Don’t forget to have some strategy in your strategic plans

The Ansoff matrix is a useful tool when considering growth strategies

by Jak Carroll, Strategic Sport Solutions

I’ve looked at a few strategic plans for sporting organisations recently that are not what they say they are.

Yes, they are plans (of sorts) with lofty visions, noble values and grandiose goals. But nowhere do they outline any strategy.

These strategic planning documents usually contain motherhood statements like “we aim to be a sport for everyone” and include aspirational phrases like maximise collaboration, holistic approach, continued excellence, sustainable development, inspiring leadership and best practice. But they do not give any indication what these terms mean in a practical sense, how they will be measured, and most importantly, how these aspirations will be attained.

As a wise person once said: planning without strategy is wishful thinking!

Some of these strategic plans also try to be everything to everybody; aiming to improve and enhance every aspect of their sport and business in the subsequent three years.

Such plans are not very useful future blueprints for two important reasons.

Firstly, strategy is about choice. Specifically, what to focus on now and what to leave for a later time. A simple but important choice might be whether to grow your sport or consolidate your current position by improving existing services and systems.

Secondly, strategy is about what you want to do and how you are going to do it.

Think of the Army General in a land-based war. Their strategy is not just about which hill to take off the enemy, but also how to do it.  Will it be a quick and concentrated direct assault? Will they create a diversion to trick the enemy forces? or Will the troops dig in and take it inch by inch over a long period?

For most sport organisations, a key plank of any strategic plan concerns participation. In particular, they strive to answer the question: how do we grow our participation base?

The Ansoff matrix (see diagram above) is a useful tool for developing strategies around participation. Ansoff believed there were basically two broad approaches to growth: varying what is offered (product growth) and varying who it is offered to (market growth).  Combining these two broad approaches then delivers a matrix of four strategic options as follows:

1) Market penetration. How to entice existing markets to try existing sport offerings. Typically, this approach relies on promotional activities to existing markets to boost interest. In the case of sports, they might try to better promote their product to an existing target group such as school children, or young adults.

2) Product development. How to entice existing markets to try new sport offerings. A key question here is: what new forms of our sport could we develop to appeal to our existing markets? Could we have shorter games, shorter competitions, or modified rules to encourage participation. While we have seen this happen regularly in the commercial forms of sport (eg, T20 cricket, NRL Nines) it does not seem to be considered as much at the grassroots level.

3) Market development. How to entice new markets to try existing sport offerings. As with market penetration, this approach relies on promotional activities to reach the new market. The key is identifying the new market to which your existing sport product might appeal. The recent growth of female participation in many contact sports is an example of market development. As is the growth of people from African and Asian ethnic groups in traditional “Anglo” sports.

4) Diversification. How to entice new markets to try new sport offerings. This is the riskiest strategy of the four. It is about modifying your sport product so that it better suits a new target market. Many sports have modified their product to better suit young children, but what about modifications to suit new markets like older adults? Walking netball, which targets older adults, is a good example of such a diversification strategy.

Planning is an important activity for any sporting organization. The Ansoff matrix is a tool that can help organisations develop growth strategies that involve clear choices about how to move forward.

Does your organisation need some help with planning or governance? Jak Carroll has extensive experience in the sport and nonprofit sectors, including consulting to organisations and conducting training sessions. If you are interested in some quick advice or having Jak work with you on your next project, please click here