{"id":668,"date":"2020-09-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/when-your-athletes-embody-the-habits-of-a-successful-culture\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:11","slug":"when-your-athletes-embody-the-habits-of-a-successful-culture","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/when-your-athletes-embody-the-habits-of-a-successful-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"When Your Athletes Embody the Habits of a Successful Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Sep 22, 2020 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

When Your Athletes Embody the Habits of a Successful Culture<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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When your team is on the right track it is often down to the habits and traits of your athletes.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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When looking for signs of a team on the right track the traits and habits of the athletes on the roster are a useful place to start.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

While conscientious ownership groups or totemic head coaches will always be worthy of further exploration, here we shine a light on some of the good habits of athletes, who often become the most visible symbols of a successful sporting culture.<\/p>\n

\u2018What\u2019s in it for <\/b><\/strong>us<\/i><\/b><\/em><\/strong>?\u2019<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

What do we want from the people we lead? It was a question Leinster Senior Coach Stuart Lancaster answered at some length in a video presentation for the Leaders Performance Institute<\/u><\/a>\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe want open minds to the ideas that we bring; no egos. there\u2019s no \u2018I\u2019 in team and no ABC of importance. Players that can accept responsibility; so when we\u2019re assessing or reviewing a programme, there\u2019s a no blame approach and they can accept the feedback in a constructive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The results are there to see out on the field, where Leinster retained their Pro14 title earlier this month. \u201cAs leaders, we want people who have character as well as talent – I would always go for A-grade character and B+ talent rather than the other way around,\u201d Lancaster continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a culture built around high-character players, you can absorb one or two of those character issues and perhaps turn them around,\u201d said Brent Callaway, the Director of Performance at EXOS. \u201cBut if you build around a bunch of those guys, that\u2019s going to be trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster\u2019s list goes on: \u201cPlayers who cross the white line and \u2018grow\u2019; that means you want to see the players in your team who take on the challenge; they become stronger, influential and more confident rather than shrinking away under the pressure of the next big decision. They make no excuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can manage their emotional energy and pace the season. They set the standards off the field; they have good lifestyle habits and when they come to work you know they\u2019re on top form because they\u2019ve looked after themselves well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want a senior playing group of respected core leaders whom we trust; and tough players. They want to get better; they want to learn and improve. And they\u2019re team players who don\u2019t ask \u2018what\u2019s in it for me?\u2019 A coach needs to hear \u2018what\u2019s in it for us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Our players present back to the coaching group\u2019<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lancaster also cites self-discipline, intrinsic motivation and coachability. All three apply to Italian golfer Francesco Molinari. When Team Europe retained the Ryder Cup in 2018, Molinari became the first player to score 5-0-0 as the holders defeated the United States 17 1\/2 to 10 1\/2.<\/p>\n

Looking on from the side that week at Le Golf National was Dave Alred, the performance coach who began working with Molinari earlier that year. The Italian credits Alred with helping him to win the 2018 Open Championship. He said at the time: \u201cThere was probably a missing link between swinging well and scoring well. Dave filled that gap and I can\u2019t thank him enough. He\u2019s worked on a lot of things mentally, on my game, on my short game on my long game. He pushed us all a little bit more. You can see the results, the difference that he\u2019s made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alred is adamant that it is the athletes themselves – his notable clients also include fly-halves Jonny Wilkinson and Leinster\u2019s Johnny Sexton – who must strive for self-improvement in the drills he sets up, whether it\u2019s penalty kicks or putting on the green<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s their attitude and the attitude of taking challenge on,\u201d he told the Leaders Performance Institute. \u201cSo it might be, \u2018this practice, let\u2019s just make this a little more demanding, let\u2019s try and do this\u2019; and if you\u2019ve got the right side of the athlete he\u2019ll go \u2018let\u2019s do it, let\u2019s go, let\u2019s get ugly\u2019 rather than \u2018that\u2019s impossible \u2013 I\u2019d never do that\u2019.<\/p>\n

If you look at narrow angle goalkicking; what\u2019s the point of kicking from here; we\u2019re five yards from the try line, five yards from the touchline, you\u2019d never get a kick in any game here \u2013 why are we bothering practising? What\u2019s interesting is that people often say, \u2018oh, you must be a bit of bully\u2019 but when you get people motivated and they want to be in there. I worked with Johnny Sexton and we do some really demanding repair work and he said \u2018I\u2019d like to do some more narrow angles\u2019, which are really tough; so you\u2019re sort of educating players to understand why you do stuff and you\u2019d hope that after a while it is two coaches talking about one person\u2019s performance, not me telling them what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Athlete empowerment is a staple of the England Netball setup too. \u201cI\u2019m a big believer in getting players to collaborate, present back, research, share with the group, present to the coaching group and vice versa<\/u><\/a>,\u201d Head Coach Jess Thirlby told the Leaders Performance Institute earlier this year of her players\u2019 approach to using data analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur analyst in the last few months has certainly made a few comments to me about how engaged he feels they are; more so than ever they are using that resource to really good effect. It\u2019s a good way for me to check understanding from the group and it helps inform how to set direction and invest my energy when I hear the playing group back and they\u2019ve demonstrated really sound understanding of themselves and the opposition and, not only that, but coming up with ways in which we\u2019re going to pit strengths against their weaknesses.\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Need a lift?\u2019<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

The England Netball Roses are also noted for the manner in which fresh talent is readily integrated. No stone is unturned in helping younger players settle into a team that is perennially challenging for honours.<\/p>\n

Down in Australia, locally-based draftees at the Victoria-based AFL side Collingwood FC can expect a knock on their door from a senior player on their first day of training<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re from Victoria we\u2019ll have one of our players pick them up on Monday morning so that they don\u2019t have to worry about driving or traffic,\u201d says the Pies\u2019 Performance & Strategy Manager Marcus Wagner. \u201cThis is about making it as easy as possible and enabling them to relax.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior players routinely go the extra mile to ensure youngsters feel at home. \u201cDuring their first two days at the club we take them out of the programme and that\u2019s about introducing them to key people around the football department to try and create that safe environment as soon as possible that the players can start being themselves and feel comfortable in that environment and start showing what we drafted them for: their football and physical traits as well as their character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, traits and good habits are no guarantee of success but, as the late, great San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Bill Walsh<\/u><\/a>\u00a0wrote: \u201cWinners act like winners before they\u2019re winners\u2026\u00a0The culture precedes positive results. It doesn\u2019t get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand. Champions behave like champions before they\u2019re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they\u2019re\u00a0winners.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Looking for more performance insight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Performance<\/em> 21<\/em> is available for download now and leads with a selection of insights lifted from our At Home With Leaders podcast series, which has featured the likes of England Rugby\u2019s Eddie Jones<\/strong>, the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 Mark Shapiro<\/strong>, and Chelsea\u2019s Emma Hayes<\/strong> speaking directly from their home offices.<\/p>\n