“Are you here for performance or are you here for well-being?” Using participatory research to promote thriving in a British Olympic sport organization

Figures & data

Table 1. Examples of issues impacting thriving within the sport organization.

Issue	Description	Manifestation in Environment	Impact on thriving
History of Olympic Success.	Achieved outstanding success at multiple and consecutive Olympic Games.	Many key stakeholders beholden to system that has proven successful; presenting resistance to change at times. Wish to maintain status quo despite opportunity to positively evolve the sport, people & culture. Sometimes adopting a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” approach.	Athlete retention trends consistently falling each cycle, with some athletes unable and/or unwilling to commit to multiple Olympic cycles. Coaches’ perception of ‘performance problems’ can be influenced by results.
Hierarchical Leadership (coaches).	Successful and experienced head coach often leading with autocratic/transactional style.	Staff (i.e. coaches, support staff) have limited autonomy or flexibility. Programme determined by head coach, most toe the line out of apprehension or respect. Perform only their assigned role-little freedom within the coaches’ programme to expand their role and responsibility.	Limits levels of fulfillment, empowerment, and purpose. Despite coaching elite athletes, delivering a premade programme, impacts support staff feeling more like service providers than experts in performance to be utilized fully.
Structure of Training Day.	Athletes’ time at training facility is strictly and rigidly timetabled.	Little time for reflection, conversation. Little time to work on personal strengths or weaknesses outside of scheduled training. Psych support often requires proactive planning in the schedule for greater impact.	Homogenization of time and space leaves little room for individualization. Difficult to form real connections or analyze inner thoughts/feelings. Little time to be vulnerable, for other interests/hobbies/identities (although some athletes can).
Complexity of Organization.	Many athletes, coaches, and staff. Divided into men and women’s teams, further subdivided into disciplines.	Varied group of individuals with differing wants and needs. Multiple “micro” environments that are all unique. Many athletes compete against each other until selection, then become teammates.	How to implement a system that impacts thriving across a complex and diverse organization, while being specific enough to accommodate subgroup needs. Difficult to promote cohesion, trust, authenticity.
Person vs Performer.	Athlete’s view, and are viewed, often as a cog in the machine – with a priority toward physical characteristics.	Personal lives largely left “outside this building”. Every session is recorded – produces measurable outcome = constantly measured and compared. Athlete worth often tied to performance, leaving some finding it challenging to identify strengths beyond physical characteristics, e.g. I am strong/fast.	Less importance placed on subjective performance or experiential outcomes, i.e. feeling-based goals. Frequently being measured impacts competence, drives competition, and removes autonomy. Largely speaking, everyone is required to do same session, hit same targets.
Well-being Less of a Priority.	Many coaches perceive athlete well-being as high because what is often heard is “I’m fine” or “athlete told me they were OK when asked.”	Organization continues to produce results, perception that athletes must be well if they perform. Head coach struggles to see how well-being impacts a performance or is a ‘problem’ when athletes are training or performing well. “Athletes thrive when they’re winning.” Well-being seen as a ‘soft’ approach.	Pervasive view that objective performance is paramount – an indicator of well-being. Coupled with highly challenging training culture and need to be tough, well-being conversations are difficult to have and difficult to get engagement outside of senior leadership.

Figure 1. The thriving mindset model (TMM).

Belief: confidence in oneself, one’s skills and ability to execute. Readiness: readiness to compete, composure before competition, appropriate individual and team arousal levels; Adaptability: Flexible competition plan, adapt to opponents and conditions; Team Synergy: gel as a team, being united, in tune with one another; Execution: execute what needs to be done, deliver skills in order to execute a winning performance.

Figure 2. Example dimension of TMM profile tool.

Data availability statement

Due to the collaborative and participatory nature of the research, supporting data is not available due to ethical restrictions that prevent the sharing of the data. Notably, the need to protect the identity of participants, organizations, and national governing bodies involved in the research project. The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.