Culture Coordinator

I've been thinking a lot lately about why culture has become such a buzzword and why every team is dealing with the conflict that competing agendas bring to the table. The post Agenda vs Ambition appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

Want to receive these posts via email? Sign up for the Culture Coordinator email list here Goal: I will understand why information and opportunity symmetry create an opportunity for me as the Culture Coordinator of my program and why I must cast a compelling vision. Information and opportunity symmetry are two concepts every Culture Coordinator must understand. You might remember from previous episodes that Daniel Pink coined the term information symmetry in his book “To Sell Is Human.” Information Symmetry is the idea that we now live in a time in history when essentially everyone has access to the same information. If you're like me, and you grew up playing sports sometime in the previous century, then you grew up in an era of information asymmetry. Your youth coach, junior high coach, or high school coach had access to more information about coaching and leading sports programs because they were a professional coach. These days, every player and parent in your program has access to nearly all the information you do as a professional coach. A corollary idea to information symmetry is Opportunity Symmetry. After reading Pink's book, I started to kick around the term opportunity symmetry when I realized something similar to information symmetry was happening regarding the opportunities available in youth and high school sports. Again, if you grew up playing sports in the last century, you most likely grew up in a situation where there was only one team to play for in your town or part of the city. There were not multiple club teams, and you were not allowed to attend any school in your town. You had to attend the one in your attendance area. Fast forward to 2022 and you, as the Culture Coordinator of your program, are not the leader of the only opportunity in town. From the athlete's perspective, we've transitioned from opportunity asymmetry to opportunity symmetry. The coach and the athlete both have multiple opportunities. Both now have the chance to be the proverbial free agent. Information symmetry and opportunity symmetry are essential to understand because they force coaches to position themselves in the open market. There is an open competition for your athletes, and if you're not even acknowledging it exists, soon you won't have much of a program left to lead. As a coach in an open market, casting a compelling vision is crucial for being a successful Culture Coordinator. It's no longer enough to merely be an expert at the Xs and Os and strategies of your sport. You must now be an expert in cultivating a culture that makes your program unique and distinct in the open m...

Want to receive these posts via email? Sign up for the Culture Coordinator email list here Goal: I will understand why it's crucial my discipline system lines up with the type of culture I am striving to build and what I am teaching my athletes about ambition, motivation, and mindset. Have you ever driven a car with wheels out of alignment? The car shakes and shimmies, especially as you accelerate or slow down. I think we all know that it's unwise to drive a car on a lengthy road trip if the alignment is bad. Doing so can ruin the tires and cause wear and tear that is expensive and dangerous. In leadership, it's easy to start thinking and acting in ways that are not aligned with the type of program you are trying to build. Too often, we fall into the trap of doing whatever reaps immediate results rather than what teaches and trains our athletes to think and act in alignment with our program's ambitions and definition of success. The most obvious example of this is often a coach's practice when it comes time to discipline an athlete. It is easy to slip into using fear, shame, and pride as your primary tactics for disciplining an athlete. Fear: establishing consequences that your athletes are afraid of, such as various forms of conditioning. Shame: requiring athletes to engage in some sort of behavior that is merely designed to shame them and not teach them (I can remember lots of these from summer camps back in the day). Pride: Rewarding athletes in a way that can lead to bragging or lording it over other athletes. I used these in my first years as the head coach. To be clear, all of these can have a place in your program, but at the end of the day, if you're trying to build an audience independent culture, these will not get you there because they aren't in alignment with an audience-independent culture. Fear, shame, and pride might help set the initial impression that everyone will be held accountable to expectations and standards, but they won't do anything to teach and train your athletes how to have audience independent ambitions, motivations, and mindsets. So how do you discipline your athletes in ways that align with the type of culture you're trying to instill? The goal isn't to merely modify behaviors; it's to teach and train your athletes in how they should think. The goal is to create a culture that makes disciples. Therefore, the first thing you must do is ask yourself: How does a disciple of my program think? Focusing on creating disciples of your program is why the different ambitions, motivations, and mindsets outlined in the “What Type of Culture A...

Want to receive these posts via email? Sign up for the Culture Coordinator email list here Far too many coaches spend far too much time trying to “motivate” their athletes. Controversial opinion alert: I think trying to motivate your athletes is an utter waste of time. Many coaches take pride in being great motivators, and I think striving to be a great motivator is a colossal mistake. Motivation, by definition, is the reason a person has for acting or behaving in a particular way. When a coach establishes himself as the reason to choose certain behaviors, he creates a culture in which every member of the program is focused on an audience-dependent motivation. If you're a great “motivator” as a coach, the odds that your athletes are dependent on your presence to do their best is near 100%. And that's a massive problem because ultimately, the only thing you are accomplishing by being a great “motivator” is modifying your athletes' behavior when you are present. Your presence is the reward for good behavior. You aren't transforming the way your athletes think. You're merely modifying their behavior. I am not a “motivator.” Say it with me: “I am not a motivator.” Take a look at the three motivators at the bottom of the motivation chart. Fear, shame, and pride are all audience-dependent motivators. By their nature, they require that an audience be present. Athletes motivated by fear, shame, and pride only work hard when their audience, whoever their audience may be, is present. This audience can be present at the moment, or it can be an audience they are looking forward to, like the fans in the stands or the college coach who is planning to come to their next game. Whether they realize it or not, 99% of the coaches who claim to be great motivators motivate their athletes with fear, shame, and pride. Coaches who are great motivators know how to push buttons and pull levers in their athletes' minds in such a way that athletes choose to do their best. Athletes will respond well in the moment to the coach's tactics, but they are 100% dependent on the coach's constant prodding and pushing. But what happens to the athlete's work ethic when the coach is not there to push the buttons and pull the levers? Coaches think they have to be great motivators because they have never taken the time to understand from where motivation comes. Motivation is fickle, fleeting, and hard to maintain unless you build it on a solid foundation. If you are the foundation for your program's motivation, don't be surprised when your athletes make poor choices in the classroom, in the halls,

Want to receive these posts via email? Sign up for the Culture Coordinator email list here In this episode, we take a look at why it's more important than ever to be intentional and how the Culture Coordinator System works. Learn how the Culture Coordinator can help you become the culture guru your program needs. The post The Culture Coordinator System appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

I am not a motivator. Say it with me: "I am not a motivator." Lots of coaches take pride in being great motivators and I think being a great motivator is huge mistake. Motivation, by definition, is the reason a person has for acting or behaving in a particular way. When a coach establishes himself as the reason to choose certain behaviors he creates a culture in which every member of the program is focused on an audience dependent motivation. Take a close look at the chart below. Start at the top and see if you can identify when the motivation switches from audience independent to audience dependent. Did you see it? Fear, shame, and pride are all audience dependent motivators. By their nature they require that an audience be present. Players who are motivated by fear, shame, and pride only work hard when the audience, whoever their audience may be, is present. 99% of the coaches who claim to be great motivators are motivating their players with fear, shame, and pride. The reason they think they have to be great motivators is because they have never taken the time to teach their players how to be motivated by audience independent motivators. To learn more about what is motivating your team and how to stop being a motivator and build a culture based on audience independent motivations check out the Culture Coordinator Motivation Assessment. The assessment is free to Culture Coordinator members along with step by step instructions for the Culture Coordinator Checklist. Click here to become a member of the Culture Coordinator. Click the link to join the email subscription list so you get new resources sent to your inbox when they become available. http://eepurl.com/cW04lH The post Stop trying to motivate your players appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

[caption id="attachment_696" align="alignleft" width="318"] This post was inspired by an article written by Tim Elmore and posted on the Growing Leaders website.[/caption] "When we punish kids for crimes, we look backward at what they’ve done,  wanting to bring justice to the situation. When we discipline kids, we look forward to the future and equip them to change their thinking and actions. Both require leadership, but discipline generally leads to better outcomes" Tim Elmore Did you catch the key difference between punishment and discipline according to Tim Elmore? I don't know about you, but I want to be the type of coach who looks forward to future and equips my players to change their thinking and actions. I want to be the type of coach who says, "I've driven the road you're on and I want to help you avoid the potholes and navigate the dangerous passes." You can read the article I pulled this quote from here. The article reminded me of the four types of discipline included in the Culture Coordinator Team Discipline System. Formative is proactive teaching and training. Corrective is retroactive corrective action. Consequential: You reap what you sow. Circumstantial: injury, illness, things beyond our control.

Over the last 6 weeks we've seen unparalleled improvement in our weight room. There are likely several factors at play, but they all come back to culture. It's been the culture, not the program design, that has made the difference. A few resources mentioned in the podcast: The sheets/packets the athletes are keeping track of their workouts on. The Culture Coordinator Motivation Assessment Some very rough notes on our Wednesday agility and motivation discussion days. The post How lots of small changes led to our best 6 weeks in the weight room ever. Episode 13 of the Culture Coordinator Podcast appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

Today I'm talking with Chris Fore. Coach Fore has not only develops his players, but he pours a lot of his resources into developing coaches. He is well known for his contributions to the world of special teams, especially the shield punt. He is also the founder of Eight Laces Consulting which helps coaches with the job application process. You can connect to all that Coach Fore is doing at coachfore.org. He's also very active on Twitter at @CoachFore The post Culture Coordinator Podcast: Episode 012 with Chris Fore appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

You would never leave the installation of your offensive and defensive schemes to chance. Great coordinators plot out every step in the process and systematically install their playbooks. But do you think that way about YOUR culture? Today's episode is about how to go about systematically installing your culture in the months leading up to the season. It's based on a talk I gave at a clinic and you can view the slides I used and some other resources I provided the group here. The post Using a System to Install YOUR Culture and Build Momentum: Episode 11 of the Culture Coordinator Podcast appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

Today I'm with Kevin Swift who is the head football coach of the Gold Beach Panthers in Gold Beach, Oregon. Coach Swift has been coaching for many years and has a passion for not only developing players, but coaches too. You can connect with him on Twitter @kdawgswift. The post Culture Coordinator Podcast: Episode 010 with Kevin Swift appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

Host a Spring Kickoff event! It's a simple idea that requires a little planning and organization and will have a big pay off! Members of the Culture Coordinator community have exclusive access to all the details on how to host a Spring Kickoff event in an easy to download and print PDF. Not a member? No worries, become one here. The post How to build excitement for the 2018 season this month appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

Darrick Ware is the Offensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach at Princeton High School in Texas. He is also the co-creator of a character curriculum called A Football Journey. In my conversation with Coach Ware we talk about the curriculum, how to install the curriculum into your program, and lot of other topics as well. The post Culture Coordinator Podcast Episode 008: Darrick Ware appeared first on Culture Coordinator.

Earlier in the week I tweeted out this tweet: Never punish players with conditioning. Why? Because conditioning is a key part of being the best player you can be. Why would you program a player to view an aspect of getting better as a punishment? — CultureCoordinator (@CultureCoord) February 5, 2018 It created lots of some positive feedback, some pushback, and a fair number of questions so I decided to turn that tweet into a podcast. Here are the notes I followed as unpacked why I think we should never use conditioning as punishment: Disciplinary actions should be carried out with two goals: Teach a player that his choices are out of alignment with the program’s ambitions and goals. Restore the team member to their proper place with the team I think too often we fall into the trap turning discipline into a power struggle. We don’t do this because we are bad people, we do it because it’s what we have always known. Never punish players with conditioning or acts of service. Getting better, playing, having a leadership role, and being on the team are the ultimate rewards of the program. Therefore, taking those things away are the best forms of punishment. “But what about the player who never plays and doesn’t care about not getting better and letting his team down?” Teach and train, teach and train. Discover the reason he is on the team. He’s likely out of alignment with your program ambitions and goals. “Running” players is not only the appeals to the lowest levels of motivation, but it teaches a players to view getting into shape as a bad thing or necessary evil in the preparation process.  

Coach Chris Fisher coaches at Ridgepoint High School in Texas, but he is probably best known for hosting #TXHSFBCHAT on Twitter. You can access the chat’s website here and connect with Coach Fisher on Twitter here.   Subscribe to our mailing list Join the Movement! The post Culture Coordinator Podcast Episode 006: Coach Chris Fisher appeared first on Culture Coordinator.