The purpose of this teambuilder is to give the players ownership of the internal team standard. That said, you’re still the coach, you need to set the non-negotiables. With your staff, come up with three core rules. These are going to my team's non-negotiable core rules for the season.
- Be on time
- No energy vampires
- Find joy in the achievements of others
Once your rules are set, it’s time to build the Team Standard, a group effort that includes the players, trainers, coaches, and anyone else who’s involved with the team on a daily basis. How do you want to operate? What do your habits look like on and off the ice? Who do we want to see in the mirror at the end of the month? End of the year? End of minor hockey? To do this we’re going to take a preventative approach and identify potential problems before they arrive.
Method
Separate into groups of four or five. Each group is responsible for brainstorming and coming up with five choices, habits, characteristics, actions, or anything else you can think of that could prevent you, other players, or the team from getting better tomorrow. When the groups finish brainstorming, a rep from each will explain the reasons why they chose their examples. As reps are presenting, tell each player to write down an example if they feel it applies to them. This helps players not only to think about potential problems on a team level, but also learn the self awareness necessary to determine whether or not they could be the potential problem. It’s not always someone else. With this method we’re learning internal ownership as well as ownership of a larger group.
In a couple words or a short sentence, capture examples as player reps are sharing their list. Highlight duplicated examples in blue, and anything with three or more mentions in green.
Once common obstacles are established, the green or blue examples, have the team talk about how to overcome them. This discussion forms the foundation of the Team Standard. We’re coming up with the solutions to common problems before they arise. The Team Standard should be easy to return to during the season when challenging times inevitably show up.
Download or print this worksheet, make a magnet out of it and bring it with you everywhere you go!
