Developing organisational ambidexterity in sport organisations? A qualitative study of a mentor programme for young leaders

Abstract This article explores the position of organisational ambidexterity in a Norwegian mentor programme for young leaders in sport. It examines to what degree it enabled participants to reflect on two main themes in theories of organisational ambidexterity: to sense the possibility for, and/or seise, actual change opportunities within their own sport organisations. Drawing upon 22 in-depth interviews (14 mentees, split into 10 males and 4 females), six mentors (3 males and 3 females), and two female programme organisers, two key findings emerged. First, the mentor programme provided a useful arena for improving the mentees’ self-awareness of the type of leaders they would like to become. Second, the programme fell short of addressing the educational preconditions for ambidextrous leadership as the ability to solve work-life challenges requires insight into the contextual factors that influence leadership practices in sports. The article introduces Time, Agency and Change as conceptual additions to the theory and application of ‘organisational ambidexterity’ in sport management work. These additions improve the analytical usefulness of organisational ambidexterity in studies of sport organisations and itemise its applicability to further mentor programme developments.