Multi-disciplinary support teams have become ubiquitous in Olympic sports and institutes of sport, and professional sports teams in Europe and elsewhere have since used their impressive budgets to assemble ever-growing support casts who increasingly outnumber the performers on the field. More recently the major professional sports in North America have followed this trend, with more and more teams in the league transitioning to a high performance model for their staffing and provision of athlete support. Whilst it is relatively straightforward to replicate an organisational structure, the central challenge that everybody continues to grapple with is how to make this work in practice. Coordinating a disparate group of individuals to provide seamless support to performers is no small task. Integration is what everybody still seems to be searching for; true collaboration is the holy grail that we all aspire to, but that is several steps further down the path. With this latest offering we explore these questions and consider lessons from other realms such as the special operations forces that might help us to achieve these elusive outcomes.
The term integrated support team or IST (yes there had to be an acronym) is specifically used here in Canada where I am presently based. As a concept it has great intuitive appeal. Commercial organisations with practitioners from different disciplines under one roof have sought to adopt this model (with very mixed success). A nascent trend is for professional athletes to seek to assemble an integrated support team around them when they undertake their off-season training independently of their team. Clearly there is a desire for this type of support, so why is it so hard to make it work?
BIGGER IS NOT BETTER…
A larger support team is not necessarily more effective. When the budget allows, there is a temptation to tick all of the boxes in terms of disciplines and respective areas of support. However we are not aiming for a buffet. Adding to the array of providers on offer is only valuable to the extent that it is done in a purposeful way and implemented with appropriate direction.
The bigger issue is that with each individual added into the mix the lines of communication increase exponentially, and so does the potential for miscommunication and conflicting messaging. What is striking is that the most effective teams I have been part of effectively comprised a handful of people and daily communication between the key parties was a prominent feature.
Of course the reality with professional sport is that we are often dealing with a large staff, encompassing technical and tactical coaches, performance analysts, physical preparation coaches, sports science, therapy and sports medicine providers, rehabilitation and reconditioning specialists, and so on. High performance systems in the Olympic sports (notably institutes of sport) similarly comprise a host of staff representing different departments encompassing a multitude of specialisms.
The question thus becomes how we best structure the support around the performer in a way that accommodates the multiple parties involved.
STRUCTURING PROVISION: CREATE AN ONION…
An effective integrated support team or multidisciplinary team is formed of multiple layers, rather than a radial structure with all parties having direct access to the athlete. A useful way to picture the difference is to think of an onion rather than a spoked wheel. An onion is formed of multiple layers around the core: the first layer around the core is small and only this layer is in direct contact with the core. This is very different to the hub of a wheel which is directly connected to each of the numerous spokes.
Naturally, those few who are in close contact with performers most often are the best placed to direct and coordinate communication from other inputs. Routing communication through the nucleus or ‘tight team’ (the first layer of the onion) also protects the performer from being bombarded by too many inputs any given time. This model works particularly well for individual sports.
Irrespective of the sport we want to avoid too many voices or too few parameters on who gets to speak at any one time. This helps to ensure a unified message. It is crucial to avoid confusion and the sense of dissonance that occurs when the performer hears conflicting messages or has the sense that the respective parties are not communicating. When performers get the impression that members of the support team are at odds with each other what we have is the antithesis of an integrated support team.
COMMITTING TO A HIGHER CAUSE…
What makes the special operations teams so effective is the premise that individual concerns are subordinate to the needs of the team as a whole and the overall mission. These principles can be applied in sport and other areas of human performance. We should set the same explicit expectation that all parts of the team are working in support of each other. There needs to be unity of purpose with all parties pursuing a common goal. All members of the coaching and support team need to have the realisation that success depends on the collective; each unit within the team and staff member is in turn reliant upon each other.
By extension, all parties need to acknowledge and differentiate whether they are part of the supporting effort or directly working in service of the main effort (again borrowing from special operations parlance). By definition, much of what we do as practitioners in sport, regardless of our discipline, is part of the supporting effort. Recognising this in itself helps to promote humility and avoids the tendency to overplay the importance of our respective area of specialism or department.
A related facet of the commitment required to make this all work is a personal sense of duty. Special operations teams exemplify the sense of duty that underpins the commitment of each individual to do what is necessary; this overrides all other concerns including the cost to themselves. Applying these principles to elite sport, all members of the support cast must commit to doing their job irrespective of the consequences.
Positions with professional teams are highly prized, but attachment to holding onto this status or the title can become a barrier to doing what is necessary. If team members are more concerned with not rocking the boat and protecting their status we have a major problem.
Operating within an integrated support team means being ready to challenge each other. Alignment of purpose is not the same as group-think, which is something that teams must actively guard against.
“A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be...”
More pertinently, the reality is that some practitioners are averse to upsetting the performers themselves for fear it might jeopardise their position. Such a mindset robs us of our ability to do what the job requires; we are not there to appease or indulge performers. They don’t have to like what we are telling them, the important thing is it will serve to make them better. When we are not prepared to make this undertaking performers quickly become attuned to this and so we forfeit both our credibility and our authority.
PARKING OUR EGO…
We need to acknowledge and accept that we all have an ego. What is imperative is that all parties are willing to park their ego in service of the team and the mission; this is the number one prerequisite for achieving an integrated support team. Without this commitment from all parties the group will not function effectively, irrespective of what skills and expertise team members possess.
Ego is thus something to be managed among team members rather than ignored. We need to be open to challenge and ready to question others. The trick to success in both aspects is being able to separate our ego from the discussion.
All members of the support team have a personal responsibility to regulate themselves. Self-awareness is necessary to ensure that ego does not unduly influence decisions and actions. We must be able to consider things in a way that is detached from our ego, otherwise ego-related concerns will impair our professional judgement.
A prominent example is that whilst we might consider something to be ‘our job’ or specialty, we need to be able to recognise that in some instances we best serve the performer by allowing another member of the team to take the lead.
TURF WARS…
The major source of friction within support teams originate from territorial disputes. Flash points most commonly occur when a member of the support team is deemed to be encroaching on a colleague’s territory or over-reaching their remit. Whilst it is critical that each team member demonstrates professional respect for their colleagues, considering our roles and responsibilities in terms of spheres of influence is entirely the wrong lens to view the situation.
One approach that avoids such disputes which is employed in the culinary world is to impose a very rigid hierarchical structure whereby every member of the kitchen staff has responsibility for a specific task with no room for deviation. Whilst this model might avoid confusion and conflict, it is not well suited to environments in which uncertainty is an inherent feature and thus require operators to be adaptable.
Matters of sport and human performance do not lend themselves to such clear delineation; the boundaries are often not clearly defined. Achieving integration means dealing with the blurred lines that are a feature of the space in which we operate. Inevitably in the course of operations we will venture into frontier territory; working with humans means dealing with the grey areas.
Imposing a rigidly defined scope of practice is thus not appropriate when we operate in a dynamic and uncertain environment. What we can do is borrow from the special operations playbook once again - after all it has been thoroughly field-tested under the most challenging conditions and hostile environments. Specifically, we seek to define and adopt standard operating procedures and rules of engagement to guide the support staff.
Providing operational clarity and defined guidelines from the outset can avoid a lot of problems. All parties must subscribe to the terms outlined and voluntarily be held accountable to them thereafter. That said, whilst standard operating procedures serve as our guide, everybody needs to approach the endeavour armed with the awareness that there will be exceptions in particular circumstances.
SEAMLESS SUPPORT…
Aside from mitigating the effects of ego, the other critical factor for success is the command structure. As the support staff in professional sport can be large, it is all the more important to create sub-command structures comprising a number of people (generally 4-6) that makes direct coordination and communication feasible. This calls for designated leaders to coordinate these sub-teams who are in direct contact with those on the ground and in direct communication with those above in the command structure.
Using this structure means assigning responsibility to individuals who are accountable to ensuring that the job gets done whilst having the freedom to assign the task to any team member who has the ability to execute. What does need to be clear is who is stepping into the breach on any given occasion, and of course a prerequisite is that the individual in question has the skills and expertise to do what is required.
Returning to the successful high performing teams I have been part of, a notable feature which allowed us to operate very effectively with a limited number of people was having team members with a range of skills and the readiness to fulfill multiple functions that did not necessarily fall within their designated role. Reserve capability and redundancy is an asset and allows the system to continue to function under challenging conditions. When unforeseen events occur it pays to have a back up option.
Clearly we don’t want duplication of efforts - the same task does not need to be done twice. We also do not want multiple individuals competing over a given task, but this can be avoided with clear communication and team members who can check their ego. Assuming all that is in place, having more that one individual who can step in to do the job is an asset.
LEADING AN INTEGRATED SUPPORT TEAM…
It is crucial that the clearly defined command structure extends all the way to the top. Decentralised command might be a feature of day to day operations but there still needs to be a designated individual who has ultimate authority. This is where things can become problematic in professional sports; in some countries and certain sports it is not customary to have a single individual with authority over all areas. The head coach might be in charge of technical and tactical elements but the performance, medical and miscellaneous other athlete support staff do not necessarily fall under their remit.
A related issue is that leading a coordinated effort requires understanding across disciplines. Coordinating the extensive support teams that are now customary in professional sport requires a level of awareness of the respective areas and some ability to speak the language of each discipline. There is often no established route for head coaches to acquire this understanding, particularly for those who have transitioned straight to coaching after their playing career.
Partly to help provide this expertise and reduce the load on the head coach, more teams now employ a director of athlete support or similar to provide direction to the support staff. Some teams divide these responsibilities between two positions, generally partitioning the performance staff and the medical staff (e.g. performance director and medical director). This division of leadership and accountability can be problematic without a single person leading the unified effort, as it can unwittingly create a division between the staff and their objectives.
Beyond understanding what everybody does, the leadership at different levels of the organisation need to ensure there is operational clarity. Front line staff should be clear on what falls within their authority to make decisions on the ground versus what requires verification before proceeding (assuming the situation allows). Moreover, in keeping with our ‘onion’ structure, everybody needs to be clear on what needs to be communicated and the channels to use for those communications.
DECENTRALISED COMMAND…
As we introduced earlier, part of achieving decentralised command is having designated leaders throughout the organisation who are responsible for communicating up, down and across, as well as coordinating each sub unit. These individuals must be provided clear parameters on what is within the limits of their decision-making authority. There should also be an expectation that decentralised leaders are proactive about proposing solutions when seeking direction from above on matters that fall outside their authority, after all they are likely to have a greater level of situational awareness being closer to what is happening on the ground. In other words, it is a collaborative process rather than simply expecting to be told what to do.
The decentralised command idea also extends to the practitioner on the ground. Whilst the standard directives from above provide the guide in most situations there will nevertheless be occasions when individuals must apply their professional judgement and recognise when the situation calls for deviating from the script. This represents a continual learning process for all parties but there needs to be courage and willingness to exercise judgement and take appropriate action in the moment.
To assist the process, it is important that the leadership makes regular debriefs or after action reviews routine practice. This provides the opportunity to evaluate the actions taken in a structured and objective manner, to highlight the lessons for future scenarios and avoid repeating mistakes.
Beyond committing to debriefs as a standard part of day to day operation, the iterative process of improving, evolving, and solving problems that arise requires undertaking periodic in-depth reviews. Evaluating delivery and execution once again requires deep subject matter expertise, and often this process is more open and the staff involved are more forthcoming when it is led by a neutral facilitator. In order to foster a learning culture the staff must also have faith in the leadership that the objective is identifying lessons and solutions rather than apportioning blame.
FINALLY, THE ROLE OF THE PERFORMER..
With all the attention and investment in providing support for performers we often overlook the role of the athlete themselves. It is crucial we place continued emphasis on the role of the performer and highlight their individual responsibilities. It is their body and their livelihood; they are in sole charge of both of these things and only they have the power to make good choices and do the right things.
To achieve success performers themselves must retain ownership, take responsibility for themselves and be ready to perform when it matters; all of this needs to be made explicit. The credit should remain with them when it is a successful outcome and clearly they suffer the consequences when it goes wrong, particularly when their choices lead to periods out of action.
The notion of support team members being service providers can be problematic from this viewpoint; it is not a transaction. Whilst a mindset of service to others is important in coaching and all areas of athlete support, the role of staff members is to provide the tools and support for the performer to help themselves. We must avoid what is a common scenario in sport in various levels whereby performers delegate responsibility to respective support staff members. It is not our job to make them better; our role is to enable them to make themselves better. This is an important distinction.
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