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Aspects of Owen's unique approach include: finding your identity story; defining a shared purpose; visioning future success; sharing ownership with others; understanding the 'silent dance' that plays out in groups; setting the conditions to unleash talent; and converting our diversity into a competitive advantage. Initially a navigator’s strength came from their ability to simultaneously carry in their hands both a grand vision and an intimate understanding of the detail. For Eastwood’s ancestors the grand vision was new land, and the intimate understanding of the detail was the sun, the stars, and the constellations - all of which were used to navigate at the time. Owen's work and outlook really resonate with me. His philosophy has real depth and value. [It's] so of the moment - at just the right time, at just the right place, with just the right message' - Simon Mundie In some ways, Eastwood, who has also worked with the British Olympic Association, the Royal Ballet School and the command group of Nato is the secret weapon. On Thursday, in the aftermath of Wednesday’s victory, he was in dialogue with Southgate. When asked to describe the culture he had observed, he said “there is no coherent culture … the coach is king or queen. If my child was to come here, I would have no clue what their experience would be, it would completely depend on who they end up with as a coach”. Eastwood is clear that this is a failure of leadership at the top, “deferring and subcontracting culture to coaches”.
Finally, there’s a focus on the present. Do we have a sense of identity that flows into everything we do? Do we see ourselves as an unbroken chain from our ancestors to those that follow in our footsteps? This is an area that often needs mending. Connecting to the future requires asking what the team’s vision is - what they are working towards and what the environment needs to enable and drive towards. The sun rose in the east and shone on our first ancestor. Here is our origin story. Just as happens with each passing day, the sun slowly moves down this unbreakable chain of people. Each of us will have our time in the sun. But the sun is always moving. Moving towards the west, where it will finally settle. When the sun shines on us we are alive, we are strong. For we have had passed down to us a culture that immerses us in deep belonging. We feel safe and respected. We share beliefs and a sense of identity with those around us and this anchors us. We share a purpose with them. We share a vision of the future. We fit in here. Rituals and traditions tie us together. The experiences and wisdom of those who walked in the light before our time are passed on to us. Whakapapa (pronounce it “fakapapa”) is the Māori way of explaining your place in the world and your place in any tribe or family, Eastwood says. He cites the work of Dan Ashworth (now at Newcastle) in this area at the Football Association where the football body set out to create a core culture and values across all their teams, from U19s to senior teams, men and women. On a visit to another Olympic sport, Eastwood recalls how he saw two very different coaching styles within one space – one that was more respectful, a dialogue and the athlete’s reflections constantly sought; the other that was aggressive and directive, with language such as “that’s not good enough” – a phrase I heard so regularly during 10 years of Olympic training that it sends shivers down my spine.
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The heroes in our stories personify the best version of Us. The villains fall into two camps: Them, but also the individuals within Us who are selfish - those who put themselves before Us and thereby risk our safety, stability and status. At a time when it is easy to feel disheartened by sport’s crises of corruption, abuse and burnout, Eastwood offers a compelling vision of what sport can be. Another favourite Eastwood question to ask is “What gets in the way of you being the best version of yourself?” Blasting taboos, Eastwood shows us a clear path to help sport be “the best version” possible for everyone involved and for society more broadly. Players for a team, for example, may be given their national team shirts and asked to write on them what it personally meant to play for that team. This visual activity is effective.
Beyond kin, this concept of Whakapapa frames our connection to any group we belong to. It is a universal idea and one that Eastwood has coached on around the world. When the signals are telling you, ‘You are seen here, you are included in this, you belong here,’ we are in a completely different hormonal state: anxiety reduces, oxytocin and dopamine - which are very important energising hormones - start to soar. Whether it’s my work with the England football team or my daughter’s school, it makes no difference: the humanity of this is the same.”Because I’ve not got any baggage about how I was educated or prepared for it, I’ve just had completely fresh eyes, looking carefully at what shifts things and what doesn’t.”
Youth suicide is a huge concern in Aotearoa and the world in general. If this book’s concept of belonging and the marvellous metaphor it uses to convey whakapapa could be taught to all children, surely fewer of our rangatahi (precious young) would question their place, their value, their purpose on Earth. And more people would understand their obligation to be 'good ancestors'. An understanding of the environment and its impact on people is more important than charisma and passion. Plus clarity of thinking. “Humans flourish in environments where the leadership is consistent and composed; they don’t tend to thrive in environments where there are wild mood swings and inconsistency of behaviour.”So, for the first of our Leading and Learning Webinar series, host Paul Spiers, founder of the New P&L Brand Purpose Institute, sat down with Owen to talk about what schools need to understand about belonging, how to make the required changes and how to sustain it. In a family, that signifies your life, in a sports team the time you get to wear the shirt. “When the sun is shining on you you have an obligation to make the tribe stronger, and ultimately what you achieve when the sun is shining on you is going to be your legacy, the memory that people will hold of you in the future.” But the England of Sterling and Kane, of Saka and Maguire is a very different one to Ottoway’s, surely? They are not trying to replicate anything from the past, Eastwood says. “We should be proud of our history, understand and respect it, but ultimately this is about us, a very diverse, young, technically different group of people. It’s about inspiration and a sense of belonging to motivate us to create our own story.” Once language emerged, Homo sapiens began congregating around the campfire to tell and share the Us story. This helped to promote our survival by keeping the group bonded together and aligned in the face of surrounding challenges. But there is another world. Where the hormone soup recipe is wrong and doesn’t allow us to be at our best. Clearly here is no performance benefit in this.
As an Olympian now engaged in cultural change in sport, and calling for the redefinition of success beyond medals and the greater prioritisation of athlete and coach wellbeing, I am keen to understand how we can share Eastwood’s approach that so seamlessly entwines performance and wellbeing.The powerful metaphor it introduces to explain the meaning of ‘whakapapa’ (a concept held by Aotearoa New Zealand Māori) is so clear and meaningful, it surely can be used to make a difference. This concept is universal but in many cultures undervalued or even obscured by modern life. To feel a sense of belonging is to feel accepted, to feel seen and to feel included by a group of people, believing that we fit in, trusting we will be protected by them. While the book and Owen are largely oriented around sport teams and situations, ‘Belonging’ is as significant (if not more so) in the realms of the workplace, home and wider whānau (family).
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