Because ski racing isn’t a team sport in the usual sense of the word, less attention is given in our sport, compared to traditional team sports such as soccer or hockey, to the role of team culture on how individual racers perform. The simple reality of ski racing is that how you ski on race day is unaffected by how your teammates ski. Yet, how a team interacts can have an immense impact on how motivated you are, their confidence, how you handle stress, the quality of your training, and many other aspects of your ski racing performances.

The Norwegian ski team has become an exemplar of how a team that works together and supports each other can produce remarkable results. Their “there is no I in team” approach has become a model for other teams on the World Cup circuit.

If you have any question that the culture of your team influences your ski racing, answer this question: “Have you ever been on a ‘downer’ team?” I’m talking about one that is permeated with negativity, unhealthy competition, and conflict? I certainly have, in particular, several of my years on the Middlebury ski team. As I can personally attest, it sure doesn’t feel good and it can definitely interfere with your skiing your best. As an athlete, it’s difficult to do much about it; all you can do is accept it or find another team. But, as a coach, you can have a big impact on how your team functions.

In addition to my psychology work with ski racers and athletes in general, I consult extensively in the corporate world where I help executives and companies to maximize individual and team performance. One of the most important areas I focus on in this work involves helping senior management to create an organizational culture that is positive and high performing. Developing a healthy team culture is as important in the ski racing world as it is in the corporate world. So, in applying these concepts to race programs, let’s start with an understanding of what a team culture is and why it is of essential value.  

A culture is the expression of a team’s values, attitudes, and goals about sports, competition, and relationships. It determines whether, for example, the team’s focus is on fun, improvement, or winning or whether it promotes individual accomplishment or team success. A team culture is so important because it directly influences many areas that affect team functioning and individual performance including dryland and on-snow training, travel, meetings, and race-day preparations.

The culture establishes norms of acceptable behavior on a team, either explicitly or implicitly conveying to members what is allowed and what is not. These norms can dictate to team members how to behave, communicate, cooperate, and deal with conflict. When clear norms are established, everyone on a team is more likely to abide by them.

The culture creates the atmosphere that permeates every aspect of a team’s experience. Is the atmosphere relaxed or intense? Supportive or competitive? Fun or serious?

All of these qualities of a culture have real implications for how the team functions, how its members get along, and, crucially, how the athletes on the team ski and the results they get. When a team has a defined culture that is understood and accepted by all of its members, they feel an implicit pressure (in the good sense) to support that culture.

Your goal as a program director or coach is to create a team culture that nurtures individual and team growth, fun, and success.

Three Pillars of Team Culture

A team culture is comprised of three essential pillars that support all team and individual functioning and performance: values, attitudes, and goals.

Values are defined as “Principles or standards of behavior; your judgment of what is important in life.” Values are so important because they guide the decisions and choices you and your racers make as a team and as individuals. Whatever you value most is where you will devote your time, effort, and energy. Here is a list of values that I believe are essential for ski racing success:

• Ownership: no excuses.
• Hard work/best effort
• Purposeful/focused
• Quality
• Teamwork/support
• Trust/openness
• Humility
• Respect of self and competition

Attitudes are defined as “The way you think and feel about something.” Attitudes are vital because they guide how racers think, feel, and act toward their ski racing. Here is a list of attitudes that I think are helpful in ski racing:

• Process, not outcome
• Challenge, not threat
• Seek out discomfort
• Experiment
• Mistakes/failure are good
• Never give up!

I define goals as “The object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.” As you know so well, goals are vital for racers to motivate them and to direct their efforts. Here are some team goals that I believe are useful for a team:

• Support and communication
• Process focus
• Consistently fast
• Respond positively to adversity
• Total preparation
• Bring it!
• No regrets: take your shot!
• Have fun!

For values, attitudes, and goals, the above lists are just suggestions and you should work with your athletes to create values, attitudes, and goals that best fit your team.

How a Team Culture Develops

Coaches can allow the culture of their team develop in one of two ways. First, it can emerge naturally as an expression of its individual members. The benefits to this “organic” approach is that team members feel a sense of ownership for the culture because they created it. But there is a risk that the creation of the team becomes unfairly shaped by one or a few team members who may be particularly assertive or controlling, leaving other members of the team feeling marginalized and powerless. And a real danger can arise when the team culture is hijacked by a small subset of the team who are more interested in exerting their own power over the team, however unhealthy it might be. The result can be a truly toxic culture that serves neither the best interests of the team as a whole or its individual members.

The second approach, and the one that I recommend, is for coaches to take an active (though not dominating) role in the creation of a team culture. Through your leadership and open discussions with team members, your team can identify the values, attitudes, and goals that you and they want to act as the foundation of the team culture. This collaborative approach to team culture will ensure that everyone on the team feels a sense of ownership for the culture and, as a result, are more likely to live by its dictates.

Tools for Building a Team Culture

There are also some specific things you can do to actively develop and foster a healthy team culture.

• Be explicit in defining your team’s values, attitudes, and goals (make lists!).
• Identify and enlist team leaders to support the team culture (who will be a positive influence).
• Provide opportunities to build team culture.
• Create shared responsibilities in which team members have to work together.
• Create team rituals such a pre-race dinners or after-race cool-downs.
• Schedule weekly check-ins to get feedback about how things are going.
• Recognize teachable moments and use them to encourage your team culture.

Training Group Cultures

In addition to the over-all culture that a coaching staff fosters to best serve the goals of the entire team and the needs of all of its athletes, training groups within the larger team can also create their own cultures. These training-group cultures better reflect the individual personalities of their coach and racers and the unique goals that they are pursuing. These cultures also allow racers who may be unable to take a leadership role in the larger team to exert influence within their training group.

Questions to Ask

Coaches, I encourage you to sit down with the rest of your coaching staff and your racers to discuss the kind of culture your team wants to have. Proactively creating a healthy team culture will pay off in so many ways during the race season including improved communication and reduced conflict, a more positive vibe, better team functioning, and, usually, higher levels of performance and success for the team and its individual members.

Want to make mental training a part of your program’s early-season prep plan? Here are a few options:

• Read my Ski Racing blogs.
• Read my latest mental training book: Train Your Mind for Athletic Success.
• Sign up for one of my online mental training courses for racers, coaches, or parents.
• Work with me 1:1.