Building Effective Culture is more complex now than ever. With busier fixture lists, ever-increasing pressure to maximise every minute of staff/player available time – now is the time to consider best practices in how to efficiently build a culture of clarity, empowerment, and inclusivity – which ultimately drives an environment of high performance and success. From ensuring first-team staff and players are on the same page with accurate scheduling, and clear communication to ensuring all academy players are their guardians are well informed to empowering players to manage key elements of their own day-to-day development. We took a deep dive into how some of the best culture builders in sport have done it.

For the conference, we’ve had some great industry experts together to discuss their experience, methods, and tools used in their pursuit of cultural excellence.

Speakers

Danny Cowley
Manager at Portsmouth FC

Danny is a well-known expert in building culture, having built his reputation (along with his brother and assistant Nicky) at Lincoln City where he got them to a quarter-final of the FA cup (the first non-league team in over a century to do so) brought the team back to the football league, made their first trip ever to Wembley to win the EFL trophy and then and then promotion again, up to League 1. He has since managed Huddersfield Town before moving on to his current club Portsmouth.

James Young
Head of Data and Analytics at Sunderland AFC

James has a fantastic track record in analysing performance the sports industry, he worked in a senior role at management consultants Delloitte where he was working across a range of sports including cycling, rugby, sailing and gymnastics, having previously worked at football data agency Stats Perform.At Sunderland he works alongside Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman, and oversees the work needed to feed into the evidence-based decision-making that is core to the club’s strategy.

Andy Friend
Head Coach at Connacht Rugby

Andy is an Australian rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Irish province Connacht. He was previously head coach of the Australia Sevens team, the Brumbies in Super Rugby English club Harlequins, and Canon Eagles and Suntory Sungoliath in the Japanese Top League. Andy has earned a strong reputation for building winning cultures wherever he goes.

Damien Hughes
Sports Psychologist and Host of High Performance Podcast

Professor Damian Hughes is an international speaker and bestselling author who combines his practical and academic background within sport, organisational development and change psychology, to help organisations and teams to create a high performing culture.

He is the author of eight best-selling business books, including Liquid Thinking, Liquid Leadership, How to Change Absolutely Anything, How to Think Like Sir Alex Ferguson, The Five STEPS to a Winning Mindset and The Barcelona Way: Unlocking the DNA of a Winning Culture. He also co-hosts the immensely popular High Performance Podcast.

Since David Brailsford MBE introduced the concept over 17 years ago, ‘marginal gains’ has been a buzzword within the world of sport. With leaders across the globe looking to implement similar techniques to achieve accumulated success. These gains can come from different areas depending on the discipline, but one area that has come to prominence in recent years is effective communication.  

The ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ was first coined by Brailsford whose relentless approach to tiny improvements saw British Cycling rise from mediocre, to Olympic Champions and Tour De France winners, shattering world records along the way. In his book, ‘Atomic Habits’, James Clear states that if an individual improves 1% per day, then across the course of the year they will be 37 times better than when they started. These small daily, marginal improvements compound over time and lead to accumulated successes. Brailsford’s technique at British Cycling was an unrelenting approach to empower the athlete, focusing on what they need to perform at the highest individual standard, culminating in team successes. Clarity; taking away any noise from the athlete, is becoming more prominent throughout the world of sport.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport has driven Team Mercedes to a record 7 straight Formula 1 Championships. Not Figuratively, of course, that’s Lewis Hamilton’s role, but Toto is the man responsible for creating the environment for Hamilton to succeed. He’s been hailed by Hamilton as ‘the best leader here’ when referring to Formula 1. Wolff, like Brailsford, focuses on empowering the staff and the athletes, understanding that success is about creating the environment they need to succeed. Though F1 is single-seat, it’s certainly a team sport with over a thousand team members at Mercedes, it’s important to create a clear culture that drives high performance. 

Effective communication across the departments is integral to success, with clarity and focus on the job at hand being vital to the individual. Wolff joined Mercedes from the business world, where like in sport, there’s been a shift towards culture and communication. Now, more than ever, there are organisational roles purely for cultural and communication development and management. In any organisation, whether that’s business or elite sport, cultural changes often need to be outlined from the top but implemented throughout an organisation as a whole to succeed, with specific responsibilities at every level defined to do so.

Elite sporting environments are the pinnacle of high performance. With the different departments focusing on their specific discipline to prepare the athletes for the demands of competition. A multi-disciplinary approach to performance is becoming ever-growing, with the increasing demands of roles like sports science, medical, injury prevention, nutrition, analysis, recovery, etc. Alongside commercial opportunities and the athlete’s personal responsibilities, it can become overwhelming for the athlete to perform. In Kairos’ recent ‘Planning Excellence’ webinar, Joe Schmitt, Director of Rugby and High Performance at World Rugby, told viewers ‘the better your planning the more pressure you take out of your own week, and it’s the same for the players’. Highlighting that clear communication and scheduling to players is critical to achieving high performance. Schmitt wanted his players to have clarity on the training week so they could focus on performing at their best. You can watch the whole webinar here. 

In a world where every team is now all over the idea of ‘marginal gains’ in performance, where is the next gain to be seen? It’s in the clarity of communication that is concise and empowering for both players and staff. 

And that’s where Kairos comes in. Through years of working alongside world-renowned teams we understand the time that can be needlessly taken, and the clutter that can be created by ineffective communication. So we have developed our platform to be the most powerful and functional platform on the market. Everybody has access to one interactive schedule and communications tool removing the need for a myriad of outdated tools and methods. It’s a cultural shift to empower the athlete, brings clarity and time saving to staff, and helps clubs achieve gains in high-performance environments. 

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including teams from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, MLS, and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, get in touch below.

Kairos has partnered with Sunderland AFC ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. 

Focussed on matchday preparation, Kairos’ industry-leading platform will provide an intuitive, robust and secure way to support the club’s squads and backroom staff to simplify scheduling, streamline communications and maximise player engagement.

Kairos equip and empower teams across the globe, working alongside organisations from the Premier League, the EFL, the MLS, Premiership Rugby and Pro 14 to maximise elite sports performance through excellent planning and unparalleled communication.

The online platform provides the tools to ensure that all matches, appointments, sessions – group-based and one-to-one – and all other scheduled activities are centralised in one easy-to-access location.

Team communications are also timely and relevant to each staff member, whilst ensuring players are more engaged and empowered to manage their individual schedules.

Sunderland Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman said: “Clear communication is absolutely imperative in creating a best-in-class football operation and partnering with Kairos is one of the many steps we are taking to achieve this. From our junior groups through to our senior teams, and across all our performance domains, we aim to take advantage of their advanced platform to ensure we have absolute clarity in our work.”

Kairos’ Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Andrew Trimble, added: “We are delighted to be working alongside Sunderland AFC. They are a club with a rich history and they are also incredibly ambitious. They are putting the tools and technology in place to ensure that all the staff and players are getting the most out of their time, and we look forward to supporting them in achieving their goals.”

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including teams from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, MLS, and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, get in touch below.

James J Claffey is a global sport, exercise, and performance psychology consultant. He’s has been a lecturer in sport and exercise psychology for the past 12 years, and has worked with Irish international soccer and rugby players. He’s also worked comprehensively with GAA (football and hurling) clubs for over 15 years at all levels. In the business arena, James has provided organisational psychology workshops for the likes of Facebook and Google.

Alan Byrne is a Sport and Exercise Scientist with an MSc in teaching and learning. He;’s a certified strength and conditioning specialist and is currently DOC at Lourdes Celtic football club and lecturer in Sports Sciences. He’s got 20 years of experience coaching in multiple field-based evasion sports including UK, Ireland, and US collegiate athletes.

Other Episodes:

Video – https://kairostech.io/podcast-shayne-murphy/

On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3EnOeNw1kJU2Mqcipxdz8

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including teams from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, MLS, and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, get in touch below.

Building Effective Culture is more complex now than ever. With busier fixture lists, ever-increasing pressure to maximise every minute of staff/player available time – now is the time to consider best practices in how to efficiently build a culture of clarity, empowerment, and inclusivity – which ultimately drives an environment of high performance and success. From ensuring first-team staff and players are on the same page with accurate scheduling, and clear communication to ensuring all academy players are their guardians are well informed to empowering players to manage key elements of their own day-to-day development. We will be taking a deep dive into how some of the best culture builders in sport have done it.

For the conference, we’ve got some great industry experts together to discuss their experience, methods and tools used in their pursuit of cultural excellence. Headlining the event will be Sunderland Head Coach Lee Johnson and Portsmouth Manager Danny Cowley.

We will have a number of other contributors for the conference, and they will be announced soon.

The Online Conference begins at 8.45am BST on Wednesday the 28th of July. It will be via Zoom and tickets are available HERE. Places are free, and if the time isn’t right for you – please still register and you’ll get a link to the recorded session after the event.

There will also be the opportunity to ask questions and give your feedback. Hope to see you there!

Speakers

Lee Johnson
Head Coach at Sunderland AFC

Lee is currently Head Coach at Sunderland and has experience in building culture as Head Coach at Bristol City, Barnsley, and Oldham Athletic. Lee is part of a new generation of Head Coaches that are analytically minded and focused on the holistic development of players. Lee is experienced in sports psychology, player development, and leadership.

Danny Cowley
Manager at Portsmouth FC

Danny is a well-known expert in building culture, having built his reputation (along with his brother and assistant Nicky) at Lincoln City where he got them to a quarter-final of the FA cup (the first non-league team in over a century to do so) brought the team back to the football league, made their first trip ever to Wembley to win the EFL trophy and then and then promotion again, up to League 1. He has since managed Huddersfield Town before moving on to his current club Portsmouth.

Andy Friend
Head Coach at Connacht Rugby

Andy is an Australian rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Irish province Connacht. He was previously head coach of the Australia Sevens team, the Brumbies in Super Rugby English club Harlequins, and Canon Eagles and Suntory Sungoliath in the Japanese Top League. Andy has earned a strong reputation for building winning cultures wherever he goes.

Damien Hughes
Sports Psychologist and Host of High Performance Podcast

Professor Damian Hughes is an international speaker and bestselling author who combines his practical and academic background within sport, organisational development and change psychology, to help organisations and teams to create a high performing culture.

He is the author of eight best-selling business books, including Liquid Thinking, Liquid Leadership, How to Change Absolutely Anything, How to Think Like Sir Alex Ferguson, The Five STEPS to a Winning Mindset and The Barcelona Way: Unlocking the DNA of a Winning Culture. He also co-hosts the immensely popular High Performance Podcast.

We’ve been working with elite teams around the world, in many sports, to better understand the needs of those working in elite sports performance. As a result of that, we’re now really excited to announce the addition of Kairos Messenger to our platform, as part of our biggest update yet.

MESSENGER

One thing that we heard over and over again was the desire to ‘get better at communication’. There was frustration around out-of-date and not fit-for-purpose tools like email or generic messaging services. Direct messages were being lost or missed, and lots of time was being wasted dealing with follow-up questions and double-checking recipients got the message. So, we created Kairos Messenger. Removing the need for multiple tools, and bringing a new level of professionalism to internal team communications. It’s embedded right into the platform and complements the existing event-based communication functions.      

Control

Messenger gives you full control by allowing you to set up chats exactly how you want them. You can create 1-2-1 chats or dynamic groups for specific sets of players and/or staff. Messenger is linked to your Kairos platform, so it’s all in one ecosystem.

Clarity

Messenger gives you assurance over who’s seen what messages. It keeps all team communication separate from an individual’s personal messages on their phone. It allows you to share key documents, photos, and files with whoever needs to see it – no more excuses or miscommunication now everything’s in one place.

For Academies 

Having a dedicated messaging platform allows guardians to have full oversight of communications to their children. It also provides a tool to help support safeguarding responsibilities by giving a clear history of any conversation.

Other updates to save more time, and bring more clarity:

More efficient filtering 

You can now select, filter, and view information across multiple teams and by more criteria to make team management easier and more efficient. Get what you need to see ASAP.

Integrated maps and calendars

You can set a map link for any event so everyone knows exactly where to be, and cross-platform calendar integration means everyone knows when to be there. 

Facility management

You can now have oversight and control of all your facilities, at all of your venues. You can see facility availability through filtering, as well as assigning a facility to any event.

We would love to have a chat to see if we can help improve the communication and scheduling functions at your club. Use the form below to get in touch.

Kairos are delighted to announce a partnership with the Mayo Ladies senior football team. The team will be the first Senior Ladies team in the GAA to use the platform, and we are excited to help them maximise their performance through excellent scheduling and communications.

What is Kairos?

Kairos is an online platform that provides the tools to ensure all matches, group, and 1-2-1 sessions, appointments, and any other scheduled activity is centralised in one easy to access place. Team communications are timely and relevant to each staff member while ensuring players are more engaged and empowered to manage their individual schedules. For the youth teams, critically, Kairos allows a centralised place for all communication with guardians and allows oversight of all activity.

Mayo Ladies Football manager Michael Moyles had this to say about taking on the platform;  “As an inter county team we value the time that we have together as a group, using it to improve both individually and collectively. While looking for ways to help streamline our communications and avoid unnecessary distractions we discovered the Karios app. The Karios app has already helped us communicate more efficiently and update our players on schedules and more importantly any changes that can occur within that schedule. We have received very positive feedback from players on how user-friendly and useful it is.”

Andrew Trimble, Kairos CEO and co-founder, “We’re delighted to partner with the Mayo Ladies Football team. They are a team that strives for excellence, and we can’t wait to support them in achieving that goal”.

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including teams from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, MLS, and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, get in touch below.

Grant Downie OBE is currently a consultant in medical & performance solutions in elite sport. Grant’s been working in the industry since 1984, and has been at the heart of professional football & elite sport ever since; including key roles at the FA, Rangers, Middlesbrough, and the Manchester City academy. He’s also held advisory roles at the Scottish FA, leading on their COVID RTP, to the premier league and even Cirque du Soleil.

Other Episodes:

Episode 1 | Shayne Murphy – https://kairostech.io/podcast-shayne-murphy/

Episode 2 | Ben Gollings – https://kairostech.io/podcast-ben-gollings/

Episode 3 | Erin Nayler – https://kairostech.io/podcast-erin-nayler/

Check out all our other episodes on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3EnOeNw1kJU2Mqcipxdz8Q

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including teams from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, MLS, and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, get in touch below.

Kairos are delighted to announce a partnership with the IFA Women’s youth teams. This partnership means that the entire women’s pathway from junior age teams right up to the elite senior team will benefit from using the Kairos platform.

What is Kairos?

Kairos is an online platform that provides the tools to ensure all matches, group, and 1-2-1 sessions, appointments, and any other scheduled activity is centralised in one easy to access place. Team communications are timely and relevant to each staff member while ensuring players are more engaged and empowered to manage their individual schedules. For the youth teams, critically, Kairos allows a centralised place for all communication with guardians and allows oversight of all activity.

Head of Elite Performance Alfie Wylie says;  ‘We’re delighted to be using Kairos from a scheduling and communication standpoint. It will help us define a culture of communication, clarity, and accountability moving forward. Kairos not only saves us time across the different departments but is much more effective for our players with all information being in one place. Furthermore, it brings a standard of professionalism and helps execute our safeguarding responsibilities with the younger age groups.’”

Andrew Trimble, Kairos CEO and co-founder, “We’re really pleased to extend our relationship with the IFA, bringing the Women’s academy teams and regional centres on to Kairos. These squads will be utilising Kairos to streamline scheduling and communication throughout the whole program”.

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including teams from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, MLS, and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, get in touch below.

Kairos have an existing partnership with Cambridge United, helping their first team staff and players manage their scheduling and communications. We are now delighted to announce that that partnership has been extended to include the youth academy as well. Every staff member that is involved with on-field performance and players at every level at the club will now benefit from the centralised planning platform.

The Cambridge United senior men’s team currently play in EFL League 2 and are currently pushing to secure, a previously unexpected, promotion to EFL League 1. It’s that same ambition that has brought them to bring the platform club-wide as they seek to build a culture of excellence from the academy right through to the senior team.

What is Kairos?

Kairos is an online platform that provides the tools to ensure all matches, group, and 1-2-1 sessions, appointments, and any other scheduled activity is centralised in one easy to access place. Team communications are timely and relevant to each staff member while ensuring players are more engaged and empowered to manage their individual schedules. For the academy, critically, Kairos allows a centralised place for all communication with guardians and allows oversight of all activity. The platform also supports the U’s safeguarding responsibilities, allowing them peace of mind that all data is traceable and easy to access.

Head of Academy Operations and Safeguarding Kit Brunswick says;  “Having the Kairos platform has been a real game-changer for us at an academy level. It makes us more efficient at every stage of our operational process and makes life easier for everyone involved. It gives clarity to parents, players and staff and the Kairos team have been brilliant with onboarding and support at every stage.”

Andrew Trimble, Kairos CEO and co-founder, “We’re delighted to see our partnership with Cambridge United grow. We’ve loved seeing the first team do so well this season, and it’s been amazing to know we’ve been a part of that. It’s now a real validation of the benefit they see in the platform that they have taken the move to roll out the product to the academy. We’re looking forward to cheering on their success as well now” 

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including teams from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, MLS, and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, get in touch below.