Reaching the pinnacle

Human performance in sport could be improved by applying a systems thinking approach to the sector. A new book sets out why a focus on the wider context rather than individual athletes would be more effective in reducing problems such as doping.

Professor Paul Salmon is one of the authors of Systems Thinking Methods in Sport: Practical Guidance and Case Studies. In an interview in the December issue of our member magazine, The Ergonomist, he explained how systems thinking could also help improve injury prevention and organisational performance. And he highlighted some of the areas where human factors methods are already making a difference in elite sport.

Paul said: “People in sports are starting to appreciate the benefit of applying systems thinking methods to understand what it is about a system that will either enable good performance or will allow inappropriate, poor or illicit performance.”

He added: “There are places in systems where small interventions will have dramatic effects on behaviour. Rather than trying to fix the athlete, we need to fix the broader system.”

Read the full interview in The Ergonomist

Systems Thinking Methods in Sport is written by Scott McLean, Mitchell Naughton, Gemma Read, Neville Stanton, Adam Hulme, Guy Walker and Paul Salmon.