A dream that was ignited at 8 years old when running the ball out in front of the NSW Waratahs, at a packed-out Sydney Football Stadium. Rugby Union was front of mind for a lot of Australians in 2001 - the Wallabies were world champions at the time and were a source of inspiration for so many, especially this young boy with aspirations of following their footsteps.
Fast forward 22 years, I have represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games and spent multiple years playing with and against some of the world's best in the Super Rugby competition. More recently, I watched on as the FIFA Women's World Cup at home in Australia inspired a new generation of athletes to dream. I am proud of what I achieved in my playing career, and I hope that some of those young kids will look bad and be proud of their involvement in sport.
There are moments in sport that have the power to captivate a whole nation, yet there are also moments that can cause people to disengage and disconnect. This is where team culture becomes so important to people's experience and performance in sport.
In my experience, it's culture that fosters unity, resilience and shared purpose, enabling athletes to weather challenges and reach greater performance outcomes. In sport, culture can't be an afterthought, it is the driving force that takes those childhood dreams and turns them into reality and maintains the connection between the individual and their team. And from my experience, it is evident that the same applies in the workplace.
These insights have helped me transition out of the sporting world and into the professional world or 'the real world' as I like to call it. Since then, in my role as a consultant I have been lucky to support multiple organisations through cultural change and have seen the importance of culture in individual, team and organisational high-performance.
At Synergy Group, we focus on people and experience. It is the people that make sport great, and it is the people that shape every team's experience, both on and off the field. Culture is a lot more than words on a wall, it is the practices, behaviours, attitudes and systems that enable teams to flourish. As a group of people that have experienced the positive impact of sport through our involvement at the professional and community level, we feel passionate about applying our experiences as professional and amateur athletes to support organisations to establish and maintain high-performing cultures in their workplaces.
With my professional career behind me, a lot of people ask me if I miss the game. I don't miss waking up feeling like I've been hit by a bus, I don't miss countless injuries and I definitely don't miss the wrestling sessions. But what I do miss are the people, my teammates and the culture that enabled me to be a better person and increase my love of the game.
A winning culture is not accidental, it is intentionally nurtured. I have found the same thing helping organisations and teams achieve their corporate goals. When culture has the power to shape your teams experience and performance at work, why wouldn't you focus on it?
Synergy Group is proudly supporting the Great Debate on sport for Social Science Week on 5 September at the National Library of Australia. Get your tickets here: https://socialsciencesweek.org.au/event/the-great-debate-does-sport-unite-or-divide-us/
