What Is "The Culture" And How Do You Fix It?

[LoneFunyan]

Editing for Clarity (this is why I don't usually start threads):

We can't change the city, we can't change the weather, but what is it that's in our control that you think would help change "the culture"? And I say that knowing full well that "culture" is completely indefinable. So make of it what you will. Anyway, though it might be a fun thought experiment to take up a little time during the off-season. Who knows - maybe someone from the CBJ lurks on the boards and likes some of these ideas, like they did with the cannon.

That's all you need for the thread. What follows below is confusing and long. Read it if you want.

Tangentially related to this is how the team markets its players. Marketing may not be something you view as 'culture' per se.

If the org actively gets players out in front of people, those players are more likely - I would presume, I'm talking out of my hat here, obviously - to feel that the team values them. That is almost certainly part of culture: making players feel valued, connecting them to the fans and the community.

LetsGOJackets!! posted in the Building for 2021-2022 thread that we should have more actively engaged with Jones as a marketing force while he was here and suggested a few things such as "Get business marketing partners to join in marketing with your team, endorsements and such. Which sandwich was Seth Jones goto at Wendy's, White Castle, which steak did he like at Hyde Parke what was his favorite car to drive, what was his first car?"

If you refer back to Portzline's interview of past players, there was a "complaint" that players don't get marketed. This is maybe a sore spot for players because it's an income source, but it's probably also an issue of pride: I'm a good player and an important player for this team, why am I not being presented as a "face" of the franchise? Again, I think that's definitely culture.

As a side effect, that also helps cement the player into the market and community. Maybe it makes it a harder decision to leave when the opportunity presents itself.

Click to read more...

 

[GoJackets1]

The organization definitely needs a complete makeover in the marketing department.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Endorsements are an agent’s job?

 

[LoneFunyan]

Endorsements are an agent’s job?

Sure they're an agent's job. But if you're an organization that struggles to keep talent, you have to start considering non-traditional ways of keeping people happy.

Some of it might be hokey but if it makes the player feel more taken care of, like Columbus is an easy place to be, you do it. "You should think about Columbus as a destination - I've got several clients that have played for them in the past and they take care of their players".

Additionally, I think making those marketing connections starts to root the player into the community so that they don't consider leaving to be as easy as staying. And marketing doesn't have to be in service to sales. If Seth Jones has a non-political cause he cares about, help him with that however you can (as Nick has with Children's).

Although to ownership and management it's a business, I think the nature of competitive sports breeds mentality among the players that it's a family. So you work to make that a reality in terms of how you run the org.

It's why I cringe every time I hear Jarmo break out "the hammer". And if you look at what those players told Portzline, there's a clear undercurrent of not being seen as a person and treated more like a commodity.

 

[MissADD]

Endorsements are an agent’s job?

I think its the agents job to work on outside endorsements, like say a sponsorship with Gatorade, with I think the club works with his agent on inside sponsors like Jets Pizza. So Seth's agent would work with Gatorade directly, while Jets would approach the team about a commercial, and would ask about Seth, then the team would contact his agent about it. I think thats how that works, don't quote me on that.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

I’ll just be interested to see what people think can be done on this front. I had a friend who worked 20 years in marketing for the CBJ. She pitched me every week a story about a player doing something in the community. I wrote about the cancer benefit where young cancer patients and players did a fashion show. I wrote about Scott Hartnell’s foundation. I wrote about players reading at libraries. I did a Q&A with Jones and Jenner about their favorite off-ice stuff to do. That’s a pittance compared to what the department was doing.

So anyway, I’m sure they will appreciate hearing all the ways they fell short over the years.

Sarcasm aside, I have yet to have someone explain to me what “marketing players better” actually means. It’s a buzz phrase tossed around but it’s not really that simple. I asked the question in the thread about that Athletic piece with the three former players. It’s a topic in which I have interest, is what I’m trying to say.

I realize the things I mentioned above may seem more like things a player is obligated to do but again, I’ve yet to hear a quality explanation of what this means.

Also, apologies, because “culture” could mean a lot more than “marketing” but it was brought up in the OP.

 

[Monk]

I'm not sure what the solution is because I have no idea what's broken, except some of the things appropriately listed as unfixable. I'm also not 100% confident that there is something broken that needs to be fixed.

I'm mostly just eager to see what the next 1-2 years are like with a new coach and go from there.

 

[Jovavic]

Whatever the culture is, it better not get cancelled or Atkinson or Bjork might flip out

 

[JacketFanInFL]

Mentality, people, mission. All need significant upgrades.

Mentality/Mission - "The goal of this organization is to win the Stanley Cup. Anything less is not acceptable and a failure. Everyone and everything in this organization must be aligned with this, this is non-negotiable." No more - "Making the playoffs" or "Winning a series" nonsense. Anyone that's worried about making the 8th seed is already losing. There is a killer instinct and mentality of winners, and it is nowhere to be found.

People - We may be turning the corner here with JD. Having Jared Boll leading development isn't going to cut it in the ECHL and certainly won't cut it here. No more front office jobs for former players unless they're bringing something to the table. Rick Nash - looking at you too - guy who asked for a trade out of town is going to be in charge of "Player Recruitment?" GMAFB. Torts is out, but he definitely was not a player's coach and it's showing with the key departures in his tenure. Woody Hayes - You Win with People.

 

[Monk]

Mentality/Mission - "The goal of this organization is to win the Stanley Cup. Anything less is not acceptable and a failure. Everyone and everything in this organization must be aligned with this, this is non-negotiable."

That's been the organization's stated goal for a while now. From Jarmo, Mike Priest, Davidson, Torts, etc. Pretty sure it's a subset of the fans who have been OK with the 0 instead of the 1.

 

[NotWendell]

The organization definitely needs a complete makeover in the marketing department.

Out of our blue...

 

[NotWendell]

Woody Hayes - You Win with People.

This says it all.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

This says it all.

How so?

 

[KJ Dangler]

The Culture, and how do you fix it ?

WIN......

Its not rocket science. Look at it from an outsiders perspective. Our greatest achivement was squeaking in the playoffs as an 8 seed, and sweeping the Lightning. Weve been out of the first round 1 time. On top of that we played a boring brand of hockey that relied on taking the skill out of the game.

So how do you convince people to want to stay in Columbus ? Its a results league

Other than that its all talk. We are looking for excuses or something to point a finger at, but in reality, the main problem is lack of winning. Porty referred to it today.. sure there are little things the organization can change, little nice touches, Jarmo maybe could be friendlier, but Seth wants to go win . Free Agents want to get paid, WIN, and have a nice place to possibly raise a family. Not to even Mention Torts as the coach, his system crippling your offensive output, mismanaging his talent, etc.

 

[NotWendell]

Culture the behavior you allow, the behavior you reward, and the behavior you won't stand for. It's defined and reinforced every single day. All of the words on the walls and in marketing materials are meaningless in comparison.

 

[NotWendell]

How so?

Name one area where the talent in this organization is elite in comparison to the 31 other teams in the NHL. Our color guy on TV and our training staff are all I can come up with.
Now compare that to organizations (in all sports) that win consistently.

But it's not just the people you hire, it's how you treat them once they're hired.

 

[majormajor]

Name one area where the talent in this organization is elite in comparison to the 31 other teams in the NHL. Our color guy on TV and our training staff are all I can come up with.
Now compare that to organizations (in all sports) that win consistently.

Name one area of this organization, outside of the players that we can see, where we have any meaningful way to compare them to what others do in other organizations. How do you know what an elite trainer is?

 

[majormajor]

So is this thread about culture or marketing?

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

So is this thread about culture or marketing?

Well, that’s particular my fault. I think the OP intended that marketing was one piece of an organizational culture puzzle.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

But it's not just the people you hire, it's how you treat them once they're hired.

Major already asked about the other part of this post, so I’ll ask of this one, how so?

 

[majormajor]

I think the OP intended that marketing was one piece of an organizational culture puzzle.

Yeah and I don't think of it that way. Makes for a strange amorphous topic.

 

[Crede777]

Culture requires hard work from ownership, management, AND the players themselves.

Owners need to be willing to spend the money necessary to succeed as well as act as advocates for their team both to the league and community. While I applaud John McConnell's willingness to support the team financially, he seems to be too passive as an advocate. You never see him give an interview, never hear his thoughts about what is going on in the league, and never see him promoting himself and the team locally. Compare this to owners of many other franchises across different sports. Mario Lemieux uses his status both locally and within the league to raise the profile of his team. Plenty of NBA owners and NFL owners openly interact with the community through social media, papers, and local coverage. I'm not saying John McConnell should act like James Dolan or Eugene Melnyk (who is an example of an owner who is loud but doesn't pay to support the team). I'm just saying that John McConnell needs to stop being a silent owner. Hopefully this is something that John Davidson can really help with.

Management obviously impacts the culture by hiring the coaches, scouts, training personnel, and acquiring the players. Their job is to basically bring in and then retain as much talent as possible under the cap. I like Jarmo's ability to identify talent (although admit it is far from perfect). My issue is obviously with his ability to retain talent. Now, I am willing to cut him some slack in his negotiation tactics given the recipe for winning is clearly to fit as much talent as possible under the constraints of the cap. This requires, ideally, that players will provide talent in excess of their cap allotment. I don't think it's a coincidence that one of the current stories is how the Montreal Canadiens are the first team in the cap era to have advanced to the 2nd round while paying a player $10 million or more. While you don't want to run players out of town, you need to be willing to establish what a player is worth dollars wise and then fight to get him to sign for that amount or less. It's a fine line which is almost impossible to walk when your team doesn't offer things like being a giant city, great weather, or no taxes to offset the requested deal. So I think Jarmo needs to revise his strategy a bit.

Finally, culture also is dependent upon the players. This is a team without history. They currently lack a leader and a difference maker. It is incumbent upon the players to decide "hey, I want to be that guy for this franchise." It's a unique opportunity in this league and one that I'm unfortunately surprised hasn't been taken yet. If players aren't willing to make the decision to stay and aren't willing to work hard to be leaders, then management cannot do much. It takes two to decide on a contract.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Yeah and I don't think of it that way. Makes for a strange amorphous topic.

I think it indirectly stems from the piece discussed in this thread:
News Article: - Former players tell The Athletic about CBJ as an organization

 

[TaketheCannoli]

I’ll just be interested to see what people think can be done on this front. I had a friend who worked 20 years in marketing for the CBJ. She pitched me every week a story about a player doing something in the community. I wrote about the cancer benefit where young cancer patients and players did a fashion show. I wrote about Scott Hartnell’s foundation. I wrote about players reading at libraries. I did a Q&A with Jones and Jenner about their favorite off-ice stuff to do. That’s a pittance compared to what the department was doing.

So anyway, I’m sure they will appreciate hearing all the ways they fell short over the years.

Sarcasm aside, I have yet to have someone explain to me what “marketing players better” actually means. It’s a buzz phrase tossed around but it’s not really that simple. I asked the question in the thread about that Athletic piece with the three former players. It’s a topic in which I have interest, is what I’m trying to say.

I realize the things I mentioned above may seem more like things a player is obligated to do but again, I’ve yet to hear a quality explanation of what this means.

Also, apologies, because “culture” could mean a lot more than “marketing” but it was brought up in the OP.

Your comments about marketing are interesting. It sounds like they worked pretty consistently at getting good press for both the team and individual players. Thanks for sharing that otherwise I doubt I ever would have known about this. Should the team be promoting players to the business community or is that the agent's responsibility? Is player marketing what attracts and keeps in-demand players?

My question about culture - whatever that is - have we returned to the disarray and futility of the Doug MacLean/Scott Howson years? If so, is this an indictment of team ownership? Is Mac failing to provide leadership? Hiring the wrong people?

Speaking of hiring, how much does the team invest in scouting? Of the top 100 or 200 amateur scouts, how many work for this franchise? Of the top 100 pro scouts how many work for the CBJ? How many scouts does Columbus have vs. Detroit, Boston, the Rangers, Tampa, etc?

When I look at professional sports franchises across sports, certain teams regularly succeed and almost always put a competitive team on the field/court/ice. With these teams GMs change, coaches change, the roster continually changes, what remains constant is ownership, the commitment to excellence and fielding a winning product. For the most part, established players WANT to play for contenders. Is Blue Jacket ownership the root problem?

 

[TaketheCannoli]

Name one area of this organization, outside of the players that we can see, where we have any meaningful way to compare them to what others do in other organizations. How do you know what an elite trainer is?

I think the only way we could find out is information from hockey operations lifers. I'm sure when they aren't with a team, people like Craig Patrick, Ray Shero, Brian Burke, Jim Rutherford and the like could say, and many of those guys are not shy about sharing their opinions.

I remember Burke saying one Canadian team had none of the top 100 scouts in hockey in the last 5 years.