“Erik Spoelstra takes it upon himself to hide a player’s weaknesses and not judge them on their weaknesses. He takes stuff guys don’t do well and creates a game plan that protects them. Whether it’s handling the ball against pressure or certain defensive matchups.”
Tim Legler on the Lowe Post podcast, June 2023
There’s no consistent recipe for culture. It’s cooking, not baking.
But there are things worth doing. Culture can be intentional.
In their book, Uncommon Service, Frei and Morriss use a four-part model to explain good (service) organizations.
- Great service is a trade-off. Something has to give.
- Great service isn’t free.
- Great service is designed for employees to succeed regularly, not act heroically.
- Great service is designed for customers to succeed, though they vary.
That third point is where Legler lauds coach Spoelstra. He puts his people in situations where they can succeed.
Frei and Morris give the example of a bank that wanted great customer service. To do that the bank hired people with more interpersonal than professional skills. The bank also simplified their product line. It was kind people dealing with limited options helping customers.
That’s not what a basketball team is but the spirit is the same: We have people who do this better than that so we choose to do more of this and less of that.
So maybe one culture recipe is honesty. We are honest with our skills, honest with our goals, and honest with the situation.
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