SGA Setting the Field Sports Governance Conference, A Day Exploring Adaptive Governance

Last week, our Project Manager, Lucy Wilson, attended the Sports Governance Academy annual conference, Setting the Field. The event was a tale of adaptive governance, formed around a packed roster of speakers expertly curated by the Sports Governance Academy. The agenda covered the real meaning of some governance buzzword topics, from resilience to effective leadership, lobbying, psychological safety, and adaptability, to consistency, with an added case study example of the use of AI. We hear these words a lot, but what do they really mean on the ground, for sports organisations, and how can we understand them better to support effectiveness without just saying the words?

The day was filled with thought-provoking discussions among a room of delegates and speakers, all with the common goal of learning, discussing, sharing, and returning to their organisations with ideas to bring a more effective impact, not just to the boardroom but to everyone involved in sport. Top takeaways that will be at the forefront of our minds at Tactic Connect and how we support our clients now and in the future.

Boardroom dynamics: juggling agendas, taming egos, and walking the tightrope of governance, delivered by Alison Gill OLY, CEO and a founding director of Bvalco

Understanding high-performance board behavioural frameworks to think strategically, inspire stakeholder confidence, improve inclusivity and support performance oversight by looking at board behaviours and dynamics and how affecting positive change can help a board to be more effective.

AI in action: a case study in getting started delivered by Barry Wade - Director of Digital Innovation, Paddle UK with Sam Green-Armytage - Operations Officer, Sports Governance Academy - Chartered Governance Institute UKI (Moderator)

A case study exploring the impact of AI FOMO for organisations. Barry asked the excellent question, ‘What problem are you trying to solve?’ before considering AI as a solution. A case for and against, hearing about PaddleBot (Paddle UK’s AI bot developed for their website users to locate information, forms and answers quickly to support the time poverty of users), that ignited some discussion in the room about creating an effective resource, but also how to consider the pitfalls of protecting data and cyber-attacks. Lots of questions popped up for reflection: what is the purpose of AI for your organisation, and how do you balance accountability and risk?

Rethinking and developing resilience: the role of environment and psychological safety delivered by Dr Mustafa Sarkar - Associate Professor of Sport and Performance Psychology, Nottingham Trent University

A dive into understanding the research behind the meaning of buzzwords resilience and psychological safety, and what that really means in terms of achieving this for your organisation. Dr Sarkar took the room on a whistle stop tour of citations with some helpful insights to navigate a better understanding of what resilience is and isn’t, how to cultivate it on a personal, board and organisational level and how to achieve this by changing the system rather the people and the role of the leader in creating and creating psychological safety and the important of asking good questions, being open and honest with the answers and exploring the feedback to consider, what are you not hearing? Plenty of further reading was provided by Dr Sarkar.

Leading with humanity: why sophisticated human skills are your edge delivered by Noo Jones - Founder & Business Psychologist, Athena Professional

An interactive session exploring the pros and cons of consistency and adaptability for us individually, as a board and an organisation. Exploring how governance is about being more courageous in your approach to thinking of new ways to work, connect and learn to be resourceful with collective and individual commitment. Noo also explored advocacy as a way to build your tribe; forming connections to consistently build partnerships.

Access to sport: lobbying for the future with a panel of Philip Brownlie - Senior Head of Public Affairs, Swim England, Greg Spencer - Non-Executive Director, Paddle UK | Governance Manager, UK Deaf Sport, Siobhan Thomas - Secretary, Great Britain Outrigger, with panel moderator Sam Green-Armytage - Operations Officer, Sports Governance Academy

The Clean Water Sports Alliance represents hundreds of thousands of members, athletes, and water users who are impacted by poor water quality and pollution. In this session, the panellists' experiences from the group's inception to the present day and how sporting organisations can advocate and lobby effectively for change that benefits sport and wider society were explored. The debate gave a clear message that everyone has a duty to work together as one voice when lobbying for a cause at parliamentary level. The group aims to align the interests of water-based NGBs to tackle water pollution and promote clean water initiatives across the UK. All the other elements learned in the day from the roster of speakers and panels about voice, consistency, connection and adaptability all funnel into how this panel were discussing their approach to effective lobbying.

External board performance reviews - understanding the process with a panel of Rob Tate - Head of Governance, Planning, and Risk, Paralympics GB, Mark Gannon - CEO, UK Coaching and Jackie Bryson - Director, Jackie Bryson Solutions Ltd, with Peter Swabey FCG - Director of Policy & Research, The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland as moderator.

A great discussion from all sides of the review process, exploring objective and subjective information gathering is a consideration, but really, the quality and approach of the facilitator is key to real impact for a board. This is an area we are passionate about, and evolving our skills to add value and cascade down the organisation we are working with was echoed in the discussion from this panel. An all-round excellent day of discussion and insights to take into our practice to support our colleagues, partners and clients at Tactic Connect. To find out more about how we can help your organisation, why not get in touch by clicking here?

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