By Collin Fehr
(April 18, 2021)
In the continual quest for better coaching practices, advocates of this profession have sought to identify key factors that contribute to the success of any sporting endeavor, and team cohesion is undeniably linked to that success (Carron, Bray, & Eys, 2002; Vincer & Loughead, 2010). Regardless of whether the sport one coaches are individual or team-based, perceptions of team cohesion are strongly related to athlete performance (Turman, 2003).
To most coaches, this might seem intuitive, but this topic is worthy of further exploration. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe team cohesion in sports and the factors that affect it while ultimately providing coaches with strategies for achieving team cohesion.
Cohesion Defined
Cohesion has several definitions, but Bollen and Hoyle (1990) provide the following description in relation to its connection to group performance: “an individual’s sense of belonging to a particular group and his or her feelings of morale associated with membership in groups” (p. 482). Generally, if athletes feel a strong and positive connection with their teammates and coaches then cohesion is high. So in essence, cohesion is a feeling that athletes have about being on a team. A prominent psychotherapist, Yalom (1995), described group cohesion as the attractiveness of the group to its members. In order for athletes to be attracted to a team, it must offer something that they need. Most coaches probably assume that the opportunity to compete is enough to meet that need but in reality it is far more complex. Indeed, there are two main types of cohesion of which coaches should be aware.
Types of Cohesion
The first category has to do with the individual aspects of a team or, more specifically, the task dimension (Carron, 1982). In essence, task cohesion is all about what athletes do. Coaches who use teaching approaches that are more technique-oriented are likely to develop high task cohesion because the focus is on the actual skill requirements of the sport. While task cohesion is related to what athletes do, social cohesion centers more on who athletes are. Perhaps not surprisingly, many athletes “wish their coaches were better facilitators of social cohesion” (Shields et al., 1997, p. 208). Winning is a basic objective of any sport and it is every coach’s job to put their team in the best position to win. Coaches can increase the likelihood of winning by fostering overall team cohesion (Carron et al., 2002). However, it is important to note that individual sports teams (e.g. track & field) can win without a high level of social cohesion. Athletes do not always have to personally like their teammates, or even their coach, as long as they can get the job done and maintain a high level of task cohesion within their group. In reality, though, coaches need to recognize that their athletes are individuals outside of their sport, and getting to know the person behind the performer will enable coaches to create an environment with higher overall cohesion and better performance.
Factors that affect Cohesion
Many factors affect the cohesion that will develop on a team. Such factors include the environment (e.g. social and physical), personal factors (e.g. personality), team factors (e.g. norms), and leadership factors (e.g. styles; Carron, Widmeyer, & Brawley, 1985). Although each variable plays an essential role, the leadership factors may be the most important (Vincer & Loughead, 2010). This distinction is vital for coaches to know as they have a significant influence on how well team cohesion develops. In fact, a practitioner’s efforts to foster cohesion can be viewed as a performance in its own right (Gould et al., 2002). Athletes instinctively model their coach’s behavior and an awareness of this can help coaches affect team cohesion in a positive way.
Suggestions for Coaches
The coach plays an integral role in any athlete’s experience and this is especially true for team cohesion. Over the course of my career, I have developed a list of activities aimed at fostering this important aspect of team culture. These recommendations are things that I have used as a coach myself, but more recently as a sport psychology consultant who works with coaches.
Suggestions for Coaching Style
An intuitive idea that has been shown to have an effect on team cohesion is the coach’s general attitude toward the entire team (Turman, 2003). As many coaches are aware, the coach-athlete relationship is much like a parent-child relationship in that athletes will model the behavior of their coach. If coaches want athletes to arrive at practice with a positive attitude then they better well show some enthusiasm themselves. Simply put, enthusiasm is contagious and it promotes team cohesion, which increases a team’s chances of success.
| Table 1: Suggestions for Coaching Style | |
| Style | Coaching Role |
| Cooperative (non-authoritarian) | Share decision-making with athletes. Recognize necessary times to be directive but focus primarily on teaching and empowering athletes to practice responsibility. |
| Positive communication | Emphasize praise and rewards to instill desired behaviors. Deliver punishments and discipline in encouraging ways to foster respect and understanding rather than fear and discouragement. |
| Athlete-centered | Demonstrate coaching that considers what is best for the athlete. Try to understand a given situation from the athlete’s perspective. |
| Instructional | Take advantage of inherent teaching opportunities and send messages high in information, avoiding vague or overly general comments. |
| Modeling behavior | Realize that athletes will mirror the behavior of their coaches. Strive to be a positive role model. |
| Enthusiastic attitude | Recognize the importance of enthusiasm as a way to promote motivation and purpose within a team. Make a concerted effort to show this energy to athletes. |
| Address conflict | Have a plan for addressing conflict and institute consequences fairly and consistently. Inform athletes of how the conflict will be handled. |
| Be a leader/mentor | Provide direction for athletes and create a positive environment for them to grow. Instill values that foster motivation. Be someone athletes can look up to. |
| Flexibility/Dynamic | Be willing to make adjustments in coaching approaches. Understand that there are many ways to achieve the same goals and different scenarios call for different strategies. |
| Humor | Have fun as a coach and recognize opportunities to show a lighter personality to build stronger connections with athletes. |
| Organization | Strive for better managerial skills while developing, implementing, and evaluating best coaching practices. Anticipate obstacles and plan for the future. |
| Awareness of personal values | Identify individual values and take ownership of them. Embody those values and display authenticity in coaching. |
Suggestions for Team Activities
According to athletes, the more time the whole team spends together, the more cohesion is felt amongst teammates (Turman, 2003). One could argue that athletes already spend a significant amount of time together and it would be ‘going overboard’ to require them to give more of their time outside of practice. However, coaches can use several creative approaches to supplement practice times with outside gatherings. In fact, many coaches already have their athletes lift weights together, eat team dinners before competitions, or volunteer at local charity organizations to promote cohesion. Even a simple team meeting before practices can go a long way in cultivating a team’s sense of bonding.
Perhaps a less obvious suggestion pertains to the use of athlete leaders (e.g. team captains) to influence team cohesion. As a former team captain for many sports teams, I cannot recall a time when any of my coaches informed me of what it actually meant to be a team captain. Generally, team captains are upperclassmen who understand the team culture and are naturally well-respected by younger teammates. Coaches should educate team captains on their role and how to best use it to foster greater cohesion. However, it should be noted that team captains who act too authoritatively toward teammates can actually detract from the group’s cohesion (Vincer & Loughead, 2010). As such, the function of athlete leaders should primarily consist of social support behaviors that encourage team bonding.
| Table 2: Suggestions for Team Activities | |
| Activity | Coaching Role |
| Goal-setting | Educate athletes on how to set proper goals and provide opportunities for them to voice their goals to their teammates. Identify common purposes/themes from responses. |
| Team meals | Host meals periodically throughout a season (i.e. preseason, early competition, main competition, post-season). Encourage athletes to be proactive in organizing team meals without the coach at places of their choosing. |
| Discussion groups | Lead discussion groups that provide every athlete the opportunity to speak on a particular topic that is relevant. Model effective communication practices. |
| Non-sport related activities | Encourage team activities centered around non-sport related activities (e.g. board games, cards, team book club, recreation) |
| Physical practice | Promote healthy competition within practices and identify common goals. Encourage athletes to hold each other accountable for proper work ethic. |
| Psychological skills training | Provide formal opportunities to practice visualization, positive self-talk, and confidence development with individual athletes and the team as a whole. Help athletes identify inhibitions and guide them toward their own solutions. |
| Volunteer service | Model worthy participation in service for others and provide opportunities for athletes to take part in such activities (e.g. local food bank, charities, events, etc.) |
| Team cheers | Provide closure to each team meeting/practice by uniting the team with a cheer. Allow each athlete to lead a cheer at least once a season. |
| Celebrate successes | Teach athletes to define success by more than just the outcome of a competition. Demonstrate how to celebrate the ‘small victories’ that build confidence. |
| Community | Establish a sense of community within the team itself and provide opportunities for the team to build connections with their surrounding community. Make efforts to network with people who share the same passions. |
| Team captains | Allow athletes to elect team captains after the first two weeks of preseason training. Clearly define the captains’ roles and explain what it means to be a leader. Be a model leader who shows courage, commitment, and caring. |
| Opportunities for growth | Normalize situations in which athletes are struggling. Take advantage of those teachable moments and explain the benefits of growth throughout athletics and life. |
Suggestions for the Coach-Athlete Relationship
Although athletes are not machines, coaches often get caught up in the technical parts of the sport and neglect the important psychosocial aspects. If an athlete is not performing well, coaches instinctively look at the training approach and see if something can be altered so the athletes respond better. Or, alternatively, one could assume that the training is fine, and the athlete just does not have the mental toughness to compete at a high level. While these assumptions may be valid in some situations, a third alternative should be considered. What is going on in the athlete’s interpersonal life? How are they being accepted on the team? How do they perceive the coach? We, as humans, have an inherent ‘need to belong.’ Whether that need is actually met in sports is directly related to a team’s cohesion. But the only way coaches can know if that need is NOT being met for a particular athlete, is to interact with them on an interpersonal level.
| Table 3: Suggestions for Coach-Athlete Relationship | |
| Coach-Athlete Interactions | Coaching Role |
| Consistent treatment | Behave in a consistent manner when dealing with athletes in individual settings as well as in group settings. Be reliable. |
| Individualized | Recognize the individual needs of athletes and seek to understand each athlete on a deeper psychological level. |
| Interpersonal feedback | Provide opportunities to give and receive interpersonal feedback about behaviors. Help athletes raise self-awareness. |
| Belonging (Clarity of roles) | Help athletes satisfy their inherent need to belong by valuing and explaining their role on the team. |
| Transparency | Use clarity when describing expectations and check athletes’ perspectives to ensure understanding. Explain the reasons for coaching behaviors. |
| Empathy | Show sensitivity to athletes’ thoughts and emotions. Allow athletes to express themselves and use active listening strategies to demonstrate understanding. |
| Athlete input | Encourage athletes to take responsibility for their own development and share ideas. Provide opportunities for them to share in individual and group settings. |
| Safe environment | Create a safe environment for athletes by being caring, accepting, and understanding. Continuously monitor and foster this environment in practices and individual encounters. |
As a coach, I firmly believe that the best way to achieve high cohesion is through a concerted effort to understand athletes on a deeper level. This goal can be achieved by having regularly scheduled individual meetings as well as whole team meetings. Athletes need to be given the opportunity to be heard and coaches should be willing to listen. If coaches make efforts to ensure that athletes are understood and socially connected to both coaches and teammates, teams will achieve a level of cohesion that not only promotes winning, but goes beyond it.
Conclusion
From both a practical and research perspective, team cohesion is important for success (Carron et al., 2002). The use of team-building exercises not only promotes positive team chemistry, but it also influences the effectiveness of coaches in a constructive manner (Gould et al., 2002). Knowing that coaches can drastically affect cohesion, they can seek to achieve it in both task and social dimensions, acknowledging that the psychosocial arena is a field in which many can improve. Athletes look to coaches for guidance and it is the leader’s responsibility to actively encourage team-bonding and empower team captains to cultivate it on yet another level. Although many strategies exist on how to develop team cohesion the most important point is that coaches must consciously strive for it, and communicating the importance of it to athletes, both verbally and non-verbally, is essential to achieving it. If coaches build strong relationships with the individuals under their tutelage and encourage them to build relationships with each other, team cohesion will undoubtedly improve, and so will overall performances.
[Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in PHE America on 08/14/20]
References
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