Developing a High-Performance Culture: A Sport Psychology Intervention From an Ecological Perspective in Elite Orienteering

Abstract

Organizational culture is an emerging topic in sport psychology and recent literature has argued that creating and maintaining high-performance cultures is a key function of the sport psychologist. This article describes a long-term intervention aimed at creating a winning culture in a national orienteering team that took place as an integrated part of the athletes’ training and competition environment. The intervention involves three stages: unfreeze (creating survival anxiety and motivation for change), learning (designing new values and strategies), and refreeze (implementing these values in the identity of the team). The case study may produce a much-needed set of guidelines to inform the process of culture change.

KEYWORDS:

• applied sport psychology
• culture management
• elite sport
• organizational culture
• orienteering