For all teams, whether business, football or not-for-profit organisations the building of culture is vital. It is not something that should be allowed to just happen organically or alternatively be defined without the complete involvement of all.

A business culture that I was involved with at a high-performing organisation that grew at an enormous rate was unsustainable. The owners of the business were very keen to see a culture be developed that would position the business to be viewed more positively from external parties.

The CEO, CFO and HR manager were tasked with creating a culture. They then sat down amongst themselves and came up with a vision, goals and imagery that they believed would create a new culture within the organisation. Signs went up and the vision was presented to the 100 odd staff that worked there.

What was most fascinating was the fact they had had totally misread the real culture of the organisation. The leadership didn’t facilitate open and engaged discussions and they were prepared to isolate people in front of their peers over mistakes and errors.

The real culture of the organisation was “protect your mates at all cost” from the staff. Completely different from the words and vision being portrayed. It drifted into obscurity as no engagement was undertaken with the staff and the reality of the facts were ignored. Many staff just listened and nodded and then continued to do what they had previously done. The turnover of staff reflected the real culture of the organisation.

Alternatively, as a player, I was involved with a team that won just about everything there was to win yet the members within the team weren’t very close. In fact some members actively disliked other individuals within the team. Regardless of personal feelings, the team culture in regards to performance and outcome was never compromised, everyone brought into the winning culture of the club and the training rules that underpinned the culture. It was also lead by a very charismatic individual who held it all together.

How do I express, or see Culture

Culture expresses a team’s vision, core values, goals and core covenant — it establishes your “identity”. It determines what the team’s focus is on, whether its fun, winning, promotion of individual success or team success. The culture is cemented in an identified sense of purpose and goals. For instance it could be the goal of qualifying for the playoffs, providing opportunities for players to be promoted into higher teams or up-skilling team members so they become owners of their own roles and responsibilities.

When shared with parties outside of the core group it clearly outlines what the team is looking to achieve and the rules that govern how it will be achieved. Parents for example will buy into it and it gives the players the opportunity to say my team and I have pledged to do this and I am part of the team — bigger picture and purpose.

GENERATE THE VISION

All members of the team, including staff and support people need to be part of the creation of the vision. The vision needs to be aspirational and use words that clearly outline the goals of the team. For example:

USA Swimming: To inspire and enable our members to achieve excellence in the sport of swimming and in life.

Disney: To make people happy

CLARIFY YOUR VALUES

The core values of your culture are the common thread that connects everyone and creates the identify of the team. One of the easiest ways to start this conversation with your team and staff is to ask them to write down the 3 most important values in their life. There are likely to be values like “honesty” written down that you may wish to explore in greater detail with the group. Honesty could easily be a team goal especially if it was altered or adapted to a simple statement:

“Honesty — we play by the rules and won’t yell at the ref if he makes a mistake”.

All people within the group need to have the opportunity to put forward or share the values they would like in the group. If denied they are less likely to engage with the final outcome as they need to feel ownership of the process. To make engagement a simpler process it is often useful to put them into 4 groups and have each group discuss what values they would like to see before sharing with the wider team. That way each group can provide a value that the entire group may wish to agree to be part of the team values.

3-5 values are generally more than enough for a team and should be values that all can buy into. An example of how you may wish to write down your team’s goals:

Determined to win — Strong performance is our core value.

Team spirit — We believe in team spirit and teamwork. We want our team to consist of strong individuals who support our common goals.

Fair play — We play by the rules and we recognize and seek to remedy our faults.

Have Fun — fair time for all and no one left behind.

There is quite a proliferation of the NZ Breakers core value of “no knobs” in team culture once it became public. These core values are great as they define the type of behaviour and person that is unacceptable to the group.

SET SMART GOALS

• Specific
• Measurable
• Ambitious
• Realistic
• Timed

CREATE A CORE COVENANT

The core covenant is the heart and spirit of the team. It is a set of simple and powerful rules that govern the internal behaviour of the team. It also clarifies to the team what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.

Examples:

If you are unable to make training let the coach know at least 2 hours before training via a text message.

Arrive 10 minutes before training and get ready to train.

Always attend meeting with your team booklet and a pen and take notes that you can use to provide feedback.

This core covenant must be written down and seen and used by the team and staff as the bible of behaviour.

UNITY OF EFFORT

One team with a single minded drive to achieve a shared goal is a powerful tool that all teams should use. The power of the group offsets the culture of “me” that is becoming more and more prevalent in society.