Written by I recently had the pleasure of listening to a podcast for Culture in Sports. Jeremy Piasecki discusses with Wes and Mike the origins of the organization and the influences that shaped his perceptions on sport and culture as a whole. The interview resonated with me and dovetailed well with my own experiences and education in organizational behavior. The culture of any organization, whether sporting or corporate is set by the top positions of the hierarchy and then if this climate is well maintained will become embedded and will be supported by a cohesive team. This ‘learning’ environment will be equipped to adopt readily to change and continue to be progressive and proactive.
In his youth, as his sporting career progressed, Jeremy experienced coaches that were positive as well as negative. From these interactions he was able to hone a vision of the kind of nurturing influence necessary to develop a cohesive and therefore successful environment.
This environment isn’t only necessary in the sporting arena, the leadership skills and resilience developed in the pursuit of sport parlay well in all aspects of life. The positive experiences that a person has through their earlier years help to establish the character strengths and emotional intelligence that can be built on through life and be in turn passed on to others, particularly the next generation.
In 2008 in Afghanistan, Jeremy harnessed the available resources and his learned skills as a leader, a coach, and an influencer to introduce the sport of water polo to the local population. The culture arising from this activity contributed to positivity within a challenged community. It provided a healthy avenue for the local youth and an opportunity for them to escape the dangers of their environment and experience a positive collaborative one.
Culture is top driven in any environment, so it’s important that upper management is on board with the development of positive attitudes and a growth mind-set within the team or organization. A strong positive culture will filter down through the organization and prevent crippling toxicity from prevailing. A positive, learning environment will use failure as an opportunity for growth and improvement.
Rigidity in leadership does not invite collaboration and prevents healthy change within the organization. An individual will generally act in accordance with the generally agreed upon set of behaviours and protocols, Jeremy explains further that a badly behaved player is a product of a toxic environment that has established from poor leadership. The athletes contribute to the climate of the organization, but the culture is set at leadership level.
It is these tenets and ideals that form the basis of Culture in Sports, an organization founded by Jeremy that examines contemporary examples of sporting culture to champion the positive examples and highlight the negative and what can be done to learn from it.