Multi-Disciplinary Team Impact in High Performance Sport

Maximizing Multi-Disciplinary Team Impact in High-Performance Sport: Exploring Problem Solving, Decision-Making, Expertise, & Team Performance.

Ryan King¹

^1.Blended Intellligence

Multi-disciplinary Team; Practitioners; Problem Solving; Expertise; Knowledge

Overview

The concept of multi-disciplinary high performance teams has become increasingly prevalent in elite high-performance sport. However, the effectiveness of such teams depends on various factors such as the team’s shared expertise and consciousness, the presence of a clear purpose, mutual respect and trust between members, and a learning disposition. Additionally, it is essential to distinguish between high-performance teams and working groups or pseudo-teams, which lack the essential characteristics of a high-performance team. Cognitively diverse teams that leverage the collective cognitive repertoire of diverse teams can deliver better outcomes in complex scenarios. However, it is necessary to understand the risks and challenges of inter-disciplinary collaboration and the susceptibility of team heuristics and shared mental models to systematic thinking errors, blind spots, and inaccuracies. To enhance team performance, it is crucial to focus on “teaming,” which emphasizes how teams approach their work collectively and why, rather than the status of a high-performance team. This paper will explore these themes and investigate how they apply to elite high-performance sport.