Moving sport from competition to collaboration in ED&I work

Hello and welcome back to HTVB Sport! 👋🏽

This month we explore ‘Moving from competition to collaboration’ - part one of our manifesto for elevating the sport industry’s ED&I work. Hear our guidance for taking this point forward, including case studies to inspire you.

We also cover:

• Why it’s important not to equate women’s sport and DEI

• How an elephant mascot has been an impactful branding and DEI intervention that we could all learn from!

• + the latest updates that have caught our eye

- Hayley

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." This African proverb highlights a crucial shift the sports industry needs to make …. because if it doesn’t the reality is we are going nowhere - fast or otherwise! The issues the sector faces are systemic, so the action we take needs to reflect this. Collaboration needs to be owned and championed by the organisations themselves, rather than just the governing bodies, leagues, independent initiatives or events who bring us together.

At HTVB, we work in other sectors who have made progress through collaboration. Here are some recommendations for how it could look, and some fantastic case studies for inspiration:

Is there a barrier you have highlighted for your organisation that you cannot fix alone? See what your peers have to say and reach out to them to propose the creation of a well-structured working group. This will help you get to the bottom of the issue and propose ways to solve it as a collective. Bonus points if your working group is made up of senior leaders!

This approach is particularly useful for smaller organisations that may lack the budget or scale to offer meaningful training in-house. Us ED&I consultants don’t come cheap (😉) so lead or propose a joint initiative for ED&I training that pools resources from multiple organisations, creating a platform where participants can learn, network, and gain opportunities that wouldn’t be feasible within a single organisation. If you are planning a development programme (such as mentoring or leadership training) for underrepresented groups, this is particularly impactful as you can increase the number of participants, and therefore the impact.

3. Co-fund industry-wide ED&I research

Propose a research initiative co-funded by multiple organisations to study your unique challenges. Data is really important and it is likely you will not have enough if you are only utilising what is available internally.

4. Co-create events

Rather than just attending industry-wide events, organisations could take the lead in co-designing events with competitors that focus on specific topics, engaging both staff and local communities. These events can spotlight underrepresented groups, highlight key ED&I challenges, or celebrate success stories. They also provide a platform to share best practices across the industry, allowing competitors to work together for the greater good.

However, it is crucial that these events aren’t just one-offs. To ensure lasting impact, establish follow-up activities such as action groups, workshops, or regular discussions to keep the momentum going. These follow-up initiatives can build on the event’s discussions and outcomes, turning dialogue into concrete action. By fostering an ongoing commitment to collaboration, organisations can ensure that shared learning leads to meaningful and sustained progress for the entire sector.

7. Measuring collective progress rather than using league tables

We need to shift the focus from comparing individual organisations' ED&I progress to measuring collective advancement as an industry. This could involve setting up an industry-wide benchmarking system.

What it could look like: The Tech Talent Charter (TTC) provided a strong example of how an industry could benchmark progress collectively rather than compete. Through its Diversity and Inclusion Open Playbook, the TTC brought together best practices, insights, and data from over 700 UK signatory organisations. By openly sharing this knowledge, the tech industry was able to measure collective progress, ensuring that companies of all sizes and resources could benefit.

For the sports sector, adopting a similar model—where progress is measured collectively rather than competitively—could have a lasting and more effective impact.

In one of the world’s most competitive sectors, the insurance industry has found a way to collaborate for the greater good through the Dive In Festival. Originally launched in London by Inclusion@Lloyd’s, the festival has grown into a global initiative, bringing together major players in the industry such as brokers, underwriters, and other firms.

The Dive In Festival demonstrates how a competitive industry can unite to drive systemic change. By sharing resources, lessons learned, and DEI best practices, the insurance sector has moved beyond competition, allowing for a more impactful and sustainable approach to inclusion.

One of Dive In’s standout initiatives is its reverse mentoring programme, where junior employees mentor senior leaders. This cross-industry initiative breaks down traditional hierarchies, fostering collaboration between generations and allowing leaders to learn from fresh perspectives.

[Read more: Dive In Festival]

The UK legal industry, known for its fiercely competitive approach to attracting talent, has taken a significant step towards collaboration with the formation of Legal CORE (Collaboration on Race and Ethnicity). This cross-firm collective was founded by eight of the UK’s leading law firms—Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Norton Rose Fulbright, and Slaughter and May.

Launched in 2020, Legal CORE’s founding firms recognised that improving diversity and inclusion was a sector-wide issue that couldn’t be solved by one organisation alone. By coming together, these firms have pooled resources, shared data, and worked collaboratively on programmes designed to increase ethnic minority representation across all levels of their organisations. By working together, these firms have been able to amplify the impact of their DEI initiatives, driving industry-wide change that would be impossible individually.

[Read more: Legal CORE]

In the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup, a coalition of football clubs across North America has come together to form Play Proud —a collaboration aimed at making the upcoming tournament the most inclusive men’s soccer event in history. This coalition includes eight clubs from five leagues, spanning Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), the United Soccer League (USL), and the Canadian Premier League (CPL).

These clubs have committed to 100 hours of in-person ED&I training for each participant they send. Importantly, participants then take this knowledge back to their respective organisations, becoming internal DEI leaders and educator themselves. Play Proud aims to not only improve inclusivity within the clubs but also create a ripple effect in their local communities.

[Read more about the 2023 programme featuring HTVB here]

While the two clubs are fierce rivals on the pitch, off the pitch they united in their commitment to promoting greater inclusion and representation in football. In a powerful demonstration of cross-club collaboration, Brentford Football Club and Fulham Football Club came together to celebrate South Asian Heritage Month with an event titled "Stories To Tell – Celebrating South Asian Changemakers in Football."

The event, attended by Brentford and Fulham staff along with special guests, focused on sharing the journeys of South Asians in football, both on and off the field. Kaammini Chanrai, Equity and Inclusion Director at Brentford, highlighted the importance of this partnership, saying:
“We’re proud to have done this event with Fulham Football Club. On the pitch, we’re very much west London rivals, but off the pitch we’re very much united in our desire to see greater inclusion and representation in football.”

We love to see it!

[Read more: Brentford FC]

✋🏽 Equating women’s football with ED&I risks undermining the real progress both movements need to make.

• Because we are likely to fall into the same traps: Many ED&I initiatives fail to create lasting change due to their short-term, superficial nature. When brands view investing in women's football as a mere tick-box exercise, they risk priotising quick wins over sustainable growth. Women's football needs serious investment that fosters genuine development, rather than a fleeting trend that only serves brand optics.

• Because it perpetuates an unhelpful narrative that women's football is wholly inclusive in itself, so no further work is needed to improve it: However, we know that significant gaps remain in race, class, and accessibility within women's football.

• Because investment in women’s football should not replace broader ED&I efforts that focus on gender equity across the entire sport: We must confront misogyny, racism, and other inequalities in both men’s and women’s games. Genuine progress in football requires tackling systemic issues rather than viewing women's investment as a solution in itself.

Alexis Simms, the LTA’s EDI Development Partner, who has been instrumental in building relationships with the groups involved, commented on the partnership: "The short-term goal is to foster collaboration among leading voices in the black tennis community. Long-term, we aim for the Black Tennis Collective to become a trusted ally to the LTA, advocating for greater inclusion and helping shape future initiatives.” [Read more]

Shoko commented: "As FIFPRO’s first-ever Asian hire, I’ve continuously pushed for greater inclusion of Asia/Oceania players in our global projects and campaigns, and I’m excited to bring my knowledge and passion to this role." Shout out to Shoko on this exciting new role. [Read more]

I am totally obsessed with Ellie. It shows the power of diverse brand teams in sport. 👉🏽 “Black women are just dope. We are the purveyors of culture. We literally create culture,” Stephenson said about the significance of Ellie having an all-Black creative team. “The idea of having these Black women work together for a professional women’s basketball team is powerful!

This is a heartwarming story of embracing and celebrating identity, and the importance of getting peoples’ names right.

Half of women credit the skills acquired through sports for their leadership development. 71% of women with formal leadership roles held titles like Manager, Director, President, or C-suite Executive, and the longer girls play sports, the more likely they are to hold these leadership roles.

We love this important campaign from Valeur that is promoting pay transparency in the industry.

To make you smile 😃

💘 Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more next month as we move to part two - Developing Inclusive leadership.

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