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6 Ways to Self-Reflect for Better Team Culture

  • July 1, 2024
  • Respect & Accountability
CoachesEducators

Betsy Butterick headshot.As a coach, you play a large role in the creation of your team culture. While athletes make a difference, you are ultimately the leader who will set the tone for the team each season as athletes come and go. It’s easy to fall into certain patterns and skip self-reflection, especially if you’ve been coaching for a long time. However, self-reflection is one of the most important things you can do to create a positive team culture for your athletes!

Here, TrueSport Expert Betsy Butterick, a coach and communication specialist, explains the simple steps you can take as a coach to improve your self-reflection both during interactions with athletes and when addressing team culture overall.

 

1. Understand your role in creating a team culture

Simply put, a team’s culture is the environment that the team has created. Team culture is the team’s agreement on how they treat each other, what rules they follow, and how they behave on and off the field. Hopefully, the environment is safe and positive, and athletes feel as though they have plenty of room to grow.

In school sports, culture can be complicated: Every year the team dynamics will shift and change as some players graduate and others join the team. Because of that, as the coach, you’re constantly helping to create and reinvent team culture with a mix of new and returning athletes.

 

2. Self-reflection and evaluation are no longer optional

“Unfortunately, often people are only willing to contemplate change when they’re in pain,” says Butterick. “But the coaching landscape is changing significantly, and coaches need to change with it. There is much more exposure to a coach and their program and team culture than ever before, thanks in large part to technology. Some of the challenges that have surfaced in coaching over the last several years are forcing coaches to become more self-reflective, because those who don’t are often out of a job.”

“Self-reflection is a healthy practice, and the coaches with the healthiest cultures are reflecting proactively and frequently,” she adds. “They’re doing things like talking to their athletes and listening to their experiences being coached, asking others about their perception of the program, soliciting feedback from parents, and talking to fellow coaches.”

 

3. Self-reflection can take many forms

While self-reflection often calls to mind practices like journalling, meditating, or even talking to a therapist, Butterick notes that it can be more casual and internal. “The most common kind of self-reflection for coaches tends to be situational, where the coach is assessing a response that they had to a recent situation,” she says. “They’ll think about what they said and how they could have handled that situation differently if they had the opportunity to do it again. They’re assessing if they should follow up and change their reaction.”

Other forms of simple self-reflection can include a post-competition debrief with yourself (on paper or just in your head) before having a debrief with the team. You can also engage in group self-reflection with your fellow coaching staff or with your athletes during a team debrief following a game, where you all have a space to share your feelings about how the competition went and how everyone is feeling.

 

4. Make space to self-reflect in non-reactive moments

Often, it’s easiest to self-reflect when there’s a problem, such as a bad game because the team wasn’t cohesive or after a difficult interaction with an athlete or a parent. But reflecting during the good or the quiet times can be even more important. Those quiet moments can often offer more clarity for overall team culture versus the more reactive negative moments. “The best coaches that I’ve observed are reflecting outside of those negative moments,” says Butterick. “They’re reflecting because they understand the value of the practice beyond simply a response to a less-than-ideal situation.”

 

5. Check your confirmation bias

Coach with high school girls basketball team.As you’re delving deeper into self-reflection, one thing you can look for in your coaching practice is when and where you’re defaulting to confirmation bias. Research has shown over and over that confirmation bias—seeing information that confirms your current belief—can have huge impacts on how teachers interact with students. The same is true of the coach/athlete relationship. If you were told that an athlete is ‘lazy’ by a fellow teacher, you’re much more likely to notice when they’re slacking at practice or showing up unprepared, compared to the player that your co-coach deems ‘highly responsible.’

Additionally, become aware of any time you’re assigning an attribute to an athlete rather than to their actions, says Butterick. For instance, if an athlete ignores your direction, don’t call them disrespectful. Instead, say that ignoring you was disrespectful. This small shift can make a big difference in your perception of your team. An easy way to catch this is by simply asking yourself: Have I made a judgment about this athlete?

This is especially important when dealing with teen athletes because their identities are constantly changing, as are their life situations. Butterick points out that you’re only seeing an athlete for an hour a day at practice. An athlete showing up late or exhausted doesn’t mean that they’re lazy, it could mean that they had a big exam and had to stay up late studying, they may have had a fight with a friend, or perhaps they lost a grandparent over the weekend. As adults, we often assume that young athletes don’t have ‘real problems,’ and so it’s easier to assign negative attributes to them when they’re out of line. But often, the situation is more complex. Self-reflection helps you think beyond the obvious first judgment.

And remember: Your athletes may have similar confirmation biases about you! While you may not be able to actively change them, simply being aware that the bias may exist can help you better communicate with athletes. Butterick cites a favorite example of a student doing a college tour and being told by the senior showing her around that the coach was nice but could be very defensive. Based on that comment, the new athlete saw the coach acting defensively at practice. The coach may indeed have been acting defensive, but it’s also possible that she was reading into a situation because that comment had her looking for behavior that reinforced what she was told.

 

6. Conduct regular check-ins or ‘informational interviews’ with athletes

At TrueSport, we often refer to the concept of an ‘open door policy’ for coaches. Your athletes should feel comfortable coming to talk to you about problems or concerns. But you can also go a step further and be proactive about these check-ins. “Anytime we can get outside of our own perspective and intentionally get curious about the perspective of others, we have a much better chance of creating a more integrated, holistic, and healthy environment,” says Butterick. “Talk to your athletes regularly. You can ask them to simply share anything they feel is important for you to know or understand. And you may be surprised by what you learn.”

You can also help your athletes self-reflect and define the team’s culture in a group setting. Defining the ideal team culture can make it easier for athletes to act in a way that best exemplifies the way they want to present themselves to the world. Butterick suggests using the following questions for discussion:

  • How do we want to treat each other in this shared space?
  • How do we want to address issues before they become problems?
  • What standards are we setting for each other?
  • How are we holding each other accountable?

___________________________

Takeaway

To make change within yourself or your team, you need to be aware of your actions and how you are perceived, which is where self-reflection can be useful. Self-reflection should be an ongoing, regular process for every coach. There are many ways you can practice self-reflection, from journalling to soliciting feedback to simply taking time to reflect on your recent actions and thoughts.

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Hi. I’m Trevon, Trey, Jennifer. Team USA wheelchair basketball player, paralympian, and true sport athlete. Today, I want to talk to you about goal setting. And there are three things that I would like you to know. First, successful athletes set goals and a planned roadmap. Second, goals should be written down, assessed over time, and changed if necessary. And third, goals need to be challenging in order to be worthwhile. As a freshmen at Edinboro University, I was a part of a team that made the national championship game. And at that time I recognized I was the low man on the totem pole, but I felt in my heart that I knew my dreams were so much bigger than winning a national title. I wanted to make Team USA. I knew what achieving my lofty goal was not going to be easy and that I would need to work hard every day.

So, as a reminder, I created a pyramid of goals that I kept right above my bed. This pyramid reminded me of the accomplishments that I was working towards and visually represented my need to create a solid foundation underneath me before reaching the top. In the bottom roll of my pyramid of goals I listed goals such as obtaining my bachelor’s degree, becoming a scholar athlete award recipient, and becoming an All-American. The middle row listed winning a national title and playing for a professional team. And at the top row, the most challenging of them all, I listed becoming a gold medalist for Team USA.

By understanding that there are smaller stepping stones to achieving my ultimate goal of being on Team USA, I was able to stay motivated and to stay focused on completing the smaller stepping stones fully before moving onto the next one. Now I’ll be the first to admit that not every goal that I listed on my pyramid was accomplished, but seeing my goals every day when I went to bed, I was able to push through the days that I felt like doing nothing in hopes of achieving the bigger picture. Remember, create a clear goal roadmap, assess your goals often, and continue to challenge yourself. I hope that you never stopped dreaming big or reaching for the stars. And I look forward to seeing where your roadmap takes you.

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Hi, I’m Kara Winger, Olympic javelin thrower, and true sport athlete. Today I want to talk to you about body image and I have three things I’d like you to know. First, healthy thoughts often lead to healthier bodies. Second, there are varying body types and no one’s body is exactly like another. And third, true beauty goes deeper than the skin. As a multi-time Olympian, I’ve experienced a lot of variation and progression in my training. My coaches and I adapt to my training frequently, all with the goal of supporting my long-term success and health in the sport of javelin. I’m talking to you about body image today because sometimes even with the best of intentions and a common goal in mind, the changes you make to your training habits can prove to be detrimental if made for the wrong reasons. In the lead up to the 2012 Olympic trials, I was told in order to improve my performance on the field, I should try to become a leaner, skinnier version of myself.

So I changed my diet. I went along with what I was being told to do, even though I’d had great success at a slightly heavier weight and higher body fat percentage, and became much leaner than ever before. It seemed like a successful change at first, but I didn’t have nearly the results I’d had before. And I believe becoming leaner than my body naturally wanted to be was what caused my ACL to tear. In the end, it cost me heavily going into the 2012 London games. The takeaway for me, and hopefully for you, is that it’s important to know what works for you and your body and to not compare yourself to others. You should do your research and experiment with your diet to find what makes you feel the best, rather than focusing on what you look like. Today, if I feel like having a chocolate chip cookie, I have one, just not every day.

I’ve learned what a properly balanced meal for my body looks like and I recognize food as the fuel that keeps me throwing. I hydrate and allow myself time to recover. And I listen to and communicate with my body so that I can be the best version of myself. In the end, you are in control of how you see, treat, and respond to your body. We only get one and it’s amazing to discover how many things our bodies can do. Be a true sport athlete. Love who you are in this moment and get excited for all the places your body will take you.

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I started competing in Modern Pentathlon eight years after my older sister and three-time Olympian, Margaux Isaksen, began competing. I soon realized that people often compared the two of us. I would overhear spectators and teammates asking, “Who’s the better athlete,” and “Who’s going to beat the other.” Instead of letting outside pressures create a negative experience for us, I chose to practice winning and losing with grace and respect. I know that it would have been easy to let our hyper competitive mindset affect our relationship, but instead we decided to support and cheer for each other, regardless of our own performance. My experience of competing against and being compared to my older sister, taught me to focus on how to perform at my best, rather than putting wasted energy into wishing for others to fail.

I believe that sportsmanship reveals true character. So, no matter what situation I encounter during competition, I know it’s important to always treat people with respect and be a good sport. Remember, be a fierce competitor, find grace in all your victories and losses. And I hope to see you out there.

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Edwin Moses: You’re a coach. Maybe what you want is very simple, for everyone to just run in the right direction, score for their own team, to try and try again and again. Maybe you want your athletes to become all stars. You want them to earn trophies, medals, win titles. You want them to reach the highest height their sport allows. And wanting all of that, of course, that’s good. But as every great coach discovers, developing a great athlete means nurturing, nurturing the even greater person within. Truth is, you have even more influence than you know.

You have the ability to affect even deeper change, to take what’s in your hands and do something even more extraordinary. You can be both the coach who provides the skills needed to win the game and the coach who helps them learn and succeed beyond the sport, to become all stars wherever they land in the future, and to enjoy their lives more now, because the confidence and courage they find working with you will stay with them when they need it the most. There are games to be won, lives to change. Coaches have the power to do both.

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At first glance, dietary supplements look the same. They seem safe and healthy, but just because the label says a product is a dietary supplement, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Unfortunately, you can’t tell whether a product is safe or not just by looking at the label. Most vitamins, minerals, fish oil, and other supplements containing nutrients are probably just fine, but supplements are not evaluated or approved by FDA before they are sold. Although it is rare for vitamins or minerals to be contaminated with drugs, there has been at least one case of a vitamin containing an anabolic steroid.

At the other extreme are products that contain drugs, stimulants, anabolic steroids, or other hormones. Even though these are not technically dietary supplements, many of them are labeled as supplements. For example, body-building products sometimes contain anabolic steroids or Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, known as SARMs, or other hormones. Some pre-workout or energy products contain illegal stimulants like DMAA, ephedra, or other amphetamine-like stimulants. Weight loss products might contain prescription drugs like sibutramine, or hormones, like human chorionic gonadotropin, also known as hCG. All natural or herbal sexual enhancement products might contain hormones or Viagra-like drugs. Products like these can harm your health and career, but they’re for sale online, in some nutrition stores, and they’re labeled as dietary supplements.

When you pick up a supplement, especially one that promises performance enhancement, you don’t know if it belongs in the “Mostly O.K.” pile or in the “Dangerous” pile. After all, two products might look the same, but one might contain just amino acids and other legitimate ingredients, while the other also contains anabolic steroids. Because of this, FDA has issued a warning about certain categories of supplements: body building products, weight loss products, and sexual enhancement products. Be extremely careful when considering a supplement in one of these categories. We strongly recommend that you avoid products in these categories.

Even when FDA tests supplements and finds dangerous ingredients, companies sometimes refuse to recall them. Sometimes, they simply repackage their product and continue selling it under a new name. Just because a product is on a store shelf doesn’t mean it is safe. You need to do your research and be an informed consumer. The dietary supplement industry is enormous. Supplements that appear to be safe could actually be dangerous products in disguise. If you use dietary supplements without doing your research, you may be taking serious risks with your health and your career. Please visit USADA’s Supplement 411 for more information about dietary supplements.