Cultivate Your Culture: How To Build Buy-In and Trust
Reading time: 10 minutes
What you’ll learn
Methods of creating team culture from a skilled coach
How to connect with young athletes in a way that counts
Getting over the importance of winning, and how that’ll make you win more.
In the introductory episode of Cultivate Your Culture, Zoran Stojkovic sat down with highly accomplished UCLA Gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field to speak about leadership and culture. In the episode, Valorie dives into what good team culture is made of, and her experiences in abandoning the old constructs of coaching in favor of creating positive team dynamics that create not only strong athletes, but strong individuals.
The Need For Team Culture
Valorie begins the episode by speaking about what defines success in the realm of sports, and how she believes we should move away from winning being the ultimate metric of a successful coach or team. Valorie stresses the crisis of how sport culture, especially that of winning at all costs, is negatively affecting young athletes today. From the abuse experienced by high level gymnasts at the hands of Larry Nasaar, to the increase in mental health issues being experienced by youth as a whole, it is evident that team culture needs to adapt. Valorie specifically wants to see the metrics of success change within team culture to encompass character, rather than just wins.
In Valorie’s words, team culture is a “common, agreed upon system of vision, values, and behavior, that are all shared by one team”. Creating a team culture allows the group to move towards a common goal with synchronicity. One of the key elements of team culture is establishing the common goal, or the “Why?” of the team, and re-addressing this consistently throughout the season. Cultures should be fluid in order to make changes that best signify the needs and goals of the team. Every athlete on the team should have a clear vision of not only the team’s goals, but their own as well in order to create personal responsibility that translates to the team.
Coaching with Integrity
When speaking about her experience coaching gymnastics, having never been a gymnast herself, Valorie is candid about her difficulty doing things the old fashioned way and coming to terms with the fact that being a dictator was not the most effective way to reach the common goal shared by the team. She expresses the moment she realized that winning wasn’t her end goal in the way it typically is in the realm of sports, and that her real drive was creating champions both on and off the competition stage by helping them develop the skills needed to be successful in their own lives.
Valorie places great importance on open communication between athletes and coaches and creating an environment of honesty and accountability. Every major decision made for the team should help to align with the common goal, and have a sound reasoning behind it that can be explained to the athletes while allowing room for questioning and challenging by the team members. This will give the athletes a voice, and in turn, make them feel valued as team members. Valorie also believes that every member of the team should be given the opportunity to develop their own leadership skills. She created leadership groups for her athletes, focusing especially on the girls who were more likely to not adhere to the team culture in order to help them understand how their actions may negatively impact their team. Valorie also rejects vulnerability as a weakness and sees it as a tool that can be used to create trust between her and the team. She states that one of the most toxic elements to team culture is a lack of trust, and that by being honest about her lack of experience and admitting to making mistakes, she models the behavior she wants to cultivate in her athletes.
Making it Happen
When creating your own team culture, meet with your entire team at least once a week and develop your shared vision together. Revisit this frequently, and make note of any time the final goal changes. Find more about creating a team vision HERE
Do away with team captains and instill leadership in every team member. Push them to hold themselves and each other accountable for maintaining the team culture. Don’t only focus on the natural leaders.
Look at your own coaching style and identify your weaknesses. Do your athletes feel like they can approach you with questions or concerns? Do you own up to your own mistakes? Do you respond with care or do you react impulsively?
For more tips on cultivating your team culture, visit here to learn about creating team dynamics, and here to learn about team cohesion.
About the Author
Willa Hladun believes that every individual has the tools within them to excel at their craft. She wants to help others achieve their potential through mental training and understanding that the mind can be your biggest obstacle when starting a new path or reaching new heights. She has a BA in Psychology from the University of Victoria.
