The opportunity to take part in sport and physical activity is not always experienced equally. Many people want to get involved, but whether they feel they’re able to or not is often shaped by experience, representation and the confidence to do so. All too often, people are trying to navigate environments that were designed for them, not with them.
We spoke to Chris Jones, CEO of England Athletics, to find out more about his leadership journey and commitment to providing more opportunities for diverse communities across the country.
Chris' story
Born into an active family in South Lincolnshire, Chris always knew he wanted to engage in sport. His mum was involved with the local cricket club, where his dad was also a groundsman. His upbringing taught him the values of integrity and shaped his understanding of the role grassroots sport and physical activity can have in uniting communities and providing powerful growth, social and wellbeing opportunities.
“My aspiration was always to do something in sport – I played age group county cricket from U13s to seniors and some professional cricket along the way. I made a lot of friends, through sport, from different and diverse communities. It was clear to me at an early age how important integration and diversity of thinking, perspective and background is in playing and organising sport.”
Building on these foundations, Chris’ leadership journey began at a local level, working closely with communities as a volunteer sports coach and, later, a sports coordinator, to create opportunities for underrepresented young people to be active.
After graduating from university, Chris landed a role in a local authority as a Sport Development Officer, which he notes “was the first they’d had in that rural community”. This experience helped him develop a strong understanding of how facilities, transport and community shape people’s experience in accessing sport and physical activity in rural areas.
He later joined Sport England, where he spent five years in multiple roles across EDI and rural affairs. This marked a shift in his work from local delivery to influencing policy at a national level.
After being established as a governing body and wanting to expand their influence in the East of England, England Athletics (EA) onboarded Chris as a Regional Manager. After his successful work and making a positive impact regionally, he was asked to use his influence to help reshape EA nationally. He worked as Head of Strategy for four years and then stepped into the role of interim CEO in 2012. He continues to lead the organisation 13 years on.
“If you’re going to lead change and encourage the masses to engage in change then you have to lead from the front.”
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Leader wellbeing
“When you recruit someone, you recruit the human being, they all have a backstory, friends, family and loved ones. You need to understand the individual and their lives to support them to reach their optimal form and get the best out of them. Part of the responsibility as a leader is to prepare people for things that happen outside of your organisation, fate has a funny way of throwing fantastic people back at you.”
Taking care of his, and others’, wellbeing has become much more relevant to Chris over the last ten years. Earlier in his career, Chris recalls having lots of energy to tackle challenges head on without much thought about his personal wellbeing.
“I wasn’t very good at prioritising my wellbeing in my 30s whilst pursuing my career. I was hungry and energetic. I’ve learnt to accept that it’s important to recognise when you need rest and that it’s okay to accept that you are not okay, to talk about it, to seek support, and to do something about it. It’s also important to have a great team around you so you’re not juggling all the balls at once. I’d like to think I’ve embraced prioritising my wellbeing in the last ten years.”
Regular exercise has played an important role in sustaining Chris’ wellbeing. It also keeps him connected within his community and in local sport. Therapy has also been integral after facing some difficulties in his personal life. Chris feels that therapy has helped him understand himself and stay connected to his emotions. It's provided crucial support for navigating personal challenges and his professional life, supporting his growth and aspirations. Chris also manages his wellbeing by:
- Volunteering and mentoring others.
- Having a strong and diverse cohort of friends.
- Taking holidays and annual leave.
- Taking time to reflect.
- Having work flexibility.
Facing challenges
“Every challenge can be different or nuanced. When you’re trying to promote and encourage change within a sport or environment that’s quite traditional and has done things in a certain way over a long period of time, it can be challenging. People can fear change because they often don't understand the “why” – articulating the purpose and rationale is critically important.”
As someone who’s trying to lead change, Chris has faced a range of challenges on his journey, including:
- Leading people who are going through difficult life circumstances such as terminal illnesses or relationship breakups.
- Learning how to motivate the organisation to come together and form collaborative solutions to overcome collective or systemic difficulties.
- Addressing diversity in governance. Chris has worked hard over recent years, alongside others, to change this by talking publicly about the importance of difference, taking proactive and positive action through partnership working and by introducing more diverse perspectives and initiatives.
- Dealing with the pandemic – “Everything stopped overnight. It was a live and immediate lesson in crisis management. We were navigating a course with little certainty as to what the future held – we digitalised our offering in a matter of days, needed to provide ongoing guidance and assurance to the sport, sadly we also had to reduce our staffing numbers and reconfigure our financial model. I learned a lot through that about myself but also others – organisational culture and teamwork was very important during that time”.
Top tips
“You’ve got to enjoy what you do and appreciate who you do it with, and if you don’t, you need to find something else to do and let someone else have a go.”
Being in and around grassroots sport has helped Chris understand the unique challenges leaders face when addressing inequalities in these settings. He offers the following practical tips:
Seek diversity in governance
When leading change and encouraging others to engage in change, diversity in governance is vitally important.
“As an organisation your governance and leadership must mirror the demography of the sport and the community that you serve.”
Chris advises that you have to lead from the front by diversifying your leadership team. In doing so, you can listen to different perspectives and have diversity of thought at the helm of decision-making and strategic goals.
“Work hard at diversifying governance. If you’re going to champion it, you have to have it in your DNA. Leaders need to be surrounded by diversity of opinion and background. I’ve never understood why leaders surround themselves with people that keep nodding, that can be dangerous and limiting. I’m magnetised to people who are different to me.”
Accept you don't have all the answers
As a leader you don’t always have the answers. It’s important to accept that you’re only human and be prepared to make mistakes along the way.
“It’s not a weakness to not know all the answers. The more people you involve in troubleshooting the better.”
Trust your gut
When facing inevitable challenges in your leadership journey, it’s essential to trust your gut instinct. Chris believes data analysis and insight should be integrated with your own gut feeling, as well as confidence in your lived experience and moral compass.
Find yourself a coach and mentor
Find yourself a coach or mentor and build your personal boardroom to seek counsel from! Chris suggests that having mentors integrated in and outside the sector will help you be more objective and balanced.
“It’s important to have people in your personal board room who might offer you something slightly different to each other. Those further away from the issue can be more helpful to cut through it and be more objective.”
Prioritise work-life balance
Proactively work on getting a balance between work and life. Although it’s important to work hard, Chris acknowledges that to sustain yourself as a leader, you must find balance to ensure your own wellbeing.
“Work hard but don’t forget your friends and family, prioritise them and take your breaks.“
In this segment we asked the last leader we spoke to, to leave a question for the next: What three leaders, past or present, would you have at your dinner party?
- “Baroness Sue Campbell – Very early on in my career at a sports development conference in Nottingham I heard Baroness Sue Campbell speak. I remember her being inspirational, energetic, purposeful and insightful. She really cared about the subject and could share what had inspired her: her homelife, early experiences as a sports coach/administrator and inspirational others. Above all, she has clear purpose and an understanding of the power of sport and committed her life to the cause.”
- “Nelson Mandela – I’ll never forget 1995 and the rugby world cup in South Africa, just inspirational. How a leader, who was wrongfully incarcerated for all those years came out to love, not hate, knowing whatever decision he made at that time would shape his country and the future of a nation. The world needs more leaders like this.”
- “Sir Alex Ferguson – I admire him as a leader because you’ve always got to keep things fresh, not go backwards and avoid complacency. He did that very cleverly. He recognised that individuals and cohesive units had served their purpose and made difficult and unpopular decisions to keep reinventing things and being successful. He was good at identifying and nurturing young talent. Teamwork was at the epicentre of what made Manchester United so great at that time – he knew everyone on first name terms in the club whether they were a player, administrator or volunteer. Know all your people, every cog in that engine, not just those banging the ball in the net.”
Do you have a leadership story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you, email us at leadingthemovement@sportengland.org and we'll be in touch!
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