As I mentioned I have recently been involved in some high performance environments, specifically high performance training camps. The camps were for a junior state surfing team as part of their preparation for the upcoming national titles, and an elite training camp for a group of the states most promising junior basketball players. For this discussion I particularly would like to focus on the surfing camps.
As part of the teams preparation for the upcoming national titles, two high performance training camps were held in Margaret River.
A surfing team is an interesting concept to be considered, a highly individual sport, where you very, very rarely compete in conjunction with another to achieve a cooperative goal. We decided that, for this reason, it would be important to stress the team aspects of this campaign - so, we attempted to build a team culture.
Standing up in front of the group, I made my pitch for a team culture. I focused on some of the more successful teams of recent eras, teams like the Hockeyroos, the Australian cricket team, the Chicago Bulls of the 90's, and how these teams not only had talent but they had an aura of "high performance" about everything they did. We needed to decide on the types of behaviours and attitudes that would result in us having a successful campaign in the National Titles. So I opened the floor to suggestions, stood ready with pen to paper, waiting to hear the behaviours and attitudes that would make up our culture,.....SILENCE.... Then one from the crowd, and another and then the creative brilliance of a group of enthusiastic people opened up a flow of ideas. We settled on a list of behaviours and attitudes that we believed would aid us in achieving success. All the surfers committed to upholding the culture and an atmosphere had been created. Also importantly, we came up with a motto to encapsulate the culture in one word. This was a strong and simple word; it captured everything that the team's manager and I had based my sessions around building and importantly came from one of the more experienced surfers in the group - "BELIEVE".
Come lunch time on day 2. The surf had not been the best in the morning at the bay in Gracetown (just north of Margaret River). The coaches wanted to move to Margaret River main break (the base for competition), where conditions were forecast to be "epic" (6-8 foot waves) in the afternoon. This sent tremors through the group, as word got around; very few had experienced conditions as difficult as those forecast. The coaches decided that because of the conditions, they would offer the surfers the option of remaining at Gracetown, or taking on the might of main break. Personally, I expected quite a few to stay put. Yet to my great suprise, I was inspired by the way the group, on mass, and with very little hesitation, decided to take on the waves at Margaret’s. They put aside any fears and insecurities they had in their own surfing ability and recognised the opportunity they had. It is hard to explain the air of apprehension that could be felt sitting alongside the surfers as they were informed about the plans. It is even more difficult to explain the shift in the atmosphere when a group of individuals all fall on the same wave length, pardon the pun, and unite under a set of principles they have set for themselves and each other. This was no doubt related to the strength of the culture of excellence the group had created, and had been able to adopt instantly.
That one act, simply and undoubtedly personified everything that we as coaches had hoped to create. From that point forward every interaction and action was guided by the culture - not by direction, but by desire.
I am in no way saying that the culture is now set in stone, rather the foundations have been set for the current and future success of WA junior surfing teams. The culture was there, just under the surface, all that was needed was some direction, encouragement and explicit consideration about what we were attempting to do.
My Question to you is - how could you and your colleagues/employees improve by removing assumptions about they way to go about work? What impact would creating a new culture have on your workplace, team, group?
Without hesitation I would suggest that the possibilities are endless - Inspire and enable those around you.