Building a “winning culture” is more than just a buzz word for finding success in coaching, business and life, Lisa Bluder told Quad Citians gathered on Tuesday, July 1, to hear the secrets to success from the winningest coach in Big 10 women’s basketball history. The decorated Iowa Hawkeye women’s basketball coach, who cut her […]

Building a “winning culture” is more than just a buzz word for finding success in coaching, business and life, Lisa Bluder told Quad Citians gathered on Tuesday, July 1, to hear the secrets to success from the winningest coach in Big 10 women's basketball history. The decorated Iowa Hawkeye women’s basketball coach, who cut her coaching teeth during her successful tenure at St. Ambrose University, was back in the Quad Cities to deliver a pair of keynote addresses. The first was at the John Deere Classic Executive Women’s Day event presented by Quad City Bank & Trust. Proceeds from that event go to JDC Birdies for Charity. Immediately afterward, Ms. Bluder, a lifelong Girl Scout and supporter of that global organization, dashed off to share her “Leading with a Winning Culture” formula at a luncheon hosted by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois at Bally’s Casino & Hotel in Rock Island.  Birdies for Charities and the regional Girl Scouts partnered to make that dual visit happen. The Girl Scouts event was sponsored by Conlon Construction, IHMVCU, and Huiskamp Collins Investment LLC. At Bally’s, Ms. Bluder was introduced by Quad Cities Girl Scout and girl’s basketball player Alaina Canney. Miss Canney told the crowd of more than 300 women – and a healthy sprinkling of men – she began playing basketball because she loved winning.  “But as I grew older, I learned it's not all about scoring points,” she said. “It's about learning from mistakes, pushing yourself to work as hard as you can, and building relationships with your teammates, and the moments when you're losing a game, you grow stronger, not only as a player, but as a person.”

‘I love the Girl Scouts’

Miss Canney, who credited the courage and confidence she gained from being a Girl Scout with helping her in life and on the basketball court, said she grew up wanting to be an Iowa basketball player. So besides playing, she watched Hawkeye games on TV and in person whenever she could.

At one of the Girl Scout Days, organized by Ms. Bluder at Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the scout was thrilled to get the chance to ask the coach what she looked for in a player. “She told me she looked for someone who was well rounded, a good student and a respectful person, and those words stuck with me,” Miss Canney said. “Since that day, I've made it my goal to live up to that standard.” Ms. Bluder was at home with her Girl Scout family and spent time before and after her speech Tuesday posing for selfies and talking to fans who waited in a line that snaked around one side of the banquet room after the luncheon. “You know, I love the Girl Scouts,” Ms. Bluder said. “I'm a lifetime Girl Scout, and that's something I'm really, really proud of. And so it's an honor to be here today and to be with all of you.” Ms. Bluder said the Quad Cities also is a special place for her and husband Dave because they began their marriage here. While making their home here, he worked at Davenport Bank & Trust and she coached the St. Ambrose women’s basketball team, compiling a 169-36 record in six seasons and winning NAIA Coach of the Year. She led her Bees to the NAIA Final Four in 1989 and 1990.

Fun to be back in QC

“It was just such an important time in our lives, and so it's just very fun to be back here,” the Coach Bluder said. “And the experiences that I had at St. Ambrose led me to the experiences that I was able to have at Drake University, and the experiences I had at Drake University led me to the experiences I was able to have at the University of Iowa.” During her 24 years of coaching Ms. Bluder said “I have seen firsthand the amazing things that women can do.” That includes by her most famous player, Caitlin Clark. “I've been blessed to coach the highest viewed basketball game in women's basketball history, at 18.9 million people when we played against South Carolina in the championship game and the highest attended women's basketball game in history, when 55,646 people came to Kinnick,” Ms. Bluder added. During her career she also is pleased to have witnessed the “explosion of women’s sports since Title IX passed” and as a girl to watch Billie Jean King defeat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes in 1973. She also was glued to the TV for the 1976 Olympics – the first to feature Women's Basketball. Each of those times, she said she turned to her mom and said, “I want to be like her.” Today, she said her hope is that “our Iowa teams provided that same type of dream to many other people.” When people talk about the teams she coached, Ms. Bluder said they invariably talk about “the Iowa culture” which “was on full display the last couple of years as we competed in the national championship game.”

Can’t microwave culture

She emphasized however that this critical component required for success doesn’t develop overnight. “Culture is not a seminar. It's not a book that you check out and read and turn back in. It's not a slogan that you slap on the wall and you think as a leader, I've done my job – good,” the coach said. “Culture is an everyday thing. I learned this lesson the hard way,” Ms. Bluder said when her team advanced to the Sweet 16 and she thought “we were on our way.” So she turned her attention to X’s and O’s, community service, fan engagement, and other things important to a successful basketball program. “But my culture started to have a crack, and our team's success dipped a bit because of it. It was a lesson I learned that I will never forget: that culture trumps everything.” That’s not only true on the court. “Culture is the No. 1 item for success in your team, business and family,” she said. “People think that Caitlin Clark helped to develop our culture, but no, it's actually the culture that helped us to get Caitlin Clark to commit to Iowa.” The right culture must be developed before you add superstars, Ms. Bluder said, adding,  “Culture is the reason that we got to the national championship game two years in a row. It all builds upon each other.” She’s well aware she said the concept “is a big buzz word right now, and I think that happens because everybody understands it's important, but at the same time, it's really hard to grasp. Culture also is “elusive, and employers want it instantly, but it's not possible to microwave culture or to let it slide.”

Leadership matters

It’s also “an attitude that has to be developed over time. I believe that a winning culture is simple, but it's certainly not easy,” she added. “In my mind, leadership and culture go hand in hand; everything rises and falls on leadership,” the celebrated leader said.  “How well you lead is how well you're going to succeed, and maybe you feel like you're not a good leader yet. And I always say ‘yet’ because when players come to me and say, ‘I'm not very good at that,’ I always say ‘yet' because there's time, you can get better, right?” Ms. Bluder learned that firsthand. When she came to the University of Iowa in 2000, she took on a team that had won just nine games the year before. Current players also were not happy that their coach had been fired.  “They certainly didn't want me, a mid-major coach from Drake University who had just beaten them the last three years when we competed against each other, to come in and take over their program.” It was quickly apparent that “I definitely had my work cut out for me in order to win them over,” she recalled. “That started by me showing them that I was the leader, that I was going to set the tone, make the hard decisions and hold them accountable,” Ms. Bluder added. “I was going to show them that I cared and wanted to get to know them better. That there was a new sheriff in town, and the old way wasn't going to work.” She also began removing some of the “baggage” holding the team back including players who were not good enough, not invested enough or had a negative attitude. 

Setting high standards

Importantly, too, the coach established standards that included: don’t be late, go to class, give your all at practice and have a positive attitude. “And that team went on to win the Big 10 Championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament,” she said. “I had to begin with what I wanted my team to look like, and that's the question I ask of you,” Coach Bluder told Quad Citians. “What do you want your business to look like? What do you want your family to look like? What do you want your team to look like?” She said leaders also should also ask themselves: “What are your values? What are your morals? What is your vision for the team, for your business, for your family? Once you establish those values, you have to make sure that you try your hardest to live up to those values to the best of your ability.” That’s easier than you think, Ms. Bluder said because “you can’t be something you’re not.” For example, she said she watched Indiana Basketball Coach Bobby Knight ranting and raving during games and Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt grabbing players by their jerseys. “I started to try to act like them. I tried to start yelling and stomping and staring people down. Now, I never threw a chair,” she quipped, “but I realized that wasn't me. It didn't work.”

Passing on superstars

Once your values are in place, you know what you want your company to look like and your culture is in place, she said, it's time to share them with your team and get them to buy into and believe in those same standards.   “I had to recruit a lot in a very competitive environment, but this also allowed me to select the people that fit my values,” Ms. Bluder recalled.  In fact, she had rising stars visit campus well before Caitlin Clark was recruited. “They were good players, but they were selfish and maybe not the best role models. So I passed on those superstars because I knew they would be a cancer to our program.” Why? “We all know it's not easy to get rid of somebody that's bringing your team down; that's hurting your culture. It's better to manage that up front when you're recruiting them.” In addition she said, “To be highly successful, everybody needs to feel important, that they matter. I also strongly believe you have to coach joy. You have to coach happiness if you have an environment where people dread coming to work or not enjoying themselves when they are there, they're not going to be completely vested.”

Everybody matters

She reminded her Girl Scout audience that “it’s the daily little things that build culture and to be highly successful everybody needs to feel important and that they matter.” She added “If you have an environment where people dread coming to work or are not enjoying themselves when they are there, they're not going to be completely invested.” Looking back on her long and successful career, Ms. Bluder said. “I feel very fortunate that I was able to coach women. I always felt it was an insult when people jokingly asked me if I wanted to coach the men's team.”  She had the crowd chuckling when she added, “For one thing, I knew I could but I didn't want to downplay the importance of my team by saying that coaching the men's team would be a step up. In my eyes, coaching young women, teaching them valuable life skills, was the most important job that I could have. Why would I want to do anything else?”