Scott Brewer on Team Culture

During our recent Nations of Coaches Character Coach training in Dallas, Texas, Scott Brewer - Character Coach for Baylor Men's Basketball, shared some thoughts about culture in college basketball. That word gets thrown about as a buzzword, but often without clear definition or understanding.

Some of Scott's comments included, "You have to examine your own, personal culture before you can pretend to have much of an effect upon the team's culture." One must know what he values, and to what he is most committed.

Scott said, "You have to constantly cultivate culture or it will die. It is a living, organic thing." A team's culture will not be embraced or acted upon if it's simply words written on the locker room wall or emblazoned on the team's practice jerseys. Culture must be cultivated like the most valuable plant in one's garden, otherwise it will not produce its intended fruit.

Scott also challenged us with this thought. "Celebrate your culture when you see it happen. Celebrate it specifically." When you catch people embodying your culture's values, call it out in specific terms, and celebrate its demonstration. For example, if a team's culture includes selflessness, recognize when it's demonstrated, take time to comment on it, and be sure everyone sees it. "Sam just took another charge! Attaboy, Sam. That selfless play gets us another possession." "Joe dove onto the floor to gather 3 loose balls tonight. That selflessness was a big factor in tonight's win!"

The Real Heroes of Business

Last weekend, during the Nations of Coaches Character Coach training in Dallas, Texas, one of our trainees, John Corley of Louisiana Tech University Men's Basketball shared a set of questions he has used in business settings that Character Coaches can modify to engage coaches and players in trust-building conversations.

The list of questions and the title of the book from which they come are below. I hope, even a few, can be of value to you and your ministry.

The Real Heroes of Business by Fromm and Schlesinger

Interview Questions:
1) Tell me about your 1st job. Or, for salespeople, “Tell me about the 1st thing you ever sold!”
2) What did you learn about work and about customers from that 1 st experience?
3) Who has had the greatest influence on your adult personality and/or attitude about work?
Explain how this influence affected you.
4) Why are you applying for this job? Specify the job!
5) How did you get interested in this job? Again, specify the job!
6) Have you ever had any experience as a customer of a business like ours? Describe that
experience!
7) What struck you as important to doing this job well when you were the customer?
8) What do you think businesses like this do well? What do they do poorly?
9) Have you ever had a bad experience as a customer of a business like ours? Describe that
experience!
10) Tell me in some detail about the last job you had—or the one you currently have!
11) What were the customers like in that last job?
12) Have you ever had any customers that became regular clients, or even friends?
13) What was your goal as an employee in your last job?
14) If you could have changed or improved anything about that last job (or the one you have now)
or the way your previous employer went about his work, what would you have changed?
15) Who was the best boss you ever had? What made him/her such a good supervisor?
16) Who was the worst boss you ever had? What made him/her such a poor supervisor?
17) In the case where the person is applying for a job that is very similar to the one they currently
have, don’t hesitate to walk them through the plant, shop, or office on a tour and then ask them
what is different about your operation compared to their prior or current job.
18) When you have a job you really like, what is it about that job that makes you like it so much?
19) What do you get from work that you really enjoy?
20) What do you think you will “get” from working here?
21) What do you think you will “bring” to this job?
22) What do you like to do when you’re not working?
23) What would you like to be doing five years from now?
24) Is there anything else about yourself that I haven’t asked you about that you feel is important
for me to know as I consider whether to hire you?
25) Ask me some questions that you must have about our company or business!

Team Culture Development

During a recent meeting with several of my Nations of Coaches colleagues, Coach Dale Clayton made a tremendous statement about team culture.

Coach Clayton said, "A team's culture is:

• determined by the head coach,
• defended by the assistant coaches,
• demonstrated by the players."

That is remarkably simple and tremendously clear. I quickly wrote it down because lots of coaches and lots of others talk about team culture, but few can define it, and fewer can develop it. Coach Clayton's statement adds verbs to the discussion. Each of the three have well defined roles in the development of the team's culture:

• The culture is defined by the head coach, usually in terms of clearly stated values, in single words or in phrases.
• The culture is defended by the assistant coaches, in terms of affirming those stated values in the way they coach.
• The culture is demonstrated by the players, in terms of how they conduct themselves, on and off the floor.

Let's take some coaching from Coach Dale Clayton as we talk with coaches about developing their team's culture. Let's help them define their values, interpret them into daily practices, and see them demonstrated in their players.