Culture is a word that is overused, yet underdeveloped. Learn from the master.
Culture is a word that is overused, yet underdeveloped. As leaders we understand that culture is vitally important to maximize the performance of the team.
In this post we are going from the micro culture on the player level to macro culture on the team level.
1. Understanding the micro-culture
In order to fully understand the macro level culture we need to start at the micro level with the individual players that make up the team. Without the micro, there is no macro.
Let’s start by understanding the four stages of a lifelong hockey player’s career.
First stage: Playing for your parents
This is when players are first picking up the game. Their parents usually give them a push to try out the sport. Parents have bought the equipment and take them to the rink.
Second stage: Playing for your coach
At this stage players recognize their coaches know more than their parents. Players are trying to do what the coach is trying to teach them.
Third stage: Playing for yourself
At this stage the player gets pretty good and starts playing for themselves. They feel the empowerment of being talented at something.
Fourth stage: Playing for your teammates
This is when players realize there is more than just playing for themselves and their personal achievement. Their maturity level is increasing and they are able to see how their actions affect others.
2. Building the macro-culture
Zooming out to a macro level, our goal is to create a critical mass of players at stage 4. Once a team has a critical mass of players at stage 4 they will naturally convert other players from stage 3 to stage 4.
A team’s culture is like an organism. It’s dynamic, fluid, and ever-changing. Therefore a leader must always be on top of culture development. One leader who is always on top of his team’s culture is Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots.
As head coach, Belichick understands his job is to be the person who installs, cultivates, and maintains the culture. He painfully learned this understanding from his stint as the head coach with the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to 1995 when off the field events bled onto the field and affected team performance.
Background history lesson: Belichick was the coach when owner Art Modell announced mid-season he was moving the team from Cleveland to Baltimore. The season prior, Cleveland had won a playoff game (still their last playoff win) and were predicted by many to reach their first-ever Super Bowl. They started the season 4-1 and ended up the season as 5-11. Nick Saban was Belichick’s defensive coordinator.
From that failure, Belichick emerged as a leader who purposefully talked about cultural aspects daily. His team meetings directly cover items that affect team culture. Whether that be if they celebrate a teammate’s great play or what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour.
His team comes to fully understand who they are and who they are not. In this clip Belichick, is talking to his team about what they should and shouldn’t do. He ends with positive reinforcement of what they should be doing.
Talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. Once we talk about it, we must walk it.
If you follow American football you’ll understand Belichick doesn’t just talk the talk, but also walks the walk. He holds his players accountable to the team’s culture. If a player falls outside of the team’s culture, they face consequences. For players, that often means being cut from the team and losing out on millions of dollars in pay.
When asked about the most important player on the early Super Bowl winning teams, Belichick mentions only one key player, Willie McGinest. This was due to Willie’s contribution in the locker room and team facilities. Willie’s stall was the closest to the door in and out of the locker room. With his strategic location and presence, he would hold players accountable to the culture Belichick was building in New England.
When building a great culture leaders need help. In this pursuit a coach must understand who their most important player is ASAP. The most important player is the one who is able and willing to hold other players accountable, like McGinist. With Willie on board, the critical mass forms and continues to convert teammates into cultural disciples. They truly shape the others around them and reinforce the team’s culture.
Coaching hack: When you are done speaking and leave the room, stand outside the door and listen for who speaks first and commands the room. Those are the players who are the most important for team culture and need extra attention in leadership development.
3. Challenging ourselves as leaders
In order to start the process of culture building, I challenge myself and and our staff to start by defining the culture so we can talk about it purposefully and often.
At the Patriots’ practice facility their five elements are posted immediately inside of the player’s entrance. They are:
- Do your job
- Work hard
- Be attentive
- Put the team first
- Ignore the noise
My five personal culture elements:
- Communication
- Commitment to team
- Assertiveness
- Dependability
- Persistence
Now think: What are you elements? Can your players articulate them when asked? Who is the person who speaks first when you leave the room? Is that person reinforcing what you are wanting?
