Australia’s Olympic water polo coach Bec Rippon shared her insights on team cohesion and building a strong culture at the NSWRL’s Women In Sport Leadership (WISL) program today.
Rippon told the 21 participants from 10 different sports about the importance of creating a culture that aligns everyone to move in the same direction.
A two-time Olympian (2004, 2008) as a player, Rippon took on the Stingers head coaching role in December last year, or just eight months out from the Paris Olympic Games where the Australians won the silver medal. They also beat the United States for the first time in more than 20 years.
It was a fresh start but not a total clean-out of what had gone beforehand.
“We included the players because we didn’t want to start doing all this without their input,” she said.
“We wanted to have a brand so everyone knew what it meant to be the Stingers. It was a commitment to honouring our values and our style – that would be the guide to every decision made.
“We systematically checked-in and reviewed everything as we went along for consistency because although it’s important not to stray from what we do, you also need to be flexible and adaptable.
“But we stuck to that (culture) no matter what.”
Rippon’s messages resonated with WISL students nearing completion of the 20-week professional development course designed by the NSWRL in partnership with the University of New England (UNE).
It aims to help women overcome barriers in achieving leadership positions in elite sporting organisations by supporting their career development in the key areas of leadership self-awareness and communication.
Not all the participants in the 2024 WISL program are coaches. There are executives, managers, executives, officials, and co-ordinators from 10 state sporting organisations representing Rugby League, athletics, surf life saving, tennis, touch football, basketball, gymnastics, volleyball, lawn bowls, and football.
Rippon said all sports or organisations should aim to create a psychologically safe space where there is room to “embrace individuality through a team-first approach”.
“Individuals make up a team and should not need to just shut down who they are, but aligning these people with a strong vision and lived values creates a deep-rooted belief in self and others.”
The WISL program involves face-to-face workshops supported by individual coaching sessions, and group webinars, to assist participants to complete assessment in two modules. That gives them nationally-recognised credits towards a Diploma or Certificate IV in Leadership and Management.
This is the fourth intake of WISL students, with the 2024 class graduating in early 2025.
