In the MiMentor Building an Elite Culture for Athletic Development module, our expert Grant Downie will look at the importance of ‘culture’ in any organisation, and specifically football. The right culture can help players and teams thrive, whether that’s at an elite professional, amateur or youth football club.
This course covers four topics looking at where you are now and what you are doing, where you would like to get to, and what you need to do along your journey as a club. With Grant’s expertise and advice, you can begin to shape a culture within your club, and help players and staff understand and buy into it through good communication, which in turn can help everyone grow and achieve the success you crave.
Grant looks at how the behaviours and attitudes of people working together within an organisation can determine the success of reaching their shared goals and objectives.
Grant helps you consider your club’s ‘mission statement’, encouraging you to think about where you are now, your strengths and weaknesses, and what you want to achieve. This will help you to understand where you want to go as an organisation and begin to develop a ‘Performance Pathway’.
Creating a common performance language, that everyone understands, can be vital in building a positive environment for athletic development. Communicating your core values in a way that doesn’t confuse people will positively impact the players.
Grant raises the idea of ‘smart hacks’ that will help you support and build the culture within your club and reach targets along your journey.
Grant has worked in clinical leadership roles for the FA, Glasgow Rangers, Middlesbrough and, most recently, at Manchester City, where he was head of performance services for the academy and women’s programme.
“When I go to organisations, I see the behaviours of players and staff all going in one direction toward a goal. And it’s unwritten.
“Much of a ‘culture’ is not rules or what is written on the walls. My definition of culture is about having a clear mission statement for the organisation that everyone understands and buys into and, most importantly, it is exhibited by their behaviour.
“Culture can take time and it can take years to develop. It is a continuous journey.”
In addition to this ‘Culture’ module, Grant will also be leading two more workshops on the MiMentor Platform, focusing on maverick characters within the game, and looking at injury prevention.
Grant will also be hosting ‘go live’ feature content within MiMentor, including webinars and live streaming events allowing users to engage directly with others on the platform and enable them to develop and learn from the best.
MiMentor experts Mark Armitage and Nick Harvey lead you through six modules in our course focus on football fitness, great for pre-season and during the campaign.
Sports Nutritionist Jennie Carter gives you an insight into the importance of nutrition for performance to help your team and players prepare for training and games.
In our FREE Creating An Identity course module, MiMentor Expert Ben Garner helps you understand your key values and beliefs to develop as a football coach.