Creating Team Narratives

Using stories to improve team cohesiveness and performance

I hate clichés. Or at least I used to hate clichés, until I heard someone say “They’re clichés because they’re true.”

I still don’t like clichés, but now I can at least say there’s nothing as powerful as a good story without wincing.

And it’s our job, as coaches, to ensure the stories we tell our teams are good.

Purpose of a Narrative

A good story – or narrative – will create a common thread. It will explain why something happened, and, at best, engender a call to action. We’ve all heard coaches (and let’s be honest, ourselves as well) use stories to assuage their egos and make sense of a failure.

“We lost the game but we had most of the possession.”

“We were the better team. We passed the ball around but all they did was boot it forward.”

These explanations may be true, but regardless, coaches use these stories to feel better about how their team performed.

Yet these stories can come across as defensive and lackluster because they only focus on what’s already happened. A strong narrative should use past events to create a story that fosters hope and inspires action. They should encourage players and promote goodwill among the team. A compelling story gives players an idea – and coach – to unite behind, and gives them autonomy to contribute their own individual experiences to the greater whole.

Formula of a Strong Narrative

In broad strokes, a strong narrative will follow a regular structure. It will use past events to call for present action that will create a desirable future. It’s a formula that’s been used for centuries, and one that is exemplified in one of the United States’ most famous speeches: the Gettysburg Address.

(These are just snippets from Lincoln’s address, but the whole thing is definitely worth reading)

Recall past events: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Link to present: Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure...We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live…

Call to action:...It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…

Idealized future:...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Individual Narratives

Obviously we are not leaders of a nation and the narratives we craft will not hold millions of lives in the balance. But our narratives still hold weight and can impact young people in powerful ways, so what we say needs to be carefully crafted and considered.

One way to shape team culture through storytelling is by using a person’s actions to exemplify greater concepts. Using such narratives reinforces a desirable behavior on an individual level and provides an example of what players can be doing.

An example: During a match, one of my players, Ezekiel, fouled an opposing player and stuck out his hand to help him up.

At the next training session I created a narrative around that moment to show the players what sportsmanship looks like.

I gathered the players and said: “Our last match was against our biggest rival and probably determined who will win the league. It was hard fought, it was competitive, and I want to highlight one particular moment in it.

During the 70th minute, with 10 minutes left in the game and the score tied 1-1, Ezekiel fouled a guy on the other team. Now in close matches, particularly big matches, especially after players have been competing for over an hour and emotions are running high, when a foul like that happens it’s not uncommon for tempers to flare up. And if players get into it, that upsets the fans who begin yelling, the referee gets verbally accosted, and all of a sudden the dynamic of the game changes.

But Ezekiel did something different. He stuck out his hand and helped the player up. That little moment could have been a turning point that soured the whole experience. Instead, Ezekiel showed sportsmanship and compassion in the heat of the competitive cauldron, and he represented himself, the team, and our club in a way that few others would. Ezekiel, step forward, and let’s give him a quick round of applause.”

Now it’s worth pointing out that there’s no explicit call to action. But by having players positively acknowledge Ezekiel by giving him a round of applause, the implicit message is “If you want to be praised and show the team how great you are, here’s one example of what we’re looking for.” It’s a tiny moment that can be zoomed in on, given context, and then shared with the team to bring out a specific element of team culture that you want to develop.

Other Narratives

An individual narrative is one example of a story we can create around our team. However, there’s two other broad camps we can categorize our stories into: team narratives and organizational narratives. The general formula stays the same (past, present, future), but the contextual structure changes.

Team Narrative

Team narratives zoom out from the individual and create a story based on the identity of the team (young, experienced, new, etc.) Regardless of how the team is classified, the narrative must be supported by specific details. If a team is on an 8-0 winning steak and told they’re the league underdogs, they’re not going to believe it.

Using stats and video highlights are crucial to creating a believable – and powerful – team narrative. Presenting inarguable evidence with a common emotional thread is key when using storytelling to shape the team.

An example: I had a team enter the halftime break feeling dejected; they were down 2-0 during the semi-finals of a major tournament. I needed a story that would change how they were seeing themselves in the moment (a team that was losing) into a group that could come back and secure victory (a team that could score goals) After quickly consulting our numbers, I said:

“Guys, we’re a scoring team. Do you remember what happened on March 14th? We played X [rival team] and were tied with three minutes left in the game. But then Rafa picked up the ball, combined with Will, and scored to win us the game. You guys kept your confidence, believed you could do it, and when the moment arose, you delivered.

We’ve played 9 games this season and scored 45 times. 45 times! We’ve scored more than 2 goals in a half so many times before. As long as we do X [tactical change] the opportunities will come. Believe it, stay confident. We will score goals and this game will be ours.”

This example may have been more of a rah-rah speech than a full-fledged narrative but the principles remained the same. It recalled the past and used a call to action to improve future performance, and it gave specific facts about the team to help reinforce the identity of them being a goal-scoring team.

Organizational Narrative

Organizational narratives take an even broader view. They step back from the team and look at how players fits into the organization’s entire history and potential future. Key stakeholders (directors, presidents, fans), past teams, and future accomplishments can be strung together to explain how players ended up where they are now.

It’s a particularly compelling narrative to use because it taps into something much larger than any individual player or team. It uses specific stories related to the organization to create an environment where players have the opportunity to contribute to something bigger than themselves.

An example: I worked with a minor league team that had a committed fan base. The fan base was started by a man who had a burning passion for local soccer, and he worked hard to help get the team off the ground and build a supporters union.

Unfortunately, that man passed away at a relatively young age. But his friend, wanting to honor that man and keep his memory alive, took over the mantle and three years later the fan base won an award for being one of the best supporters group in the nation.

This organization had a particularly compelling story that was unique to them and had meaningful emotional significance. It would have been easy to have the leader of the fan base talk to players and share stories related to the club’s founding (past), the home field environment where they play today (present), and provide motivation for players to honor the original founder’s legacy through their performance (future).

Every organization has unique stories, and it’s worth mentioning that anything generic will lose its potency. By using the organization as a broad umbrella, the coach can take a seemingly distant idea and link it to the team’s actions. It’s a powerful method to bring players together and make them feel closer to what the organization is trying to achieve, thus increasing their loyalty and belief in what the team is trying to achieve.

Wrapping Up Narratives

There are three main ways to classify narratives: individual, team, and organizational, but they don’t have to exist in isolation. A good coach can interweave these different narratives to create a cohesive story that resonates with players. When it’s done successfully, players will have greater devotion to the club they play for, be more committed to team goals, and have closer relationships with their teammates and coaches.

Creating powerful narratives can be a difficult thing to do though, so if all else fails… just recite some clichés.