Team cohesion can be the key to performance and, ultimately, success. We bring you a collection of considerations from a recent Leadership Skills Series session.
That is the view of data consultants Gain Line Analytics, who were co-founded by former Australia rugby international Ben Darwin and Simon Strachan in 2013. They have since worked with numerous clients in both sporting and corporate environments.
The company has developed a concept it calls ‘Cohesion Analytics’ to help measure both understanding and coordination within teams. Its proprietary algorithms can evaluate key metrics that influence team performance, such as communication patterns, trust levels and the effectiveness of a team’s collaborative efforts. The resulting analysis can provide recommendations with a view to improving team cohesion, which may include changes in team structure, training programmes or other strategic adjustments.
Gain Line’s insights into the topic formed the basis of a recent Leadership Skills Series session for members of the Leaders Performance Institute. The outcome was a suite of tricks and tips for swiftly developing team cohesion.
What is ‘cohesion’?
Gain Line defines cohesion as ‘the level of understanding between the component parts of a team system’. They believe that cohesion is made up of:
How does cohesion influence performance?
Attendees at the Leadership Skills Series session identified five ways in which they believe cohesion can improve performance:
The Gain Line view on the important role of cohesion in performance can be expressed through the following equation:
Skill x Cohesion = Capability
Ultimately, they suggest that even if a team has highly skilled individuals, their overall capability will be limited if they lack cohesion. Conversely, a team with moderate skill levels but high cohesion can outperform more skilled but less-cohesive teams.
The equation challenges the assumed portability of skill. For example, if you bring talent and skill from one system, how confident can you be they that they will take all of that ability into the next system?
It raises another important consideration for people and teams who are focusing on improving: when a team is constantly adapting to changes, it can detract from their ability to improve and refine their skills and performance.
How can you develop cohesion at pace?
Gain Line makes five recommendations, which include practical tips and considerations:
Send strong belonging cues from the outset and develop your inclusive leadership skills. In fostering belonging, allow people to share their personal story and cultural background, widening your ‘us’ story to encompass everyone’s unique background. It’s important to not overlook the past, so look at connecting the team to its heritage. Shine a light on key moments and individuals from which we can draw inspiration or lessons. Finally, ensure you create a shared vision together for the legacy this generation want to leave behind.
Relationship mapping is a practical way to reflect on your relationships with other members of your team and encourages shared responsibility. Base your score on how well you know each other, your openness to each other’s thinking, and the quality of your collaborations. Where are you areas for opportunity to elevate trust or relationships?
The fastest way to improve collaboration is to get individuals to think about their part in the process and getting good at the balance between speaking and listening within the group. Are people speaking up? Do we have that level of psychological safety? Are they listening?
Skilled questioning can be powerful in developing relationships and cohesion. What are some examples of ‘getting to know each other’ questions? Here are some examples:
What do your athletes and staff do when they are on their ‘A game’? When you are bringing you’re A game, what is it that they are bringing too? Knowing this allows everyone in the team to know what they are looking for – then the team has a collective responsibility. Equally, when you are not on your A game, what do you see?
22 Aug 2024
ArticlesWhat’s it like to launch an expansion team? We bring you insights from Bay FC.
That is the view of Lucy Rushton, the former General Manager of NWSL expansion team Bay FC.
“Of the people I know working in male football, 95 per cent probably would never consider coming to the women’s game,” she told an audience at June’s Leaders Sport Performance Summit at Red Bull in Santa Monica. “And, to be honest, they probably wouldn’t be right for the women’s game either. I’ll say that. I think the person that you’re looking for, especially in expansion, is someone who’s willing to challenge themselves, willing to go outside the box.”
Bay represented Rushton’s first role in women’s football. She built her reputation in the men’s game in a series of scouting and analysis roles at the Football Association, Watford and Reading. In 2016, she left her English homeland to join Atlanta United as Head of Technical Recruitment & Analysis. The team won the MLS Cup two years later. Between 2021 and 2022, she served as DC United’s first female GM.
Back at Bay, the team were finding their feet following a tricky start to their inaugural season when Rushton unexpectedly resigned in late-June. Her departure shocked observers, but her achievements during the year she spent in southern California were considerable.
It is an exciting time for the club, who attract average crowds of nearly 15,000 to a stadium that is not their own. They speak enthusiastically of planning a new practice facility and stadium. Crucially, the ownership group have the means and the will to make it all happen.
But beyond supportive owners and astute marketing initiatives, what does it take to get a new team off the ground? The Leaders Performance Institute explores four factors put forward by Rushton.
1. A vision that informs your culture
Bay want to be the best team in the world and renowned for their people-first approach. They plan to get there by adhering to their B-A-Y values (Brave, Accountable, and You). Rushton explained each in turn:
2. Finding the right personalities
Rushton believes it takes a particular type of personality to thrive in an expansion environment. “You have to have someone that’s more risk-OK,” she said. “To bet on themselves to go ‘I can go there and make a difference.” Her appointment of Head Coach Albertin Montoya showed that they can be male. “A lot of males would find it refreshing to come to a female team because it’s a different environment, with a totally different feeling, vibe, boundaries, rules.”
It is crucial, however, that you hire for diversity of background and experience despite the inherent challenges. “It’s much easier to sit in a room with people who are like you,” said Rushton. “It brings added work because you’re taking yourself outside your comfort zone – you have to be willing to do that.”
3. Elevate player care and support
Rushton explained that while male players tend to consider the bottom line above all else, female players are compelled to prioritise their living conditions. It led her and Bay to use all available mechanisms – housing, support staff, medical care – to tempt players to this corner of southern California. “How are we on a day-to-day basis trying to help them a) be in the best position they can be for the longest possible; and b) live a nice lifestyle out of football?”
It has given Bay considerable pulling power beyond the US. Three ceiling-raisers arrived in the form of Barcelona’s Asisat Oshoala, Madrid CFF’s Rachael Kundananji, and Arsenal’s Jen Beattie. Others are sure to follow.
4. Managing challenges and setbacks
Bay have had their fair share of challenges in year one, but the club has not been fazed. They went as far as dropping a player over a disciplinary issue on one occasion. It likely cost them the game, but the senior leadership believed that team values were more important. “It’s in those difficult moments that you set the culture,” said Rushton. “It showed our players and our staff what’s acceptable and what’s not.”
Australia ‘threw chaos’ at India in the World Cup final, but as Andrew McDonald explained, 18 months of meticulous planning went into their triumph.
The Australia captain won the coin toss and defied conventional wisdom by electing to field during the first innings when most teams might have preferred to set their opponents a formidable target. On top of that, the dry conditions on that November afternoon at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad appeared to favour batting first.
“I’d have batted first,” said India captain Rohit Sharma. “It looks a good pitch, it’s a big game, let’s put runs on the board.”
Cummins obviously disagreed. “It looks a bit of a dry wicket; bowl on it during the day and back ourselves to chase whatever we need to,” he said before pointing to the weather. “Dew is one factor, it gets quite dewy here at night. It feels like this venue has got better and better to bat so hopefully the same today.”
Dew can make it easier to bat under the lights as the ball skids onto the bat, but some accused Australia of overthinking the conditions. It is easy to dismiss those criticisms in light of Australia’s subsequent six-wicket victory – and sixth men’s World Cup triumph – but they do point to the traditional thought processes that tend to govern cricket.
Andrew McDonald, Australia’s Head Coach, picked up on this two months later at February’s Leaders Sport Performance Summit in Melbourne. “An important piece is that this group is making decisions not on what’s happened in the past,” he said.
In cricket, the captain is tasked with most on-field team decisions during play and, the day before the final, McDonald and his coaches spent two hours weighing up the pros and cons of batting first and second; and yes, the dew was discussed. “We had great fun solving these problems and then said to Patty: ‘this is our recommendation. Over to you, mate, because ultimately you’re accountable at the toss’.”
There were several factors beyond the dew that supported their recommendation, but the underlying story is one of how McDonald, who was promoted to Head Coach in April 2022, has worked to engender trust between players and coaches while also streamlining the team’s high-performance systems.
“One of our philosophies in the Australia cricket team is on the day you have to be less dysfunctional than your opponent,” said McDonald with a combination of pragmatism and humility.
Here, we explore what that philosophy entails for Australia’s men.
‘Environment’, not ‘culture’
McDonald insists on referring to the team’s ‘environment’ rather than its ‘culture’, even as he admitted that it may just be words. However, given that he had served for three years as an assistant coach to his predecessor, Justin Langer, and could quickly take the pulse of the team upon taking the reins, one should give McDonald the benefit of the doubt.
“We felt as though ‘culture’ was quite rigid and it was almost the players coming in and needing to conform with what the team required,” he said, indicating that he had thought deeply about the idea. “We’ve shifted to ‘environment’ and made sure that people could commit to that.”
The Australia men’s team is on the road for more than 220 days per year and, if they are not competing at home, they are almost always touring in far flung foreign lands from the West Indies to the Asian sub-continent. It can be isolating, stressful and even boring. Therefore, it was a good idea, McDonald argued, to let his players shape their environment.
“We wanted to create some safe spaces for people to operate in and make sure that they could be themselves. Hopefully that shines through in the way our players represent the country,” he continued.
The players and coaches’ families are also free to join them on tour whenever possible; and it works both ways. McDonald encouraged all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to fly home mid-World Cup to visit his ailing grandfather, who passed away during the tournament. Anyone reading that line with reservations should note that Marsh, with the full support of his teammates, returned to hit an unbeaten 177 in his next match against Bangladesh.
Getting the creative juices to flow
Another key decision McDonald made was to complement structured training sessions (coach-driven with the coach at the heart of the work being done) with unstructured sessions where the players choose what they want to do within the wider strategy. His aim was clear: “when you’re trying to build a team to problem-solve under extreme pressure on their own, you’ve got to give them choice in the training activities they do” as this will get their “creative juices flowing”.
This is also dependent on the team having the right players at the outset across the three main formats in which Australia compete. McDonald joins Cricket Australia Chairman George Bailey and former Test all-rounder Tony Dodemaide on the three-person National Selection Panel.
McDonald, however, felt that too often the interested parties operated in silos and true collaboration would only come from sitting the key decision-makers down at the same table. There is now better dialogue between the coaches and the panel, with McDonald serving as the go-between.
He said: “Selectors ultimately have the final decision, but knowing what the coaches and players are trying to achieve, and the style we’re playing, I think it streamlined our decision making and we could move more quickly.”
‘We had to throw chaos at India’
Australia lost their opening two matches in the World Cup group phase. The first, a six-wicket loss to the hosts India in Chennai, offered some mitigation. Afterall, India were the favourites and would eventually reel off ten wins in a row on their way to the final.
The second, an ignominious 134-run defeat to South Africa, provoked greater introspection. Yet the team emerged from the post-match review committed to doubling down on the aggressive style they had adopted in the buildup to the tournament.
The Australians, as McDonald explained, were not going to throw 18 months of collaborative planning down the drain. “Every conversation with coaches was about where we thought games would be won and lost in India,” he said. These conversations were data-informed. “The eye test can lead you towards a certain bias,” he added. “We always have our checks and balances there with our data scientist to make sure that we’re on task.”
Their approach received its first memorable vindication when Australia claimed a 2-1 victory in a one-day international [ODI] series in India six months out from the World Cup. “That checkpoint was important in terms of belief for our playing group.”
It helped them at 0-2 in the group phase and in the World Cup buildup when they lost batter Travis Head to a fractured left hand. Head was given every chance to recover, which is just as well given his match-winning 137 runs off 120 balls in the final.
It did, however, prompt the team to amplify the aggression that led Australia to win their next nine matches, including avenging that opening defeat to India in the final itself.
“We knew that India were probably the better team on paper so we had to throw chaos at them,” said McDonald, explaining that the shift was to a style more akin to short-form T20 cricket. “A lot of things go into building that.”
The team had developed its capabilities in the harshest conditions, seen evidence that their style could win matches, and so they didn’t “throw the baby out with the bath water”.
That meant that come the final, when match referee Andy Pycroft tossed the coin and Cummins called correctly, the Australia captain had every confidence in his planning and preparation when electing to field.
“I think it was a great reflection of the work the data team put in with the coaches and the collaborative approach that Patty invites as a leader,” said McDonald.
“If we keep presenting decent options to him then he’ll keep listening to us. If we don’t, then he’ll probably shut us out. That’s our challenge.”
Jide Fadojutimi and Marianne O’Connor of Management Futures explain why ‘skilled candour’ generates psychological safety and lets you show your people that you care.
They may recognise the need to take someone to one side, but if they are unable to broach the topic in a skilled and productive way, then a small problem can quickly escalate.
At the 2023 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London, Jide Fadojutimi and Marianne O’Connor from Management Futures led an onstage skills session explaining what to do and what not to do when approaching someone to have a ‘courageous conversation’.
What is a ‘courageous conversation’?
The term was coined by executive coach Kim Scott, who argues in her 2017 book Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing your Humanity that leaders have a ‘moral imperative’ to step into difficult conversations and challenge with skill. This requires courage because it is simply easier to avoid such conversations.
Scott devised a skills grid to illustrate what it takes to lead a courageous conversation. O’Connor and Fadojutimi shared Scott’s grid with the Leaders audience but changed the top-right quadrant from ‘radical candour’ to ‘skilled candour’:
Image: Management Futures
“We’re going with ‘skilled candour’ because it’s a skill we can all learn and build,” said Fadojutimi of Management Future’s way of teaching the topic.
The three pitfalls to avoid
The arrows on the grid suggest that the path to skilled candour lies in giving people a sense of psychological safety and the feeling that you care about them. The grid also suggests three pitfalls, which were discussed at length by Scott in Radical Candor:
The five steps towards skilled candour
O’Connor explained that there are five steps you can take to help develop your ability to approach conversations with skilled candour:
6 Aug 2024
ArticlesFemale athlete health, cultural leadership and improv – just some of the topics raised, debated and pondered in July.
On top of that, 11-time Olympic medallist Allyson Felix led an initiative to introduce the first-ever nursery for competing mothers and their children at an Olympic village.
These are steps in the right direction at a time when the Games have shown us there is still much work to do to better support female athletes and their health.
One can look at the world records involving the United States’ women swimmers at La Defense Arena in Paris, to name an example close to Leaders Performance Institute hearts, and wonder what potential could be unleashed if the sporting world adopted more female-focused approaches to training, recovery and mental preparation.
On that front, there is some superb work being done by our friends at Sport Wales, who shared insights with Leaders Performance Institute members in early July, and that’s where we begin this edition of the Debrief.
How to increase education around female athlete health
Our Women’s High Performance Sport community group has proven to be a mainstay for the female members of the Leaders Performance Institute.
The community has made it clear that they believe there is a shortfall in education for staff around female athlete health.
With this in mind, we welcomed Dr Natalie Brown, a Research Fellow working as part of a collaboration between Sport Wales and Swansea University with the Welsh Institute of Performance Science [WIPS].
Brown led a rich conversation about her work and suggested some practical ways in which you can make positive inroads when it comes to female athlete health education:
Additional reporting by Rachel Woodland, Lottie Wright and Sarah Evans.
A six-step approach to driving cultural change
Those of you who read last month’s Debrief will know we touched on the theme of cultural leadership courtesy of Dr Edd Vahid, who placed the topic at the heart of his three-part Performance Support Series for Leaders members.
In July, he followed sessions one and two with a specific focus on cultural change and the effective steps that can be taken to create and deliver a new culture. In session three, Vahid shared a six-step approach:
What role can AI play in coach and people development?
An interesting question was posed in one of our coaching community group conversations: how can or is AI supporting work in the field of coaching and people development?
When it comes to coaching and learning in general, AI can be a divisive topic. It is common to hear that there is an art to coaching that needs to be protected and that a machine or technology can never connect with a human being.
Nevertheless, those on the community call in July agreed that there is value and opportunity for technology to support elements of people development. We tried to establish what those might be, whilst also testing what AI could come up with during the session.
Three things in particular stood out:
Why improvisation is an underrated leadership skill
Those of you who have been involved in the Leaders Performance Institute membership for a while and have attended some of our events, you’ll likely remember we have dabbled into the world of comedy to see what we can learn from the likes of the Upright Citizens Brigade who feature in Dan Coyle’s Culture Code and also comedian Stuart Goldsmith who spoke at our London Summit back in 2019.
We returned to the topic of improv comedy in July’s Leaders Skills Series session, which began with a line from renowned improv actor Bob Kulhan: ‘improvisation thrives at the pivotal intersection where planning and strategy meet execution’.
The session used Kulhan’s premise, set out in his 2017 book Getting to ‘Yes, And’ to explore how improvisation can enhance your leadership. Below, we explore some of the elements that emerged during the discourse.
How does the ability to improvise elevate performance in both individuals and teams?
There are three elements:
Neil Mullarkey is another of the world’s premier improv actors and, in 2023, he released his book In the Moment. In it, he details some practical skills to help leaders demonstrate the behaviours that help create the conditions for teams to be more creative.
We also explored Mullarkey’s LASER model during the session:
The renowned actor and comedian is a devotee of improvisation, which can enhance your leadership abilities if you can develop an improv mindset.
‘I became immersed in the cult of improvisation,’ she wrote of her career ascent in Bossypants in 2011. ‘I was like one of those athletes trying to get into the Olympics. It was all about blind focus. I was so sure that I was doing exactly what I’d been put on this earth to do, and I would have done anything to make it onto that stage.’
Fey had a point, and the ability to improvise is also an essential leadership asset.
‘Improvisation thrives at the pivotal intersection where planning and strategy meet execution,’ wrote Bob Kulhan, another highly regarded improv comedian, in his 2017 book Getting to ‘Yes And’.
A recent Leadership Skills Series session used Kulhan’s premise to explore how improvisation can enhance your leadership. Here, we explore some of the elements that emerged during the discourse.
How does the ability to improvise elevate performance in both individuals and teams?
There are three elements:
How do the principles of improvisation correspond with the skills required for effective leadership?
This is where it is useful to visit The Four C’s of improvisation:
The role of psychological safety
Google initiated its two-year Project Aristotle in 2012 with a view to better understanding what makes teams successful. The organisation studied 250 attributes in their 180 teams and learned that psychological safety is by far the most important factor in determining a team’s performance.
Psychological safety can be defined as ‘a shared belief that it is OK to speak up candidly with ideas, questions, concerns and even mistakes’. It is a driver of innovation, creativity, engagement and productivity.
Additionally, an improvisation mindset is fundamental to how we might create a psychologically safe environment.
It can allow you to have more open conversations. If there is a feeling of being able to speak up without being judged and critiqued, you are likely to witness a higher level of participation and engagement in your teams.
We know that teams function better when there is a mutual feeling of respect and security.
Psychological safety increases people’s willingness to be open and accountable. This can lead to getting more ideas on the table and increased contributions from across the team.
Common signs of psychological safety:
Tina Fey’s rules of improvisation
In Bossypants, Fey outlined some of the improv principles that have supported her work and career:
Questions to help you become a ‘Yes, And’ leader
Kat Koppett, the author of Training to Imagine and herself an esteemed improv specialist, suggests a series of questions that can help people in sport to reflect on becoming a leader in improvisation:
Firstly, ‘what can I notice here?’ What am I tuning into in terms of what others are communicating? Pay close attention to what others are communicating verbally and non-verbally. What are your senses telling you about how the other person is showing up?
Secondly, ‘what can I accept here?’ This is really important, especially for leaders who are often looked up to as the ones who have the answers. Let go of your personal agenda and allow others to influence your thinking.
Thirdly, ‘how can I build on these ideas or perspectives?’ It’s important to consider that the goal is not to debate competing ideas but to co-create something.
LASER: a five-pillar approach to using improv in the leadership space
Neil Mullarkey is one of the world’s premier improv actors and, in 2023, he released his book In the Moment. In it, he details some practical skills to help leaders demonstrate the behaviours that help create the conditions for teams to be more creative.
There are five:
25 Jul 2024
ArticlesWe highlight the core beliefs that have strengthened the ECB’s resolve to transform English men’s cricket despite the setbacks.
Brendon McCullum had no first-class coaching experience when he was appointed Head Coach of the England men’s Test cricket team in May 2022.
Nevertheless, the New Zealander was the favourite candidate of England & Wales Cricket Board [ECB] Managing Director Rob Key, who himself had been appointed a month earlier.
McCullum, assisted by captain Ben Stokes, introduced a bold playing style that has been labelled ‘Bazball’ (a reference to McCullum’s nickname).
England have improved on his watch and are moving in the right direction ahead of their primary objective, which is a successful 2025-26 Ashes series in Australia. There have been resounding victories in the past two years and there have been some chastening defeats too, which McCullum had anticipated.
‘Are you prepared to take a punt?’ He asked Key during the hiring process. ‘This could go wrong.’ Key was not fazed. ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
Key shared this story at November’s Leaders Sport Performance Summit at London’s Kia Oval, where he spoke alongside the ECB’s former Performance Director Mo Bobat (who now works in the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore). The duo discussed the ECB’s efforts to transform the way England’s men think about and play cricket following a meagre run of one Test win in 15 months prior to McCullum’s appointment.
The subsequent teething troubles were as inevitable as the criticisms that accompanied them, but they have not dissuaded the ECB.
Here, we highlight four beliefs that underpin their resolve.
1. Brave decisions lead to good outcomes
Key inherited a “bruised” performance team riddled with insecurity. Key, who believes that brave decisions made by the right people can lead to good outcomes, got to work immediately. He began to give people the latitude to make decisions without any blowback. With the atmosphere of negativity stripped away, Bobat’s playful side began to emerge. “If you don’t take yourself too seriously, what appears like a risky or brave decision to someone else just feels like the right thing to do.” This was Bazball in the boardroom.
2. Positive reinforcement is critical
McCullum is Key’s ideal frontman. His belief in a fearless style of play, much like Key’s, is born from memories of feeling stifled by coaches when he was a player. So when England batter Ben Duckett was caught and bowled for a duck during England’s 2022-23 tour of Pakistan, McCullum simply said: ‘well done, you’re going to get all your runs with that approach – keep committing to it’. It’s another story Key told at the Oval. “In that moment, it’s not about the ‘well dones’, it’s the player who got nought that Brendon’s reinforced,” he said. “I’ve had so many coaches when I was playing and they’re all over you when you’ve scored 100. What about the bloke in the corner who’s got no runs and he’s thinking that the world is coming to an end? That’s the person who needs you; sometimes they just need you there to listen.”
3. Progress cannot be taken for granted
Anyone looking for a stick with which to beat Key, McCullum or Stokes would not have to look further than their recent high profile defeats. “In English cricket we unravel quickly,” said Key of the criticisms that come his way. “That’s the time when you’ve got to look like you’re the most calm; you’re the one in control; you’ve got all the answers.” This was underlined in the one-day game, specifically following England’s group stage elimination from the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Key’s view is that he and his colleagues made the mistake of assuming their messages had landed. “When people say ‘just go out there, be aggressive and we’ll back you’ they’ve got to believe it,” he said. “We ended up with players who doubted the way we wanted to go.” Do not take your progress for granted.
4. Understand your strengths, minimise your weaknesses
England’s underage teams have adopted the same playing principles as the seniors. The ECB’s hope is that English cricket will produce players with the confidence to back themselves and their technique in the face of adversity. “We’re trying not to be overly focused on technique or fault-spotting, both of which are easy to do in performance systems,” said Bobat specifically of the England Lions and under-19s programmes. Weaknesses are addressed by coaches, but not dwelt upon. “We’re trying to be focused on moments and situations where you use your strengths to put the opposition under pressure.”
23 Jul 2024
ArticlesWho are your team’s cultural architects and cultural guardians?
Angus Gardiner, the General Manager of the New Zealand rugby team the Crusaders, once said: ‘good and bad teams have the same values written on the wall’.
The ‘saying’ is the easy part, the ‘doing’ is quite another and this idea, was the jumping off point for Dr Edd Vahid’s recent project with Management Futures titled A Cultural Hypothesis, which was published in March 2024.
Vahid hypothesised that sustained cultures of success consistently display four features:
As Vahid wrote, ‘an inspiring purpose is essential, a psychologically safe environment is critical, and a sense of belonging exists as a fundamental human need. Coupled with exceptional leadership, these elements distinguish cultures that thrive’.
The fourth has provided the basis of Vahid’s three-part Performance Support Series focusing on culture and change.
The first session invited Leaders Performance Institute members to assess themselves across the four areas; the second focused on cultural leadership as the ‘super enabler’ of culture; the third session further explored the skills needed by cultural leaders.
The three levels of cultural leadership
In A Cultural Hypothesis, Vahid explains that cultural leadership operates on three levels:
The architects and the guardians are more active in their roles and, during the session, Vahid explored the skills required for each.
Cultural architects – what skills are required?
Vahid asked members to reflect on the cultural architects in their environments and their skills. The group suggested the following:
Vahid then shared a series of observations about cultural architects based on his research:
They are often appointed by the sponsors. By contrast, the guardians will mobilise on the ground.
They lead the cultural design. They have the ability to articulate and create the environment; they make others aware of the vision and direction of travel. This needs to be done in a skilled and inspiring fashion, with language that is able to influence the culture.
Their role can also be more literal i.e. they have a role in creating a more optimal physical environment.
They acknowledge the tensions within their team and possess the ability to flex and be agile without losing sight of the purpose.
They understand the importance of stories, which can help to distinguish your culture. As Daniel Coyle asked several organisations in his 2018 book, The Culture Code, ‘tell me a story of something that happens here that doesn’t happen anywhere else?’ They know the answer.
The architect must be effectively monitoring the culture and its current state. That can be checking-in with where the culture is now or, equally, understanding the journey that it is going to go on. It’s important to invite feedback and ‘speak truth to power’. It is crucial for them to be connected to the guardians in staying abreast of goings on; they must also ensure a sense of positivity around the culture.
Architects will take a more ‘global view’ than the guardians.
In light of the ‘radically traditional’ research of Alex Hill and the Centre of High Performance, architects provide what Hill calls the ‘disruptive edge’ while the guardians maintain the ‘stable core’.
Cultural guardians – what are their other traits?
Once again, Vahid turned to members to ask what skills they felt cultural guardians possess. They suggested:
Vahid outlined what his research had to say on the matter of cultural guardians:
The guardians can provide much-needed support as well as bandwidth, space and capacity for the architects to focus on the things that really matter. It requires insight and intelligence to provide a clear view of the landscape.
They carry a strong purpose; there is a level of awareness, alignment and connectedness. The challenge for the architect is to ensure the guardian remains connected because if the connection is lost, you can lose someone who is a positive advocate and instead they become a disruptive influence.
The guardians can speak truth to power with ‘radical candor’, to cite Kim Scott’s theory; they ‘care personally while challenging directly’.
They are role models. They also need to have a degree of influence as they are the foot soldiers that can carry out the vision effectively.
The guardians are on the ground, taking that more localised view. They can make decisions on the ground for the benefit of and in alignment with the culture. They don’t need to escalate every decision or action.
Finally, guardians are identified or are emerging. Vahid’s use of the term ‘identify’ is deliberate because one of the challenges for cultures is to identify the individuals that are going to have a positive influence. He says teams have to ask the question as to whether they are doing enough to support their guardians and the development of their skillset.
Cultural architects, cultural guardians… and cultural shareholders
While there are cultural sponsors, architects and guardians, these are all cultural shareholders.
Vahid’s research suggests that cultural shareholders can be distinguished by their level of:
Those who carry significant positive influence and are highly motivated in alignment with your cultural aspirations could be considered guardians, but they are absolutely your strongest architects.
The challenge of a culture is to get an appropriate balance. Is there sufficient weight towards the guardians – if everyone’s a shareholder, are there sufficient numbers of strong and positive advocates for the culture – or are there people who might be considered countercultural?
How does a shareholder become a cultural guardian?
Vahid invited Leaders Performance Institute members to answer the question. They said that cultural shareholders transition into guardianship because:
In order to create more cultural guardians, Vahid argues that it is important to:
What are some of the fundamental change principles?
Vahid invited members to reflect on cultural change and the fundamental principles they call upon in those phases of development. Attendees suggested the following:
The change starts with observation; the sponsor then gives the architect permission to design, create and deliver what the new culture might look like. With this in mind, Vahid suggests a six-step process:
22 Jul 2024
ArticlesAs the San Antonio Spurs’ Phil Cullen helps to explain, there is much more at play in an environment carefully cultivated by Coach Pop to say ‘this is a safe place to give effort’.
The San Antonio Spurs’ Head Coach, a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, is known as an disciplinarian; and he might also be regarded as an anachronism were it not for the fact that he is revered for creating – and sustaining – one of the most harmonious cultures in elite sport.
Some might say Coach Pop’s gruff demeanour and willingness to yell at players would be sub-optimal in any other environment, especially with a roster full of Gen Z players, but his focus on the people and the environment afford him all the leeway he needs to express himself at the Spurs.
Coach Pop, the alchemist
Popovich, having served as an assistant coach at the Spurs between 1988 and 1992, returned to San Antonio as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager in 1994. He added the head coaching role early in the 1996-7 NBA season
He would in time relinquish his other responsibilities but there was no guarantee that Popovich could make a successful step out of the front office, particularly as his coaching resume amounted to little at that stage.
“He said, ‘hey, I want to do this and I probably have one crack at it’,” said Phil Cullen, the Spurs’ Senior Director of Organizational Development & Basketball Operations. Cullen did not join the Spurs until 2016, but this story, like so many featuring Popovich, has long since entered Spurs folklore.
“Pop said, ‘I want to do this and I want to do this with the people I want to be around’.”
This desire shaped the Spurs’ famous ‘pound the rock’ ethos, with its emphasis on persistence, patience and resilience. It helped to create an environment where a previously inconspicuous franchise could claim five NBA Championships between 1999 and 2014.
Cullen, speaking at the Leaders Sport Performance Summit at Melbourne’s Glasshouse in February, talked at length about the Spurs’ culture, which has been emulated across the globe, albeit with varying degrees of success.
Look a little closer at those other teams and it seems that some have been seduced by ‘pound the rock’ without paying full attention to San Antonio’s unique alchemy.
Not a Spur?
Good people are very important to San Antonio. As Cullen explained, their scouting template includes a check box labelled ‘Not a Spur’. It is a short-hand way of saying that a player lacks some of the team’s character-based values such as integrity, accountability or humility. “It’s very difficult to uncheck that box,” added Cullen. “We have to understand that when we do that there’s a reason why.” They do not always get it right, as he admitted, but their success rate is admirable.
All the same, many teams in the NBA and beyond, have adopted a similar approach, so there must be more to the Spurs success story than any notions of character.
Popovich himself is certainly a major factor, particularly at a time when the Spurs have the NBA’s youngest roster, with an average age of 23.52.
“Right now, we’re probably a coach-led team because of the youthfulness of the roster,” said Cullen. “Ideally, you’d have players that are actually holding each other accountable.” That is the end-game but, in the meantime, “the coach is having to manage the game, not coach the game – there’s a big difference.”
So coachable players are important, as is the coach; there are also key environmental factors at play.
Community, casual collisions and fine dining
The primary environmental factor is food. Cullen shared an image of the cafeteria at the Spurs’ new $72 million Victory Capital Performance Center practice facility, which opened in 2023. “This is the most important room in the building,” he said.
Popovich places a premium on team meals; the players’ families are regularly invited to eat with the team and staff . Cullen said: “There is nothing better than sitting across the table from somebody else from a different culture, with a different set of experiences, and just being able to share a meal together. Food and drink is very important to us.”
Mealtimes, they believe, help to develop mutual empathy and promote selflessness. “This job is hard and if it’s going to be all about you, you’re probably not going to reach your max potential,” said Cullen. “We want to be part of something bigger than ourselves – it can’t just be about you.”
Cullen played a significant role in the design of the facility and was influenced by Popovich’s words of advice when the project was green-lighted. “He goes: ‘I’ve got two things for you: protect the culture and protect the people’.” It confirmed Cullen’s belief in human-centred design. “I may never have the conversation directly with the player, but what we can do is design the space so that Coach can have that conversation with that player,” he said, explaining that players spend more time at the new practice facility than they did at the old one. “It’s shocking as you’ll go in there today and the players will be sitting there next to an equipment manager, next to the travel guide, next to your lead physio; and they’re just hanging out.”
Life beyond basketball
Beyond mealtimes, Popovich promotes a wide range of extracurricular learning opportunities. Cullen recounted the time ahead of a road game at the Washington Wizards in 2018 when Popovich took the team to the US Supreme Court. There are numerous examples on his watch of similar site visits and non-basketball focused discussions, with topics ranging from US federal law and international politics to same-sex marriage and social justice.
Again, these are issues far bigger than the individual or the sport of basketball. “It’s so easy to be insulated when you’re a professional athlete,” said RC Buford, the former San Antonio General Manager (2002-2019) and current CEO, in Dan Coyle’s 2018 book The Culture Code. “Pop uses these moments to connect us. He loves that we come from so many different places. That could pull us apart, but he makes sure that everybody feels connected and engaged to something bigger.”
Coyle also explained that Popovich relies on three types of belonging cue and ‘toggles’ between each in an effort to say ‘this is a safe place to give effort’. Those cues involve:
It led to Coyle conclude: ‘Popovich’s yelling works, in part, because it is not just yelling. It is delivered along with a suite of other cues that affirm and strengthen the fabric of the relationships [at the Spurs].’
Consider this the next time you see Popovich raise his voice.
Team USA’s Managing Director tells us what it takes to enable the athletes of one of America’s greatest sporting success stories to thrive in the pressure cooker environment of an Olympic Games.
A podcast brought to you by our Main Partners
So says Lindsay Mintenko, the Managing Director of USA Swimming’s National Team, in the second episode of this new series of the Leaders Performance Podcast, which is brought to you by our Main Partners Keiser.
“Just being able to sit with an athlete; sometimes you don’t even have to talk,” she continues, “it’s just so they know you are there.”
It is difficult to imagine many of her predecessors demonstrating such empathy with athletes whether they’re a multi-medal winner like Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky or a swimmer who came agonisingly close in some of sport’s most competitive trials. The top-two finishers are guaranteed a spot on the roster; those in third – who would likely medal with other nations – are almost certain to miss out.
“After the trials, our main job is to make sure our athletes are focused on Paris, but we don’t always take a step back and look at those who came third by a hundredth of a second. That’s a tough place to be; so we really need to make sure that we do a better job of looking out for those athletes afterwards.”
It is perhaps no surprise that USA Swimming is currently the only national governing body in the US to have an in-house licensed clinician on staff.
This has happened on the watch of Lindsay, a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the 4x200m freestyle.
She is the first former athlete and first woman to serve as Team USA’s Managing Director, but as she tells Henry Breckenridge and John Portch, it is not about her but serving her athletes and their coaches.
Lindsay also spoke about her role being analogous to that of a general manager in the major leagues [8:00] and the importance of providing a challenging but safe environment [17:40].
Elsewhere, she elaborates on the importance of providing mental health support for her athletes [29:50] and explains how her swimming career began when as a six-year-old Lindsay fell out of a tree [5:30].
Henry Breckenridge X | LinkedIn
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