Leading During a Pandemic: Lessons Gleaned From Sport Psychology

Abstract

aaa It is jolting to realize that it has now been over a year since the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (JCSP) editorial board was meeting in person in Chicago. We were attempting to offer a virtual option to those who could not make the flight and Internet was unusually spotty in our conference room. There was some debate over whether we should host the 2020 annual meeting during the American Psychological Association or at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology conference. Who would have realized that we would be embroiled in a societal pause, pandemic lockdown, and “Zoom or bust” modus operandi? In March of this year when reports of COVID-19 cases were hitting Italy and other parts of the world, none of us could have anticipated the extent of the widespread impact on our daily lives and professional realities. Rewind to the beginning of our country’s shutdown when I found myself fulfilling several leadership roles. At the university, I was managing two units—an interim director for sponsored programs, a research compliance position, and my associate dean role. I was also continuing my service as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology. Managing people during the months of the pandemic’s uncertainty forced me to lead with compassion and to borrow from my background in sport and exercise psychology for many of the necessary tools to successfully motivate my team members. Providing healthy and open communication; identifying defined roles, goals, and expectations; and offering positive and continuous feedback were increasingly necessary for even the most selfdisciplined and independent employees who found themselves isolated to their dining rooms. I searched for diverse ways to stay connected and to keep my team members engaged—WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and the simple telephone call. Doing team and individual check-ins became frequent. Suddenly my selfproclaimed compassionate and authentic leadership style tookme right into a zone of compassion fatigue. I literally hit a wall. Burnout anyone? This made sense given that we were (and remain) in unprecedented times. The spread of the virus was out of our control. Within days, we shifted from being an operation that thrived on face-to-face interactions to one that was solely online. At the time, I was supervising a total of 17 direct reports within the university. Each of