punchnjudy
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“The first thing we are going to do is change the culture,” says every coach ever, in a news conference on his first day.
Developing and fostering a productive internal culture is probably the single most impactful responsibility that a head coach has. And on day one, they all seem to know it. But most of them fail.
First, let me give a simplified definition of what culture is on a football team: It is the way things are done. The processes carried out daily. The implicitly agreed-upon expectations and behaviors. Now that we know, how do coaches fail?
Fueled by ego and insecurity, many coaches saunter into their first team meeting with a dictator’s bravado. They present themselves as the prophet, a savior through whom football salvation can be found. “I know what it takes. If you do things the way I tell you to, we will win. But if you don’t, you will be out of here.”
That is the core message delivered by many of the new sheriffs across the league. Even when teams hire a “players’ coach,” the message is often the same. The coach naively believes that he can institute an authoritarian culture, which will almost certainly fail. I am not arguing that an authoritarian culture can’t work on a pro football team. I don’t like it, but it can produce results.
I am saying that a culture, of any kind, cannot be implemented or instituted. Especially not by one man being dropped into an organization where a culture already exists. An organization’s culture is a living thing that evolves in reaction to a multitude of internal and external influences.
https://theundefeated.com/features/...trying-to-immediately-change-a-teams-culture/
Developing and fostering a productive internal culture is probably the single most impactful responsibility that a head coach has. And on day one, they all seem to know it. But most of them fail.
First, let me give a simplified definition of what culture is on a football team: It is the way things are done. The processes carried out daily. The implicitly agreed-upon expectations and behaviors. Now that we know, how do coaches fail?
Fueled by ego and insecurity, many coaches saunter into their first team meeting with a dictator’s bravado. They present themselves as the prophet, a savior through whom football salvation can be found. “I know what it takes. If you do things the way I tell you to, we will win. But if you don’t, you will be out of here.”
That is the core message delivered by many of the new sheriffs across the league. Even when teams hire a “players’ coach,” the message is often the same. The coach naively believes that he can institute an authoritarian culture, which will almost certainly fail. I am not arguing that an authoritarian culture can’t work on a pro football team. I don’t like it, but it can produce results.
I am saying that a culture, of any kind, cannot be implemented or instituted. Especially not by one man being dropped into an organization where a culture already exists. An organization’s culture is a living thing that evolves in reaction to a multitude of internal and external influences.
https://theundefeated.com/features/...trying-to-immediately-change-a-teams-culture/
