The Importance of Culture

By Mike Sexton, Head Coach FWRFC

In every team there is a culture. Culture is almost as important if not more important than talent. Through the years, you can think of teams that have immense talent, high payrolls, massive resources but not “the culture” of winning. At the University of Alabama, Coach Saban calls it “the process.” Their culture is not one of deep and tight bonds, but of high performance and execution. The All Blacks also have a high performance culture, but they are supremely accountable to each other and the patch on the front of the jersey. Culture is the observable behavior that a team promotes or accepts. Basically, it’s “the way we do things around here.”

What do these winning cultures have in common?

1. Accountability - Each player holds themselves and each other accountable. Accountable to be at practice and games on time. Accountable to be prepared and present. Accountable to taking care of the club.

2. Honesty - Each player and coach is honest in feedback and criticism with the goal of becoming better. If a coach says you can’t start because of fitness, a winning culture sees that player at the track the next day. The opposite can be said when the player tries to blame the coach for not picking him. Coaches aren’t above receiving honest and constructive feedback. That is a championship mentality.

3. Defined Values - Team First, Discipline, Grit, Be a good bloke. Ring a bell? These are the team values that are expected every time you wear any piece of FWRFC gear, or walk out on the pitch, either in practice or on game day.

4. Standards of performance - having an expectation and being held to that expectation by the team, the coaching staff and yourself.

5. Resilience - how a team bonds and strengthens under times of adversity is critical to a culture. Do you close ranks and band together or do you fall apart and blame everyone else. The ability to lift one another and support each other are literally skills within the framework of a rugby game. It intuitively holds that the teams that do it better within their culture have a championship mindset.

6. Veteran Leadership - The teammates that have been around the longest learned their culture from the previous team. Then they created their own to be passed down to the newer players. When the veterans show up late, lazily endure a training session, or do not play within the game plan, that culture (or how we do things) percolates down to the new guys. The opposite is true too. When the veterans show up early to set up the fields, clean out the locker room, pick up trash on the field, get guys warmed up, talk up the day, tear down the field, police the grounds, the new guys see that too. The All Blacks culture fosters one of those approaches. I will let you determine which way has created the most successful sports franchise in the past hundred years. .

Ultimately, culture is easy. Show up, work hard for the team and for yourself. Follow the team values and the culture takes care of itself. Remember, as a leader on the team, eyes are always on you.

What do you think the Fort Worth RFC culture is? We know what it was, but is it getting better? Does it exude the list above? How can you make it better? Answering that last question is the first step in a championship culture. Worrying less about how others can make it better and doing your part to improve the team. Small ripples grow into big waves. As you prepare for the coming season, prepare to set a winning culture and a” team first” attitude. As the All Blacks say, “No one is bigger than the jersey.”