People and Skills

This area focuses on organisations having leadership and workforce that reflect and fully embrace diversity of thought and background.  Leaders set positive tone and inclusive culture, demonstrating confidence, courage and stewardship. Organisational values are embedded and actively inform decision-making. People skills are carefully identified, recruited for and developed, supported by relevant succession planning. There is strong citizenship among leaders and wider workforce (staff and volunteers), demonstrating cohesion, curiosity, upward mobility and empowerment.

This area includes three main components:

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Leadership and Culture
• People and Workforce

Highly diverse, accessible, inclusive organisations – open to challenging themselves and being challenged. Fully committed to continuous improvement to make their sport more representative of their sporting communities and wider society.

It is essential that organisations and the sports which they are a part of are reflective of society in the UK. We all need to be able to think, talk and act confidently about inclusion in all areas of our work and to proactively seek diversity of thought in decision-making processes. More diverse organisations perform better. The people who will successfully lead in the sector will be those who can demonstrate that they are able to harness diversity, whilst being passionate, committed and active in driving change in this area.

Example indicators:

• Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans or Improvement Plans - aligned to the organisational strategy and aimed at fostering inclusive cultures and diversity of thought and background within an organisation - with visibility of progress.
• The profile and demography of the Board, Senior Leadership Team, staff, volunteers, members, athletes and participants.
• The organisation’s process and ability of systematically gathering, analysing and utilising diversity data and how this informs action.
• The decision-making processes and policies, e.g. the organisation's recruitment practices, and the steps taken to seek and ensure that these are inclusive to proactively generate a diverse mix of candidates.
• EDI is championed from the top; the organisation is and feels inclusive, ‘walks the talk’, and is committed to the delivery of projects and training that drive greater diversity.

Inclusive, trusted, high performing  culture and leadership, fully aligned with organisational purpose and  values  - with positive tone set from the top. 

Strong, skilled, and diverse leadership is an essential element of a high performing sporting system. However, leadership is not confined to hierarchies. Inclusive, values-driven leadership behaviours should be seen across all levels. Leaders in our sporting community should feel supported, able to develop and in turn able to lead in a strategic, impactful and inclusive manner. As leadership organisations, we are responsible for leading in the right way by influencing and shaping cultures that develop positive and welcoming environments, where people and sport thrive.

Example indicators:

• The strength of the leadership spine.
• The expertise, diversity, skills, personal attributes and cohesion of the Board and Senior Leadership Team to lead the organisation on behalf of the workforce, sport and communities they represent.
• The quality of communication from the top and how staff and volunteers feel connected to the leadership.
• Staff surveys and relevant member/athlete engagement/culture health check findings and how they are used to inform change and future delivery.
• The extent to which leaders 'live' and promote the organisation's values and culture, and how this is reflected in recruitment practices and performance reviews; how empowered and supported staff are by senior leaders. 
• Quality of decision-making with appropriate processes and behaviours, including the ability to take bold decisions for the long-term benefit of the organisation and wider sport. 

Highly skilled, experienced, diverse workforce fully engaged in the organisation’s strategy and culture, empowered through dedicated talent identification, development programmes and wellbeing.

People are our greatest resource. To remain an influential, respected and world-leading sporting nation, we need to ensure that we attract, retain, support and develop the highest quality of people (paid and volunteers) to be part of our organisations from a diverse range of backgrounds. This isn’t something which happens by accident.

Example indicators:

• A People Plan, or similar workforce planning and support processes.
• Staff structure and resource mapping/alignment to strategic need.
• HR expertise/resource/capacity; level of access by workforce to wellbeing support and personal and professional development.
• Turnover of staff; success in identifying, attracting, retaining and developing a diverse range of talented people (both paid and volunteer workforce); succession plans for key positions.
• Alignment of people policies and structures with strategic priorities; the quality of feedback procedures in place to gauge workforce satisfaction, engagement, and wellbeing.
• The quality of culture, practices and processes in place to enable and support innovation, learning and sharing within the workforce; the extent to which teams and individuals at all levels seek to gain a greater understanding of stakeholders, best practice in and outside the sport, and activities conducted by the organisation.