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How Do Shared Symbols Improve Team Identity and Success? – Part 3

24. July 2024

Karin VravkováAutor článku & Member of Headformers

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PART 3

How Do Shared Symbols Improve Team Identity and Success?

In the previous article, we discussed why and how symbols are so important for a team’s success: they are powerful tools that enhance identity, unity, and success by fostering a sense of belonging and pride among players and fans. They also serve as emotional anchors, boost confidence, and create psychological advantages over opponents, ultimately contributing to a team's cohesion, motivation, and performance.

Coaches, trainers and players who understand the significance of a shared symbol and identity can harness its power and make it a central feature of their training and pre- and post-game rituals.

Let’s explore how in more detail.

A Team Mindset

We mentioned in the previous section that team leaders (managers, trainers, coaches, captains) who foster a shared team identity increase the team’s task cohesion, i.e., their commitment to achieve their common goal.

Jurgen Klopp is a prime example of this approach. His management philosophy emphasizes the importance of belonging and connection for a team's success. By fostering a strong team spirit, Klopp instills in his players the belief that they can overcome any obstacle together. He prioritizes collective effort and goals over individual achievements and success.

A symbolic representation of the team’s values and/or history is a tool that can be used to create this strong shared identity. Eventually, the symbol becomes embedded in their culture and rituals and the mere sight of it can spark the positive and confident mindset needed to succeed.

Choosing the Symbol

When choosing a symbol, it’s imperative to find something that resonates with the team’s shared values and identity. It could be based on the history or identity of the club or represent shared ideals and beliefs.

For example, FC Petržalka, a small team with a small budget, use a sword as their shared symbol, which represents courage, persistence, resilience, a willingness to fight for each other and the club. Seeing and holding this symbolic item instils the belief that they can play and succeed against any team, even if they have a bigger budget and following.

Big football clubs also have these “lucky charms”. Manchester United’s iconic “Red Devil” emblem is synonymous with the club’s fierce and competitive spirit, which inspires pride among players and fans while serving as a psychological tool against opponents. Liverpool FC have the ethos, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, which encapsulates the renowned club’s essence of unity and resilience in both triumph and defeat.

Rituals and Visualization

Using symbols, leaders can implement certain rituals and encourage players to practice visualization.

For example, the Indianapolis Colts (a professional American football team) start each game by striking an anvil with a hammer. The team wanted to establish a pre-game tradition that would unite players and fans and be honored and celebrated by future generations. It had to be something powerful that embodied the team’s spirit. They chose an anvil because it’s strong and resilient and represents their collective courage and hardworking ethos. It’s now been embedded in their pre-game ritual for many years and motivates and inspires players, fans, employees and brings the stadium to life.

This is an example of how a symbol can be included in a team’s culture. It can also be used as an emotional anchor during visualization.

As mentioned, visualization can tap into the subconscious mind, which has a powerful effect on players on an emotional level. So, as well as visualizing their skills and movements (e.g., scoring a goal), players can induce a determined and positive mindset by visualizing the symbol – as a representation of their common goal.

To conclude, shared symbols are powerful tools that shape team identity, enhance unity and drive success. By leveraging the emotional, psychological and social significance of symbols, teams can build a strong, cohesive identity that propels them to greater heights, both on and off the field.