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Leading and managing during COVID-19: empirical insights from the Norwegian women’s national handball team in a time of crisis

Abstract From March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic influenced elite sport as uncertainty and restrictions came with the crisis. National teams had to implement crisis management. This qualitative case study examines how the leader group led and managed the Norwegian national women’s handball team through three phases of the crisis, trying to uphold performance. We found that collective leadership efforts led to new ways to use digital communication tools and flexible management. From a framework of concepts from organisational culture, leadership, and management during a crisis, we argue that the leader group used the pandemic to take advantage of the opportunities. They implemented a focus on improving the players’ physical and tactical conditions and their restitution. Furthermore, the leader group draw on robust institutional factors such as trust to handle the crisis. This study contributes to knowledge on leadership and management in a time of crisis and, in particular, on COVID-19.