Successful squads are sticky squads

It was a privilege to be invited back to Tyne Amateur Rowing Club last night to greet the Senior Squad at the start of a fresh season.

Tyne 1st 8+, 2019. Photo courtesy of Dom’s Dad.

I felt some sympathy for the knackered athletes whose bodies were screaming for nourishment after a tough 30 minute session (30r20) but instead, with hands full of post-it notes and sharpies, I was there to drain their mental energy too…

But it’s all too easy to join a club and defer all responsibility for what you do and how you do it to the coaches and captains, and then realise half way through the campaign that you’re not on the trajectory you want to be, but the season has already slipped away.

Or to assume that other people have the same goals as you and then feel frustration that they don’t seem to be playing by the same rules when things are getting tough and they’re not behaving how you expected.

There are always some awkward moments during these kinds of sessions where nobody wants to be the first to throw an idea or opinion into the mix, but once we got going there was some lively discussion, conventions challenged, a wall full of post-its and hopefully the start of a squad environment that will minimise tension and frustration through a mutual understanding of what it means to be part of that squad, because it’s been defined by the squad themselves.

I can’t commit to a regular coaching role (if I could I’d probably row instead anyway) so I’m delighted that Alex and Drew are happy to entertain me dipping in and out, and humouring me when I try to shoehorn product strategy into their managing of a competitive rowing team.

But I don’t see any holes in the logic of taking a considered approach to onboarding athletes and then attempting to minimise churn through smart retention strategies in the same way you would with an app or website. Successful squads are sticky squads.

Time will tell if it was genuinely useful for them, or if I was just indulged for 90 minutes by a polite bunch of youthful rowers, but either way, I enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to finding out.

PS. There was pizza, so they weren’t starving!