Posted: Tuesday 16 September 2008
Team identity
There was a very funny article by David Mitchell in a Saturday Guardian recently, in which he bemoaned the use of ‘teamGB’ throughout the Olympics. He couldn’t understand what was wrong with using ‘the Great Britain team’, or just ‘Great Britain’, to describe our olympic athletes.
I know what he means, because 'teamGB' does have slight echoes of the sort of rebranding that took place during the 1980s, when companies stopped being called ‘RJ Bloggs & Son Ltd – Automotive Parts’ and became ‘MotoChoices’ with a new logo costing thousands of pounds.
But there is clear evidence that giving a team a stronger sense of identity helps it to succeed - and teamGB was certainly successful in Beijing. I have seen something similar work in my previous school, where the Director of Sport asked me if all the team kit could carry a logo and the words ‘Team Pangbourne’. I was sceptical, most pupils and staff were a bit sneering, and some parents were absolutely furious – but we went ahead with it. The logic was that it would encourage all pupils playing a sport to realise that in doing so they were part of a bigger team than they thought. It was hoped that winning girls’ hockey teams would see that they were contributing to more than just their own team’s success, and that they would go along and support the boys’ rugby teams when they had the chance. And vice versa.
It worked. Despite the sneering, the whole school’s attitude to sport became much more focused. Suddenly everyone was pleased when the rowers won a regatta, because everyone felt that they were part of that success too. And the school teams began to win more often. There seemed to be something powerful going on which made the overall result more than just the sum of its parts.
So we have thought about ‘Team Hutchie’ – but so far fallen short of a logo and the words on our sports kit. But maybe we should be thinking about it in the background anyway. Our rugby and hockey teams have all got off to a good start in the early part of the season, and both the 1st XV and the 1st XI are very strong teams this year (and do I have to explain how vital this is for the school?..) so we can look forward to seeing them succeed. I hope we can see that success replicated right down through the school, and all take pleasure in it – no matter what our own favourite sport might be.
David Mitchell says that the logical conclusion is for individuals to rebrand themselves in the same way – David Cameron, if he wants to win the next election, should call himself ‘manDC’. I hope we can agree not to be that silly about it here in Hutchie.