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Coaching Culture with Ben Herring
Coaching Culture with Ben Herring is your weekly deep-dive into the often-overlooked “softer skills” of coaching—cultural innovation, communication, empathy, leadership, dealing with stress, and motivation. Each episode features candid conversations with the world’s top international rugby coaches, who share the personal stories and intangible insights behind their winning cultures, and too their biggest failures and learnings from them. This is where X’s and O’s meet heart and soul, empowering coaches at every level to foster authentic connections, inspire their teams, and elevate their own coaching craft. If you believe that the real gold in rugby lies beyond the scoreboard, Coaching Culture is the podcast for you.
Coaching Culture with Ben Herring
REFLECTIONS: The Power of Team Cohesion
The quest for high performance in team sports often leads coaches down the wrong path. What if the secret to winning isn't about collecting the most talented individuals, but something far more fundamental?
Ben Darwin's groundbreaking research through Gainline Analytics has produced a data goldmine that challenges conventional wisdom about building successful teams. As I unpack five crucial insights from his work, you'll discover why cohesion—not star power—consistently predicts championship-level performance.
The numbers don't lie: teams with extensive shared experience outperform those assembled with supposedly superior individual talent. This phenomenon explains why certain combinations (like the 12-13 partnership in rugby) prove so critical to team success. When players develop that intuitive understanding that comes only through time together, they create synergies that raw talent simply cannot replicate.
Darwin's research reveals other counterintuitive truths: how system simplicity trumps tactical complexity, why roster turnover consistently undermines performance (especially when changing 30% or more annually), and how selection criteria should prioritize shared playing histories over individual brilliance. Perhaps most sobering is the data showing meaningful team turnarounds typically require three-plus years—no matter how talented the coach or incoming players.
Whether you're a coach, team leader, or passionate sports fan, these insights will transform how you view team building. They offer a evidence-based blueprint for creating lasting success rather than chasing quick fixes. Subscribe now to explore more game-changing perspectives on leadership, culture building, and performance optimization.
Welcome to Coaching Culture Reflections, the midweek spark for anyone who loves leading teams and growing through that journey. I'm Ben Herring and I've been loving the Soda game for bloody ages. Each week I'll break down key components of leadership, from culture building to communication, from mindset to motivation all to help you lead with more impact, heart and clarity and level up. Let's get into it. A little while ago, we did a podcast with Ben Darwin for his Gainline Analytics company, which has proven to be one of our absolute most downloaded, because I suspect a lot of us, when we're talking culture, actually want to see some data, some measurable stats around how we can improve the culture, and Ben talks about exactly this. His database, his matrix of data around measuring cohesion in teams, is absolutely phenomenal, and what he's pulling out in terms of insight into how we can improve our teams using data, measurable stats to measure cohesion and how we can improve our teams through it is absolutely phenomenal. So if you haven't used it, if you haven't looked at that podcast, it's going to light you up, you're going to love it. So get on there and have a look at his podcast.
Speaker 1:I'm going to today just recap five of the sort of big insights from his work and where coaches often go wrong. Because, let's talk about it High performance. We all want it, in whatever grade we're doing. But Ben and his company have actually put some measurements on it. So here are some of the key stats which I'm going to pluck out of there. Number one cohesion actually beats star power, and Ben's data is absolutely clear. The most successful teams aren't the ones with the most talent, they're the ones with the most time together. All the numbers suggest that if you want to win a World Cup, you have the most experienced team put together out on the field. And if you look at all the stats that have derived from all of the World Cups across multiple sports, that fact is really clear. The teams that have played together the longest generally win the thing. Cohesion is the number one predictor of performance, not the skill. Common mistake for us as coaches to think the next big signing or recruit will fix the system. But a better approach, according to the stats, according to the measurements, is to invest in continuity, keeping combinations together, build the connections over time Because, as the data reveals, it's the time in which is massive right Time in is massive, just building that little connection piece. So it's particularly in some positions, like Ben talked about, the 12-13 being one of the most pressing partnerships connections to get right. So with time, you know where someone's going to be, you know what sort of movements they're going to be, you know what sort of movements they're going to do, you know how they're going to react to certain situations, because you've done it a thousand times and because of that you instinctively run to the right place.
Speaker 1:I actually love the analogy that Ben gave around as a prop. The different hookers that he had One of his fellow props didn't connect with the hooker because they didn't have that connection through their club rugby together, whereas Ben did and his combination with that hooker was awesome. But he found when the hooker changed, so too did his comfort levels, he couldn't quite mesh with that hooker. All the hookers were good, they were international-level hookers, but because they hadn't had that connection over time it just wasn't as seamless and as a result, they didn't get the connection together. Their synergistic approach didn't align. Love that Number two systems win, not just tactics.
Speaker 1:Now Ben's data revealed that teams with high cohesion that's time in together outperform in complex systems because players don't need to be told what to do, they just do it. So if you've got a lot of time in, you don't need to be told what to do. They just do it. So if you've got a lot of time in, you don't need to teach these systems, because players just know. And once you've got this time in, that's when you can start adding complexities, you can add these little tweaks. But to do that when you're not cohesive, when you haven't been there a long time, it's just a recipe for disaster. So his research shows pretty clearly that system understanding approves with time spent in it.
Speaker 1:A common mistake that coaches make is over complicating playbooks. I've been in multiple teams where the playbook is thick as and instead of building a system through memory and reps, you're trying to do it with all this complication. And the honest and the data says you complicate things once you've mastered them. You just add those little tweaks at the end, not before. You add that level of detail. Once you've got the meshing, once you've got the consistency, then it just happens. You start tweaking these things because you're capable of, you've got the gel in the first place. I think that is the approach. Then it just happens. You start tweaking these things because you're capable of, you've you've got the gel in the first place. I think that is the approach simplify, repeat and refine. Simplify, repeat and refine in that order. Keep it simple, then repeat, repeat, repeat over time and then you're fine. That's what it's all about this. This data that Ben's got a huge matrix showing that stuff off.
Speaker 1:Number three recruitment undermines culture. Benny Darman's data shows that teams who go through players that churn through them every season take longer to hit high performance. And here's a quote that he said if you change 30% of your roster each year, your system resets, no matter how good the talent coming in is 30%. If you change that every year, your system resets every time, no matter how good the talent is. So it's a common mistake that coaches make we all make. Sometimes we chase short-term solutions through getting new players in or transferring players or whatever that is.
Speaker 1:The better approach is to protect that spine of your team, your key positions, building internal depth and promoting from within wherever possible. I think it was really fascinating to note that certain positions are absolute gold to get connected and have time in. We mentioned the 12-13, but likewise the two in the lock, your jumping lock, your calling lock. The better those sort of combinations are, the longer they've had time together, the longer they know each other, your team's going to go better.
Speaker 1:If you want to recruit, the best positions to recruit are your wingers, because they're at the end of the chain. Essentially, the centers are going to get influenced from the inside and the outside they influence. It's a harder one to nail If you're putting two new centers into your team or you're putting a new hooker and a new jumping lock into your team. It's going to take time for them to start getting a flow together, to understand where the other player is going to be that connection piece. And because these positions are very influential in the middle of the scrum, in the middle of the line, in the middle of the midfield, they have a big effect on everyone around them.
Speaker 1:He did a lot of research around the. The value of recruiting and top jaw wingers and they transition a lot quicker than other. The value of recruiting in top-jaw wingers and they transition a lot quicker than other positions because they're at the end, they're a little bit on their own island out there and their individual talent, without knowing the system and the connection, can actually get them by so very well and that's a great thing to keep in mind when you're recruiting for your team is which positions you do and are you keeping the spine of your team together? I think it's also important to note that you've got to back who you think it's going to be. If you've got some young midfielders or a young hooker and a young lock coming through the ranks, it's important to back them, to blood them through your system, to keep them engaged, to keep them wanting to be there and show trust and faith in them. Have a graduated entry into it If they're young, give them time off the bench together, get them around the older players, encourage them to be part of that environment, rather than taking sort of maybe the short term selection point and pulling someone else in who's ready. That's a longer term approach, but it's the longest successful approach. It's about creating winning cultures and that's exactly what this would be doing. Number four selection isn't just about skill. This goes on from the first one.
Speaker 1:High performing teams often select players with shared playing histories, even if other players are more talented, and the data that Ben pulls out shows that players have played together before require fewer training hours to be effective. I think we can all understand that and that's why selection of international teams often comes back to combinations. Some of the greatest errors of various international teams actually falls in line with some of the greatest combinations in certain positions. You look at the New Zealand example of midfielders Walter Little, frank Bunce, conrad Smith, ma Nonu when those players were playing, the team performed together. The team performed better. They had some of their most successful periods of winning rugby when some of the key combinations had entrenched long-term combinations. I think that's massive. It's also Benny pulled up about when you took some of those players out of that. When you took Ma out of the combination and when he went to the Highlanders he wasn't as good without his buddy in the midfield and he was playing individually rather than the synergistic combination he had with his old mate Conrad. And when they were together they were more than just double as good, they were quadruple as good and they were the best in the world Separately not as strong, and they struggled to find that connection and, as a direct correlation, the teams went well when those two were together. Love that right. So it's important when you're thinking about selection in your teams is think about factors and cohesion metrics when selecting lineups. Who's played together before? Who knows the system inside out. It actually goes a long way further than you might suspect.
Speaker 1:Number five trying to turn around a team as a coach takes time, and more time than you think it's. Probably one of the biggest misconceptions is that a coach, or a great coach, can turn around a team in a year. Ben's research says not really His quote is this it takes three plus years for cohesion to take hold and you can't really shortcut that. It just takes time. You might be able to fluke it, but consistently, from the scores of data that he's got is you just can't. There's a reason why a team hasn't been performing year after year after year, and so for you to come and think you can I know you promised that when you get the job you say I'm going to turn this thing around and that's part of the ego and that's part of the drive that makes you a good coach. But the reality is very clear, according to the research, that it takes time. There's a misconception how good a great coach can actually be.
Speaker 1:Common mistake is that new coaches try to implement massive change fast, tearing down cohesive processes in the process, like that's no good. Take it down, no good, no good, rip it up and it's just got to take time. You've got to build, build, build. Better approach is always to learn the system wherever you're going. Make small, deliberate improvements. Build on what is working rather than starting again. No-transcript.
Speaker 1:Ben Darwin's messages on data and how to use it is absolutely clear. It's simple but powerful. You can't outperform cohesion, so the next time you're tempted to wrap it up and start again, ask yourself this Are you building cohesion or breaking it? And you might shock yourself with your answer there. The other thing to ask yourself is are your systems designed for continuity or complexity? Are they simple or are they complex? The simpler they are, the easier they'll be able to pick up and nail. It's only once you've nailed the simplicity that you should even think about adding complex things. Are you selecting for connection or are you just picking the best raw person out there? That's a fascinating one, because according to Ben's stats, which are very, very good, connection and cohesion is the most important thing. So when you select your teams, are you just picking the raw boned athlete or actually selecting combinations that have worked well for a long time together? Love it.
Speaker 1:Coaching isn't just about the strategy. It's about building something that lasts, and Benny Darwin's data over a huge amount of time shows exactly what can last and that's cohesion. If you haven't checked it out, check out that episode. It is absolutely gold. On the coaching pod, coaching culture podcast. Until next time, stay away. That's it for this today's episode. If this sparks something for you, hit, subscribe, share with a coach or teammate, or just sit with the questions. That's where the good stuff starts. Catch you next time.