I get a lot of my inspiration from outside of the teaching profession, and often from within sport, as huge progress has been made in the psychology aspect of sporting success over recent years.
Today I am going to write about the impact of negative team culture and I am going to use the example of the Australian Men's cricket team to illustrate my point.
Let's start the story in 2018, during the third of four scheduled tests in which South Africa hosted the touring Australians. The South African team were building up a healthy lead, at 129-2 in their second innings, when the umpires got together to have a chat about something.
The commentary team speculated that they were looking at the quality of the light, which is one of the many peculiarities of cricket, but that was not the case. The camera then cut to a shot of one of the Australian fielders, Cameron Bancroft, who appeared to be rubbing a small yellow square on the ball. This was met by cries of "oh, no" and "what are you doing mate?" In the commentary box, as they knew exactly what was happening.
The small yellow square was sandpaper, which the umpires realised when they challenged Bancroft, and what he was doing was trying to alter the surface of one side of the ball, which would hopefully cause it to 'swing' in the air and make it difficult for the batters to play. As you can imagine, this is completely against the rules, and once the Aussies had been rumbled, all hell broke loose.
Bancroft was one of the least experienced members of the team, but it was found that the team captain Steve Smith had full knowledge of what was happening, and that it was a plan put together by the most senior players from the team.
Sadly, only very minor punishments were handed out following the match, but the Australian Cricket Board stepped in at this point. Captain Steve Smith and Bancroft were given bans, as was David Warner who was vice captain and appeared to be the architect of the plan. Smith and Warner were obviously sacked from their leadership positions. As a member of Somerset Cricket Club myself I was pleased that Bancroft's contract with us was also cancelled. Other lucrative contracts were lost, by the players and also by Australian Cricket.
It was clear that 'sandpaper-gate' was not an isolated incident but an example of a toxic culture in the team, which filtered down from the leadership. Cricket Australia ordered a cultural review of it's cricket teams following this incident, which thankfully heralded the start of a new era. I will write about that over the weekend, when my focus will be on the impact of a positive culture, and I will reflect on what the story meant to me as a school leader.
Part 2
Todays post follows on from Friday, when I discussed the negative culture that existed within the Australian Men's Cricket team prior to the incident in 2018 when they were caught cheating in a test match against South Africa.
In that post I described the immediate repercussions of the event, with contracts and leadership positions being lost for the key players and for the team itself in some cases. Today I am going to look at how they rebuilt themselves and share an incident which shows how far they have come in a relatively short time.
The review that was ordered into the culture of the team highlighted the existence of a belief in winning at all costs, and it is true that the ball-tampering which occurred was not the only evidence of this approach. The general demeanour of the players on the pitch was also clear. Sledging, which is the name given to the more psychological side of the game, had been taken to a new level by the Australians, to the point where 'the spirit of cricket' had been lost.
Clearly just a change in personnel was not going to achieve the change in culture that was needed, so what did they do? The answer is that they appointed a new 'leadership group' who believed in and importantly demonstrated a different set of morals, whilst still aiming to play at 100% and win for their country. This new moral code was then communicated clearly to all players. The selection of Tim Payne as captain signalled this in no uncertain terms. He was a quiet, thoughtful leader, definitely not one of the 'stars' of the team but he was an excellent communicator..
Paine's style of leadership has continued under Pat Cummins, the current captain of the team. Sledging, whilst still part of the game, has been brought back to something that exists within acceptable boundaries, and the perception of the Australian players has been completely changed. So much so, they are now considered a bit 'woke' and even 'soft' by players from the previous generation. Nevertheless, the new breed of Australian cricketers continues to be successful and the team is currently ranked number one in the world.
One of the most reported examples of the new culture that is flourishing within the team took place at the end of the 2022 Ashes, when the Australian team were celebrating a 4-0 win over England. We have all seen sporting stars spraying champagne to celebrate winning, and the previous 'macho' culture of the team certainly made the most of all opportunities to celebrate with alcohol, both in front of the cameras as well as behind closed doors. Something was different in 2022 though, as one of the team, Usman Khawaja, is a Muslim and therefore celebrating with alcohol would be impossible for him. Khawaja was about to take himself away from the rest of the team as the champagne was passed around, but captain Cummins spotted this and ordered the bottles to be put away so that the whole team could celebrate together. I think that it is fairly safe to say that this would not have happened under the old regime, and Cummins was rightly praised by everyone for his inclusivity. Here is a link to the incident, which includes Cummins comments on what happened.
So, what can we learn from this huge change in the culture of the Australian cricket team? Clear communication of a fixed set of morals, if they are also demonstrated by the leadership of any organisation, can have a transformational effect on it. Leaders must hold themselves to the highest possible standard and recognise the effect that they have on others.
Comments
Post a Comment