⏳ Read Time: 4 min

Coaches are the individuals who have an impact on the next generation. There are over 500,000 coaches in the United States, ranging from youth to collegiate levels. Yet, they are one of the most underserved groups of leaders.

BETTER exists to fill that gap for coaches, athletes, and the leaders supporting them.

The best way for you to join in that mission? Forward this newsletter or share this link to another coach, athletic director, or athlete who needs it.

📌 What’s ahead:

• 🔄 Flashback Review: Why leadership remains our foundation.

• 🎯 Clarification Moment: Two definitions of "culture"—and why it matters.

• 🏆 Real‑World Evidence: Thunder players on culture after winning the NBA title.

• ✅ Five Action Steps: To align your leadership, culture, and performance.

🔄 Quick Review: Our Core Metaphor

Leadership is the crust—it shapes the environment your team inhabits. That environment, or culture, is what drives performance. When leaders show up clearly, consistently, and with purpose, their culture follows—and with it, performance flourishes.

🎯 What Coaches Often Miss About “Culture”

Kevin and I were visiting with a former Division 1 head coach just last week. We were chatting about all things leadership, culture, and performance. Here’s one thing they said that stuck with me:

In our work at BETTER, we often encounter this confusion. Coaches have been preached to about the importance of culture. They’ve read books on it and studied it. They’ve been told that performance comes from healthy cultures.

But people throw the word around all the time, and they’re really talking about two different “types” of culture.

Culture isn’t one-size-fits-all, and confusion comes from blending two distinct types:

1. Relational Culture – How people feel on your team:

   • Do they enjoy being part of it?

   • Is connection, belonging, and mutual support present?

2. Performance Culture – What you demand:

   • Standards, accountability, discipline.

   • "This is what we accept—and what we don’t."

Coaches admire the Saban-style standards. The process. It’s all about work, effort, focus, and discipline. They’re really talking about a performance culture.

Then you have quotes (like those below) of the fun, close-knit feel of top college programs. This obscures the clarity of what culture really is and how it shapes performance.

Here is the key: Leadership (the crust) shapes both relational and performance culture—and your job is to hold both in tension in service of performance.

🏆 In Their Own Words: Thunder on Culture

Let’s hear it straight from the 2025 NBA champs:

Jalen Williams:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander:

You can really see the relational culture here in action.

🛠️ Putting It All Together:

✅ Five Action Steps: From Crust to Culture to Results

1. Articulate Your Cultural Duality

   • Define both relational and performance culture out loud. E.g.: We’re a team that supports each other (relational) AND demands accountability in every rep (performance). Clarify this to staff and players.

2. Anchor Every Activity to Culture

   • In meetings, practices, even travel: frame each one with Why this matters to both how we feel and how we perform.

3. Create Shared Language

   • Develop two short rally calls: one for connection (e.g., “We rise together!”) and one for standards (e.g., “We expect excellence!”). Display them visually in your spaces.

4. Use Rituals to Reinforce Both

   • Relational ritual: team meals, celebration moments after games.

   • Performance ritual: post-practice goal setting and accountability checks. These rituals embed both sides of the culture.

5. Coach the Culture Intentionality

   • At least once a month, ask your assistants:
     “Where did you see relational care? Where did you see the performance push? What needs balancing?” This holds leadership accountable for the whole culture.

🏁 Conclusion: Crust → Culture → Performance

Leaders create culture. Culture—specifically the blend of connection and standards—is what powers performance. Shape your leadership with care, clarity, and intentionality—and your culture will deliver the outcomes you want in the end.

🛠️ Your Summer Playbook

The summer is an ideal time for high school and college coaches to establish their culture. Most people know what they want to do, but they don’t know how to do it.

They need a system.

The Culture Playbook is BETTER’s custom system, complete with tools that you can use with your team to establish a culture. It’s full of team exercises you can do with your team in very little time to help you establish your culture.

These tools are used by entities such as Microsoft, Google, and athletic departments like Mississippi State, Florida State, and thousands of high schools.

And you can see it all with no commitment. Coaches — access your free trial below.

🛠️ Want to win more? Know Yourself First.

Just last week, nearly 60 leaders signed up for our 5-day leadership course based on your Voice!

It will be sent to your inbox starting the Monday after you take the assessment and run for that week.

The assessment takes 10-15 minutes. Take it below.