Last week I had a call with an old colleague of mine, still working in a gym I crossed paths with a few years ago.

I was offered a job in that gym because they wanted to change the culture, they had a head coach at the moment that was so intense (not in the good way), that the boys did not enjoy training and lived too stressed out. They started a new team of coaches in which I coached for a while, but I could still see that was not the right culture for me, they were still obsessed with results and not getting the people to where they should be, so I left.

When we spoke with my friend last week, he explained to me that someone above him was taking the athletes he was coaching of his hands to take control, my friend thought the reasoning was vague, but for me clearly came from a "control freak". This is something that I think is deeply ingrained in my sport's culture having had conversations on the past where people pointed this out. I have spoken of ego a bit before and this is not the place for it. Yet it keeps circling around every other question I ask.

He is now sitting in a place where he does not have clarity on what to do, and finished saying to me that even if the old coach left the culture never did. Now it shifted, instead of being outwardly aggressive it is just more underlying the day to day.

Culture changes take time, something that clearly people are still not letting happen, they give it a few weeks and when results do not happen fast enough they default to old habits. Active change takes a really big effort and you need to let go of your ingrained habits and consciously think about every action.

So here is my question, is your culture something you say you do? Or do your actions match your words?

I would say, if you are not reflecting actively on whether you are doing what you are saying, you are just on autopilot.