Conference Report
World’s apart? Sport psychology
in the workplace
David Woods, Gavin Breslin, John Kremer, Yvonne Cooke,
Sarah Corrie & Alison Clarke
T THE Northern Ireland Branch of the
A British Psychological Society Annual
Conference at La Mon Hotel, Belfast,
on the 28 April 2014, Dr John Kremer
delivered an enjoyable and thought-pro-
voking presentation. The aim was to look
beyond the historical and often artificial
barriers that continue to segregate applied
psychology, and instead to use the example
of sport psychology to see how material can
be applied outside that domain, in this case
to the world of business. The session was
convened by Dr Gavin Breslin (University of
Ulster).
John presented a range of applied topics
linked to team and individual performance
in sport, for example, leadership, team cohe-
sion, causal attribution, motivation, confi-
dence and mental toughness. Opportunities
for using these topics to inform personal and
corporate development were critically
explored using both workplace and sport
examples. The presentation was followed by
an opportunity for delegates to consider
‘emerging issues’ through a discussion with
an invited panel representing Sport and
Exercise Psychology (Dr John Kremer,
Dr Gavin Breslin), Organisational
Psychology (Yvonne Cooke) and Coaching
Psychology (Professor Sarah Corrie, Alison
Clarke).
The aim of our article is to briefly reflect
the key themes from the keynote presenta-
tion and the ensuing discussion, in partic-
ular reflecting on the similarities and
differences as to how practitioners across
Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, Vol. 10 No. 3
© The British Psychological Society 2014
disciplines deliver their consultancy services
to clients. The topics that emerged through
discussions were reduced to themes that we
feel are worth sharing with the wider
psychology community. It is not possible to
capture all the discussion in such a short
article, so we have structured the article into
four summary sections. We consider the
world(s) of applied psychology, then include
an overview of the presentation content,
before offering a description of the themes
that emerged from panel and delegate
discussion, before asking the question are we
actually ‘worlds apart?’ when it comes to
delivering our professional services.
What is applied psychology?
Applied psychology is viewed as the use of
psychological theory and evidence to the
benefit of real life issues. As Figure 1 illus-
trates, applied psychology can be repre-
sented as the fulcrum of knowledge,
paradigms and practices around which a
multitude of psychological disciplines rotate,
in greater or lesser orbit, without ever
colliding. A key question posed in the pres-
entation was whether we should view each of
these disciplines as wholly distinct, or indeed
if on closer inspection of their theories and
practices, and in the context of applied
psychology, they share more in common
than we usually think. In line with the
specialisms of the delegates attending, the
applied disciplines that the discussions
focused on were Sport, Occupational and
Coaching psychology.
99
David Woods, Gavin Breslin, John Kremer, Yvonne Cooke, Sarah Corrie & Alison Clarke
Figure 1: Applied psychology – world’s apart?
Key content from the presentation is
detailed in Table 1. Although there is a sport
emphasis we would ask you to consider the
origins of some of the theories and their
application. In many cases you will see theo-
ries and topics that are reflective of, and
originally derived from, an eclectic mix of
sub-disciplines.
Themes that emerged from the panel
and delegate discussion
Diversity
The panel and delegates acknowledged the
many diverse environments and settings that
applied psychology operates within and
successfully adds value to. Indeed, John
outlined some of his personal experiences
ranging from leadership development and
coaching with local government and
Northern Ireland Assembly members,
through to teambuilding and individual
performance enhancement with teachers
and athletes.
100
Continued Professional Development
The importance and value of continued
professional development (CPD) across all
disciplines was highlighted. A shared theme
across the range of delegates was the role of
reflective practice within their CPD and the
development of new ideas when delivering
interventions. While CPD does tend to be
based primarily within each sub-discipline,
further opportunities for cross-fertilisation
with other branches of applied psychology
could be integrated into CPD programmes.
Giving it away
A debate ensued on the issue of ’giving it
away‘, on two fronts. First, whether the long-
term goal of the professional psychologist
should be to empower clients to the point
where the person is no longer needed, or
whether there is a need to nurture a relation-
ship characterised by dependency (see
Facilitating self-dependence below). This led
naturally to the second and more pragmatic
Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, Vol. 10 No. 3
 World’s apart? Sport psychology in the workplace

Table 1: Examples of theories adopted/adapted by applied sport psychology.

Subject Theories Applied in Sport Psychology Comment

Leadership, Adapted versions of leadership models
Management (e.g. Fiedler (1967, 1971), Vroom &
and Coaching Yetton (1973), Hersey & Blanchard
(1977), House (1996)).
Sport-specific measures of coaching
styles:
Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS);
Coach Behaviour Description
Questionnaire (CBDQ).
Goal-setting Goal-setting (Locke & Latham, 1984)
originally developed in occupational
settings then adopted by Sport
Psychology.
Control and Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning
Causal (Hanin, 1997).
Attribution Self-Serving Attribution Bias
(Heider, 1958).
Motivation Effort > Performance > Reward >
Satisfaction: The core of VIE Theory
(Porter & Lawler, 1968).
Teamwork Cohesion – task vs. social
(Carron & Brawley, 2000)
Group development (Tuckman, 1965).
Findings are highly predictable,
e.g. Preferred coaching styles vary by
Women coaches were perceived as
more S-E focused; and
S-E support, less technical advice.
An interesting observation is how these
findings are reflected in the population
of those providing these services across
the different disciplines.
Goal-setting gave rise to debates
regarding the role of competition;
process vs. outcome goals;
demotivation; and individual
differences.
It was proposed that the key is to use
goal-setting with an element of caution
to accommodate individual differences,
and to use in conjunction with
Performance Profiling.
Parallels were observed between the
sporting and business coaching worlds,
with managers and athletes alike
attributing success to their own actions
and failures to external factors.
It was commented that in both
sporting and occupational settings,
a break in the chain linking these
factors is often a source of lack of
motivation and/or commitment.
A debate centred around what makes
a good team, with consensus resting
on constructive dissent, individuality
and differences.

question, that is, when as professionals do we sionals than those in Occupational

charge for our applied services or when do
we provide them for free? The latter experi-
ence was more common amongst the experi-
enced sport psychologists in the room, often
due to a shortage of funding amongst
athletes. It was suggested that making a
living out of Sports Psychology Consultancy
was potentially harder for graduates/profes-
Psychology and/or Coaching Psychology.
Furthermore, a more accessible and defined
career pathway appears to be available for
Occupational Psychology via large or
boutique consultancies with, for example,
Organisation Development or People and
Change Teams. The availability of more
financial resources in business to create such

Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, Vol. 10 No. 3 101

David Woods, Gavin Breslin, John Kremer, Yvonne Cooke, Sarah Corrie & Alison Clarke
opportunities for work was also highlighted.
For the provision of Sport and Exercise
Psychology services, perhaps as a Division
within the British Psychological Society, we
should further consider the career pathways
for our members, the payments structures or
the introduction of nominal fees.
Guarding the profession
Questions were raised which concerned
’Guarding the Profession‘ or rather disci-
plines within the profession and whether we
are too precious as a profession about our
knowledge base? Should we welcome
outsiders and their views (e.g. Tim Gallwey a
non-sport psychologist and his construct of
The Inner Game) or stand back until we
have developed systems for testing their
credentials? A broad consensus emerged
that whilst it was important to maintain
professional standards, we should perhaps
aspire to be less precious and more broad
minded, and accept that valid contributions
can come from many quarters, albeit with a
health warning duly attached to some. Along
with this, our horizons should be broadened
by welcoming and more actively facilitating
multi-disciplinary enterprises.
Spheres of competence
A word of caution was offered that we can so
easily stray beyond our own sphere of
competence during the course of an engage-
ment or intervention, and then it is the duty
of the professional psychologist to recognise
and retreat. One obvious example from
sport could involve an athlete who presents
with clinical symptoms such as an eating
disorder. At that point, referral to the rele-
vant specialism is imperative.
102
Facilitating self-dependence
Regardless of whether or not as professionals
we approach clients from a single-discipline,
or as outlined above, collaborate with
colleagues from other domains, delegates
agreed that a shared goal is to nurture self-
dependence in our clients. Despite the
apparent conflict of aiming to make oneself
redundant when working with athletes, it was
felt that nurturing this self-dependence in
clients is both commercially and ethically
valid and beneficial.
Conclusion
Despite the apparent exclusivity of the sport
and exercise, occupational and coaching
psychological disciplines, the discussion
actually highlighted more similarities than
differences and raised searching, universal
issues along the way. The consensus was that
the existence of these multiple environ-
ments, within which psychologists operate,
should not necessarily mean each area must
first provide original theoretical underpin-
nings and then guard them from other disci-
plines to justify their existence. Rather it was
shown that by promoting and celebrating
the diversity of application of similar theo-
ries across disciplines, we can learn, refine
and ultimately achieve more together.
Perhaps, as Figure 2 suggests, our consul-
tancy worlds that we experience each day are
closer together than we first envisaged.
Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, Vol. 10 No. 3
 World’s apart? Sport psychology in the workplace

Figure 2: Applied psychology – one world celebrating diversity.

Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, Vol. 10 No. 3 103

David Woods, Gavin Breslin, John Kremer, Yvonne Cooke, Sarah Corrie & Alison Clarke

The Authors References

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Alison Clarke
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49 St John’s Wharf,
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104 Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, Vol. 10 No. 3

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