A Coach's Diary

How much is a great culture worth? Daniel Coyle is a bestselling author and speaker who writes about high-performing teams and group culture, translating research into practical strategies for leaders. He says the difference in performance between positive and negative cultures is 756%. That’s the performance gap between teams with a strong culture and a weak culture — between bad, good, and great teammates. How does Coyle define culture? He says, “ Culture is a set of living relationships working toward a shared goal.” He also says you can feel the culture when you walk into a space with people — like a locker room, a kitchen in a restaurant, or a school. A strong culture is like a flock of connected birds moving through the sky together. He says for this to happen, you have to have three things: connection — everyone has to be moving in the same direction together, shared information — everybody has to know what’s going on, and direction — everybody knows what the team is trying t...

Great teams have three things in common: Great leadership Great people A great culture Culture is the glue that holds everything together. Culture is what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. Anytime I work with a team, one of my biggest goals is to help them become the most connected team they can be by helping them create a stronger, more defined culture. Daniel Coyle wrote one of the best books on culture that I have ever read titled The Culture Code. He says culture is living relationships moving towards a goal together. How do you create a championship culture where everyone can thrive? Daniel Coyle says you have to have three things: Direction Connection Shared information Direction is defining where we want to go, what we want to do, and how we want to do it. Direction is defining the kind of culture we want to have. The leader defines the direction with the help of the team by learning what everyone wants to get out of working together and combining it with the goals and valu...

Great teams have three things: Great leadership Great people A great culture Culture is the glue that holds everything together. Culture is what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. Anytime I work with a team, one of my biggest goals is helping them become the most connected team they can be by helping them create a stronger, more defined culture. Daniel Coyle wrote one of the best books on culture that I have read titled The Culture Code. He says culture is living relationships moving towards a goal together. How do you create a championship culture where everyone can thrive? Daniel Coyle says you have to have three things: Direction Connection Shared information Direction is defining where we want to go, what we want to do, and how we want to do it. Direction is defining the kind of culture we want to have. The leader defines the direction with the help of the team by learning what everyone wants to get out of working together and combining it with the goals, values, and expectati...

Author Daniel Coyle the author of The Culture Code, one of the best coaching books I have ever read, says, “ The world we live in is a learning contest. The world we live in is not an execution contest, and it’s not a confident contest. The world we live in is a learning contest. What helps you with learning? Continually ask, who else can help us, what else is coming around the corner, and how can we get a little bit better today.” Kobe Bryant was known for being very curious and he tried to learn from everybody. In the middle of a game, he asked Michael Jordan how he shot his fadeaway. Before an all-star game, he asked defensive legend Gary Payton how to play better defense. In the off-season, he asked post player Hakeem Olajuwon to help him with his footwork in the post. If you could help him get better. Kobe would work with you, and he wasn’t afraid or embarrassed to ask for help. In his book, The Mamba Mentality, Kobe wrote: “I asked a ton of questions. I  was curious. I wanted...

Every coach searches for ways to build that special chemistry that all great teams have. In The Culture Playbook , Daniel Coyle calls the warm sense of cohesion, the shared willingness to speak up, and the team thinking and feeling as one entity,  psychological safety - being able to be yourself without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status, or career. Team chemistry, or psychological safety, is built through the exchange of belonging cues - small, meaningful, and impactful, behaviors that say: "You belong here, you are valued here, you are safe here, we share a future together, we care about you, you have a voice, and you matter." Our brains are wired to search for both danger and safety. When we join a group, we scan for potential dangers. This keeps us from locking in and performing at our best. If we have to waste our time and energy trying to belong, we won't have enough left to do our job at a high level. Amy Edmondson of Harvard says, "When peopl...

Let's say that you are a coach, a teacher, a principal, or in a leadership role and you are starting a new season, a new year, or starting a new leadership position; what are some of the first things, from a cultural standpoint, that you would think about or do to set the tone for success? Daniel Coyle is the New York Times bestselling author of the Culture Code. He has worked with and learned from some of the best leaders of the best cultures in the world. He was asked this question, and the first thing he said was he would think about the relationship between connections and safety. He says connection and safety are the foundations of a great culture. "WITHOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY, YOU CAN BE AS SMART AS YOU WANT TO BE, BUT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ADD UP TO MORE THAN THE SUM OF YOUR PARTS BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT GIVING PEOPLE A VOICE."  - DANIEL COYLE When teams win championships, they often talk about how close they are and how strong their relationships are. When the LA R...

In both education and sports, we are seeing an exodus unlike anything we have ever seen before. Teachers are leaving   the profession at higher rates than ever before, and the transfer portal in college sports is filled with more athletes than ever as well. HOW DO WE GET PEOPLE TO STAY AND ENGAGED? Now more than ever, leaders and teachers in coaching and education could benefit from creating a culture shift that keeps people happy, hopeful, engaged enough to come back. Gallup is a global analytics and advice firm that helps leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. They have  done studies that show that engagement and job satisfaction increases when we are able to do what we do best every day. SKULL SESSIONS Before the Georgia Bulldogs defeated Alabama to win the 2021 college football national championship, they talked about how they use what they call Skull Sessions to create the deeper relationships that they needed to get an edge to get them closer to t...

When I get up and speak in front of people, I get nervous. I question whether they are going to buy what I am selling, or if they are going to see me as a fraud. It could be in front of a classroom full of students, in front of my team in a pre-game speech, or in front of a group of educators or coaches, but that nervousness and anxiety never really leave. I don't expect nervousness or anxiety to ever fully leave. Getting rid of them is not my goal; my goal is to learn how to control and direct anxiety when needed. Tennis legend Billie Jean King said, "Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it." I have earned the privilege to speak in front of people in different capacities, but I still want to be seen as competent and for people to 'buy what I am selling.' In The Talent Code, author Daniel Coyle wrote that the content of our pitch doesn't matter as much as the set of cues with which the pitch was delivered and received. Three things play a ...

In The Culture Code , Daniel Coyle wrote about a guy named Nick whose job was to go into different groups and sabotage their performance. To do so, Nick had to be one of three types of bad apples: 1 - The Jerk who was overly aggressive and defiant 2 - The Slacker who gave little to no effort 3 - The Downer who was depressed and saw the glass as half-empty Nick took turns playing these three roles in 40 different, 4-person teams in what was called, "The Bad Apple Experience." In almost every group, Nick's behavior reduced the quality of the team's performance (he was really good at being a bad apple). When Nick was The Downer, everybody came on to the team super energized, but when he would act quiet and tired and put his head down. Eventually, the team started to behave tired, quiet, and with low energy as well. When Nick was The Slacker, something similar happened. The group quickly picked up on his vibe and started slacking too. The interesting part of the experimen...