Building Culture

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."

MVB has developed an enduring culture with positivity and team-building activities.

Organizational culture is the global environment surrounding a program. Culture is a force multiplier. Coaches drive culture and strong teams have its ownership. Culture includes everything from leadership, positivity, and relationships. It's an inside job that outsiders only partially understand. 

Some examples: 

• Team readings, this year Jay Bilas's "Toughness"
• Pasta parties
• Brownies on the bus
• Team bus song, "Who Let the Dogs Out?"
• Home game "Lollipops"
• "Shout Outs" - celebrating and recognizing teammates at practice for effort and contributions
• A welcoming environment for young players
• Offseason physical training as a group 
• Club volleyball together within restrictions

Positive culture isn't unique to MVB but it's an expectation. Players enjoy each other's company and many have close friendships. 

ChatGPT Plus Consultation: 

A positive culture doesn’t just “happen”—it grows from shared values, habits, and accountability. Here are some ideas and perspectives you might find useful:

1. Establish Clear Standards and Shared Purpose

• Define the “why.” Teams unite around a bigger mission than wins and losses. Whether it’s “be the hardest working team” or “make each other better every day,” clarity gives direction.

• Set standards, not rules. Rules are enforced externally; standards are lived internally. Teams with high standards regulate themselves.

2. Build Trust and Relationships

• Trust is the foundation. Players need to believe teammates and coaches have their back, both on and off the court.

• Model vulnerability. Admitting mistakes or showing humility creates safety for others to do the same.

• Invest in connection. Shared meals, community service, or small rituals (e.g., high-fives, team circle before practice) strengthen bonds.

3. Emphasize Communication and Candor

• Open communication. Encourage players to speak honestly while maintaining respect. Silence breeds resentment.

• Radical candor. Balance caring personally with challenging directly. Feedback lands better when players know you care about them.

4. Reinforce Selflessness

• Celebrate “we” plays. Highlight assists, hustle, or smart rotations as much as scoring.

• Promote servant leadership. Captains and seniors model putting team needs above personal stats.

• Ubuntu mindset. As the Celtics once said, “I am because we are.”

5. Create Daily Habits of Excellence

• Attention to detail. Culture lives in the little things—being on time, listening, picking up equipment, practicing with intent.

• Consistency. Great culture is “boring” in that it shows up every day, not just on game night.

6. Repairing a Damaged Culture

• Acknowledge the issues. Pretending problems don’t exist only deepens them.

• Reset with honesty. Team meetings where players can voice frustrations—framed constructively—help clear the air.

• Recommit to values. Coaches and leaders can re-anchor the team in what’s non-negotiable (effort, respect, togetherness).

• Small wins rebuild trust. Fixing culture isn’t one speech; it’s steady improvement in how the team interacts.

7. Celebrate Progress, Not Just Outcomes

• Catch people doing it right. Recognize effort, teamwork, and growth daily.

• Tell the stories. Remind players of moments when the team embodied its best self—these stories become cultural glue.

Culture is the scoreboard you can’t see. Wins and losses show up in the record book, but culture determines whether a team thrives in adversity, whether players leave the program better than they arrived, and whether success is sustainable.

Lagniappe. Hard conversations...