Coaching Culture with Ben Herring
Coaching Culture with Ben Herring
Podcast Description
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, and motivation. Each episode features candid conversations with the world’s top international rugby coaches, who share the personal stories and intangible insights behind their winning cultures, and too their biggest failures and learnings from them. This is where X’s and O’s meet heart and soul, empowering coaches at every level to foster authentic connections, inspire their teams, and elevate their own coaching craft. If you believe that the real gold in rugby lies beyond the scoreboard, Coaching Culture is the podcast for you.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on cultural innovation, leadership, empathy, communication, motivation, and stress management within coaching environments. Episodes include discussions on building team unity through personal stories, balancing professionalism while coaching friends or family, and navigating the challenges of cultural dynamics in different countries, like Kieran Crowley’s insights on coaching across borders.
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, and motivation. Each episode features candid conversations with the world’s top international rugby coaches, who share the personal stories and intangible insights behind their winning cultures, and too their biggest failures and learnings from them. This is where X’s and O’s meet heart and soul, empowering coaches at every level to foster authentic connections, inspire their teams, and elevate their own coaching craft. If you believe that the real gold in rugby lies beyond the scoreboard, Coaching Culture is the podcast for you.
What if the best parenting lessons come from the locker room—and the sharpest coaching insights come from home? I share how a sudden end to a playing career and the birth of my first child collided, starting a sixteen-year stretch where coaching and parenting ran in parallel and taught me the same truths about growth, standards, and care.
We unpack tough love the right way: not harshness, but honest care with clear expectations. I explain how to deliver hard feedback without breeding resentment—whether it’s a non-selection talk with an athlete or a boundary with a teenager—by building real rapport before you need it. You’ll hear simple rituals that make a big difference, like one-on-one walks, hot chocolate chats, and pre-practice conversations about life that signal, I see you and I’ve got your back. When people know you care, facts can be heard even when feelings run hot.
Tone control becomes the secret weapon. If you yell all the time, no one hears you when it counts. If you vary your delivery and save your strongest voice for true urgency, your words land. I share practical ways to build that range—yes, even Toastmasters—so your voice works like an instrument, not a siren. From there, we focus on culture: creating environments that invite ownership, encourage experimentation, and make people proud to be part of the team. The target is simple and bold—be the coach or parent they’re proud of, not because you were easy, but because you were fair, consistent, and deeply invested in their growth.
If you’re raising kids, leading athletes, or both, this conversation gives you a usable framework: build rapport, shape tone, and lead for long-term pride. If something here sparked a shift for you, subscribe, share this with a friend, and tell me what you’ll try this week. Your reflection might become the next topic—drop me a message on LinkedIn and let’s keep growing together.
If you can SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and SHARE the show and series, you would be doing your bit to grow this show. Very appreciated. Ben
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