In last week’s column, I emphasized the importance of culture in your company. I tried to show you how I attempted to establish culture in my classroom during the first meeting of the semester and what you might learn from those efforts to apply to culture development in your organization. In this week’s column, I will continue my discussion of organizational culture through the lens of college football. Through an example near and dear to my heart, I will try to show you how a leader’s words and actions have helped develop a culture that has proved critical to a team’s performance during the college football season that is about to conclude.
As some of you may know, I am an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame (hang with me, UGA fans!) and have been an ardent fan of its football program since I was a young child attending Catholic school and listening to Lindsay Nelson and Paul Hornung host a Notre Dame (ND) football highlights show on Sundays in the Fall. While ND has a storied football history (including a national championship during my freshman year in 1977), the program has not won a national championship in more than 35 years. However, this year, under the leadership of a talented young coach, ND will meet Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Championship next Monday night. While Notre Dame has some outstanding players, they have overcome some significant injuries to beat Georgia and Penn State who many would agree are more talented than the Fighting Irish. I have heard others suggest that the Notre Dame team’s culture has had much to do with its success and I agree. As always, culture starts at the top, so in this column, I will show you how ND head coach, Marcus Freeman has used certain phrases to encapsulate what he wants the culture of his team to be and how he himself embodies those phrases to help develop that culture. Here are those phrases:
- “Choose Hard”: Coach Freeman begins the indoctrination of his culture when he begins recruiting players to his school. He lets them know that ND is probably going to be a more arduous academic experience than at most other major football schools. Achieving football and academics at ND will result in sacrificing some “fun.” He believes that by choosing ND, the player has indicated he is willing to choose hard and that will carry over to his preparation and performance once he gets there. That player will be willing to choose hard in all of the important venues: the classroom, the weight room, the practice field, and game preparation. Freeman is looking for guys who are willing to choose hard now for the rewards of that choosing later. Freeman embodies “Choose Hard” and sets an example for his players. ND has tighter admissions (academic,
“whole person”) standards than most football powers have for their players and therefore, cannot recruit some of the top players in the country. Freeman chose hard to limit the talent he could pursue in order to get the players he knew he could work with and fit in with his culture. - “Team Glory”: If you have watched any of Coach Freeman’s recent press conferences and the interviewers praise his work, he typically deflects that praise. Freeman often speaks of “Team Glory;” putting your team ahead of yourself to achieve team success. This is evident on this team as players competing for playing time are very supportive of each other and everyone is ready to contribute when it is his turn. Freeman sets this tone by giving credit to his players, his coaching staff, and his support staff. He always indicates that he is honored to work with them. By putting his ego aside (which we all know is difficult for the coach of a major college football program), Freeman has built a culture in which his players and fellow coaches do the same.
- “Win the Moment”/” One Play, One Life”: What Freeman means by this phrase is to take care of what is in front of you right now. It creates a culture of not dwelling on past failure or past success and of not getting too ahead of yourself. Again, Freeman lives this every day. When ND lost early in the season to huge underdog Northern Illinois, Freeman did not dwell on the loss, but instead focused on what could be learned from that loss to apply to the next game and the ones after that. Christian Gray, an ND cornerback, is a great example of following this culture. After getting beat a couple of times against Southern Cal, he did not dwell on his failures and ultimately saved the game with a big interception he returned for a touchdown.
- “Be the Best Version of Yourself”: Coach Freeman has also instilled a culture of continuous improvement in his team. No matter how well you are playing, he inspires his players to look for areas of improvement and continue to get better. But, also, do not compare yourself to others. Rather, get the most out of the talent that you have. He certainly lives this credo, constantly working to be better at his craft.
While I am very happy that Notre Dame is going to the National Championship (happy enough that I am spending more money on a ticket to Monday’s game than I have ever spent on any event in my entire life….and I am paying face value!), I am even more proud of the culture of the ND football team and the work Marcus Freeman has done to develop his players, not just as athletes, but as people. While Coach Freeman’s messages are certainly good ones, we can learn even more from him about “walking the talk” to help establish an organizational culture. Go Irish!
