The Challenge Culture

If you read my earlier article about ‘vibe’, you would have seen that I believe a good team spirit and ‘mate-ship’ in the team is important. This mate-ship is something the Australian cricket side speak about when asked about the bond that exists within their team. This spirit, as indicated before, is very important. But another factor, which can be somewhat contradictory, is ensuring that the team members create a culture of challenge within the team. A culture where the people within the team are pushing each other to the limits of their potential, a culture where good is accepted but great is truly sought after. Like the great saying goes, “ A loser says,’ I’m better than a lot of other people’, whilst a winner says, ‘ I’m not as good as I ought to be”. This could display a true culture of challenge.

I have just read a fascinating study on people who climbed Mount Everest. They looked to identify the key things that these people did to conquer this mammoth task. Key things came up, such as visual preparation, small goals, confidence and belief, but one that was of interest to me was their need to challenge themselves in training to a)toughen themselves mentally for future tasks, an b)to give them the belief that they can conquer what’s put in front of them. I feel this can translate to many team sports as well. Without a culture of challenge your teams will not develop their mental capabilities well enough.

Support of team mates and making friends is a vital ingredient of team work, but this should never be at the expense of achieving what you want to/can do. One of the Everest climbers spoke of how there was one person in his group that he really disliked, however there came a stage when he had had enough and wanted to turn around, and this particular guy with whom has did not get on, was the one who actually managed to lift him and re-direct him on the path upwards. This is an example where conflict was translated into success later on. Conflict is often not always the worst thing to have in a team, as it can often do short-term damage but then lead to long-term betterment of the team make-up. Just like a muscle that gets broken down in the gym and then re-strengthened, a team when challenged with issues or conflict that are then resolved can grow enormously. The key is not however to try and create conflict, but rather to let it be known that challenging each other within an environment is the norm and not the exception. It should not be seen as rocking the boat, or being disruptive if a team member begins to challenge ineffective behaviours, or the status quo, in fact sometimes this is exactly what a team needs as its internal method to ensure that the correct intensity is kept up.

As a coach, or captain, or even just as a player, you should be examining all your processes, practice techniques and methods to see whether you in fact are creating a challenge culture, and pushing people to their limits. I once heard it said, that sports teams should get ‘comfortable being uncomfortable’ as essentially the pressure of sport is not a comfortable situation. Building this philosophy into your team, is more than likely (if and I mean only if, proper evaluation is done after a specific challenge) to build up a mental toughness within the set up. Obviously competition for places is always a great way of keeping a challenge culture in place, but there are plenty of other, less obvious ways of doing things as well to ensure that all are continually being challenged, pushed and subsequently strengthened. Vibe is important but not at the expense of excellence!
Enjoy and Good luck