Is culture the secret behind St Mirren’s recent success?
A graphic showing a league table of undefeated clubs this season has gone viral this week. In no small part because slap bang in amongst some of Europe’s elite clubs sits St Mirren. I explore to what extent a positive culture may be driving the Buddies recent success and how the actions of the club’s leaders are supporting those efforts.
Read time: less than 3 minutes
St Mirren’s upturn in fortunes
After achieving their highest league finish for almost 30 years, Stephen Robinson’s side have continued their impressive form into the start of the new season. Currently sitting 2nd in the league at the time of writing and outperforming teams with significantly more resources, supporters are double-checking their passport expiry dates… just in case. Longer turnstile queues and journey home times are the price of success, with increased crowds regularly seeing the SMISA stadium approaching a full house. A price the fans will be delighted to pay, for as long as they can.
Of course, the recent successes are likely to be down to several contributing factors. Those who’ve paid close attention to St Mirren in the past couple of seasons may point to savvy recruitment elevating the ability of the playing squad. Or perhaps the ability of the manager to set up a team that is hard to break down whilst still being effective on the counter attack.
How culture may be playing a part?
Whilst all these things may be true, being a very keen observer of these recent successes, a significant factor that I believe may be fundamental to the impressive results is the positive culture that seemingly runs through the club. Only those within the club walls could testify to the accuracy of these observations, but the clues suggest that a supportive culture based on shared values of hard work, staying humble and teamwork has been forged. Shared values which provide an emboldened team identity that the players have bought into and providing a source of motivation for everyone to pull in the same direction.
What are the culture clues?
Evidence points to players leaving everything out there on the pitch, joined by supportive substitutes, just as eager to get involved in the goal and post-match celebrations as those who are playing. Furthermore, several of the players have talked up about the ‘great dressing room’. Albeit an often cliched phrase, the words are supported by the comradery seen in the fly-on-the-wall video content put out through the club’s social channels. Suggesting that the squad is not only cohesive on the pitch but off the pitch too. Adding additional weight to the coaching mantra that ‘a happy athlete is a better athlete’.
Whilst many aspects of a culture may seem intangible, ultimately the proof of any culture is played out by what you can see – by what people do. And it’s these proof points which may suggest the culture currently in play at St Mirren is helping to drive their success.
How a culture can be facilitated
Everyone who’s part of the group is responsible for living up to the cultural values that have been developed. However, leaders such as a captain, a manager and the wider management of a club can take steps to facilitate outlets for that culture to be lived and to allow it to continue to thrive. Looking at St Mirren and some of their leaders, here are some examples of how they appear to be doing that.
Captain, Mark O’Hara:
Acting as a role model by embodying the culture through his performances on the pitch.
Pledging his long-term future to the club - showing commitment to the club’s long-term vision.
Manager, Stephen Robinson:
Regularly repeating cultural values in post-match interviews may suggest that these are reinforced within his coaching.
Keeping as much of the squad involved as much as possible, by regularly using his full allocation of substitutes. Helping to keep everyone feeling that they’re part of the group’s shared aims.
Publicly championing players who display the team’s cultural values – particularly those who receive less game time and/or those who may be receiving fewer plaudits from others.
Off-the-pitch, club management:
Strengthening the connection between the fans and club through improved engagement and communication activities. Providing greater potential for the team to achieve performance benefits from an added and more passionate support.
Recruiting the type of people who will buy into the cultural values they have forged.
If you’re a sports team or organisation
An authentic and attractive club culture can help increase performance levels, participation levels and membership retention rates. My background in sport psychology and marketing helps me support both sport teams and organisations to develop their own unique culture and promote their culture effectively. Helping to improve the club environment and making themselves more attractive to new players/members.
If you would like any further information on how I could support you – please get in touch
