Summary: Building Your Participant Base Workshop and Project Sharing
The first SSP/RSP Workshop and Project Sharing event for 2017 was held at the Sports House Training Room in South Melbourne. A strong mix of SSA and RSA staff attended the event which was focussed on collaboration as a key strategic approach to build a base of participants.
The event was opened by Vicsport Participation Strategy Manager Tom Dixon, who gave an overview of the recent changes made to the SSP/RSP support program, including the new format of combined workshop and project sharing events. The workshop was facilitated by Alison Crabb and Lyndall Russell from Mad4Leaders who specialise in developing individuals to be innovative leaders.
Mad4Leaders started the workshop by getting the whole group to take on the ‘rope game challenge’ in which all 35 attendees needed to work together to solve a puzzle: how to move every individual through the same loop of rope while holding hands. The group’s first attempt took over 4 minutes. They were then given time to work together to develop a collaborative strategy as to how they could work faster to complete the task. After some discussion and collaboration, the second attempt by the group was at least 3 minutes faster. The third attempt proved how much the group had learned, as they successfully collaborated to achieve a ‘record’ time of 24 seconds! The game highlighted key strategies that relate to all forms of collaboration:
- Having a clear and shared goal
- Never thinking that something is not possible before you try
- Communicating clearly and sharing ideas
- Working as a team
In order to encourage learning from within the group, Vicsport organised two SSAs and RSA to do a quick presentation about their SSP/RSP program and the collaborations that have made them successful. The presenters and highlights were:
- Scott Nicholas (Bowls Victoria) talked about the collaborations that have made Play Bowls Month a success, including successful collaboration with clubs and how he obtained buy-in from the board and senior management of Bowls Victoria (see the video below).
- Rachel Murphy (Sports Central) discussed a partnership with the Ballarat Cricket Association and local schools which resulted in the successful creation of an Under-13 girls cricket program.
- Mark Drehlich (Cycling Victoria) made talked about the Life Cycle 55+ program and some of their successful and unsuccessful collaborations along the way.
Following the presentations and questions from the group, Mad4Leaders highlighted some key tips regarding effective collaboration. A key message of theirs was that collaboration means:
- Listening
- Inclusion of all ideas
- Staying open
- Clarifying Responsibilities
- Creating win/win relationships
Following the lunch break attendees were split into three groups (2 x SSA groups and 1 x RSA group) and took part in 2 hours of facilitated discussion, which involved unpacking concepts from the morning workshop, sharing success stories and challenges around collaboration, and working together to develop common solutions to how more effective collaboration can benefit the SSP/RSP Program.
Please click on the links below to access session resources:
