The Psychology of High-Performance Sports Organizations

The Psychology of High-Performance Sports Organizations: Culture, Safety, and Leadership provides a step-by-step guide to managing a professional sports organization through the principles of organizational psychology and psychological safety. It offers insights on how to manage sports organizations effectively, covering team operations, culture, and performance design. Readers will gain a deep understanding of psychological safety and learn how to cultivate it in diverse team settings. Although focused on professional sports, many of the key takeaways are applicable to elite amateur sports organizations and general businesses. Some of the topics covered in the book include transformational leadership, values-based decision-making, talent development, psychological safety, and leadership, which can all be applied outside of the sport organization. While these topics have been explored extensively individually, this is one of the first books to bring all of them together with a focus on sports and in an easy-to-digest format. Each chapter provides the what, the why, and the how: what is the concept, why is it important, and how can it be applied in the real world? Whether the reader is preparing for a career in sports management or is already in that world, The Psychology of High-Performance Sports Organizations: Culture, Safety, and Leadership delivers practical, research-backed insights for fostering psychological safety and improving team performance and is key reading for students, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of sport psychology, sport management, organizational behavior, organizational psychology, and related subdisciplines.

Marie Claire Bourque, MD, MSc, FRCPC, is an award-winning psychiatrist, educator, clinician, and public speaker who specializes in working with high-performing individuals. Known for blending mental health expertise with insights from her own athletic background, Marie Claire Bourque offers a performance-enhancing approach to therapy. Her professional experience spans from working with patients struggling with polysubstance use disorder and experiencing homelessness to professional athletes and business executives at top companies. She serves as a National Hockey League (NHL) Mental Health and Peak Performance Expert for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Marlies and holds a Certificate of Additional Training in Sports Psychiatry from the International Society for Sports Psychiatry. Marie Claire Bourque is a clinical instructor at the University of British Columbia School of Medicine and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine, and she maintains a virtual psychiatry practice in British Columbia. Madeline Antony earned a Bachelor of Science in biology and psychology with honors at the University of Victoria, Canada, and a Juris Doctor at the University of Calgary. Throughout her academic career, Madeline Antony has worked alongside Marie Claire Bourque as a research assistant specializing in mental toughness in elite athletes and developing culture in professional organizations. Madeline Antony is a passionate advocate for community and culture building, as reflected in her diverse academic and professional pursuits. She has volunteered in the fields of international relations, politics, healthcare, literacy, environmental protection, and athletics.

Introduction: The High-Performance Culture Operating System. 1. The Pressure Landscape. 2. Psychological Safety-The Foundation. 4. Vision, Values, and Decision Architecture. 5. The Transformational Leader-Skills for High-Stakes Environments. 6. Building Championship Culture-How to Diagnose, Build, and Sustain It. 7. Transitions-Supporting Athletes Through Career-Defining Moments. 8. The Invisible Architecture-Staff Systems as Performance Infrastructure. 9. Your People-Selection, Development, and the Athlete Lifecycle. 10. The Stakeholder Ecosystem-Managing the Unmanageable. 11. Future-Ready Organizations-Sustainability and Evolution.