One step forward, two steps back. That’s how it seems to go sometimes with program development. The solid programs have continuity. They are sustained, year after year, by feeder programs that create healthy competition throughout the developmental years and into the high school program years. Success breeds success. When you consistently compete at a high level people want to watch it and be a part of it. Young players want to play for that team. The truly athletic kids, who are playing multiple sports in middle school, lean towards those programs. That’s how it was back in the days when Voorhees was consistently one of the state’s best teams. In the mid 90’s AAU basketball for young girls exploded locally, producing talented players who went on an incredible run over four years. That set the stage for the program’s success between 1996 and 2011. Those teams never experienced a losing season and most compiled 20 or more victories each year. Back then both sides of the gym were available for seating and the place was usually packed.

It’s easy to see how programs grow and sustain success year after year. It’s harder to understand what happens when, often suddenly, the interest declines, the talent pool disappears and the program falls apart. Learning by looking at mistakes made and opportunities lost is useful, but if the goal is to build a sustainable program and you’re studying why you failed (lagging data) you may have already hit the tipping point. Reversing the trend at this point is difficult and seldom a quick fix.

It’s better to focus on what’s going on within the program and around you. Try to understand the threats to your success, anticipate the trends and interrupt them with focused, thoughtful strategies.

Some threats are well disguised. In the case of the girls’ basketball program, the axiom success breeds success was both true and false. Success did lead to a number of talented, athletic girls dedicating themselves to their basketball development. The program benefitted with highly competitive feeder programs. As the years went by that competition slowly transitioned from benefit to threat. It turned out that success also breeds uncertainty and disinterest. And no one saw it coming.

The competition for roster spots on the Voorhees teams became so competitive that very talented girls were sometimes cut. These girls were often successful at other sports, bringing those programs into the mix. Younger players, seeing that their dream of playing basketball at Voorhees might not come true, began to look at the options. At the same time two other factors reduced the talent pool. Voorhees Girl’s Cross Country and Track and Field, also very successful programs, were competing for the athletic kids. From 2008 to 2010 several talented basketball players chose to leave the basketball program and focus on cross country and track (an easier path to college sports participation and scholarship money). Girl’s lacrosse, a sport with lots of similarities to basketball, was gaining traction and attracting athletes. This eventually led to fewer kids participating in travelling basketball programs. The number of travelling teams in the sending district went from 4 to 1. The combination of these factors resulted in a greatly reduced talent pool, a drop off in competitive play and the first losing record in 16 years. Younger players started looking at other sport options.

Looking beneath the surface you can find another significant, more systemic threat – Practical Drift. The theory of practical drift was developed by Scott Snook when he studied disasters, such as the accidental shoot down of a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq. He defines practical drift as the “slow uncoupling of practice from procedure”. A typical practical drift scenario in my organization goes like this: A near miss or accident is reported. A review of the event leads to new learning. With that new learning comes communication to others – often through a new policy or work instruction. People are educated and trained to assure that the learning is institutionalized. Organizational behavior changes in accord with the new information. Management high fives everybody and assumes the problem has been resolved. For a while people comply. Then, slowly, over time, practices “drift” from the original policy. Staff discover short cuts and other ways of performing the tasks, sometimes slowly slipping back into old, more comfortable ways of doing things. New employees are trained to the written policy and informally, to the actual practices. The actual practices, deviating from the policy become the new norm. Management, thinking the problem was fixed, doesn’t see the subtle changes in practice. Eventually, the practices lead to another accident or incident. Only through a review of the event do managers learn that, what they thought people were doing, is not what they were doing. A problem they thought they fixed, was not.

Understanding practical drift can help with the reduction of incidents and accidents that plague organizations. When trying to establish a sustainable model for a basketball program coaches would do well to remain cognizant of the effects of practical drift. There are examples within our own program. We started the program in response to the effects of practical drift on what was once a proud program. In our early years we spent significant time and effort communicating our basic beliefs – team first, develop your skills for the benefit of the team, acknowledge the program history, approach every day in the gym with a purpose, focus on the life lessons related to sports participation…….For a number of years we battled competing perspectives – it’s all about my kid, just let them play, this high school thing is just a path to my kids college scholarship….. It took a while to get a foothold.

It took nearly four years to anchor the philosophies. The team has recorded a winning record in four of the last five years. Most of the players are committed to what we’re all trying to accomplish. The young kids are back and interested – the number of 5^th through 8^th graders has doubled in the past three years. These are all good things. BUT, if we start feeling good about it all and fail to pay attention to our basic beliefs and the things that led to improvement we’ll be vulnerable to practical drift.

Managing practical drift doesn’t mean stifling change. It means assuring that change is consistent with your purpose. When your habits and practices begin to drift from their original purpose, when we behave in ways that are different from what we say we do, the natural inclination is to fix it by clarifying the rules, or making new rules. The solution is not to create more rules. As one researcher says, “Rules and procedures are an attempt to hold the world still and create a uniform decision making model. It works for a while, until the human mind shifts and creates a new understanding of what’s going on.”

We know that practical drift is inevitable, it’s human nature to explore new and different ways of doing things. In our world practical drift will occur if we operate on assumptions. We have to check out those assumptions looking for players practicing without purpose, just going through the motions. We can’t assume the players are committed to our principles. We have to continue to talk with the kids about our beliefs about the value of team, about what it means to be a basketball “family” – our common purpose. This year’s team gave us a blueprint with their common purpose statement “To make the most of our time together by playing unselfishly for each other, giving 110%, and staying positive through the challenging times, respecting our program’s tradition and modeling for the players who come after us, our fans and each other.” You’ll notice they didn’t say anything about wins, championships, personal accolades or college scholarships. It’s about their time together, about having solid relationships within the team and, indirectly, with the past and future players of the program.

Every year with the addition of new kids the dynamics change – in effect we begin again. The growth of the program is exciting but our increased numbers are challenging. We still aim to provide individual instruction but in reality can no longer do it like we did when there were 10 kids in the gym. We are aware of the challenges and frequently talk about strategies for adjustment.

We are using more station work to isolate skill development and see each player’s skill level / skill needs more clearly. We continue to take the time to talk about our basic principles. If you see a group sitting and talking with a coach it probably means we needed to talk about something – maybe a reminder to accept all players and support one another, maybe it’s about respectful behavior. It doesn’t mean we’re not working on stuff. It means we are working on the important stuff. The commitment of our alumni is helping to provide the individual instruction we prefer. On Thursday we had three seniors stop by and offer to help out.

We will continue to explore options for improvement and adjust when we identify our drift. You can help too. If you see signs of practical drift let us know. We’ll always consider the feedback and use it as a way to check on our path and assure we are staying true to our purpose.

Bob Peterman