fls supports the improvement of leadership through sport

Leadership is a fundamental driver of performance for individuals, teams, coaches, administrators and whole organisations. We work with these groups to develop leadership qualities that will aid success whether within or outside the sporting environment.

Our aim is to encourage and facilitate athletes and sporting organisations to invest in leadership development. This includes National Governing Bodies of Sport, universities and clubs.

Directors and Associates have extensive top-level experience in leading and coaching within sport, business, public service and the military. The know-how and knowledge of world-class practices is drawn from all these sectors.

FLS seeks to assist in improving the effectiveness of sports organisations, enhancing sporting performance and enabling athletes to transfer their leadership skills to careers and fields beyond sport.

LEADING THROUGH CRISIS

Lessons from Sport, Business and the Military

Virtual Conference 4th November 2020

Jointly hosted with The Centre for Army Leadership, Sandhurst

More information about the conference, including leadership lessons from the presenters, can be found here…

Videos of the conference are available to FLS members on the secure section of this site.

For several years, FLS have worked closely with the Centre for Army Leadership (CAL). Original plans to hold a joint conference on leadership, to be held at Sandhurst, were shelved because of the Covid crisis. We soon realised that there were excellent examples of leadership through crisis evident in sport, business and the military. We all became ‘zoom’ experts, enabling people to continue to engage with others in a positive fashion. Holding a ‘virtual’ conference on leading through times of crisis was an obvious consequence.

Over 1,500 delegates attended the event, held on November 4th. We had superb leaders from different walks of life, all of whom gave their services free of charge, enabling us to raise over £3,000 for the Royal British Legion.

We look forward to further collaboration with CAL, and discussions are already under way.

The feedback has been remarkable, as can be seen here.

“Many thanks and congratulations on a great event!”

— Baroness Sue Campbell

“Many thanks. Great to hear so many overlapping perspectives. I felt honoured to be part of it. I was especially interested in Huw’s thoughts on managing his young sportsmen and women remotely during the lockdown and the way the senior players helped maintain contact. Great lessons for the Army when we need to ‘lead’ our junior soldiers if they have to be dispersed during a lockdown.”

— Major General Felix Gedney

“Thanks for an enlightening afternoon - I am sure most of the delegates found it as refreshing as I did to be reminded “you are not alone” and be reassured that much (but by no means all) of what you are doing is right in navigating these choppy seas.”

— Richard Gray

what we do

FLS delivers and supports courses and workshops, working with universities, sporting organisations and elite sportsmen and women.  We advise on corporate leadership and leadership development, facilitating the improvement of performance of organisations, teams and individuals. We adopt an ‘action learning’ philosophy, seeking to encourage leadership capability in the workplace and the sporting environment.

We are working with a group of elite sportsmen and women to assist in developing their leadership capabilities (see Elite Leaders Programme under Coaching and Mentoring)

FLS also acts as a disseminator of information via the website. The open part of the site provides information about relevant programmes available within the field of sport-related leadership, as well as up-to-date publications. The members-only section includes papers or journal references, some of which relate to FLS workshops and courses.

who we are

FLS is led by, and draws knowledge from, four Directors, each of whom is an established leader in sport, high-level business or both. Associates are experts in leadership within and through sport, who are actively engaged in promoting or delivering the mission of FLS, or or are engaged in related research.

Applications for membership of FLS is open to anyone who has a particular interest in leadership and sport.

resources

The FLS website provides information about articles, research papers and other publications which add knowledge to the emerging field of Leadership through Sport. These are selected by an ‘editorial team’. The ‘members only’ part of the website provides more detail from workshops and presentations, as well as offering the opportunity to engage in dialogue with other members