Sport England: Making physical activity a normal part of life for everyone

Sport England provides £250 million of National Lottery and government funding to support sport and physical activity in England. 

Innovation Unit has supported Sport England to:

• Define what Innovation means and looks like at Sport England, captured in an innovation definition, practices and playbook
   
• Build innovation capabilities and seeding culture change, including running an innovation month internally which reached 113 colleagues and conversations on co-production which engaged 23 partners
   
• Create a plan for the CYP team to listen to the sector and start conversations with children and young people, to better understand the sector’s needs 

The Approach

Innovation Unit took Sport England through a phased approach which builds on the existing innovation work done already and grows the team’s capabilities and confidence as well as progressing the work. 

Key features of the approach include:

• Facilitating creative, brave and collaborative spaces for their young people to do the work. We create different types of spaces which reflect what’s needed, some are action focussed, others might involve sharing or reflecting. 
   
• An adaptive approach so that we can respond to opportunities as they arise. This means we don’t have our milestones or outputs set out, rather they emerge with the shape that the work takes. Structures such as phases and learning questions act as our guide. 
   
• Being a critical and supportive friend, one that gives an outside perspective, guidance and experience and pushes you out of your comfort zone.