Organizational practices that champion people and performance: a case study of Speed Skating Canada

Introduction This study examined the organizational factors contributing to the recent record-breaking success of Speed Skating Canada (SSC), Canada's most decorated Olympic sport. Drawing on the Burke–Litwin model of organizational change and performance, we explored how transformational variables, including external environment, mission and strategy, leadership and culture, influenced SSC's ability to prioritize athlete wellbeing while driving performance. In doing so, we aimed to identify practices that may inform healthier and more sustainable high-performance environments. Methods A qualitative case study design was used, collecting data through focus groups ( n = 4), and semi-structured interviews ( n = 9) with SSC athletes, coaches, staff and leadership. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results The results demonstrated that SSC is situated within an external environment where funding is contingent on performance. SSC's success in navigating this was its dual mission of performance and development and increased organizational professionalization. Leadership was characterized as agile, action-oriented, and distributed, with transparent and inclusive decision-making practices, which bolstered trust among membership. The organizational culture was described as psychologically safe, grounded in a strong learning orientation, balancing individuals and the collective, with values which extend beyond performance. Conclusion The findings demonstrate how mission and strategy, leadership and culture, can be aligned intentionally to create healthier, more human-centered high performance sport environments. This study contributes novel insight into how a national sport organization enacts the balance between people and performance in practice. The organizational practices at SSC provide a positive model for sport and other high performance work contexts, demonstrating that prioritizing people and performance can be mutually reinforcing.