Sports clubs/teams at the elite levels are in the public eye 24/7. If there is an issue that has a negative impact and that it becomes public, invariably the conversation turns to the respective sport and the club’s core values – even to the values of the individual. Misbehaviours or ‘stuff ups’ are spoken about in a sense that the core values have not been upheld or adhered to.
Distinguishing between core values and culture can be a bit tricky for every business, in any industry, let alone sports organisations. Put simply, core values are the proposed behaviours, and the culture is basically “the way things are done round here.”
Those organisations that have succeeded in marrying the two will see the core values appear again and again within the actions of the staff and stakeholders. This is not easy to do, especially because the sport itself usually carries its own values, which may be different from the sports organisation, so there may be even more confusion or disagreement around “the way things are done” on a daily basis.
What tends to happen, though, is that the core values of the organisation are assumed and used to gloss over any discrepancies in the culture of the club. Furthermore, clubs and organisations completely ignore the necessity for cultural development, instead propping themselves up on their short-term existence or relevance.
Consequently, these clubs and organisations cannot fathom why things are not going their way. Many of them cannot seem to find the breathing room to step away from the day-to-day to really focus on how they will tackle culture and nurture a value system within the business.
Having worked with sports organisations, I can fully understand how counter-productive it seems, to pause and drop everything for a while; however, I also know from experience just how revitalising it can be. Think about your organisation on its best day and try to imagine if every single day were like that.
Sport is a great teacher, and there are inherent values in the pursuit of winning that should be able to migrate easily into the business side of operations. The first step is to sit down and work out exactly what you want your business to emulate.
The Image Counts for Everything!
Now to the image! This was taken a few years ago after a pre-season game. Dressing room shot of an elite sports team. The team left a clean dressing room. That same year they made it to the Grand Final!