Kelly and Culture
Posted: June 19th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 68 Comments »We talk a lot about football culture and character when we discuss how Chip Kelly has changed/built the Eagles. These aren’t just buzzwords or cheesy phrases. They are real and they have meaning.
Andy Reid brought stability and a sense of professionalism to the Eagles when he took over in 1999. Ray Rhodes was a players coach and didn’t exactly run a tight ship. Reid took control of the team and did things his way. Over time, and with many staff changes, Reid’s tight rein loosened. That affected the play on the field.
In comes the new boss and his new idea.
Dan Klausner wrote a terrific piece for PE.com on the subject of Kelly and culture.
Ever since Chip Kelly took over as head coach a little over 17 months ago, he has been hard at work establishing a certain culture to govern the Philadelphia Eagles. Prior to Kelly’s hire, the perception was that the locker room had fractured into a group of individuals that lacked cohesion and camaraderie. However, as last season showed, this Eagles team bought in to Kelly’s program and showed the kind of resiliency and togetherness necessary to turn a 1-3 start into a 10-6 finish and an NFC East title.
“It just depends on what model of organization you want,” Kelly said. “Do you want blind obedience or informed acquiescence or self-governance? I think if you have self-governance, the individuals have more invested in what’s going on because they have a say and they have a stake in it. I think we’re moving towards that model, but I don’t know if we’re totally there right now.”
The head coach elaborated further and meticulously spelled out what he meant.
“Everybody has the same amount of time during the day,” Kelly said, “and you can either spend your time or invest your time and that’s what we are trying to get our players to understand. It’s how you allocate your time. We all have 24 hours in the same day and it’s what you want to do. If you want to go play video games and watch TV and do all those other things, you’re going to get beat out by the guy that is doing the little things that are going to make the difference between making the team and not making the team.
“When we talk about investing in yourself we are challenging them to understand every action you have that has consequences to it. They can be positive or they can be negative. If at the end of the day your goal is to make this football team or your goal is to be a starter or your goal is to be an All Pro, you have a say in that matter and that’s what we are trying to get across to our guys in terms of that.”
Those are some simple, but powerful ideas.
Invest your time, don’t spend it. That sounds more like a self-help guru than a football coach, but that really is a great way to get young players to see the world. Time is a finite commodity. Don’t waste it.
Go read the whole piece. Good writing by Dan and interesting thoughts from Chip.
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You know ish like this is probably lightening a crazy fire under saint Jordan’s ass and he probably takes every word to heart,.sal pal says we gave Jordan Mathews 81 to excersize the ghost of T.O lol
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Btw, for those wondering, we head to Foxborough at the end of camp, few days before the preseason…be fascinating to see how Chip and that dry, salt eating rat Bellicek interact behind closed doors. FOles picked up that subtle pat the ball play fake last year and attributed to watching Brady…can’t wait to see what our Golden boy picks up from THE golden boy this summer. Brady lucky Folesy got married or Gisele would be jumping ship one of these next few years and coming over to team FOles…
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Two years from now, I don’t even know how it would be possible for Chip to not have whipped us into an elite team..
Wait, I thought we gave Mathews Avant’s number. Who is this TO guy?
Kelly’s quoted as saying:
“Do you want blind obedience or informed acquiescence or
self-governance? I think if you have self-governance, the individuals
have more invested in what’s going on because they have a say and they
have a stake in it.”
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Kelly, in his mind, links the concept of player “self-governance” to players “hav[ing] a stake in it” . . . with the meaning of “it” not at all clear.
Self-governance? Team? Methodology? I have no idea.
Beyond the ambiguity, though, what strikes me about this statement is how it runs head-long into how McCoy’s explained the Jackson release.
McCoy talked about how players have to buy into Kelly’s way. That is, Kelly’s way or the highway.
May the players suggest to Kelly a play or coverage that might work in the heat of a game, where the suggestion’s designed to exploit a 1-on-1 match up. Sure. What head coach doesn’t want to know that the CB opposite his flanker is heaving and can barely run 20 yards?
And may the players ask Kelly “why”? Why drink shakes, or why throw over the fly swatters, or why do anything Kelly requires? Sure.
And when a knucklehead is caught on Youtube saying mind-numbingly offensive things, will Kelly want his leaders to lead? Sure.
But it seems to me that Kelly — like Reid in his early and prime years, no less than any successful coach — wants things done HIS way.
There’s no democracy. There’s no investment.
There’s only compliance with all-visions Kelly.
Call it “buy in” if you want. But not self-governance, except in the most individualized sense — where players decide if they want to comply with what the head coach is demanding.
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Before the attacks come . . .
I’m not discounting, disparaging, or disagreeing with Kelly.
I’m trying to understand.
Vince Lombardi lived by the same precepts.
The great Lombardi demanded perfection from each player, knowing they’d never reach it. But, as it’s been said, in the chase for perfection, his players would capture excellence.
That’s what Kelly’s all about, I think. He’s just using 21st Century words.
“I think if you have self-governance, the individuals have more invested
in what’s going on because they have a say and they have a stake in it.”
I think Chip is very good at being “open” with the players on “why he does what he does”, You will pick up a lot of this in the “press conferences” if you read between the lines a little bit. When players understand the why’s, it’s easier to get on board with the changes. Rhis should lead to a more unified locker room and one that can probably police itself better when potential problem areas begin to crop up.
This is just the start of “Chip’s way” of self-governance which I feel is going to become the next big thing in the NFL, though as Geagle and others have pointed out, without a team wide mindset feom the owner on down, it’s going to be hard to duplicate. I think some of the things will see this year are MUCH FASTER and more plays per series (OTA’s were 3 plays per minute) and more 2 point option plays after scores. I’m sure Chip has a lot more of his playbook he hasn’t even used yet and as you have seen last year. To succeed in with Chip it begins with the mind, body health than talent.
I totally agree with you, and I think Kelly would too. I don’t think it’s a discussion about if you can do it any other way than Kelly’s, just gradients of why you are going to do it Kelly’s way.
Blind Obedience: doing it to keep a job, whatever that takes.
Informed acquiescence: Maybe you wouldn’t necessarilly do it if you weren’t required to, but you know why and maybe that helps.
Self-Governance- You are 100% bought in, you do what you do because you believe that’s the best way to do things, you want to do it, not because anyone is tell you anymore.
I don’t think they are talking about autonomy when they speak of self-governance.
I pretty much rolled my eyes with McCoy’s comment about DJax the other day, pretty much for the reason ACVike discussed.
At the podium, a day or two later, McCoy said that that was the message he took from it and he didn’t want to speak for teammates or the organization. If there is one player I’d want to take that meaning from the cut, he is the guy.
I am with you totally on that. With a caveat.
I’m not sure what parameters define self governance as far as an organization or football team. In the Forbes article linked yesterday by another reader, there were phrases like “performance based assessment”. I think Kelly sees studies like the one referred there and realizes that there is some use for those concepts in football.
However, unlike someone in corporate sales, football players all have a scheme and a playbook to run. Each level of the defense or offense has to be completely in sync. This is why we saw a guy like V. Curry dominate in the preseason and find himself inactive to start the season, and why Ced Thorton had praise heaped on him in almost every press conference last season.
I think his ideas of self governance, for players, fall more in line with players investing extra time into the playbook, film study, recovery, and exercise. I think his philosophy on assistants is more along the lines of informed acquiescence. They know exactly what Chip expects out of their players. They are then allowed to do what it takes to help the players meet those expectations.
So in a sense, yes, Chip is on board with these new age ideas. Just not in same way the companies mentioned in the Forbes article do.
A.C. – Good post. I think Chip is seeking something very like the Packer Way where hard work, the striving for perfection, and love of the game are driving values. He’s looking for JMat types will really love the game, want to learn, and who always seek perfection.
I don’t think he respects great players who play for the attention and money. He’s looking for players who really care about the team’s success and getting better. Sure it’s a business and players want to make money for the pain/suffering and limited work duration; but I think character is huge with Chip. DJax and JMat are polar opposites in his mind – he’ll take a less talented player with the right character over the high-maintenance star.
Very good, and I agree completely. Posted something similar before I read yours. Cheers.
Chip is actually referencing his studies on effective organizations. Just like his love of science, this philosophy is based on real data – Forbes has an excellent article on this:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dovseidman/2012/07/17/how-to-measure-and-manage-21st-century-performance/
Some excerpts:
The research examined how governance, culture and leadership influence behavior and impact performance.
Companies truly built on purpose, guided by values and permeated with trust experience significant advantages over the competition.
These companies characterized as ‘self-governing’ scored the highest on every one of the 14 performance outcomes evaluated by the study:
93% of employees at high-trust and truly values-based businesses observe financial performance greater than their competitors vs. 48% of those at strict top-down organizations.
Employees functioning in a high trust organization are 22 times more likely to take a beneficial risk – which, in turn, enables 8 times the levels of innovation as compared to the competition.
When it comes to loyalty, 92% of employees of businesses based on values and trust plan to be working for their company in a year, compared to 46% of those in strict top-down organizations. 98% would recommend their values and trust-based company to a friend vs. just 33% at strict top-down organizations.
99% of high-trust and values-based companies observe highly satisfied customers vs. 42% of top-down organizations. Employees at high-trust, values-inspired companies are 92% more likely to observe high levels of innovation relative to the competition.
Further, in high-trust, values-inspired companies, only 24% of employees observed misconduct or unethical behaviors, compared to 47% in low-trust, non-values focused organizations.
I think that’s exactly right. Shared mission/vision are crucial for highly functioning organizations. This plays out outside of the business context too. It works for schools, nonprofits, religious organizations, etc.
I think the main benefit with this kind of buy in, even if it’s my way or else, is that you get quality instead of mere compliance out of the players. That’s a pretty big deal.
I worked for a corporation once that espoused none of these virtues, and it was by far the worst job I’ve ever had. It’s unbelievable how much of an impact a corporations culture can have on your job satisfaction and performance (and your satisfaction with life as well). The experience significantly reshaped my philosophies on life.
Hmmmm! Sounds like a pyramid scheme…..Chip on top and the rest have to buy in.
I think all you have to do is compare the methods Greg Schiano attempted in Tampa Bay versus Chip Kellys.
At face value, they are both saying the same thing – “Buy in, do things my way, and we will be successful.”
But beneath the surface, Kelly has empowered his players with the education and knowledge of *why* he wants his players to do these things, and given them the resources to achieve their goals within this system. Schiano asked for blind obedience. Kelly wants the opportunity to convince his players to do things his way, and based on his history and his research, if players do things his way, the team will be successful.
Good quote from Herremans:
“(Kelly) talks more about deliberately practicing — coming out here with a purpose to get better, not just coming out and going through the motions because you’re in the NFL and you have to practice,” Herremans said. I think a lot of guys have bought into that. There’s a lot of backup to it. There’s a lot of things he shows you. Do this, and it affects you that way. He doesn’t just repeat the same clichés over and over again.”
Good point about cliches. Think about NFL players. They play this game at least since High School and I’m pretty sure they heared some phrases all the time.
Then comes Chip and tells them something they maybe never heard of, maybe a little bit different than the previous messages. And they find out: it works. I guess smart players value this approach.
great post. i’ll add one minor point – Kelly wants the players to do things his way, yes. but in addition to that, he wants the players to WANT to do things his way. a player is more likely to do what you want if they also want to do it (because it benefits them).
Kelly has all of the answers to backup everything he wants to do, and they have brought in all of the right kind of players that will ‘buy in’ once they see the reasoning behind it all.
“It” is the team in general, which can be viewed as its own organism as most human systems are.
Also the “you have to buy in” thought was just Shady’s opinion. Your mileage may vary when it comes to Shady’s opinions.
No, the team isn’t a democracy or an anarchy, but Kelly is always open to input. But in the end, one must make all final decisions, and that’s Kelly. If you cross Kelly, defy his plan without having convinced him of the merits of your alternate path, that’s when you’re gone.
All coaches want their players to train hard and study to maximize their potential. I think what Kelly is saying is that he is willing to spend time (invest?) explaining the how and why to players so they will want the same thing. The difference isn’t about who gets to set the goals, but rather about who gets to take ownership of those goals. Reverent power – because you want me to help you – is superior to authoritative power – because I make the rules.
I find Kelly’s goal is to be perfect / great / the best.
I understand his way to be how he gets there.
Kelly’s Way is to understand why you do something, only keep doing it if it makes you better and continue to find better ways of doing things.
The fast practices / smoothies / loud music – these are all based on his current understanding of the best way to train to win an NFL game.
They aren’t Kelly’s Way.
If a player doesn’t conform to the perceived best way to do things then he’ll get cut. Given that Kelly provides the understanding of why they do anything and everything to players (that ask) if the player doesn’t comply then he obviously is not aligned to being the best he can be.
The key thing is if a player / coach has a genuine improvement – does Kelly accept it and integrate it into the programme?
Because if this doesn’t happen then I agree it is just Kelly’s opinion or the highway.
These are just buzzwords or cheeky phrases
In that vain, I had this clue in my cryptic crossword at the weekend:
‘Suceed in transforming what I deny (3,3,3).
I’m not a crossword person, what does the (3,3,3) mean?
9-letters in the answer split in to 3 words, each 3 letters in length. The answer means Succeed and it is is a total Chipism. Transforming ‘what I deny’ in other words, an anagram of it.
Interesting puzzle. I got it, but I wouldn’t have without your translation.
WIN THE DAY
The thing I love most about the way Chip runs the team is the thing that most frightens me. His uniqueness. Guys are being treated differently than they ever have been before. They are having everything about themselves monitored. If a guy comes to practice after a night of drinking, it will be obvious in his hydration test. It is almost like they never get a second to just cut lose.
I love it because the results were obvious last season. What if the team takes a step back and the rest of the division takes a step up though? What if they miss the play-offs? Are guys going to think that they are wasting their time? Are they going to get sick of trying for 10 hours of sleep a night? Will he lose them?
Every coach’s message gets stale at some point. Will Chip’s resonate longer or shorter than the average coach? I really hope longer, but I am nervous.
As long as they win, the team will buy in.
They get to cut loose 16-20 times a year, at the expense of 53 poor victims.
This is a great question. And the answer is yes and no. For those players that buy in, Chip’s message will always resonate. They live and love football so these are easy decisions. For those that don’t buy in, the message quickly becomes stale. They don’t hang around that long (No matter your opinion on DJ, he is the prime example) so before long you have an entire roster and practice squad that buy in. They then teach the young-ens’ and it perpetuates. That’s the plan anyway. So the issue of CK’s message possibly getting stale is self solving.
**disclaimer: Everything stated above is under the assumption of continued success. Obviously without success the whole thing is just another little flash in the pan, but I BELIEVE!!
Interesting, and I have wondered about the longevity of such a thing too. Really curious to see how it plays out over the long run. I just think there are so many intangibles to what Chip brings to this team, that the players on a basic level will respect that. And I think it is human nature to follow a dynamic leader, especially one that is innovative with proven success. Clearly there are inherently driven players already on this team, and I personally am a huge believer in this sort of thing rubbing off on those around you. In the short time Chip has been here, its clearly obvious that he will error on the side of having a player that is “all in” with football over a supreme athlete. There is a certain psychology to sports that I think is overlooked, but I feel Chip is really tapped into having the type of team that is mentally strong and all working towards the same goal. Really hard to do with so many players on a football team. But if you have the same overall end result you are striving for, and a leader with a vision to move that along, then you at least are giving yourselves the optimal opportunity to succeed. Who really knows how this all bears out down the road with this team, but I am damn excited to witness it.
They have long holidays. Chip doesn’t monitor them in their holidays, afaik. He won’t be allowed and I don’t know if he’d want to.
As an NFL player, you have long, long holidays, but you have to deliver when you’re not in free time.
And btw: according to the check, the O-Line let it lose during the rookie dinner. We don’t know if Chip liked that or not, but we know he loves Kelce, Mathis and Peters and those guys were in attendance.
IDK. Sounds like Kelly wants players to live their lives around football. That may be fine with young college kids, but vets have families and young kids. Sure they should do more with their lives than just watch TV and play video games, but family should come before football.
A lot of what chip is doing will prolong a players career. I’m sure the “Mrs.” is happy, that as a family, her husband is healthier during and after the season. Sports science may prolong a career…we’ll see. The football focus is still mainly July to January…the rest is a “lifestyle” change.
Im sure the video game comment was for the younger players…
Family can come before football, sure. I wonder how many hall of famers put family before football though. I’m guessing not many.
I doubt after all the “prep”/science etc etc Chip does that his ending resolution would be to have the players forget their home lives. Momma didn’t raise Chip as no dummy.
Those wondering how saint Jordan Mathews will spend his time from now til training camp, the kid is headed to Atlanta to train with Calvin Johnson and AJ green
Not spend his time, invest it!
Touche
he actually went over that, first he’s going to the rookie symposium, then he’s going to Atlanta to train with the likes of AJ Green and Calvin Johnson, then go back and work with the guy He worked out with leading up to the draft, Andy McCoy.
Here’s the source, you’ll love it, go to the 2 minute mark, he’s speaking your language. http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/videos/videos/Eagles-Update-Under-The-Radar-Eagles/3445061a-d75e-4f32-a3a1-ac847c78cdc3
That’s exactly what I was tryng to say lol…I was going off the same video as u! Lol did you see the video of Sproles,when one of our reporters asks a question about shady getting injured and Sproles tells the reporter “don’t even say that” lol
I had to agree with Spoles there!
Sproles has so much swag..
I’m getting really antsy…I don’t even care about the season starting…I’ll be happy with the preseason. I’m just DYING to get a glimpse of guys like Villanueva, Saint Jordan, Travis Long, Kruger, Braman,…
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Honest question: can anyone ever recall being an eagles fan and being more excited about watching the 3rd and 4th quarter of a preseason game than this year?
I wanna see our gd D-line be able to get after it. I REALLY want to see our first round pick be able to rush a quarter back. Can’t see how much this defense has grown until the pads go on, can’t wait (significant growth from the defense basically makes this team elite, instantly).
Interesting that Vinny lined up as a 4-3DE on the left side of our Nickle package yesterday
Since I was younger, I’ve always looked forward to the pre-season to see if players have been “coached up” to maximize their potential. The uniquely effective approach that CK uses has definitely heightened the anticipation to see this team perform.
Does reading Iggles Blitz count as spending or investing my time?
I’ll answer your question with a question: did reading igglesblitz improve you as a person or improve the world?
Strangely, for me, a lot of my interactions in these comment threads do actually improve me as a person. Even if the answer is no for you, you’re probably not reading the site 24 hours a day, so your life’s not the biggest tragedy…right?
So if Im here 24/7 im wasting my time? Dam, knew there something wrong 😛 😀
Reading Tommy’s articles is investing your time. Reading my comments is spending your time. Welp, there you go again…
This article could have been titled “Culture Club.”
Or “The Petri Dish.”
Ruh roh. Looks like Jimmy Bama has caused a bit of a stir.
Gotta feel good to know the players are reading.
Read the rest, Mathis is engaging in it too.
Do it Jimmy! Show Matt what a real arm looks like!
He answered back that he would.
Irrational commenters already blame Jimmy for DJax being cut. If Barkley throws his arm out trying to knock Jimmy over, Jimmy is going to get roasted alive.
Could this be the start of Kempski’s NFL career?! HE COULD LEAD US TO THE SUPERBOWL!!
Hope it is the start of his career so we can trade him to Cleveland
LOL…. Why is Barkley always so salty? Feel like he feels completely embarrassed since he fell to round 4
the last time a reporter/analyst thought he can play football almost lost his eye. Ask the guy on ESPN how he’s doing. Jimmy has a better chance of falling off a cliff and bouncing like a Bumble to put a start on a tree.
Babin got released… That’s always fun…
I’m thinking everyone is starting to understand Chip. Everything Chip does, has meaning/facts/research as support in what he’s trying to accomplish. Another words, he doesn’t say “ok, everybody take a lap to warm up” and let’s everyone run around. Everyone warms up/stretches in a specific manner. As they say, there’s a method to his madness.
Everything he does, has a purpose(damn it, did I just summarize my own wordiness?)
Seriously…to watch the new eagles podcast with Vinny Curry and fast forward til the end when he starts talking about Allejandro Villanueava…funniest ish I have ever heard