Coaching Culture with Ben Herring

By Ben Herring

Coaching Culture with Ben Herring is your weekly deep-dive into the often-overlooked “softer skills” of coaching—cultural innovation, communication, empathy, leadership, dealing with stress,

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The podcast currently has 150 episodes available.

Best of Coaching Culture with Ben Herring

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Number 1: The Culture Behind 54 All Blacks | Auckland Grammar School
What if the strongest teams aren’t built by hype, slogans, or “high performance” talk, but by a few clear rituals everyone can count on? I sit down with Dave Askew, deputy principal and First XV coach at Auckland Grammar School, to get a behind-the-scenes look at how one of New Zealand’s most storied schoolboy rugby programs builds culture that holds up under pressure. We talk about the daily assembly as the “big hall” that creates belonging, recognition, and a shared start line for 2,000-plus boys. Dave explains why predictability and tradition matter, especially for students who don’t have stability at home, and how a consistent structure can unlock confidence and ambition. From there we get practical with “school rules plus one,” the idea that representing a premier team is a privilege and that leadership starts with doing the basics better than anyone else. We also challenge the language that creeps into youth sport. Dave avoids the term “high performance” because of the pressure it puts on teenagers and the way it can scare off volunteer coaches. Instead, we explore “high care” as a better north star, along with a Plan A versus Plan B approach that keeps education and long-term career options at the center while still supporting big sporting dreams. If you coach school sports, lead a team, or care about building resilience and anti-fragility, you’ll take away tools you can use immediately. Subscribe for more conversations on coaching culture, share this with a coach or parent who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway: how do you define success when your team loses? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.
August 29, 202658min
Number 2: Why Winning Teams Still Have Culture Problems | Ross Neal
If someone had to “explain” your culture to a new hire, would it fall apart the moment pressure hits? Ross Neal joins us to get brutally practical about what culture actually is: what you do and how you do it, so clear that a person could sit in your environment for a week and tell the truth about it. From pro rugby locker rooms to corporate leadership teams, Ross shows how culture is built in the small moments leaders leak through mood, reactions, and what they choose to reward. We dig into the research-backed behaviors that separate high-performing teams from polite, underpowered ones. Ross breaks down information elaboration, the habit of asking sharper questions that clarifies intent and improves decisions, and why it often disappears in top-down, military-style environments. We also talk psychological safety as a facilitator, including simple “real world” tests you can run in one-to-ones to see if people truly feel safe enough to say, “I don’t understand.” From there we get into coaching and management mechanics: how to use silence to pull thinking out of the room, why process over outcome matters most when things go well, and how a neutral review keeps standards consistent whether you win or lose. We also explore why structure often beats coaching, how onboarding accelerates “speed to excellence,” and what business and sport can steal from each other on recruitment, buy-in, and meeting design. If you lead a team and want better decisions, more ownership, and a culture people can feel, press play then share this with a colleague. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s one small change you could make this week that would get your team asking better questions? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.
August 19, 20261h 8min
Number 3: Inside Canada’s Rugby Factory | Shawnigan Lake School
Watching pro rugby on TV can make school rugby look intimidating, but the truth is far more hopeful and far more practical. We’re joined by Tim Murdy, Director of Sport at Shawnigan Lake School, to talk about how a youth rugby program becomes a place where kids feel safe, challenged, and proud. Tim explains why rugby is a powerful shared experience for younger students, especially in a boarding school setting with athletes arriving from many countries and sporting backgrounds. We get specific about how to coach beginners without overwhelming them: small-sided games, fun-first progressions, and a skills-based approach that teaches passing, catching, tackling, and decision-making for every body type. We also tackle the hard questions parents ask about contact sports. Tim breaks down how qualified coaching, controlled contact teaching, and prescriptive refereeing reduce risk, and why it’s essential not to compare 13-year-olds to professional athletes. From there, the conversation widens into coaching culture and leadership. Tim shares his definition of excellence: preparation and performance for competitive pathways, and an excellent experience for every student. We explore fundamentals under pressure, training intensity, using wrestling as a safe tool for body control, and the long-term impact of opening your school’s doors to visiting teams and national programs. Subscribe for more conversations on coaching culture, share this with a coach or sports parent, and leave a review with the one idea you’re taking into your next training session. Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.
September 13, 20261h 5min
Number 4: Campese Ma’afu’s Incredible Road Back to Professional Coaching
A lot of people talk about “culture” like it’s a slogan on a wall. We wanted something more real, so I sat down with Campese Maafu, a three-time Rugby World Cup prop and 63-test Flying Fijian, to hear what actually holds teams and people together when pressure hits. For Campese, culture is values plus standards, fueled by faith and the responsibility of “upholding your name” for your family, your community, and everyone watching you from back home. Campese’s journey is just as gripping as his definitions. He walks us through representing Fiji with Tongan roots, the family pride that comes with international rugby, and the unforgettable moment of debuting against his own brother in the scrum. Then the story takes a turn most fans don’t expect: he retires, becomes a plumber, finishes his apprenticeship, and learns how coaching shows up in everyday work through patience, communication, and repetition with apprentices who all learn differently. That repetition mindset becomes the engine of his coaching career, from schools and clubs to one-on-ones and pathways, until he gets the call to join the Fijian Drua as a professional coach. We dig into what the Drua means for Fijian rugby, why young players see rugby as a path out of poverty, and the hard shift from village-style rugby to professional behaviors like nutrition, recovery, strength and conditioning, and set piece pride in scrummaging and mauling. If you care about rugby coaching, leadership development, and building a high-performance culture without losing your humanity, you’ll take a lot from this one. Subscribe, share it with a coach or player who needs it, and leave a review, what’s one standard you want your team to live by this week? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.
September 08, 20261h 4min
Number 5: Paarl Boys High School | Inside the Program with Sean Eramus
Rugby can fill a stadium. Culture can shape a life. We sit down with Sean Erasmus, head coach at Paul Boys High School, to unpack what it takes to build a values-led rugby program inside one of the most tradition-heavy environments in the world. His core idea is simple and demanding: culture is a living thing, and if we do not feed it and prune it every day, it drifts into something we never intended. We get specific about what that looks like with schoolboys who face modern pressure that previous generations never had to carry: social media commentary, public hype, agents, contracts, and criticism that follows them home. Sean explains why banning phones is fantasy, how to talk about Instagram and TikTok head-on, and how to keep a teenager’s identity from swinging with every compliment or pile-on. He also makes the case for vulnerability in leadership: when we are willing to be real in front of the boys, they learn they can be real with us. Then we zoom out to the system side of coaching culture and rugby leadership: how you scale consistent standards across dozens of teams, how you “coach the coaches,” and why you should match coaching styles to each age group’s needs. We also tackle the hardest stakeholder question in schoolboy rugby: parents. Sean shares a clear framework for respectful conversations, honest selection feedback, and boundaries that protect families on both sides. If you care about team culture, schoolboy rugby, leadership, and developing young men in a high performance environment, this one will stay with you. Subscribe, share it with a coach or parent, and leave a review if it hits home. What’s one value you wish every coach would lead with? Send us Fan Mail How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now Support the show Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.
August 23, 20261h 10min