Building a culture: Wordplay
How the team kickstarted their values and how I use them to reflect on my coaching
Let’s be clear. A coach doesn’t own the team. A coach can help set the standard and be a leader. But there is no ownership over a team. It’s a collective, a coming together of different people, including players and coaches. However, as coaches we have a responability to help set the standard within the environment.
When the women’s team I coach first decided on some team values, we gave the players a week to think about some words that describe the team and what values we’d like to aspire to.
The next training session I got a whiteboard and asked the players to write as many words as possible. A selection of these words formed our team values.
The picture often gets put up on the team’s group chat, especially if we recruit some more players. The team values aren’t finished and dealt with because they’re in an image.
They’re not pretty words to be displayed on a poster or on the wall and ignored. Team values are not lip service. They have to be lived. They have to be seen and heard in actions.
This can be more subtle on some occasions than others. These team values can show in how we recognise our ‘Trainer of the Week’ or how we phrase messages in training or on the group chat.
At the end of training, we sometimes ask people to highlight moments where someone has exhibited these team values or a moment where team values have been active. This could be in general or a particular value, such as ‘understanding’.
It was important that these values came from the players. They wrote ideas on the whiteboard, saw what others had written. They decided what the team would be like and how we would live our values.
Using this method for reflection
Thinking of one word or a series of adjectives to descibe something can be a powerful reflection tool. I often stray towards thinking negatively about my own sessions, especially after the training has just finished.
To help me reflect more honestly and in a way that’s kinder to myself, I challenge myself to start the reflection with some adjectives.
I think of some words to currently describe the team. I also think of some adjectives to describe my coaching and how I feel about it.
Adjectives to describe the session have been words such as: flowing, fun, chaotic, impactful, playful and skillful.
Challenging myself to start the reflection process by thinking about a word means that I don’t instantly go into a deep dive of the session and my coaching. I approach it in levels, just like I would when I’m coaching a game or a skill.
After that task I think about things that I am grateful for, it could be something small that happened within my coaching. However, I’ve found gratitude a powerful reflection tool alongside the use of adjectives.
Thoughts:
If you were to ask what words your team use to describe themselves which ones would they list?
What words would you use to describe your team’s values?
What words would you use to describe your coaching?