In our latest viewpoint - just published today in BJM Open SEM - we question whether we really have the skills to effectively lead a multidisciplinary sports medicine ‘team’. Where not too long ago we serviced athletes; nowadays, we have the responsibility to lead a multidisciplinary team that is mandated to protect the athletes’ health, ensure competition availability and ability to compete at peak performance. In essence, our roles have shifted from being a service provider to a health and performance manager who steers a multidisciplinary team of specialists. Together with expert authors we discuss in this viewpoint the definition of leadership and highlight the importance of leadership for health and performance teams. We let you walk away with some of our baseline ‘leadership’ pearls that allow you to elevate collaboration through leadership.
Our pearls
It is not about you! The golden pearl is to lose your ego. Effective leaders make success a team effort and take personal responsibility in case of failure.
You can’t do it alone! Communication is certainly not easy, but you must nurture an ecosystem of trust and cooperation through effective communication. As we rely on multiple disciplines, you must engage other stakeholders within and outside your department to join in your vision and goals.
Foster connection and value throughout your team! Build a team around a vision and manage the delivery of this vision through active engagement, monitoring and coaching of your staff throughout the process.
Bringing leadership to our mission
In this viewpoint we make a case towards leadership being a required skill in our roles as health and performance managers. There exists a vast amount of academic and popular literature on effective leadership. But how should we approach this as a field in our practice? How can we use leadership learning to guide and develop future athletic health and performance leaders? Here lies a great opportunity for research to describe the key markers for leadership success within our athletic realm.
The full paper can be accessed here (open access)
Evert Verhagen, Jay Mellette, Jeff Konin, Reggie Scott, Joao Brito, Alan McCall. Taking the lead towards healthy performance: the requirement of leadership to elevate the health and performance teams in elite sports. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 2020;6:e000834.