To create the space and pace to develop the innovation and digital skills needed to work differently, we partnered up with the non-profit organisation Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology (CAST) to run the Innovation and Digital Accelerator.
This initiative sat within the wider national governing bodies' (NGB) Sport Participation Innovation and Digital fund, which was co-designed with NGBs involved in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and it was centred around a series of themes:
This was also an opportunity for the NGBs and ourselves to try something new around a major event legacy funding with a focus on building re-useable in-house innovation and digital skills to achieve the ambition of Uniting the Movement and to create a positive digital legacy from the Games.
Ultimately the aim was to help more people from more communities access and enjoy sport – during the Birmingham 2022 Games and beyond.
Twenty two NGBs took part in the accelerator, which ran for 12 months. There was a wide range of focus areas that they each brought to the programme.
We are very grateful to CAST for all their brilliant work designing and delivering the Innovation and Digital Accelerator.
The programme had a hugely positive impact in building NGBs’ confidence and capability in applying innovation and digital into their working processes, helping them to deliver critical work to support more people from more communities to access and to enjoy sport during the Birmingham 2022 Games and beyond.
All the participants learnt new digital and innovation skills from the programme, and 89% felt more confident leading digital projects.
Read moreThere was particularly strong feedback around the way the support improved many NGBs’ ability to engage with, and to understand, the needs and requirements of underrepresented groups.
One Accelerator participant said:
“The programme helped us gain invaluable insight from underrepresented groups in our sport, which will help us understand their needs and requirements and allow us to tailor our projects to them going forward.”
Read lessThe accelerator championed open working practices – something that can be challenging in our sector where it’s often rare for organisations to share things externally before they're finished.
Read moreFeedback from NGBs was that the workshops on this topic were helpful to challenge their usual ways of thinking and that it helped them embrace a more vulnerable and draft form of sharing culture.
One Accelerator participant said:
“Open working has been a huge part of this project.I think everyone would benefit from more support in this area to create safe feedback loops.”
Read lessThe programme wasn't without challenges and these raised some important questions to consider when looking to build the organisations’ skills and behaviours in applying innovation and digital into their processes.
Read moreMany NGBs experienced significant turnover during the programme, which meant it was difficult to maintain momentum at times, particularly for new starters who joined part way through.
Others reported challenges in engaging senior leaders in these topics to build their understanding of the importance of digital, data and design.
Siloed working was also cited as a frequent problem, which meant that the opportunity the accelerator provided to connect with others around these topics was highly valued.
Read lessIn the spirit of open working, CAST shared learnings from the programme along the way.
Take a look at the dedicated Medium page for practical tips on working openly, innovative ways to find your audience via social media, an overview of user-research methodologies, a comprehensive introduction to personas building and journey-mapping and more subjects, including tips and tools on data collection and measurement.
Plus you’ll also find reflective blogs written by some of the NGBs that took part in the programme on their experiences of participating in the accelerator.