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.