The Board Skills for Sport course is the world's first sport-specific director training course. For more information visit the Sport and Recreation Alliance website: http://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/programmes-initiatives/boardroom

1. Board Skills for Sport
Day 2

2. Facilitator:
Amanda Bennett
Director, FairPlay Consultancy Ltd
Governance Adviser to the SRA
Contributor:
John Boyd
CEO, Baseball Softball UK
Board Member, Sport and Recreation Alliance

3. Amanda Bennett
• International rugby player and
coach
• Chair, European Women and
Sport
• Executive Board Member, RFUW
• Head of Governance, UK Sport
• Author, Equality Standard for
Sport and Women and
Leadership Development
Programme
• Director, FairPlay Consultancy
Ltd
• Governance Adviser to the SRA
• Equality Standard Adviser
• Head Coach, England U20
Women’s Rugby
• Member, RFU Game
Development Sub-Committee

4. Aims of the Day
• Understand the sporting context, its influence on your
organisation and the role of the Board
• Consider the purpose of the organisation
• Explore the Board’s structure and composition
• Understand what standards, systems and controls should be
in place
By:
• Facilitating discussion through scenario-based activity
• Utilising the skills in the room

5. Recap
• List three things you learnt yesterday which
will help you in your role as a Director
1.
2.
3.

6. Today
• List three things you want to find out about
during today’s sessions
1.
2.
3.

7. Why Good Governance?
Think…
• Lehman Brothers “cosmetic accounting”
• News International phone hacking
• MPs’ expenses
• Nick Leeson, Barings Bank

8. Why Good Governance in Sport?
Think…
• British Athletics Federation
• Snowsport GB
• Amateur Boxing Association of England

9. What Went Wrong?
Process

10. What Went Wrong?
Behaviour

11. Henry Mintzberg – Managers not MBAs

12. In a Sporting Context
• Vision – an aspirational view of ‘our’ world
– Health, growth, medals
• Evidence – KPIs; milestones; R&D; audits; insight
– Individual performance
– Organisational progress (RAG)
• Pragmatism – practical problem solving, realism
– 2 coaches, 1 physio, P/T team manager

13. What’s it all for?
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=ntNVQpg3c08

14. Governance in the Sport Sector –
A Potted History
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1999 management audits
2001 Modernisation
2003 Investing in Change
2005-09 self-assurance and KGIs
2006 Additional £300m – funding triggers
2011 Voluntary Code of Good Governance
2012 governance requirements and key criteria
2013-17

15. DCMS Objectives
• Maintaining and improving Britain's elite
sports performance
• Creating a lasting legacy from the 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games
• Getting more people playing sport
Department
for Culture
Media &
Sport

16. Voluntary Code of Good Governance
• 7 Principles
• Voluntary – not a funding
requirement
• Sport-specific
• Flexible and adaptable
• Backed by Government and
National Sport Agencies

17. The Landscape

18. What’s Your Landscape
• On flipchart paper, draw what you believe to the
landscape within which your organisation
operates (5-10mins)
• Identify agencies of greatest influence /
importance to you
• Describe and explain this to a partner (5mins)

20. The Sporting Landscape

21. Stakeholder Management
Power/influence of stakeholders
Interest of stakeholders

22. Stakeholder Management
Members
Sport England
Power/influence of stakeholders
Interest of stakeholders

23. Stakeholder Management
• What financial or strategic interest do they have in the
outcome of your work?
• Is it positive or negative?
• What motivates them most of all?
• What information do they want from you?
• What is their current opinion of your work? Is it based on good
information?
• Who influences their opinions generally, and who influences
their opinion of you?

24. Examples

25. Break Time

26. The Role of the Board
• Understanding, defining and overseeing key relationships with
other bodies, e.g. investors, commercial partners etc.
• Upholding required standards set by other sporting bodies
domestically or internationally
• Defining the relationship between the NGB and clubs,
members and participants
• Advocacy, lobbying, promotion

27. International Federations
• Historical background
– one or more bodies
– e.g. Boxing, Golf, Taekwondo
• Responsible for the governance and development
of the sport
• Rules of the sport
• Events
• Olympic and Paralympic status

28. Delivering the Vision, Mission and Purpose
“The Board should set the high level strategy and vision
of the organisation and ensure that it is followed without
becoming involved in the operational delivery”
Principle 3, Voluntary Code of Good Governance

29. Vision
Your vision statement is your inspiration, the framework
for all your strategic planning. You are articulating your
dreams and hopes for your sport. It reminds you of what
you are trying to build.

30. Mission
A mission statement is a brief description of an
organisation's fundamental purpose. It answers the
question, "Why do we exist?“. The mission statement
articulates your organisation's purpose both for those
inside the organisation and for the
members, stakeholders and the public.

31. Purpose
What for?
What for?

32. Examples
To organise the world‘s
information and make
it universally accessible
and useful
Google
Bowls England will
deliver an exceptional
sport and community
experience that is
appealing, entertaining
and accessible to all
Our aim at Havant Rugby
Club is to create an
environment where
rugby can be played and
enjoyed by all ages from
6 to sixty regardless of
gender or ability.

33. Vision, Mission and Purpose

34. Your experiences

35. Lunch

36. Balanced, Inclusive and Skilled Board
“The Board should be made up of individuals with the
right balance of skills and experience to meet the needs of
the organisation. Included in this is a need for
independent expertise and for representation of the
diversity of the sport and the communities they serve.”
Principle 4, Voluntary Code of Good Governance

37. Balanced, Inclusive and Skilled Board

38. Board Composition

39. Discussion
Competent high calibre individuals offering a mix
of skills, experience and backgrounds
Why is it important for sport?
What steps did your organisation take?
What challenges did you face?

40. Cross-Sectoral Good Practice
• Board members are chosen on the basis of their competence,
ability, quality, leadership, integrity and experience
• Having at least 2 (ideally one third) independent Directors – no
one group can dominate decision making
• Setting terms of office for Board members to ensure the Board
is refreshed regularly
• Ensuring the voice of the participant is heard or represented
• Board composition adequately reflects society and is mindful of
diversity

41. Board Composition MUST reflect mission

42. Size Of The Board
Size matters
Optimum is 8-12

43. An Inclusive Board
• Representation
• Diversity
• Behaviour

44. How Do You Get There?

45. The 12 Step Plan
Agree Board composition
Communicate with
stakeholders
Check Articles
Conduct skills audit
Communicate with
stakeholders
Agree recruitment process
(including Directors stepping down)
Secure stakeholder
agreement, e.g. AGM
Put in place recruitment
plan and resources
Open recruitment
Comprehensive
induction
Board evaluation
Communicate with
stakeholders

46. Skills Audit Matrix
What are you looking for?
Essential and desirable

47. Skills Audit Matrix

48. Balanced, Inclusive and Skilled Board

49. What Process?
• Open recruitment – advert, panel, interview
framework
• Election – voted by designated group, e.g. Members
• Appointment – can follow open recruitment or
election
• Secondment
• Co-opting *
• Shadowing*
*enables succession planning

50. Standards, Systems and Controls
“The Board needs to be conscious of the standards it
should operate to, and its role in exercising appropriate
and effective control over the organisation”
Principle 5, Voluntary Code of Good Governance

51. Risk is the uncertainty surrounding events and
their outcomes that may have a
significant effect, either enhancing or
inhibiting:
• operational performance
• achievement of aims and objectives
• meeting expectations of stakeholders

52. Risk Management is the discipline of:
• Identifying and assessing all the risks you are
exposed to
• Setting risk appetite for those risks aligned to
strategic objectives
• Deploying the resources needed to control and
monitor the risks; and
• Reporting and re-assessing those risks in a
documented and evidenced framework

53. Risk Matrix
Catastrophic
19
22
23
24
25
Major
14
17
18
20
21
Moderate
9
12
13
15
16
Minor
4
6
8
10
11
Insignificant
1
2
3
5
7
Impact ▲
Remote
Likelihood ►
Unlikely
Possible
Probable
Highly
probable

54. Risk Heat Map

55. Risk Management

56. Break Time

57. The Bell Lap

58. Risk Management
• Each individual risk needs to be prioritised according
to:
– the impact on the business should the risk occur, and
– the likelihood that the risk will occur.
• Process – risk matrix, profile and heat map. Must be
integrated into strategy, operations, reporting
• Behaviour – led by the Board

59. Enterprise Risk Management
Risk management
frameworks with a brief
commentary on
ISO 31000.

60. The ‘Art’ of Delegation
“Ensuring authority is delegated appropriately and that
checks and balances are in place to manage inappropriate
use of decision making responsibilities”

61. Standards, Systems and Controls

62. The Art of Delegation

63. The ‘Art’ of Delegation
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nurture the line management relationship
Ensure clarity of outcomes, outputs and KPIs
Set individual objectives
Create responsibility
Clarify accountability
Agree limits of authority*
Stay in touch
Challenge progress – ask ‘good questions’
Monitor and measure performance
Reward success and be honest about failure
*responsibility without authority creates discontent

64. Thank You and Well Done!
Amanda Bennett
FairPlay Consultancy Ltd
Mob: 07507 355241
Email: abennett@sportandrecreation.org.uk