You don’t just “get” them by asserting your dominance.
“Great Work Ethics & High Expectations.
Everyone wants them for their culture, but you don’t just get them by asserting your dominance.
You have to constructively weave the above into the fabric of your group through trust, love, and empowerment.
You can’t force or fake culture.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
“We only tolerate great work ethics around here!”
“We have high expectations for everyone on this team, if you don’t meet them, you’re out!”
Oh yeah?
Are you tangibly leading by example every single day of your life, coach?
Are you creating dynamic environments where intrinsic motivations drive work ethics and are eager to be put on display for the betterment of the group?
Those expectations you have, have you shared the blueprint of exactly where you’re at, where you want to go, and how you’re methodically going to lead them there?
Or have you just talked about work ethics and expectations because you read about how they were good ideas in a book and you heard great teams have them?
See you don’t just “get” work ethic and met high expectations with kids.
You have to create and facilitate opportunities for the said concepts to take root.
This is a full time, all day, every day job. If you think you can just bitch and holler at kids to work harder or perform to “your” standard (a standard you yourself aren’t actively living up to) you’re out of your mind.
The kids know the difference between a dictator and a leader.
And the modern kid will only thrive under the guidance of a TRUE leader.
The biggest issue with creating these thrive oriented cultures is that most try to put them together over night.
They think they can just spew a quick spiel and just say 1..2..3.. family at the end of practice.
This isn’t how culture works.
It’s an (extremely) long game that most people try to play short and have shoddy culture because of it.
If you want the work ethics and to have high expectations for your kids that manifests into quality rich culture, you must, over time, constructively weave the concepts into the fabric of your group identity.
This can only be done through REAL trust, love, & empowerment.
They can spot the fake sh*t from a mile away and despite how bad you “want” it as a coach, you’ll never get it unless you’re insanely methodical about earning it with them every single day.
Talk with your actions because your words mean very little.
