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Agile leadership has ‘transformative impact’ on sport organizations

This is an excerpt from Contemporary Leadership in Sport Organizations 3rd Edition by David Scott,Mark LaSota.

Agile Leadership in Sport

Agile leadership in the context of leading and managing sport organizations obviously involves continuous and rapid adaptation to multiple contextual factors, an ongoing need to embrace new technologies, and the ability to make quick but well-informed and transparent decisions. All of these things must be done while also meeting employee, athlete, organizational, and external stakeholder needs. The practice of agile leadership and its associated methodologies have been recognized as having a “transformative impact” in sport management (Berryhill 2023). As pointed out by Berryhill, embracing agile principles in sport teams and organizations can foster a collaborative environment, support adaptive planning, and contribute significantly to team or organizational performance. Agile processes also help sport organizations respond to rapid market changes and enhance team or organizational dynamics, enabling them to thrive in today’s fast-moving and uncertain world. Berryhill also noted that agile sport management revolves around the development and implementation of an iterative sport strategy and a focus on continuous improvement. Considered an essential component of agile methods, an iterative process involves members of a team or organization continually and purposefully monitoring, gathering feedback, and improving the design of a product or project until it meets an agreed-upon level of satisfaction.

Jayna Hefford, executive vice president of hockey operations for the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), is a current leader recognized for demonstrating both adaptability and agility in helping to start a new professional sport league. Among her many accomplishments, her flexible and adaptive approach has led to creation of new teams, branding initiatives, and digital team engagement in the short time from the organization’s founding in August 2023 to its inaugural sea-son in January 2024.

By embracing agile principles, leaders and managers of sport organizations and teams can foster an environment that prioritizes team collaboration and adaptive planning, both of which can significantly contribute to optimization of team performance. This modern sport leadership approach helps create and sustain agile, responsive teams that can adjust to the fast-paced nature of competitive sport in today’s world.

Those in leadership roles of contemporary sport organizations must be extraordinarily flexible and responsive to the often-changing environment and needs of stakeholders. For example, using agile processes such as the previously described scrum, sport marketing teams can hold daily meetings and work in short “sprints” to quickly strategize and deliver real-time social media campaigns. Using advanced technology, these teams can rapidly change strategies if needed, drawing on fan feedback and AI analytics to inform their decisions.

Other examples of agile processes being applied in the sport industry include things such as rapid responses to unexpected events. A pertinent situation was the terrorist act in New Orleans, Louisiana, that resulted in the postponement of the 2025 Sugar Bowl game between the University of Notre Dame and the University of Georgia.

Another general example of the need for agile leadership occurs regularly in athlete management and communication. Rapidly changing mental and physical health and performance-related needs of athletes require owners, managers, and coaches to respond quickly to rapidly evolving player needs. As examples, managers and coaches of players participating in leagues such as the NBA or the English Premier League deal with multiple player issues and challenges that require rapid and agile responses and adjustments to support individual player needs and team outcomes.

One additional example of agile processes in sport is the use of modern data science and analytics technology to enhance decision making through the use of on-court and on-field digital video, as well as data analysis that can be utilized to adjust game strategies and make rapid decisions on personnel to optimize performance in real time.

To conclude, leaders at all levels of sport today must be both aware of and knowledge-able about agile leadership concepts and practices.

More Excerpts From Contemporary Leadership in Sport Organizations 3rd Edition

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