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This page was developed in collaboration with colleagues from Achieve Thrive Flourish, Active Devon, Active Essex, Active Humber, England Netball, Get Doncaster Moving and GM Moving.
Responding to, and managing, change is a necessary part of leadership and central to the ambitions of Uniting the Movement.
We’re living in a period of rapid and wide-ranging change, driven by advances in technology, shifting cultural norms, economic instability and political flux. In the pursuit of equity and inclusion, sector leaders need to be able to manage change effectively and bring their colleagues and communities with them to ensure they make a sustainable and impactful difference.
Introduction to leading change
For most leaders, change is a familiar concept. It’s a series of processes, decisions and actions that guide people and organisations from one state to a new, more desired, state. Change isn’t always the result of a planned, necessary shift, it can also arrive as an unexpected curveball.
Change can be uncertain and involve making adjustments while navigating people’s resistance and emotional responses. The role of leaders in managing and adapting to change is critical and requires foundational skills and the ability to adopt different leadership styles. Leaders’ capacity, desire and ability to effect change may differ depending on where they are in their leadership journey.
Leaders who are working to tackle inequalities often have to remain agile and flexible when leading change to ensure they account for diverse needs, opinions and motivations. They also need to react to evolving strategic priorities and fluctuations in their resources. In some communities, the bandwidth to deal with or promote change can be limited.
Contexts and drivers for change
Whether you’re preparing to effect or react to change, it’s important to understand the context and drivers behind it.
Effecting change
Many leaders are working hard to evoke and effect change. The way leaders are effecting change are vast and varied. They’re networking with their communities to understand their needs, co-designing solutions, diversifying their teams and Boards and acting strategically and operationally to tackle inequalities and make progress.
Affected by change
Every leader will find themselves faced with changing contexts or environments that they have limited, or no, control over. These changes might support their vision and priorities or disrupt them. It’s important for leaders to know how to respond to and manage these changes in a way that keeps progress and ambitions steadfast, particularly when tackling inequalities.
There are a wide range of drivers for change. No matter what the driver, there are four primary sources of change:
- Top down – this is powered by strategy or leadership. It’s directed by authority and often embedded in longer-term goals.
- Bottom up – this comes from grassroots influences like communities or employees. It’s deeply focussed on ‘on-the-ground’ experience.
- External forces – this is pre-determined by the environment, market or economy that organisations sit within. It can't be influenced internally.
- Continuous improvement – this usually centres around internal processes and procedures underpinned by a steady push for improved efficiency or outcomes.
Effecting change
We’re all striving to make change by working to tackle inequalities. When planning to effect change, it’s important to determine what type of change you’re planning and its potential scale, consider whether it’s:
- Transformational change that’s radical, large-scale and will have widespread impact across an organisation and beyond.
- Cultural change that involves shifting core values, behaviours and mindsets.
- Technological change which may include implementing new software, automations or digital platforms.
- Procedural change that encompasses day-to-day workflows, operating protocols or systems.
- Reactive change that’s a rapid response to a crisis or unexpected event.
As we strive to lead the movement on tackling inequalities, our attention’s often drawn to transformational and cultural change. However, in most organisations and settings, leaders are likely to instigate or experience more than one of these types of change. There are several different models and frameworks that provide useful structures to help leaders manage and lead change.
While models and frameworks offer a useful structure, deeply rooted systemic change can require a more unique process, driven by insight, community engagement and wider socio-economic and political matters.
For systemic change to happen, a focus on tackling inequalities needs to be the starting point. It should be inclusive by design, built into organisational DNA and worked on in brave, not just safe, spaces.
The Theory of Innovation Diffusion, by Everett Rogers, can support leaders in understanding the change process and the gradual onboarding of those around them.
The innovators are essential to getting things started, they’re willing to do things differently, develop brave spaces and start a movement. A few early, passionate adopters will help build on this. Momentum may then slow (the chasm). In these moments, partners might resist or communities might lose energy. Overcoming the chasm can feel difficult to power through but it’s imperative to achieve majority support for change.
Leaders cannot make people change; they can simply create the conditions for change to occur. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect to be better.
Reflective questions
Leaders could ask themselves the following questions to help achieve the greatest impact, NELP’s conditions for change below could help you to answer these.
- Is there a clear vision? Can you justify your ‘why’? Be prepared to remain stubborn on this vision and be flexible on the detail.
- Who’s missing from around the table? Think about necessary insight, lived experience, knowledge, ability or skills that you’re missing. Where are you unconsciously incompetent about inclusion?
- Have you fostered psychological safety? Consider if people comfortable sharing their challenges, concerns and successes.
- Who are your change agents? These are the champions inside and outside of your organisation and in the community that keep the momentum going.
- What stories can you share to illustrate the need for change and demonstrate its impact?
“In times of change, the greatest danger is not the change itself, but to act with yesterday’s logic” – Peter Drucker
Creating the conditions for change
Leading change is challenging. It requires the right conditions to ensure it sticks and becomes sustainable. For leaders looking to effect change and tackle inequalities in a specific geographical area, implementing a place-based approach can be an effective way to support their organisation, communities and partners to move on that journey together.
The nine conditions for change, produced by the National Evaluation and Learning Partner (NELP), provide an evidence-based framework to support sector leaders working to effect change. They can be used to develop a system maturity map, identify and navigate where change is emerging, developing, maturing or thriving. They include:
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Identify the barriers and enablers of physical activity
By developing a deeper understanding of the barriers and enablers of physical activity, leaders can position themselves to target real, as opposed to perceived, barriers and co-develop appropriate, direct and sustainable solutions with their communities.
By overlooking this condition, leaders may inadvertently widen inequalities, provide insufficient support, or make decisions based on an inaccurate understanding of their community and systems.
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Organisational policies, processes and structures enable place-based working
Having clear and robust internal policies, processes and structures can help leaders to lay solid foundations for effective change.
They can guide and support productive collaboration, fair decision-making and resource distribution. It’s important to balance process with flexibility to enable leaders to be agile and navigate unforeseen challenges.
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Capacity and capability across the workforce, volunteers and in communities
Often, tackling inequalities and place-based working requires a new skill set, strategies for building capacity and capability and a responsive working style that may not come naturally to some.
Our leadership fundamentals and systems leadership pages help to break this down for you. More focussed support is also available from Greater Manchester Moving.
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Collaboration
Driving impactful change and reducing inequalities in sport and physical activity requires the input of a diverse range of people and organisations. Connecting with others, identifying shared priorities and pooling resources, skill sets and problem-solving capabilities is essential.
Lasting change happens when inequalities are understood by everyone and the solutions are co-created and co-owned by partners across the system.
Take a look at our partnership working page for more insights.
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Leadership
Leaders play an important role in setting standards, direction and strategy. However, addressing the root cause of inequalities is most effective through distributed leadership and a diverse range of decision-makers.
Empowering meaningful contributions from a cross section of society and the workforce allows for the greatest impact.
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Community-led action
Inequalities are experienced throughout every part of society, including within the systems responsible for promoting and supporting people’s access to sport and physical activity.
Those faced by the community can’t solely be overcome by those in organisational leadership positions. Meaningfully engaging with the community fosters co-ownership and places greater value and buy in to the outcomes.
To do this, it’s effective to find the places where there’s already a desire and energy to make change happen. It’s important to move at the speed of that community, building trust through local influencers and gradual engagement.
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Cultures and practices that enable physical activity
When developing strategies, outcomes and plans to deliver change, it’s important for leaders to fully consider the traditions, motivations, values, customs and beliefs of their local communities.
Developing these in isolation, or based on perceptions alone, can cause leaders to misjudge them, reducing buy-in and the effectiveness of solutions.
It’s crucial for leaders to focus on underrepresented groups, those without a voice at the table, those who are inactive and those where intersectionality is at play. Being prepared to hear and respond to the needs of these groups is fundamental to tackling inequalities and achieving real change.
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Built and natural environments that enable physical activity
Encouraging change in any area relies on the physical environment as well as the people. Leaders play an essential role in convening relevant partners like planning, transport, housing, leisure, education, health, parks and open spaces and the voluntary sector.
Listening to and acting on community priorities can require investment - if resources allow, environmental stewardship and improved connectivity between existing community assets and local delivery organisations.
Real change relies on co-designing and creating safe, accessible and active environments with communities.
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Cycles of learning and action
Leaders are constantly learning and growing. Tackling inequalities and implementing change is vital but challenging and takes time.
Gathering insight and reflecting helps leaders learn from their actions, helping to validate decision-making, raise awareness, drive innovation and achieve the desired results.
Measuring and evaluating impact is also central to being able to demonstrate change and the true value of tackling inequalities to the community and different parts of the system.
Affected by change
The world is moving at pace, change can sometimes come when leaders least expect it, yet they still have a responsibility to act on, and grow from, it. Sometimes leaders just have to say yes to the mess!
The emotional response to change, particularly unforeseen change, cannot be overstated. Leaders’ wellbeing, and the wellbeing of others affected, is paramount. Our wellbeing page provides some generalised advice and support. The Kubler-Ross Curve can be helpful to unpick the different emotional stages of change in more detail, they include:
We all respond to change in different ways. As a leader, it’s important to create environments that appreciate this and help individuals recognise where they are on the change journey and what could support them to move towards acceptance.
“Leadership is taking responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty” – Marshall Ganz
Reflective questions
When leaders are faced with sudden, or uncontrollable change it can be helpful to consider the following questions:
- What’s my role in the system? How am I, or can I be, an asset in this situation?
- Who’s in my network that I can lean on and work alongside?
- How am I feeling about my sense of belonging? Has this change affected it?
- What access do I have to collective resources? What will help me navigate this change?
- How can I prioritise my wellbeing today?
Guiding principles
Myron’s Maxims, depicted above by Active Essex, act as a useful guide for change management work. The image above includes eight key principles, you'll have noticed these weaved within the learnings on this page:
- Progress moves at the speed of trust.
- Stubborn on the vision, flexible on the detail.
- Holding our nerve.
- Bridging the empathy gap.
- Say ‘yes’ to mess.
- Going where the energy is.
- We can’t solve the problem with the same mindset that created it.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect to be better.
Further resources
This guidance can act as a starting point, or refresher, for leaders thinking about change and how they manage it. You can find out how other leaders have navigated change in our ‘Your stories’ section.
Leaders from Sport England System Partner organisations can access additional, bespoke support with managing change linked to tackling inequalities through our coaching and mentoring offers.
Access coaching Access mentoring Your stories
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