Leaders in sport and physical activity play a pivotal role in shaping decision making and providing strategic direction. Sports organisations and governing bodies have long favoured traditional hierarchical structures. However, hierarchical leadership in sport isn’t always inclusive, especially for those from diverse backgrounds.
We spoke to Claire Tomkinson, Strategic Lead for People and Leadership at GM Moving, to explore her view of leadership and understand the work she’s doing to diversify leadership systems and tackle sector wide inequalities.
Claire's story
Claire's from a working-class family in Salford, Greater Manchester. Leadership wasn’t something she imagined for herself. For much of her early career, Claire had a fixed mindset about what leadership looked like. She assumed it was tied to formal positions, status or authority, none of which felt relevant to her.
Her perspective began to shift when she started taking on roles within the voluntary sector, working closely with diverse communities and observing the challenges of hierarchical systems. She began to make links between the change she knew needed to happen and her ability to be a part of it.
“I didn’t see myself as a leader. It took me quite a long time to understand what leadership was.”
A defining moment came in 2015, when Claire was invited by her colleague in the NHS to submit a joint funding application to the NHS Northwest Leadership Academy. The bid looked to explore systems leadership as an enabler for transformation within health and social care.
This opportunity allowed her to explore systems leadership in depth, bringing together communities and leaning on different perspectives to address inequalities. She started to see leadership not as a title or position, but about creating the right environment for others to lead and evoke change.
“Leadership didn't feel normal for me at first, but seeing how bringing people together across organisations and communities could create change, made me think maybe I am a leader.”
Now, Claire’s work spans across a wide range of leadership responsibilities. Her role at GM Moving positions her to help others explore their leadership potential and capabilities to understand and mould the systems they work and operate within.
“My role at GM Moving is about shifting the narrative about leadership and creating systems change.”
Claire frequently uses ‘the Five Ps’ - position, promotion, people, purpose and participation - as a framework for leadership and supporting others.
Alongside her work at GM Moving, Claire also co-facilitates the place-based and national leadership programmes. These core elements of Sport England's Leading the Movement programme help local leaders at all levels understand systems leadership and come together to gain broader perspectives around tackling inequalities in sport.
Claire also sits on the Leading the Movement Co-Design Group, helping to shape the future of the programme and ensure it meets the needs of diverse, existing and emerging leaders.
“Leadership has moved on a lot from positional status to purpose. It’s about supporting people to achieve their purpose, not just executing mine.”
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Leader wellbeing
Working to tackle inequalities in sport can be deeply rewarding. However, Claire reflects that it can also come with a lot of emotional weight.
“We put so much pressure on leaders to solve the problem and know what to do.”
Claire trained jiujitsu up to the age of 17 but dropped out as work and caring responsibilities took over.
“I was only 17, but the time needed to train felt like a luxury when I needed to be working extra hours to support my family.”
Until recently, she didn’t feel like sport was for her and couldn’t find belonging in a physical activity setting. It wasn’t until a friend invited her back to the gym that she found a space where physical activity felt accessible and supported her with her wellbeing.
Beyond reconnecting with exercise, Claire manages her wellbeing by:
- Building a strong support network.
- Creating safe spaces where her and others can speak openly and feel supported.
- Connecting with nature and spending time outdoors to regain perspective.
- Being clear about her purpose.
- Understand what's in and out of her control.
Having these strategies is a powerful way for Claire to sustain her hard work, manage the emotional load of more challenging missions and commit to lasting change knowing she’s less likely to burnout.
Facing challenges
Claire’s leadership journey hasn't always been easy; she’s deeply committed to the work, but this can sometimes bring challenging balances to her personal life and mental health.
Finding belonging
Claire openly shares that she still sometimes questions whether she’s a leader and often finds it difficult to feel like she belongs, especially when she’s spent most of her life thinking leadership isn’t for her and exhausting herself trying to “fit in”.
Despite her realisations about what leaders are, and how they can impact change, she finds it challenging to always resonate with this.
“I still don’t think of myself as a leader. Things only changed when I worked in a volunteering role and realised the impact of systems leadership – that was a big turning point for me.”
Balancing work and family
Balancing being a mum and a leader isn’t easy. Claire’s often juggling parental duties with her work responsibilities. She’s learnt to set boundaries to ensure she has a good work-life balance and to manage her overall wellbeing.
Keeping emotional distance
Over the years, Claire’s learnt that caring so deeply about her work has made it hard to not take things personally.
“When you care about the work, it never feels like it’s enough. It's hard to not take things personally when things go wrong. So, learning to set boundaries and create safe spaces has been essential."
She now knows not to put too much pressure on herself and create safe spaces to enable herself to speak openly about the challenges she’s facing, along with implementing her other wellbeing actions to keep an emotional distance with some of her ongoing work.
Top tips
Drawing on her experience, Claire shares the following advice for others working in leadership roles within the sector.
Lead with purpose
Remaining authentic and connected to your purpose and vision is important for creating meaningful change and long-term sustainability.
“Be really clear about your purpose and vision - you can’t create change without shared values and a strong sense of purpose.”
Embrace difficulty
Tackling inequalities and leading with a whole systems approach doesn’t come without effort. Embrace the challenge and “if it feels easy, you aren’t changing anything.”
Avoid echo chambers
Diversity of thought builds stronger solutions when tackling inequality. Leadership is never progressive and impactful if you’re surrounded by those telling you what you want to hear or limiting your sphere of influence to those that look, sound or think like you. Seek others who challenge you and can add different perspectives into conversations and decision making.
“People will have different perspectives, it’s important that you don’t exclude people just because they have different thoughts or don’t think the same way as you. Sometimes we think so much about leadership across systems, that we forget about the challenges and priorities within organisations.”
In this segment we asked the last leader we spoke to, to leave a question for the next: What moment in your leadership journey shaped the way you lead the most?
“I remember having a conversation with GPs and doctors around social prescribing, I went into that conversation focused on my own set of values and perspectives. I got completely shut down. I realised hadn’t sought to understand their pressures and drivers, which were very different to mine. Sometimes we forget about organisational leadership and how important that is, especially around understanding other people’s challenges.”
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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