Performance leadership and management in elite sport: recommendations, advice and suggestions from national performance directors

Driving and Sustaining Culture Change in Olympic Sport Performance Teams: A First Exploration and Grounded Theory

“…Specifically, with many funding agencies adopting a "no compromise", outcome-based approach to resource allocation (e.g., UK Sport 1 : Sam, 2012), and national governing bodies undertaking detailed cross-examinations when objective success is not forthcoming (e.g., Magnay, 2013), most PDs are afforded little mercy for failing to establish systems which instantly and consistently deliver medals. Theoretically, and as sport psychologists possess greater scope for impact when working at inter-rather than intra-group levels (as intervention can reach and impact a wider number of groups and individuals), a focus on the culture of performance departments and, more precisely, how it may be changed also aligns with the field's recent gravitation toward performance leadership and constructs which function at higher levels of social aggregation (Arnold et al, 2012;Fletcher & Arnold, 2011;Fletcher & Wagstaff, 2009). Importantly, and despite the preference of business-based scholars to prioritize and assess the culture of entire organizations (Gilmore, 2013), this team-level orientation is firmly fixed to the pragmatics of both the PD and sport psychologist role (Cruickshank, Collins, & Minten, 2013b;Fletcher & Arnold, 2011).…”

“…Indeed, the need for Olympic sports teams to operate in a setting which consistently enables peak performance and protects members (i.e., performers, support staff, and team management) from wider organizational distractions (e.g., internal politics: Arnold, Fletcher, & Molyneux, 2012;Wagstaff et al, 2012a) has arguably never been greater. inevitably redefine a group's strategy and contexts (Hutzschenreuter, Kleindienst, & Greger, 2012), and are further expected to deliver a change of some kind (to either maintain or, more likely, improve on results achieved by their predecessor in a continually evolving setting), the extent to which the newly appointed PD can negotiate the anxiety-shaped dynamics of leader succession will be a key determinant of their program's short and long term success.…”

“…Indeed, the need for Olympic sports teams to operate in a setting which consistently enables peak performance and protects members (i.e., performers, support staff, and team management) from wider organizational distractions (e.g., internal politics: Arnold, Fletcher, & Molyneux, 2012;Wagstaff et al, 2012a) has arguably never been greater. Specifically, with many funding agencies adopting a "no compromise", outcome-based approach to resource allocation (e.g., UK Sport 1 : Sam, 2012), and national governing bodies undertaking detailed cross-examinations when objective success is not forthcoming (e.g., Magnay, 2013), most PDs are afforded little mercy for failing to establish systems which instantly and consistently deliver medals.…”

Driving and sustaining culture change in professional sport performance teams: A grounded theory

“…These authors' appraisal has also provided context for different work on the precise functioning and leadership of elite sport organizations' performance departments, where attention has focused on those directly responsible for sporting performance; normally known as team managers, head coaches, directors of sport, or performance directors (e.g., Arnold, Fletcher, & Molyneux, 2012;Cruickshank & Collins, 2012;Cruickshank et al, 2013aFletcher & Arnold, 2011). As performers, coaches, and sports medicine/science staff are overseen by these specialist leaders, with the performance department often in an entirely separate location to administrative and top management groups, research in this area is bolstered by its applied relevance (Cruickshank, Collins, & Minten, 2013b).…”

Reimagining Leadership in Sport Management: Lessons From the Social Construction of Leadership

“…The new concepts are issues of governance in sport management (e.g., Arnold, Fletcher, & Molyneux, 2012;Ferkins & Shilbury, 2012;Ferkins, Shilbury, F o r P e e r R e v i e w 6 for our line of argument, although these are important and valid areas of research, Welty Peachey et al's (2015) authoritative review demonstrates that leadership research in sport management has been dominated by leader-centric notions and is yet to embrace new ideas associated with the social construction of leadership in any sustained way.…”