Published November 3, 2020
November 3, 2020 –The SLSG believes in bringing members of the sports community together through our monthly “Conversation Matters: You Ask, We Share”, spending an hour with sports leaders from across the country sharing information and responding to questions on employment, insurance, leadership, financial management, grief management, equity, diversity and inclusion and other matters related to managing through COVID-19. Here’s what SLSG Partners Steve Indig and Dina Bell-Laroche and Team Member Melissa Knox had to share:
- We opened with Steve Indig providing an update on legal matters including:
- Keep running your financial models to ensure you have thought through the various scenarios for the next year and possible multiple mandatory shut-downs.
- Don’t rush through your decision-making. Think beyond 2020 to what your organization will need once this pandemic is over.
- Ensure you have a 3rd party to manage your complaints and that your participants are educated and aware of the processes.
- Ontario is proposing legislation to assist in the protection of sports organizations relating to claims regarding COVID
- We then invited the SLSG’s Melissa Knox to share her view on ways that sport leaders can better integrate their commitments to embodying an EDI approach within their culture. These included:
- Initiate a conversation with your membership about diversity and inclusion.
- Conduct an EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) audit of your policies, priorities, and programs.
- Review your images to ensure you are representing your sport in an inclusive and equitable matter.
- Ensure your values are reflected in your decision-making structures.
- Beyond ensuring your policies are inclusive and equitable, consider the following ways to inform, educate, and engage your members and participants:
- Mentorship initiatives]
- Intentional recruitment efforts
- Education and training
- Awareness campaigns
- Support and counseling
- Dina shared that she is offering Grief Cafés for athletes and coaches who are looking for healthy and healing coping strategies to integrate their grief. Melissa and Dina are excited to collaborate on Grief Cafés specific to members of the Black community and are open to exploring how we might be of service to help reconcile grief as a result of exclusionary practices.
- In addition, Dina reminded participants that there are a number of complaints being brought forward that may be better managed through a facilitated conversation with one of the SLSG’s Integral Coaches. Rather than work through interpersonal conflict through a legal process, the SLSG Integral Coaches are trained in supporting courageous conversations where participants are encouraged to speak their truth, share their needs, and resolve differences in an open and candid manner.
To access our recording, please visit here: https://sportlaw.ca/downloads/slsg-conversation-matters-you-ask-we-share-october-28-2020/
Our high hopes for the sector are to re-imagine new ways to deal with the stuff that might be keeping you up at night and in so doing, feel less alone as a result. If COVID-19 has taught us anything it’s that we need each other more than ever to work through some of the complexities of leading, living, competing, and volunteering in the 21st Century.
The Sport Law & Strategy Group has been providing strategic insight into the Canadian sport community since 1992. We offer a full range of management consulting, leadership development, and legal services to the Canadian sport community. We are accessible, affordable, highly skilled, and we bring experience and common sense to every project. Our mission is to help you achieve yours. To learn more about us please visit https://sportlaw.ca. For more information please contact Dina Bell-Laroche at 613-591-1246 or 613-294-4118 or DBL@sportlaw.ca.
