Emotional Systems in Rugby
NYRC Senior Side played Keystone today (night game in NY, at Pier 40). Although NYRC won, I think many of us walked away from the game a bit disappointed. We saw the resurfacing of some of our old demons, the most critical of which is our difficulty in communicating. Now, my intention here isn't to speak negatively about my team, rather to just expose some interesting observations around the "intangible stuff" on the field.
I rarely mix rugby and work, but every once in a while something from work makes sense for rugby. As a Strategic Planner for Canon USA, one of the most interesting aspects of my job is to help think of ways to make our organization better. This can range from proving competitor intelligence to our executives to thinking of new ways of communicating our strategies to all of our employees. On Friday, our Strategic Planning Department hosted a conference for some of the thought leaders from Canon to hear external perspectives on change and becoming a "highly committed, high performance organization", with a great presentation from Dr. Mike Beer, a professor from Harvard Business School.
His premise is based on the fact that every organization has "technical" and "emotional" systems. Highly committed, high performance organizations are able to do both well - manage the tangible processes (make widgets faster, perform tasks flawlessly, create documents, etc.) and invest in strengthening the emotional side of the organization (be sentitive to what the employees need, building trust, enhance the "corporate culture", strengthen teamwork, improve communication, build morale, etc.).
It strikes me that after our game today against Keystone, our demons lie in our emotional systems. As a player on the field, it seems that we have trouble staying positive and communicating effectively in times of frustration. I don't think, as a team, we've ever really talked about what our "team culture" is, or how we'll solve problems together, or how best to communicate with each other. Our technical systems aren't that bad - we have decent rugby skills, but we certainly can improve on how we interact on the field.
From his research and consulting work with many companies, Dr. Beer has seen companies establish methods for improving the emotional systems, but he said that it's never easy (and often takes a few years). The basis for this change stems from the ability to have, what he calls, "honest conversations" to expose some of the problems that exist and then create ways to address these problems and maintain a vigilant watch over them.
I also think that change requires a personal commitment from all those invovled in the organization. Companies have it easy because if they're having trouble with someone who isn't acting the part, they can let them go. As a team, we agree to accept each other and don't often have a way of curbing individual behavior. I think the answer (for us, at least) lies somewhere in better clarifying what behaviors are expected in certain situations and figuring out a common vocabulary for having discussions on the field and better communicating.
At our work conference, one of our exteral guest participants said that they had worked with an executive coach to help them improve the way they spoke to each other. In her example, if someone made a passive-aggressive comment, it was OK (and encouraged) for the recipient to say "that was below the belt" and that was their term for "let's be less passive aggressive". Maybe we need something like that to help us maintain our positivity and effective communication on the field.
I'd like to ask my loyal readers to post a few comments on what you've experienced on your clubs... Have any of your clubs have ever discussed any of these "emotional systems" that are critical on the field? Have you ever talked, as a team, about how you will communicate with each other or what types of behaviors are reinforced? How did your club get the "team culture" it has today? Do you have ways of "checking" each other in terms of behavior?
Thanks in advance for your comments - I think it would be a great way to share experiences on a topic that isn't often discussed. I'd also personally like to see how others deal with these kinds of issues on their teams. Thanks again!
I rarely mix rugby and work, but every once in a while something from work makes sense for rugby. As a Strategic Planner for Canon USA, one of the most interesting aspects of my job is to help think of ways to make our organization better. This can range from proving competitor intelligence to our executives to thinking of new ways of communicating our strategies to all of our employees. On Friday, our Strategic Planning Department hosted a conference for some of the thought leaders from Canon to hear external perspectives on change and becoming a "highly committed, high performance organization", with a great presentation from Dr. Mike Beer, a professor from Harvard Business School.
His premise is based on the fact that every organization has "technical" and "emotional" systems. Highly committed, high performance organizations are able to do both well - manage the tangible processes (make widgets faster, perform tasks flawlessly, create documents, etc.) and invest in strengthening the emotional side of the organization (be sentitive to what the employees need, building trust, enhance the "corporate culture", strengthen teamwork, improve communication, build morale, etc.).
It strikes me that after our game today against Keystone, our demons lie in our emotional systems. As a player on the field, it seems that we have trouble staying positive and communicating effectively in times of frustration. I don't think, as a team, we've ever really talked about what our "team culture" is, or how we'll solve problems together, or how best to communicate with each other. Our technical systems aren't that bad - we have decent rugby skills, but we certainly can improve on how we interact on the field.
From his research and consulting work with many companies, Dr. Beer has seen companies establish methods for improving the emotional systems, but he said that it's never easy (and often takes a few years). The basis for this change stems from the ability to have, what he calls, "honest conversations" to expose some of the problems that exist and then create ways to address these problems and maintain a vigilant watch over them.
I also think that change requires a personal commitment from all those invovled in the organization. Companies have it easy because if they're having trouble with someone who isn't acting the part, they can let them go. As a team, we agree to accept each other and don't often have a way of curbing individual behavior. I think the answer (for us, at least) lies somewhere in better clarifying what behaviors are expected in certain situations and figuring out a common vocabulary for having discussions on the field and better communicating.
At our work conference, one of our exteral guest participants said that they had worked with an executive coach to help them improve the way they spoke to each other. In her example, if someone made a passive-aggressive comment, it was OK (and encouraged) for the recipient to say "that was below the belt" and that was their term for "let's be less passive aggressive". Maybe we need something like that to help us maintain our positivity and effective communication on the field.
I'd like to ask my loyal readers to post a few comments on what you've experienced on your clubs... Have any of your clubs have ever discussed any of these "emotional systems" that are critical on the field? Have you ever talked, as a team, about how you will communicate with each other or what types of behaviors are reinforced? How did your club get the "team culture" it has today? Do you have ways of "checking" each other in terms of behavior?
Thanks in advance for your comments - I think it would be a great way to share experiences on a topic that isn't often discussed. I'd also personally like to see how others deal with these kinds of issues on their teams. Thanks again!
posted by Lee Knight at 12:03 AM
2 Comments:
okay so I know I am on your team but you KNOW this is my thing!
It's interesting stuff. The principles of good teams are applicable to any situation (corporate or sports) – I wish Mike Luke would weigh in here, this is his expertise!
High Performing teams need shared vision, clear expectations and guidelines, trust, personal leadership, appreciation of differences, communication skills and conflict resolution
However, in sports there are some differences. For instance over 90% of the sports participants’ time is spent practicing- standardizing their routines or procedures, identifying roles and responsibilities, improving communication effectiveness, working on their coordination, alignment or teamwork. The focus is learning from mistakes until they are ready to perform. AND no one gets fired.
I think it’s interesting that you mention the emotional demons as a team problem instead of a problem being within individuals on a team. Though you mention personal commitment, so maybe that is what you meant. I think its both a team and individual issue. and agree with what you’ve said about what is needed on the team level.
However, individuals are responsible for their own reactions and their own self monitoring when it comes to their emotions, positively, focus, mental toughness. Teams need to have guidelines around communication, ways to manage individuals, know what to do when those systems break down (ie. Leadership intervention), and have positive outlets for expression (i.e. debrief).
An individual’s emotional intelligence is - personal competence (self awareness and management) AND social competence (social awareness and relationship management). And I think this fight of with the demons weighs heavily on both for sports participants in general...
I like to put things in terms of working with children. Often you have some child or children that are the catalyst of a group ‘misbehaving’. You need to make sure you have the group set up well trying strategies like having a great group meeting, or setting clear guidelines and expectations, or even disciplining the group – HOWEVER you can't ignore the root of the individual child’s behavior or the group dynamic will never improve.
I didn't answer any of your questions so hopefully someone else will still weigh in!
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