Leading and organising national teams: functions of institutional leadership

Abstract

National team coaches are tasked to increase athlete capacity for success – a key task of theirs is leading the athletes and team’s entourage. Few studies have detailed empirical accounts of leadership at the organisational-, team-, and individual level. This qualitative case study of institutional leadership examined how three national team coaches, who also have the role of high-performance directors, organise and lead their teams. Within the context of these successful Norwegian national teams, we identified how the coaches lead in ways that are consistent with leadership functions captured in institutional leadership, which focuses on the creation of structures and interactions that promote and protect the key organisational and societal values. Still, the coaches pursued this structuring and interactions in distinct ways, leading to distinctive organisational practices. The findings of the study stress the importance of considering contextual elements when leading athletes and entourage that pertain to national teams.