Sport SEN Case StudyA practical programme for Sport SENorganisations wanting to understandsustainability and take action.

Over the course of 8-weeks three Sport SENorganisations took part in a sustainabilityprogramme designed to give them anunderstanding of sustainability, discovertheir impact and begin taking action toimprove their social, environmental andeconomic performance.

All organisations left the programme with asustainability report, action plan and thebelief they can improve their sustainabilityperformance and begin moving along a moresustainable pathway.

Executive Summary

What is Sustainability?At its core, it is the ability to meetthe needs of the presentgenerations without compromisingthe ability of future generations tomeet their own needs.

With enterprises, this meanscreating products and/or servicesthat solve problems for peopleand/or the planet, while generatinga profit.

Society Economy Environment Natural Resources

To help an enterprise become moresustainable we must first considerthe impact of their products and/orservices across 4 key areas:

The ContextDuring a Sport SEN session focused on climate changeand the Scottish Government’s aspirations to reach NetZero emissions, Sustainable Pathways and SENScotidentified a demand from Sport SEN members forsupport to address issues relating to sustainability, notonly in relation to the environment but also balancingthese issues across financial and social business areas.

We designed a group programme for three sport socialenterprises which would take place over 8 weeks.Whilst much of the support available for organisationsin relation to environmental sustainability is focusedsolely on the environmental challenges, this programmereviews organisational performance across 4 keybusiness areas: economy, environment, social andnatural resources.

The programme also recognised thatmindset and behaviour change ofindividuals is a key component for enablinglong term sustainable transformation. Thegroup learning workshops were included asa vital part of the programme which wouldhelp provide organisation leaders withknowledge and skills to encourage the shiftin mindset required to enable practicalactions to be taken.

Not believingthey can makechanges

Not appreciatingthe good workalready occuring

Not having asustainabilityroadmap

Feeling toosmall to makea difference

Not knowingwhere to start tobecome moresustainable

Siloed thinking andnot seeing theholistic nature ofsustainability

The ChallengesThe key challengeshighlighted were causingorganisational inertia andblocking sustainable action.

The Participants

Accessible Tennis CIC supports the health, fitnessand wellbeing of underrepresented groups withincommunities through the provision of tennis coaching.They are a nomadic club without access to their ownfacilities. In addition to improving their ownsustainable impact, they want to help influence theoperators of the facilities they utilise to change theirown practices in relation to sustainability.

Banks O’Dee is a fitness centre providing affordablehealth and fitness opportunities within their community.Their facilities include outdoor football pitches, includinga full size all weather synthetic and indoor sports halland are used by a variety of local sports clubs within thearea. They have an aspiration to become a net zerofacility and are committed to taking actions to helpachieve this goal.

MAC Pool was opened in 1996 after extensivefundraising by the community and remains a communityswimming pool. It’s used by locals, and visitors to thearea, to improve their water skills and general health andfitness. They are currently undergoing a redevelopmentof their facility and working to improving theirsustainability more generally and reducing their carbonfootprint.

Aim of theWorkshops

To provide anunderstanding of keytopics related to helpingorganisations becomemore sustainable.

Our ApproachWe combined a series ofworkshops with one-to-onecoaching sessions, tobalance group learning withindividual bespoke support. Aim of the

1 to 1 sessions

To provide bespokesustainability andcoaching support for eachleader.

Workshops

Introduction toSustainableDevelopment

A practical workshopgiving an introduction tosustainable developmentand the circular economy.

Removing LimitingAssumptions

A practical workshopproviding participants witha framework to recogniseand remove limitingassumptions which, if notremoved, can cause inertia.

Mindset Change

A practical workshopsharing how our mindsetand view of the world canimpact the decisions wemake in regardsto sustainability.

3 practical workshops tosupport the Sport SENorganisations understandsustainability and take action.

1 2 3

Sustainable Pathways...get you thinking how youcan change"

"

One-to-One Support

Sustainabilitydiagnosis oforganisationsimpact

Over 90 minutes and guidedby our research questions wegathered the information tocreate a sustainabilitydiagnostic report.

Through one-to-one supportsessions, each participantdiscovered their organisationsimpact and left with key action steps.

Feedback session onsustainability report

We conducted feedbacksessions with eachparticipant guiding themthrough the report andexplaining key aspects. Seean example on the following page.

Sustainabilitycoaching session

Each participant received acoaching session to help themprioritise the suggestionsfrom the report. Allowingthem to decide which steps totake next.

1 2 3

The sustainability report gives thisSports Club a purpose and a focusto move forward in creating apositive impact"

"

Extract from a Sustainability Report

Discover their impactDecide their next steps Take action

As highlighted each participantreceived a diagnosticsustainability report on theirorganisations impact. Allowingthem to:

1.2.3.

Short-term SustainabilityAction Steps

Action Steps

Check environmental and socialperformance of supply chainEliminate non-reusable plasticbottle consumption Avoid purchasing newequipment and aim to re-useexisting equipment bypartnering with clubs and kitdonors.

Action Steps

Check environmental and socialperformance of supply chainImplement a strategy to reduceenergy and water usage Reduce and eventuallyeliminate single-use plasticusageImprove management of greenareas to increase biodiversity

Action Steps

Check environmental and socialperformance of supply chainIntroduce more green infrastructure (plants, smalltrees, etc.) into office andcommunity spaceImplement a strategy to reduceenergy and water usage

The Feedback

Before we started my idea ofsustainability was how can wereach net zero.

From the sessions, I now realisesustainability is so much more. Ihad never considered our supplychain to the Sports Club."

Iain Watson, Banks O'Dee

" I have learned small changesmatter and it’s a constantlearning process.

We are a small nomadicorganisation who don’t ownour premises but we caninfluence venues we do use."

Marie Burns, Accessible Tennis

" As part of our redevelopmentwe are now considering thingsthat we wouldn’t have paidmuch attention too, or actuallydecisions would have beenmade based purely on finance.

Things like our take awaycontainers and do we sellplastic bottles of water/juice ordo we go to cans? It may onlybe little things but it all countsand you have to startsomewhere.

Fiona MacAlpine, Mac Pool

"

The Outcomes

Holistic understanding ofsustainability

Sustainability action planto guide their next steps

A belief that they canmake a difference

An understanding of howtheir mindset will impacttheir decisions

We have an action plan to take thingsforward... These are small butachievable goals"

Marie Burns, Accessible Tennis

"

The group sessions have been excellentin delivering mindset change. Acomment that has stuck with me is thatnature leaves no mess"

Iain Watson, Banks O'Dee

"

Participating in the pilot has really opened my eyes notonly from a business point of view but on a personallevel too. I no longer think “ach it doesn’t matterbecause its only me, it doesn’t cause a huge impact”now I think "every little helps!"

Fiona MacAlpine, Mac Pool

"

Comment from Sport SEN "This programme was designed in response to a needand willingness from Sport SEN members to think notonly about environmental sustainability but thesustainability of their organisation across all businessareas. They were provided with a bespoke and tangibleplan to tackle highlighted action areas and grouplearning sessions focused on developing the mindsetand behaviour change required to enable positiveactions to be taken.

These group learning sessions were thought provoking,educational and insightful. I think they are essential forproviding leaders with the skills to achieve buy in fromstaff and members to help address issues relating tosustainability and ultimately make an impact.

This is a key point of difference between thissustainability programme and any other which I havebeen aware of and I would highly recommend otherorganisations take the opportunity to participate in thisprogramme."

Jude Reid - Sport SEN Development Manager

https://senscot.net/

https://senscot.net/thematic-sens/sport/

Comment fromSustainable Pathways"We thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to workwith three inspiring and motivated sports-basedsocial enterprises as part of this programme.Throughout the programme we observed themindset of the participants shift from feelinglimited and unable to take action, towards feelingempowered.

This was supported by sustainability educationmodules and a bespoke sustainability action planfor each organisation, to help guide them alongtheir way.

We truly believe that designing and building asustainable organisation starts first with atransformational shift in each leaders mindset, ashighlighted by Fiona MacAlpine from MAC Poolwhen she acknowledged her shift from feeling asthough her actions made little difference towardsfeeling that "every little helps!"

Following this shift, it is a matter of taking smallhalf steps along a sustainable pathway towardsbuilding better, more resilient, positively impactfuland equitable organisations."

Ciaran Armstrong - Co-Founder, Sustainable Pathways

Proposed Next StepsEach organisation has a sustainability action planto act as a compass in guiding their next stepstowards becoming more sustainable.

They also have an understanding of how to removepotential blocks in their mindset, which if notremoved can cause inertia and prevent action.

The proposed next steps would be to check in witheach organisation in 4-6 months, to discover theirprogress and see what further support may be required. As well as rolling this programme outmore broadly to make it accessible to more socialenterprises within Scotland aiming to start theirsustainable journey.

Think now and future, then move your feetand do what needs tobe done.

For more information, head to:www.sustainable-pathways.com