ABSTRACT

The subject of talent in sport continues to fascinate and intrigue as organisations seek to identify and deliver an effective talent development programme in an effort to ensure systemic success. In the quest to deliver an optimal national governing body talent development programme, this paper investigates the role that Appreciative Inquiry can play in addressing change within a complex landscape. The coaches (12 talent coaches) and researcher (Head of Performance) utilised an Appreciative Inquiry framework to identify a ‘routemap’ for change within the programme. Results highlighted the challenges and benefits of adopting a strength-based approach to programme development within sport, particularly the generative capacity of Appreciative Inquiry amongst coaches. Results also indicate some complexities of strength-based collaborative change, namely the need for time to break through semantics and coaching rhetoric. Through the design and delivery of an Appreciative Inquiry summit, key themes for an optimal development environment were identified. Namely, coaches felt that when at its best the programme adopts a mastery focus. Findings indicate that to achieve this, participants felt that for the programme to become optimal, the themes of leadership, coach–athlete relationships and player autonomy were integral elements to build on going forward.

摘要

随着组织寻求识别和提供有效的人才发展计划以确保系统性成功，体育人才的主题继续令人着迷和感兴趣。为了提供最佳的国家管理机构人才发展计划，本文调查了欣赏式探究在应对复杂环境中的变化方面可以发挥的作用。教练（12 名人才教练）和研究人员（绩效负责人）利用欣赏式探究框架来确定计划内变革的“路线图”。结果强调了在运动项目开发中采用基于力量的方法的挑战和好处，特别是教练之间的欣赏式探究的生成能力。结果还表明基于强度的协作变革的一些复杂性，即需要时间来突破语义和教练修辞。通过设计和交付一个鉴赏性调查峰会，确定了最佳开发环境的关键主题。也就是说，教练们认为，当在最好的情况下，该程序采用掌握重点。调查结果表明，为了实现这一目标，参与者认为要使计划变得最佳，领导力、教练-运动员关系和球员自主权等主题是继续前进的不可或缺的要素。