Culture and Football

This essay was written for the Makers of Sport® newsletter in September 2015. Monday Musings and Weekend Reads were the written editions of the newsletter that accompanied the podcast; the archived email is on Mailchimp. The newsletter's links and announcements are trimmed here.

Well, yesterday marked the beginning of many college football-filled Saturdays. It is absolutely my favorite time of year. I'm not much of baseball fan (let's keep that between us, eh?), so the end of the summer and beginning of fall is the time that my "sports year" starts.

Summers are filled with recruiting news, summer camps, controversy, trip planning and "talking season" as Steve Spurrier would say.

Expectations are high, even for losing teams (such as my Kentucky Wildcats) from last year. Fall football symbolizes new beginnings. New coaches, new stadiums and new uniforms.

Traditions begin, continue or are renewed and stadiums around the country are full with friends, family and comrades.

In the South, college football is the thing many of us look forward to all year. It is such a large part of the culture and our history. Especially in the SEC and southern parts of the ACC and Big 12.

There are many books, blogs and articles written about Southern football culture alone and how each school has its own traditions, styles, foods and more.

Culture is one of the things I love the most when it comes to the tailgating, the sun dresses, the food, the drinks and the fun. It is this culture that is arguably what sets southern football apart from the rest of the country. It is a differentiator (aside from the many SEC and southern ACC & Big 12 national championships).

Culture, Work and Morale

Culture is also extremely important in the work place. We spend the majority of our lives in the office and the last thing we need is some vitriolic culture that allows for a hostile atmosphere.

I have worked at places with hostile culture. It always seemed to stem from the top. Hostile culture is something a manager or other leaders let get way out of control.

Changing these cultures, however, can be tough. Especially ones that have been embedded for many years. Depending on how large the company is though, it may not be impossible.

Many tech startups and agencies nowadays use culture as a selling point. Millennials are not married to companies like those that have gone before us. Quality of life is most important on our many of our lists — with flexibility, great people, nice perks and having fun take precedent. Not to mention doing work that we feel is meaningful and challenging to our growth. Money tends to come last.

Some of these startup cultures include allowing for remote workers, unlimited vacation days, on-site gyms or paid gym memberships, craft beer on-site and flex time to work on your own projects. These types of perks have not made it to the sports industry yet, and I'm not sure it ever will. But there are a few ways you can try and bump up the morale to aid in bettering culture at least in your organization. Here are just a few ideas:

Schedule pot lucks or meals where each person brings a different ingredient.

Take work time (if boss approves) on a slow day to go see an inspirational movie as a team. A sports movie, or something like the Social Network or Jobs would be best. Something that will inspire may be an easier sell to the higher ups.

Schedule morning or afternoon team runs.

Join a corporate dodgeball, softball or basketball league. Recently, I've become a fan of bubbleball.

Schedule off-site lunches or coffee meetings to discuss latest industry happenings or teach one another the productivity or software hacks you have learned.

Schedule hackathons to execute on new ideas, products or projects for your company or organization.

Those are just few non-definitive examples of some ideas you yourself can pitch your superiors (or even spearhead yourself after hours) to boost morale and culture around the office.

Culture won't change overnight. But by focusing on small wins and ideas similar to the above, subconsciously things will begin to change around the office and people will begin to notice a boost in morale.

Poisonous culture can be a cancer to an organization. It causes depression, anger and creates hostility and unhappiness within.

We all must do our part to contribute productively to the cultures around us in our own careers. Do your best to help create the culture you want to work in.

A great book on the subject matter I've been reading is Work Rules: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead. Google is notorious for having a great culture and it is no secret their worth as a company both fiscally and productively.

Speaking of culture, I'm writing this on a plane to Disney World to experience once of the greatest cultures in the world. So with that I say have a good week and be on the lookout for tomorrow's Halftime podcast about preparation.

Your pal,

Adam