Addition Through Subtraction Can Be Critical in Building a Winning Culture.
There is a difference between a winning culture and winning.
Welcome to edition 165 of The Physical Movement. Our archive is growing as is feedback and comments, so thank you. When The Physical Movement was launched in May 2020, the intent was to address topics and provide insight on youth sport, leadership and sport performance. Over the course of 164 editions, we have developed an archive of resources and education with contributions from multiple experts from different parts of the world. In this world of increasing costs, The Physical Movement costs only your time. That is more valuable that anything, so thank you for spending some with us.
Building a winning culture. Ask 10 parents and coaches to define and what do you think the answers will be ?
I did that recently at a youth baseball (14u) game and the following are a sample of the answers (kind of like Family Feud):
10 parents and coaches surveyed, top 4 answers are on the board, what does a “winning culture” mean to you?
· Having a team that wins.(3x)
· Winning is not the only thing. (2x)
· Having a team that is focused on winning.
· Having a coach that has proven he can win.
The argument could be made that a winning culture has little to do with winning.
Winning, as an outcome, is a result of a process and a lot of good fortune. The bounces have to go your way, the athletes have to stay healthy and, as most of us around sport know, a lot is out of our control. Culture is not out of control.
As we shared in December 2021, building culture comes down to 3 areas : Safety, vulnerability and purpose.
When young athletes do not feel like they belong, then the positivity of the experience declines. Coaches provide a sense of belonging for a young athlete through body language, listening, and making eye contact. Vulnerability is another component in making the experience positive, as is a common purpose for the group.
What happens when someone or some people are counter to the 3 areas of building a positive culture?
The experience is not positive. Kids don’t come back.
If there is a negative influence in the group, the safety of the experience gets compromised and so does a winning or positive culture.
In team sport, the make up of the team either hinders or accelerates the building of culture.
Positive team chemistry cannot happen with toxic energy. Toxic in the form of bullying, criticism, 2nd guessing either from fellow team members and/or families.
Addition through subtraction.
Positive chemistry on the team can often be due to who you do not have on the team as much as who is a member. Addition through subtraction: Sometimes, in order to make something better, or work more effectively, you must take something away.
While one of the goals of youth sport is to increase participation, there are situations when subtraction may open the door for the team to get to that winning or positive culture. We are not just referring to people.
Situations when subtraction may allow for a better culture:
1. Shedding the negative attitude player.
This also applies to families who are not positive. I am a big believer in trying to address the negativity face to face early in the process. Sometimes that works, and sometimes the exercise is futile.
2. Factor attitude into team selection. How a player relates to others, supports or criticizes? In some extremes vocal negative family members have influenced the removal of players to assist team chemistry.
3. Eliminate areas of teaching/coaching that are not productive.
4. Coaches can simplify practices and trim areas that overcomplicate and confuse the process.
5. Apply the negative attitude removal to co-coach /staff selection.
Coaches need to be strong and clear.
Addition through subtraction is a delicate issue. We want to maximize youth engagement not reduce it. However, when all else fails the negative energy from one or 2 can spread like wildfire and ambush the team’s ability to build culture.
Without a strong purpose, without everyone feeling secure and safe and without vulnerability, building a winning culture will be challenging.
For many in the sports world, vulnerability is a difficult one. Sports are built traditionally on core values of “toughness” and “determination”. Vulnerability is not weakness. Teams and individuals that view vulnerability as weakness are afraid to make mistakes, won’t ask for help, blame, and shame.
Purpose is at the cornerstone of a winning culture. While many focus on winning as the purpose, those with a strong culture focus on improvement, fun, cooperation, developing a work ethic and sharing a common goal. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, checking the above boxes often becomes a pre-requisite to achievement on the playing field.
Lots of great feedback on last week’s article, edition 164.
Thank you so much.
Here is a copy in case you missed it.