerning player health and development.

When delivering psycho-educational workshops or moderating team meetings on ‘intangibles,' a gradual approach is best. It's helpful to begin by discussing familiar, comfortable subjects and create dialogue. If you jump immediately into heavy subject matter, players may be quieter than you'd hoped. A starting place Cruckshank and Collins recommended was evaluating metrics you or the previous staff used for performance assessment last season (2012). This meant gathering opinions about trends and could expand into suggestions about whether certain measures are meaningful to the club. Discussion of testing number and conditioning, injury rate, and what players believe they needed on-ice or for their health would be in your wheelhouse as a strength coach. If the head coach is present, it can expand to on-ice performance metrics. This can lead the discussion to what values reflect what you need this season to improve or maintain certain stats. Talks may extend to off-ice behavior since the team will spend most of its time unsupervised and off the sheet (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012). Ensure that you provide give feedback and input instead of answers – allow players to define each value, what that value looks like (specific behaviors), and what does it feel like to live it. Show your buy-in by sharing what coaches will do to live values important to the team and staff.

Ideally, your team's head coach drafted with values in mind and you'll encounter substantial overlap between individual and team values during discussion (Bucci, Bloom, Loughead, & Caron, 2012). In the perfect world, your team buys in and each situation that ‘strikes a chord' with a deeply held belief will show via athletes' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Realistically, some players will be drafted and retain different values from the coaching staff or team. It's hoped those players will have the ability to adopt and act out certain values while ‘at work' and in the public eye. Differences may be something you have to accept. As your team defines how values will be acted out, ensure congruity with things ‘higher up the chain' like team norms.

Norms

Norms are socially accepted spoken or unspoken standards of conduct you're expected to uphold as a group member – it's agreed upon normal behavior (Ona? & Tepeci, 2014). Since norms can flow in either direction, helping or hurting the environment, members should outline behaviors they all agree align with team values and lead to preferred outcomes. This helps your team identify day-to-day behaviors important to success and to which they want to be held accountable. Some suggestions will facilitate this conversation:

Use values to spell out norms (i.e. what behaviors will reflect a specific value?)
Make norms clear and specifically defined, when necessary
Establish norms for how you approach teammates when addressing a problem (Gillham, 2017; Hedstrom, 2009)
Establish norms for how the team copes with difficult game outcomes or tough streaks
Troubleshoot ways athletes or player groups within the team can take responsibility to do these things on and off the ice (Hedstrom, 2012; Bucci et al., 2012; Yukelson, 1997).
Figure out how the team will monitor behavior on- and off-ice to keep one another accountable without creating hazing or damaging behavior (Yukelson, 1997)

The team spends most of its time off the ice ‘living the dream' or participating in formal and informal team activities outside your direct oversight (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012). Create a culture that allows you and teammates to trust off-ice behaviors won't detract from team success and that ‘living the dream' occurs within reasonable bounds. Embody some practices as coaches to ensure you're all accountable and set an example. Make sure hard decisions pertaining to breaches of team norms apply to all players – this means no exceptions for stars (Vallee & Bloom, 2016). Certain ways of thinking will help start and maintain your culture movement.

Attitudes

Attitude refers to “the way you think and feel about something” that may be internal or external to you. These are vital to discuss, “because they guide how athletes think, feel, and act toward their sport” (Taylor, 2016). Dialogue about attitudes will encompass the way you approach competition, training, and lifestyle choices that impact performance (Yukelson, 1997). Hopefully, establishing ways of thinking your team feels are conducive to success and wellbeing will increase the likelihood that values will be lived out via player and staff behavior. It may be helpful to have attitudes defined about how your team approaches making culture and certain personal changes. In taking a step further, you may think about establishing ways of explaining outcomes that preserve a healthy culture and player morale.

Attributions

The way players rationalize what's occurred in the world around them can become part of team norms and support the culture. If the win record was a reason for culture change or is anticipated to be shaky, this may be especially helpful. Attributions are “the reasons people give to explain why something happened” (Gillham, 2017). Listening to the language in the locker room or weight room after several trying events can provide clues about how players explain their world. You may hear players phrase things in a way that suggests or reinforces barriers to wants or needs (Giges, 2016). Especially during losing streaks or after an emotionally intense game, you might hear players name calling themselves or phrasing things in a way that suggests perceptions of permanence, a likelihood of future failures, and personal failings inabilities. Establishing a patterned method of explanation and refocusing that supports beliefs in the controllability and likelihood of future success and the temporary, changeable nature of what contributed to a loss may help support a high-performing team environment and player confidence (Gillham, 2017). A habit like this might be something you integrate into normal, expected behavior. As a personal recommendation, since we're operating in the real world, you can also have some fun with attributions and use them to preserve player morale or confidence (‘wind caught the puck,' ‘sun was too bright in their barn,' etc.) and create chatter in the locker room after a hard game.

Conclusion

Working up from values and establishing habits of thinking and self-regulating that reinforce those the culture's foundation will help you build, sustain, grow, or change in a way that best fits your team's needs. A functional culture can help sustain thoughts and behaviors associated high-performing team environments (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012). To that end, there are how-tos and suggestions from the literature below that are meant to help you brainstorm ideas. It's not an exhaustive list, so please skim, make notes, and use your network of resources and professionals to flesh out ideas. Before implementation, seek a certified mental performance consultant or run ideas by your team's CMPC.

A Note on the How-To's

With guidance on the format and topics for culture talks in ‘Build a House You Would Want to Live In,' you likely have questions about best practices and how other teams managed the day-to-day ‘execution' of culture. Be judicious in selecting strategies – what worked for one team may not work as well for another (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012). Use the discretion you would in selecting an exercise or modality for your program design – the upshot of changing thoughts and behaviors has a significance and long-term impact akin to changing someone's body for sport.

Team Talks

Personal-Disclosure Mutual-Sharing (PDMS) activities can open conversations on team topics. The approach was successfully applied in intercollegiate ice hockey (Dunn & Holt, 2003). PDMS meetings are recommended for adult-aged teams due to commitment levels and a greater likelihood to buy-in, but were successfully applied with elite youth academy athletes (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012; Baker, Evans, Coffee, Slater, & McCarthy, 2014). Sessions are goaled at creating an environment for open discourse where individual or shared values, attitudes, personal motives, perceptions, and understandings are aired (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012). Players experienced increased trust in, understanding of, and closeness to teammates, plus understanding of themselves, and a desire to play for one another (Dunn & Holt, 2003; Holt & Dunn, 2006). Use of PDMS sessions is supported in the short-run, but there's not enough long-term research at the elite level to say how long benefits are maintained (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012). Successful culture change requires maintenance so mixing regular PDMS or culture-focused sessions into the schedule with ‘chalk talks' may help the team stay connected and keep lines of communication open. PDMS is usually facilitated by a sport psychology professional. The literature suggests using these meetings before a critical game. However, that may not be practical if you meet the team early in pre-season or want to use PDMS for maintenance.
Pair interviews followed by group discussion provide perspective on issues and strongpoints. Players interview one another on a select topic meaningful to the culture. Coaches and staff can do the same. After interviews, the team comes together and issues to address are written on a whiteboard or large poster sheet (Henriksen, 2015). This exercise may be overseen by an CMPC.
Staff and players meet in groups to organize a vision of the ideal culture, what getting there includes, potential obstacles, and how the team will overcome them (Henriksen, 2015).
Including outside examples is helpful for team discussion. These talks may include: attributes and strengths of the current team; examples of teams, players, or organizations that staff or players admire and why; characteristics of the admired person or group and how those qualities contribute to success; what qualities players or staff admire in one another and why; learning experiences from the previous year; rookies expressing needs or concerns (Yukelson, 1997).

Drafting:

Managing group alikeness on the frontend is shown to be a better predictor of success than cohesion (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012). If at all possible, help your head coach with player interviews, keep them abreast of your interactions with players during facility tours, site visits, training or prospect camps, interviews, or other informal interactions prior to rostering a player. You can compare notes as a staff to check for similarities or disparities in what you all observed.
Written pamphlets or handbooks are useful to outline the team's intentions for the season and an action plan for achieving team goals. Pamphlets were used as a way to “recruit, retain, and motivate” new players or prospects (Vallee & Bloom, 2016).
As a personal recommendation, speak to a number of people involved in the player's development. One coach may have a bad taste in his or her mouth or be the player's only cheerleader – be sure you're getting who you're told you're getting.

Off-Ice Behavior:

Are there things the team can spearhead together or the organization can coordinate to alleviate personal or lifestyle stressors that detract from performance or player and staff wellbeing (Cruckshank & Collins, 2012)? Are there aspects of health or life outside sport the team or organization can support players and staff in pursuing (Henriksen, Larsen, & Christensen, 2014)?

Make certain foods available.
Organize an order of training materials for home use.
Check-in landline or billet calls at curfew.
Bring in experts with current information (e.g. nutritionist, sleep expert, sport psychologist).
Bring ‘on-your-own-time' services in-house (e.g. massage therapist, dentist, doctor, tutor, GRE/GMAT/LSAT prep tutors).
Team nights on big party nights of the year, community service, team meals, team trips (Waldron, 2007).
Family days, dinners, or opportunities to have important members of athletes' lives around.
Babysitting or daycare services brought in-house.
Organization of resources or service providers specialized in career development (e.g. resume writing, cover letter drafting, practicing for interviews, building networking skills).

Written and Visual Reminders:

A mission statement provides a written and visual reference that helps guide day-to-day behavior and decision-making. It's a covenant describing the purpose of the group and its meaning (Yukelson, 1997). Teams may post these in locker rooms, hallways, weight rooms, or include them in pamphlets and handbooks.
Hang posters or pictures of significant people, events, or quotes; paint a mural of a player who embodied something near and dear to the program; paint quotes in high traffic areas or places you'd want a certain value or behavior reinforced.
Create rotating or permanently awarded t-shirts, hats, mementos, or trophies. Give a symbolic item to a player or staffer who embodied something important to the team. Ideally, the item is used to recognize rather than heavily reward or be the incentive for behavior (i.e. it isn't money and doesn't have a high cash value). Some teams add an element of humor to them.
Use a poster or whiteboard to publicly post and track team goals (Yukelson, 1997).

Approaching Problems:

Yukelson (1997) points out team harmony is a goal itself, but is only attainable if group members agree to commit. Establish a strategy for having conversations about team or personal problems. This might mean making adjustments to your approach, how you listen, respond, or work towards solutions:

Discuss concerns or problems with only the involved parties (Hedstrom, 2009; Yukelson, 1997). That holds unless the issue presents immediate or foreseeable danger to the player, others, or you identify the need for an advisor or an unbiased outsider.
Address the situation or problem rather than the person (Hedstrom, 2009). Focus on what you and the involved parties are facing in the present without assessing blame or judgement.
Body language is open and consistent to diffuse emotion (Hedstrom, 2009). Some topics are hard to discuss with authority figures – body language is important in these conversations.

When You Listen to Concerns:

Show the speaker you're receptive:

Regardless of whether you agree, indicate the speaker's concerns are valid or worth hearing (Hedstrom, 2009).
Repeat key points to show receptiveness or ensure you've understood (Hedstrom, 2009).
In identifying main points, focus discussion on the issue (Hedstrom, 2009).
Communicate the person's value to you or the team – especially if it's in question (Hedstrom, 2009).

Ask questions to:

Understand the situation (Hedstrom, 2009).
See the other person's position (Hedstrom, 2009).
Realize the impact on that person (Hedstrom, 2009).
Find out key information (Hedstrom, 2009).

Ideally, questions goaled at understanding are open-ended and non-leading (Hedstrom, 2009). These might be phrased as:

“Tell me…”
“Elaborate on…”
“Unpack that for me…”
“Describe…”
“How…?”
“From your point of view, what happened?” (Yukelson, 1997).
“How did it make you feel?” (Yukelson, 1997).
“Why did it bother you?” (Yukelson, 1997).
“What would make the situation better for you?” (Yukelson, 1997).
“What are you willing to do to solve the problem?” (Yukelson, 1997).

When You Speak on Concerns:

Take ownership and responsibility for your perspective or feelings on an issue (Hedstrom, 2009).

Avoid phrases that put listeners on the defensive with direct or general accusatory language (e.g. ‘you keep missing curfew'/'people keep missing curfew').
- Preface concerns with the impact on you or your perspective on the issue with ‘I' and ‘me' phrasing (Hedstrom, 2009).
- Avoid generalizing (e.g. ‘always,' ‘every time,' ‘never').
  - Speak to what's specifically happened or currently happening (e.g. ‘I got blamed and penalized when you missed curfew last night, because I'm responsible for rookie forwards').
  - Take your time speaking to ensure what you'll say is accurate (Hedstrom, 2009).
  - Be open to solutions or different opinions, if you present a concern to your listener.

Productive responses:

Use clear, direct language that communicates your thoughts exactly (Hedstrom, 2009).
Humor and chirping are part of hockey, but ensure it doesn't create misunderstanding or detract from the productiveness of the conversation.
Ensure the person you're communicating with doesn't have to infer meaning from vague language, hints, indirect responses, or rely on body language (e.g. wink, shrug, hand gestures) (Hedstrom, 2009).
Work toward a solution together (Hedstrom, 2009).
Directly respond to what's said in favor of using a comfortable go-to reply (Hedstrom, 2009).
Find out if the person wants to find a solution or needs to talk something out (i.e. vent).
Identify ways both parties can benefit from compromise – this may help diffuse feelings of defensiveness, losing some control, or that one party will ‘lose out' (Yukelson, 1997).

From the list, find best fits for your situation and the team's communication needs. Then employ norms to help staff or players air issues and realize solutions.

Set Examples as a Staff:

Are there ways your staff can show you're living or upholding the values of the team?

In showing upholding the culture is a priority, Vallee suggests following through on hard decisions when norms are violated, even if it may impact team performance (Vallee & Bloom, 2016).
I've seen coaches do tissue work and prehab or activation exercises before stepping on the ice or into the weight room.
- The goal for health maintenance and to ensure past injuries weren't aggravated, but it was part of how they lived the example.
- I also observed coaches doing self-care following skates or lifts (e.g. hot or cold tub, tissue work, rehab/prehab).
- Working for hockey teams and in private industry, I've seen staffs schedule ‘coach lifts.'
- Treating your staff with respect sets an example and ensures you don't validate the undermining, ignoring, or disrespecting of staffers by your athletes.

Identifying and Supporting Athlete Leaders:

Select leaders who will support the culture. When coaches selected athlete leaders, coaches factored in whether team captains shared similar values with the head coach and staff (Bucci, Bloom, Loughead, & Caron, 2012).
Identify formal and informal athlete leaders through examining the social milieu, player performance, and work ethic – athlete leaders tended to be viewed as skilled and hard workers by their teammates (Bucci, Bloom, Loughead, & Caron, 2012; Cruckshank & Collins, 2012).
Looking for leaders, you may notice these players demonstrate a few or a number of other qualities, like: emotional control, respect for team and staff, truthfulness, optimism, communication skills, knowledge of the game, care for their teammates, generosity, and the ability to build good relationships with others (Bucci, Bloom, Loughead, & Caron, 2012).
Establish written guidelines for being role models to the team and in the community (Bucci, Bloom, Loughead, & Caron, 2012). Many players may know the term ‘role model,' but have uncertainty about what it is to be one.
Help athletes identify ways they can lead by example, then tee them up to do it, whether it's on-ice, off-ice, or through structured philanthropy (Bucci, Bloom, Loughead, & Caron, 2012).
- This may include assigning a player to ‘mentor' another athlete on the team as they prepare for a significant day (Henriksen, 2015).

Maintenance and Starting the Process of Change:

Regularly identify a value set and discuss how the team executed on it (Henriksen 2015).
Establish goals with the team that pertain to performance and culture, empower players to provide feedback during the season, and discuss ways to keep on track (Hedstrom, 2014).
Agree upon reasonable, consistent ways to enforce norms and repercussions for breaking them (kangaroo court/team court, team meetings, written rules and outcomes, a constitution etc.).
Share a story about a specific player's demonstrating team values (Henriksen, 2015).
Identify specific behaviors or traditions to follow significant team events (wins, losses, hard performance, etc.) that help support the culture and the player (Henriksen, 2015).
Establish a ‘Player Counsel' for regularly scheduled meetings so staff can sit with leaders of significant groups (e.g. defense, forwards, goalies, veterans, freshman/rookies) to discuss the current climate and needs of each group and the team (Yukelson, 1997).
Be open to troubleshooting and adjusting your strategy as the team develops or changes and as events during the season necessitate.
Know and tolerate each other's idiosyncrasies, show respect for one another, recognize everyone has something to offer, and give genuine non-judgmental support (Yukelson, 1997).
Find ways to create pride in team membership: visual and written reminders or a team creed (Yukelson, 1997); t-shirts with events, sayings, or images that celebrate aspects of the team's uniqueness (Hedstrom, 2014); engage in community events. Celebrate what sets your team apart in performance or preparation and the team's positive idiosyncrasies.
Praise players and staff when they demonstrate behaviors, attitudes, norms, and attributions that align with the team culture (Hedstrom, 2014).

Practices Observed in Successful Teams:

Members discuss and establish team goals (Hedstrom, 2012). Pro tip: these can relate to norms.
Establish a shared sense of what to expect down the road and how to respond as a team (Hedstrom, 2012). Coaches and veterans play a significant role in this through their experience, informedness, and ability to organize (e.g. practice specific competitive situations, discuss or recreate logistical concerns, provide information about what to expect in an upcoming event, practice ‘worst case scenario').
Every member of the team precisely understands and accepts their role. It's important to let each role player know how important their job is to their teammates and the team, plus their impact on team goals. Ensure this comes from staff teammates as well (Hedstrom, 2012).
Find ways to foster trust between teammates and facilitate cooperation (Hedstrom, 2012). This might mean identifying, discussing, and troubleshooting barriers to trust, willingness to work together, and buy-in to group goals. Or it may mean creating opportunities for teammates to spend time together or work towards a shared objective.
Coaches help support team confidence by maintaining a positive outlook and keeping the team focused on success. Your mood and the confidence you project influences both of those in your players (Hedstrom, 2012).

Miscellaneous How-To's:

Getting Your Foot In the Door…Again

If you're entering a leadership role as a new hire, establish a trusting relationship with staff who are holdovers from the previous regime before formalized team talks begin. These staffers may have significant rapport and facilitate the transition process on the grassroots level introducing you, a vision, your approach, and speaking to concerns (Cruchshank & Collins, 2012).

Personal recommendation

· During discussions – and this is just a personal recommendation you can take with a grain of salt as I'm by no means an expert – let the players do most of the talking. This rule might also apply to the discussion with your staffers, although you likely have more responsibility for the vision and are the leader of that group. Lead off a topic, then allow for an 80:20 exchange where players do 80% of the talking. If you don't chose to do that, you can still use the suggestions in this article.

References

Baker, J.B., Evans, A.L., Coffee, P., Slater, M.J., & McCarthy, P.J. (2014). Consulting on tour: A dual-phase personal-disclosure mutual-sharing intervention and group functioning in elite youth cricket. The Sport Psychologist, 28, 186-197.

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

Dunn, J.G.H., & Holt, N.L. (2003). Collegiate ice hockey players' perceptions of the delivery of an applied sport psychology program. The Sport Psychologist, 17, 351–368.

Hedstrom, R.A. (2009). Coaching through conflict: Effective communication strategies. Retrieved from: http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/resources/resources-for-coaches/coaching-through-conflict-effective-communication-strategies/

Hedstrom, R.A. (2012). Making your team work: How coaches can transform teams into groups. Retrieved from: http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/resources/resources-for-coaches/making-your-team-work/

Hedstrom, R.A. (2014). Developing an effective team culture. Retrieved from: http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/resources/resources-for-coaches/developing-an-effective-team-culture/

Henrisen, 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.

Holt, N.L., & Dunn, J.G.H. (2006). Guidelines for delivering personal-disclosure mutual-sharing team building interventions. The Sport Psychologist, 20, 348–367.

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

Ona?, Z. & Tepeci, M (2014). Team Effectiveness in Sport Teams: The Effects of Team Cohesion, Intra Team Communication and Team Norms on Team Member Satisfaction and Intent to Remain. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 150, 420-8.

Taylor, J. (2016, September 7). Build a team culture for athletic success. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201609/build-team-culture-athletic-success

Vallée, C.N. & Bloom, G.A. (2016). Four keys to building a championship culture. International Sport Coaching Journal, 5, 170-177. Retrieved from http://sportpsych.mcgill.ca/pdf/p/ISCJ_Vallee_Bloom_2016.pdf

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

Werthner, P. & Coleman, J. (2013). Sport Psychology Consulting with Canadian Olympic Athletes and Coaches: Values and Ethical Considerations. Athletic Insight, 10, Retrieved from http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol10Iss4/Canadian.htm#Understanding

Wood, W. (2015, October 27). Tips for Creating a Strong Team Culture. Retrieved from http://believeperform.com/coaching/tips-for-creating-a-strong-team-culture/

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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