bcg blog

Culture: The Filter

Centerville High School in Southwest Ohio is a football school. To say it’s anything else is, at best, naive. Most high schools across the country have never had a professional athlete grace its hallways. Centerville provided the foundation for eight future NFL players: George Sirochman, Dave Preston, Andy Harmon, Will Johnson, AJ Hawk, Michael Bennett, Mike Nugent, and Ifeadi Odenigbo. Throw in College Gameday’s Kirk Herbstreit and countless college football players and it’s pretty clear, when it comes to sports at Centerville, it’s football then everything else.

There’s nothing wrong with that. The community cares deeply about football, but that passion naturally spills over into other sports and extracurriculars. 

When I arrived at Centerville in 2012, I received advice from several big-school basketball coaches that I would have to compete with other sports in order to keep the best athletes playing basketball. At a school the size of Centerville, most athletes do not play a different sport every season. Many young athletes will play multiple sports but most will eventually begin focusing on a single sport. There are numerous reasons for this decision - sometimes it’s to commit more time to the sport of choice in hopes of earning a college scholarship, sometimes they’ve grown to love one sport more than another, and sometimes it’s to focus more time on their academic aspirations.

Regardless, I’ve never felt we needed to actively compete against other sports for athletes. We’ve had plenty of players stop playing basketball to focus on another sport. Likewise, we’ve had several players choose to focus on basketball at the expense of other interests. I don’t see it as a competition for athletes though. I do my best to develop valuable relationships with young people and share what our program has to offer them as both a player and person, but ultimately the choice is theirs. 

That’s not competition. It’s establishing an environment that others find appealing and beneficial. If we create these conditions, then the right people will choose to stay. I

t’s more about culture than competition.

Why Should We Care?
Our culture sets the parameters for our team. 
It tells everyone what is, and isn’t, honored; what is, and isn’t, punished; what is, and isn’t, accepted. 

When we establish and consistently uphold our culture, people are able to choose whether it offers something they want or not. When they know, they have the opportunity to stay or go, and the internal motivation to stay is significantly enhanced.

A strong culture acts as a current that pulls the people who align with our beliefs in our direction. They want to be a part of it because they believe what we believe. These are precisely the people we want on our team. Unfortunately, we often end up dropping anchors under the guise of enhancers - we like to call it talent, at the expense of the very culture we’ve established.

That same strong culture can serve as a clear warning sign for those whose beliefs do not align. They see the culture and can decide it’s not for them. Anyone willingly leaving your team is making this statement: “To me, what you are offering is not worth what you are asking.” Sometimes that hurts and forces you to examine your environment. And, sometimes it weeds out exactly the type of person that would be poison to your team. Afterall, who is not on your team is often more important than who is. Strong cultures are one of the best ways to keep the wrong people away.

Our culture is our ultimate filter. 
It allows the people we want in, while keeping the people we don’t want out. 

Just as importantly, it serves as the ultimate crucible for making decisions. Every decision should be run through the question: Will this enhance or detract from our culture? If the answer is ‘yes’, then it’s worth considering. If the answer is ‘no’, then it’s not worth considering - move on. It doesn’t get much more simple than that.

If your culture is the priority, then you will save a lot of time and concern if you make your culture the initial filter rather than the final one.

REAL TALK - Action Steps
Using your culture as a filter isn’t easy. In order to do so, your culture must have an unquestionable clarity. Without clarity, no one knows what they are opting into or out of. Similarly, no clarity means no true standards to base decisions on so we are left going with our gut or making the decision based on unhealthy metrics. 

Here are two questions to consider for ANY decision you have to make as a leader:

• How does this enhance our culture? 
  
  • As a young high school coach, I would go to a clinic or listen to someone speak and take copious notes on everything that was said. Every idea was brilliant, every concept was going to be THE difference. I would go back and try a million different things, none of which worked as well as the clinician said it would of course. Now I can clearly see why: I had no culture. And no culture means no filter. There are thousands of ways to be successful out there, tons of cool ideas and great ways to do things - but not all of them enhance your culture. The best, recognize this and choose very carefully what they add. Every decision should be an intentional choice that enhances the culture. It’s either a  “Hell yes!” or it’s a “No”.
    

• What threats does this pose to our culture?
  
  • The threats to my culture were never considered during those early days of coaching. If it sounded good and worked for someone else, it was worth a try. But, all risks are not created equal. Risks will need to be taken as a leader, and sometimes they’re significant. But, risks that have the potential to jeopardize your culture are not the risks to be taken. By veering away from placing your culture in peril, you also reinforce the importance of your culture for everyone you lead. Every one of those intentional No’s is a reinforcement of the culture you are saying Yes to.
    

Your culture is your ultimate filter. Don’t know what to do? Just ask your culture.

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