Peak Body Programs
A rising barometer means sunshine for days - a falling barometer predicts trouble ahead. If you are looking for a barometer of the trust and health within a sport's stakeholder system, look no further than its peak body programs.
Peak body programs aim to positively impact a sport system by aligning specific areas towards unified principles. They may be established at the international, national or regional level and are seen in small and large forms everywhere: through participation and performance pathways, education frameworks, membership CRMs, athlete wellbeing, event frameworks and commercial initiatives.
Regardless of the domain - and whether a peak body uses a carrot or stick approach to engage - to deliver on their goal all peak body programs typically rely on four elements for their stakeholder value:
economies of scale (‘unifying our approach will be more efficient’);
brand equity (‘unifying our approach provides greater credibility and status’);
network effects; (‘unifying our approach gives you tribe access and status’); and
thought leadership (‘unifying our approach is the best option moving forward’)
If all elements are present, each level of stakeholders benefit over the long-term from steady ROI in qualitative or quantitative metrics (i.e. participation, performance, NPS, financial, accreditation). For each ingredient that is missing though, the value proposition to adopt is lowered and stakeholders have less incentive to invest.
(Note: ‘investment’ occurs not simply as resource investment but also as emotional investment, making a compelling value proposition just as critical for peak bodies that mandate program adoption in their system.)
So where do we start when seeking to improve a peak body program?
Economies of scale and brand equity are a flywheel that - in the absence of major capital investment - emerge only once a critical mass of stakeholders agree to invest in the program and provide it momentum. But many stakeholders understandably value these elements as prerequisites to participation, particularly as risk appetite decreases. As a result, we get a 'chicken or the egg' situation which makes it a tricky element to underpin an engagement strategy.
To generate a network effect and act as a connector, you first need to have a vision and conversations that stakeholders want to be included in. The more people engaged in the 'tribe', the more value those outside the tribe will perceive.
Which leaves us with thought leadership. Having the right people ‘on the bus’ steering the program is crucial - people who convey the right vision (with passion) and build a community on the promise of doing things better to achieve shared purpose. This will start the program’s flywheel by getting the early adopters invested and bypasses the magic elixir of money which, let’s face it, no sport has in the current climate.
So returning to our original question, where do we start towards improving peak body programs? We start with relationships, and we start with building trust. Trust gained from consistently and reliably seeking new solutions to solve shared problems and achieve shared purpose.
'Trust is built one marble at a time' - Brené Brown
Trust enables stakeholders to invest themselves without the guarantee that economies of scale or brand equity will come to fruition. Trust says ‘I feel safe investing in this unified approach’, and proves that stakeholders are rarely investing in programs, but rather in people.
