Imagine trying to perform Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with only violins. Beautiful as they are, you would miss the thunderous timpani, the soaring horns, the grounding cellos. A world-class orchestra needs every section working in harmony, each bringing its unique voice to create something transcendent.
This is precisely what Rassie Erasmus understood when he took the helm of South African rugby in 2018. The Springboks weren’t just missing a few good players; they were missing entire sections of their organisational orchestra. And it is suggested that the framework he used to rebuild them, whether consciously or intuitively, was the Competing Values Framework (CVF), a leadership model that recognises great organisations need four distinct but complementary cultural qualities to thrive. This blog draws on AI insights to illustrate the effectiveness of the CVF for individuals, teams, and organisations. While it may contain some factual inaccuracies or rely on anecdotal evidence, this text significantly enriches our understanding of the framework’s applicability in developing a society, organisation, or even an individual. It provides valuable insights that encourage deeper reflection and discussion around key concepts, promoting growth and evolution in various contexts.
What Is the Competing Values Framework?
The CVF, developed by organisational scholars Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron, maps organisational culture across two dimensions. Think of it like a compass:
- The vertical axis represents focus on internal processes (inward) or external factors (outward). For example, when driving, checking your dashboard for speed and fuel represents an inward focus, while watching the road for other vehicles signifies an outward focus. Just as a driver needs to balance attention between the dashboard and the road, individuals and businesses must balance internal operations with external conditions.
- The horizontal axis represents your preference for stability and control versus flexibility and discretion. For example, if you value stability, you will book your vacation plans—flights, hotel, and activities—in advance to know what to expect. Conversely, if you prefer flexibility, you might leave your plans open, deciding daily where to go and what to do based on your mood or local advice. This illustrates the difference between a structured, controlled approach and a spontaneous, adaptable one.
These two axes create four quadrants, each showcasing a distinct cultural archetype:
1. The Clan Culture (Collaborate): The Family Hearth
This is the warm kitchen table where everyone feels they belong. It’s about mentorship, cohesion, participation, and caring for your people. Like a family gathering for Sunday dinner, clan culture asks: “How do we develop our people and build loyalty?”
2. The Adhocracy Culture (Create): The Innovation Lab
This is the garage where inventors tinker late into the night. It’s about entrepreneurship, creativity, adaptability, and growth. Like a jazz ensemble improvising together, adhocracy culture asks: “How do we innovate and stay ahead?”
3. The Market Culture (Compete): The Trading Floor
This is the arena where warriors prove themselves. It’s about results, achievement, competition, and winning. Like a boxer training for the championship fight, market culture asks: “How do we beat the competition and deliver results?”
4. The Hierarchy Culture (Control): The Swiss Watch Factory
Like this watch factory, control is the precision workshop where every gear must mesh perfectly. It’s about efficiency, processes, consistency, and reliability. Like an air traffic control centre at an airport controlling landings and take-offs, hierarchy culture asks: “How do we do things right and eliminate errors?”
Why the CVF Matters: The Danger of the One-Legged Stool
Here’s the key insight: you need all four. An organisation that’s purely a family (Clan) becomes a social club that loses games. All innovation (Adhocracy) without discipline turns into chaos. All competition (Market) without care burns people out. All process (Hierarchy) without creativity becomes inflexible bureaucracy.
Think of it like this: a table needs four legs to be stable. Remove anyone, and it tips over. The CVF recognises that these values seem to compete—how can you be both flexible and controlled? Both caring and competitive?—but the magic happens when you hold these tensions in dynamic balance.
The Springboks’ Crisis: A Broken Framework
When Rassie Erasmus inherited the Springboks in early 2018, the table had collapsed. The team had suffered its worst-ever losing streak, including humiliating defeats. The organisational culture was dysfunctional across all four quadrants:
- Broken Clan: Racial divisions festered. Players felt isolated rather than united. There was no psychological safety or true belonging.
- Absent Adhocracy: The team played predictable, outdated rugby. They couldn’t adapt to different opponents or conditions.
- Weak Market: A losing mentality pervaded. They weren’t preparing to win; they were hoping not to lose.
- Failed Hierarchy: Standards had slipped. Basic execution—tackling, set pieces, discipline—was unreliable.
Erasmus didn’t just need better players. He needed to rebuild the entire cultural architecture.
How Erasmus Rebuilt: The Four-Quadrant Masterclass
Building the Clan: “Stronger Together”
Erasmus’s first move was like a master chef bringing the kitchen staff together before service. He knew that without unity, nothing else would work. Here are some of the things he did:
- The Captain Choice: He appointed Siya Kolisi, South Africa’s first black Test captain, sending an unmistakable message: everyone belongs here. This wasn’t tokenism; Kolisi embodied servant leadership, putting team before self.
- The Jersey Ritual: Before matches, Erasmus had players talk about what the jersey meant to them personally. One player might speak about his grandmother, who cleaned houses so he could play rugby. Another about escaping township poverty. These weren’t motivational speeches—they were threads weaving individual stories into a collective tapestry.
- The Support Structure: Like a family that checks on its members, Erasmus created support systems. He ensured players’ families were cared for, that mental health resources were available, and that no one was alone in their struggles.
- The Leadership Group: Rather than a top-down hierarchy, he empowered a leadership group representing different voices—like a council of elders where everyone has a seat at the fire.
Igniting the Adhocracy: “Adapt or Die”
With trust established, Erasmus could introduce calculated chaos; the kind that breeds innovation:
- The Bomb Squad: Rugby had never seen anything like the 6-2 bench split (six forwards, two backs). Traditionalists scoffed. It was like replacing half your chess pieces mid-game. But this innovation gave South Africa a devastating advantage: fresh, powerful forwards overwhelming tired opponents in the final quarter.
- Tactical Flexibility: Erasmus assembled coaches and players who could switch game plans like a playlist. Playing England in wet conditions? Kick for territory, dominate the set piece. Playing New Zealand in dry, fast conditions? Wider attack, speedier ball movement. They became tactical chameleons.
- The Handré Pollard Factor: At flyhalf, Pollard had the creative license to read defences and call audibles, like a jazz pianist riffing within the structure. Erasmus trusted his playmakers to create in the moment.
- Embracing New Technology: The coaching staff used data analytics, video analysis, and sports science innovations aggressively, always looking for marginal gains.
Fuelling the Market: “Winning Isn’t Everything—It’s the Only Thing”
With family bonds (Clan) and creative tactics (Adhocracy) in place, Erasmus injected pure competitive hunger.
- The Right Personnel: He selected players not just for skill but for mentality. Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, and Malcolm Marx weren’t just talented; they were warriors who viewed every match as personal combat. Like casting a heist movie, he needed specialists who thrived under pressure.
- The Duane Vermeulen Story: Erasmus brought back the veteran forward from a Japanese club specifically for the 2019 World Cup. Vermeulen was a force of nature on the field, like part battering ram, part field general. His recruitment sent a message: we’re here to win, and we’ll get whoever we need.
- Competition Within: Erasmus created fierce internal competition for positions. If you’re the starting hooker today, you’d better perform, because two talented backups are breathing down your neck. This wasn’t cruelty; it was the sharpening stone that hones the blade.
- Results-Driven Accountability: Players were measured on tangible metrics: tackle completion rates, turnovers won, and meters gained. Like a sales team tracking quota, everyone knew their numbers.
Installing the Hierarchy: “Excellence in the Details”
Finally, Erasmus, himself a meticulous analyst, then built systems that made excellence repeatable:
- Set-Piece Dominance: The scrum and lineout became weapons of precision. Like a pit crew changing tyres in Formula 1, every movement was choreographed, practised ten thousand times. South Africa’s maul became virtually unstoppable—a slow-motion avalanche that opponents couldn’t contain.
- Defensive Structure: Jacques Nienaber, the defensive coach, implemented a system of suffocating pressure. Every player knew their exact role, their positioning, their trigger points. It was defensive geometry angles and lines that closed space and forced errors.
- Discipline and Process: Erasmus instituted non-negotiables: punctuality, fitness standards, and conduct codes. Like military basic training, these fundamentals created reliability under pressure.
- The Video Analysis Room: After every match, the team sat through exhaustive video reviews. Every missed tackle, every turnover, every opportunity—dissected like surgeons studying X-rays. This brutal honesty drove continuous improvement.
The Symphony Plays: 2019 World Cup Victory
By the time South Africa reached Japan for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, all four quadrants were firing:
- Clan: The team played for each other, for their country, for something larger than themselves. When Kolisi lifted the trophy, he lifted 58 million South Africans with him.
- Adhocracy: The Bomb Squad decimated opponents in the second halves. Tactical adjustments mid-game neutralised threats. South Africa played different rugby in every match, continually optimising for conditions and opposition.
- Market: They beat the host nation Japan, dismantled Wales, and strangled England 32-12 in the final, a comprehensive statement of dominance. The competitive fire never dimmed.
- Hierarchy: Their set-piece was a machine. Their defence held opponents to the lowest average score in the tournament. Execution was clinical.
The result wasn’t luck, it was architecture. Erasmus had built a four-legged table that could bear any weight.
The Sustainability Test: Winning Again in 2023
Here’s what separates good from great: sustainability. Many teams have one magical run. The Springboks defended their title in 2023, becoming only the second team ever to win back-to-back Rugby World Cups.
Why? Because the CVF framework doesn’t just create success, it makes systems that regenerate success:
- Clan Evolution: New leaders emerged (like Handré Pollard’s journey through injury and back), but the culture of brotherhood remained. Young players were welcomed into the family and immediately knew they belonged.
- Continued Innovation: The Bomb Squad became more sophisticated. New attacking structures emerged. The coaching team never stopped learning.
- Maintained Edge: Even as champions, they approached every match like underdogs. The hunger remained.
- Systematic Excellence: The processes that were delivered in 2019 were refined, not abandoned. The machine was upgraded, not rebuilt.
Lessons for Any Organisation: Your Team Is Your Springboks
You might not be coaching rugby, but you’re leading something—a department, a company, a project team, a nonprofit. The CVF offers a blueprint:
1. Audit Your Culture Honestly
Which quadrant are you neglecting?
- Are you all process and no innovation? (Too much Hierarchy, not enough Adhocacy)
- Are you all vision and no execution? (Too much Adhocracy, not enough Hierarchy)
- Are you all competition and no caring? (Too much Market, not enough Clan)
- Are you all family and no results? (Too much Clan, not enough Market)
2. Build Your Leadership Team for Balance
Erasmus surrounded himself with specialists:
- Jacques Nienaber (Hierarchy/Control): The detail-obsessed defensive mastermind
- Mzwandile Stick (Clan/Collaborate): The relationship-builder who connected with players emotionally
- Felix Jones (Adhocracy/Create): The attack innovator
- Rassie himself (Market/Compete): The strategic general focused on winning
Your leadership team should cover all four bases. Don’t hire in your own image or “ja-broers”.
3. Select People for Cultural Fit, Not Just Skill
Erasmus could have selected more talented players who didn’t fit the culture. He chose character over raw ability when needed. Like assembling a climbing team for Everest, you need people who’ll support teammates when oxygen is thin, not just individually strong climbers.
4. Create Rituals and Systems for Each Quadrant
- Clan: Regular team gatherings, personal check-ins, and celebration of milestones.
- Adhocracy: Innovation time, permission to experiment, “what if” sessions.
- Market: Clear metrics, competitive challenges, public recognition of achievement.
- Hierarchy: Standard operating procedures, quality controls, review processes
5. Communicate the Tensions Explicitly
Don’t pretend the tensions don’t exist. Say it out loud: “We need to be creative AND disciplined. We need to care for people AND demand results.”
Erasmus was explicit about these expectations. When those values seemed to conflict, he explained why both mattered.
6. Adjust the Dial Based on Context
Sometimes you need to dial up Market (facing a critical deadline). Sometimes you need to dial up Clan (after a difficult period). The framework isn’t static—it’s a mixing board where you adjust levels based on what the moment requires.
During the World Cup final preparation, Erasmus dialled up Hierarchy (perfect execution) and Market (competitive intensity). During team selection disputes, he dialled up Clan (unity) and Adhocracy (openness to new ideas).
The Warning: What Happens When Quadrants Collapse
The cautionary tale is ever-present in sports and business. Teams that win once and disappear. Companies that dominate and then implode.
Usually, success in one quadrant causes neglect in others:
- Market success leads to arrogance, destroying Clan cohesion
- Hierarchy efficiency breeds rigidity, killing Adhocracy innovation
- Adhocracy creativity becomes chaos without hierarchical systems
- Clan comfort turns into complacency without Market hunger
Erasmus’s genius was in maintaining the tension even at the peak. After winning in 2019, he didn’t relax any quadrant. He tightened some (Hierarchy processes), evolved others (Adhocracy tactics), and protected the foundation (Clan culture).
Conclusion: The Dance of Opposites
The Competing Values Framework isn’t about choosing. The idea involves creating a dance that demonstrates seemingly opposing values moving in harmony. The choreography aims to show how these contrasting elements can coexist and produce a captivating rhythm together. Rassie Erasmus didn’t just coach rugby. He’s a conductor of a symphony, leading a dance, and balancing a mobile where four weights must hang in perfect tension. He demonstrated that sustainable excellence isn’t about selecting the right culture; it’s about blending competing cultures into something dynamic and alive.
When Siya Kolisi held that World Cup trophy aloft in 2019, and again in 2023, he held more than gold. He held proof that an organisation can be:
- Warm and fierce
- Creative and disciplined
- Caring and demanding
- Flexible and reliable
All at once. All the time. That’s not just championship rugby. That’s championship leadership.
And whether you’re developing a society, an organisation, a sports team, a startup, a school, or a surgical unit, the principle is the same: master all four quadrants, hold the tension, and watch your people become unstoppable. The Springboks didn’t just win. They showed us how winning cultures are built—one quadrant at a time, all four in harmony. Look out for Part 2 of this blog series.
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