Rebuilding Culture
August 12, 2020 at 1:43 a.m.
Rebuilding Culture
By Roger Grossman-
What they mean by that is simple to explain and understand, but much harder to accomplish.
The ‘culture’ being referred to is the underlying work ethic and team chemistry inside the lockeroom. It’s what almost no one else sees or experiences until we see the results of it on the field of play.
Yes, ‘culture’ could refer to actual international cultural or racial differences. It would be foolish, naïve and inaccurate to say that in 2020 those things aren’t a big deal or as big a deal as they used to be. For example, a single major league baseball clubhouse likely has Caucasians, African-Americans, Latin Americans and players from East Asia in it for 7-8 months at a time. Some of them don’t know English (or are not confident in it) when they arrive here. Baseball is hard enough, but if you have players who have three different primary languages—that’s a barrier! One of two things will happen then: the players in that clubhouse will either learn enough of the other languages to be functional, or they will struggle with it in misery.
It could also be economic ‘culture’. Imagine a college lockeroom where kids from Tippecanoe Valley and Fishers are joined together (this really happened on the Purdue baseball team recently). Could there be two more different communities in Indiana than those? Hardly. But now they have to come together as teammates and do more than just put up with each other. They have to want to do whatever it takes to help the other succeed. They have to want to fight for the other. That takes some adjustment for some people.
Maybe more than either of those, we’re talking about the ‘culture’ of doing what is required to improve yourself and your team to make both better. Are you willing to identify what sacrifices you must make to make your team better, and then also be willing to do those things? The ‘culture of winning’ means there is a system in place, spoken or unspoken, for the answer to those questions to be a resounding YES and then actually to do them.
It starts at the top. Do you have an infrastructure in place to show a clear chain of command that everyone will follow and answer to? Do you have a plan for success that everyone understands? Do you have people who are eager to be held accountable for their actions?
Hey guess what? These all apply to everything you are involved in—not just sports. Your job. Your family. Your church. The non-profit group you volunteer for.
All of them.
There are dozens of signs that a group has a losing culture, but the one that is the most damaging is the lack of accountability. When members of a group do not feel the need to be responsible to its other members, then pods of selfish behavior are formed. Once those pods are sealed up, they are hard to break through.
And let it be said that there must be those who are willing to stand up and not only be accountable to the membership but they must also have the courage to hold others accountable. To stand up when they see something that is not right and point it out for the purpose of making that person (and therefore the team) better. That can make you unpopular, but it must be done for the team to have a solid foundation.
Show me a team of people who start the rebuttal to honest constructive criticism by saying “well (insert someone else’s name here) didn’t…” and I will show you a culture of losing.
You see what I mean?
Now, I know there is a segment of the population that screams at me “chemistry comes after winning, and so chemistry is overrated”. My response to that is “possibly”. Chemistry is a byproduct of momentum. Momentum is gained by stringing together successful efforts. In order to get there, though, a group must get over that initial obstacle, and that cannot happen without its members being willing to do what it takes to overcome it and be accountable to the whole group in doing it.
Changing the culture means not expecting to keep doing the things they were doing while they were losing and hope the results just magically turn in their favor. Sports don’t work like that, and real life doesn’t either. It means you have to do more than average.
Too many of us don’t care enough to make that kind of change.
It’s easier to sit back and hope, or sit back and take care of your own self and your own interests than to be interested enough in those around you to want to help initiate change.
Then complain about it….like losers do.
What they mean by that is simple to explain and understand, but much harder to accomplish.
The ‘culture’ being referred to is the underlying work ethic and team chemistry inside the lockeroom. It’s what almost no one else sees or experiences until we see the results of it on the field of play.
Yes, ‘culture’ could refer to actual international cultural or racial differences. It would be foolish, naïve and inaccurate to say that in 2020 those things aren’t a big deal or as big a deal as they used to be. For example, a single major league baseball clubhouse likely has Caucasians, African-Americans, Latin Americans and players from East Asia in it for 7-8 months at a time. Some of them don’t know English (or are not confident in it) when they arrive here. Baseball is hard enough, but if you have players who have three different primary languages—that’s a barrier! One of two things will happen then: the players in that clubhouse will either learn enough of the other languages to be functional, or they will struggle with it in misery.
It could also be economic ‘culture’. Imagine a college lockeroom where kids from Tippecanoe Valley and Fishers are joined together (this really happened on the Purdue baseball team recently). Could there be two more different communities in Indiana than those? Hardly. But now they have to come together as teammates and do more than just put up with each other. They have to want to do whatever it takes to help the other succeed. They have to want to fight for the other. That takes some adjustment for some people.
Maybe more than either of those, we’re talking about the ‘culture’ of doing what is required to improve yourself and your team to make both better. Are you willing to identify what sacrifices you must make to make your team better, and then also be willing to do those things? The ‘culture of winning’ means there is a system in place, spoken or unspoken, for the answer to those questions to be a resounding YES and then actually to do them.
It starts at the top. Do you have an infrastructure in place to show a clear chain of command that everyone will follow and answer to? Do you have a plan for success that everyone understands? Do you have people who are eager to be held accountable for their actions?
Hey guess what? These all apply to everything you are involved in—not just sports. Your job. Your family. Your church. The non-profit group you volunteer for.
All of them.
There are dozens of signs that a group has a losing culture, but the one that is the most damaging is the lack of accountability. When members of a group do not feel the need to be responsible to its other members, then pods of selfish behavior are formed. Once those pods are sealed up, they are hard to break through.
And let it be said that there must be those who are willing to stand up and not only be accountable to the membership but they must also have the courage to hold others accountable. To stand up when they see something that is not right and point it out for the purpose of making that person (and therefore the team) better. That can make you unpopular, but it must be done for the team to have a solid foundation.
Show me a team of people who start the rebuttal to honest constructive criticism by saying “well (insert someone else’s name here) didn’t…” and I will show you a culture of losing.
You see what I mean?
Now, I know there is a segment of the population that screams at me “chemistry comes after winning, and so chemistry is overrated”. My response to that is “possibly”. Chemistry is a byproduct of momentum. Momentum is gained by stringing together successful efforts. In order to get there, though, a group must get over that initial obstacle, and that cannot happen without its members being willing to do what it takes to overcome it and be accountable to the whole group in doing it.
Changing the culture means not expecting to keep doing the things they were doing while they were losing and hope the results just magically turn in their favor. Sports don’t work like that, and real life doesn’t either. It means you have to do more than average.
Too many of us don’t care enough to make that kind of change.
It’s easier to sit back and hope, or sit back and take care of your own self and your own interests than to be interested enough in those around you to want to help initiate change.
Then complain about it….like losers do.
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