‘One size fits all’ – or should it? An individualised approach to enhancing talent development environments

Objectives: The non-linear, dynamic, and highly variable nature of talent development (TD) and the importance of environmental factors within TD is now widely acknowledged. Despite the emerging body of TD literature, a void exists concerning the development of interventions to enhance the TD environment (TDE). Intervention strategies previously utilised assume a ‘one size fits all’ approach and whilst this may help resolve generic problems within the TDE, it ignores the highly individualised nature of athlete development. Such approaches are simplistic in nature and arguably misguided when we consider the pervasive moderating effect of personality in most domains of human behaviour. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate an individualised approach to enhancing the TDE.
Methods: A mixed-method approach, incorporating the TDE questionnaire-5 (TDEQ-5) was administered to seven semi-professional rugby union players to help identify perceived areas for enhancement within the TDE. Semi-structured interviews based on the Holistic Ecological Approach and participant observations were used to provide further insight into the TDE. An athlete psychosocial survey was employed to capture insight into player’s psychological profile. Intervention plans were developed in accordance with TDEQ-5 responses with psychological profiles used to help inform and guide interventions.
Results: Results demonstrated tangible differences in the manner in which the TDE was influenced between individual players, according to their personality profiles. Findings revealed the benefits of adopting an individualised approach to enhancing the TDE.
Conclusion: This approach enables practitioners to develop bespoke interventions informed by players’ personality profiles, enhancing the likelihood of these interventions having an applied impact. Similarly, findings reinforce the value of coaches and practitioners having greater understanding of their athletes and the contexts that they practice and perform in. The framework may aid the development of individualised intervention strategies when aiming to enhance the TDE.