Invest in your talent pipeline - invest in women's and girl's sport.

Today is the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl Child. I am very lucky to be the Dad of three amazing kids, two girls and a wee lad.

My girls didn’t choose a traditional 'Girls’ sport,' they chose Rugby Union.? Good on ‘em. Through their choice of sport they have grown up belonging to a global family with shared values based on respect, integrity, passion, solidarity & discipline. They have also learnt that a path worth pursuing isn’t ever the easiest path.

Children learn so much from sport, they learn how to win-well, how to lose with grace and dignity, that success comes from hard work and discipline and that people have different strengths and we can’t be good at everything.

Success in business follows exactly the same formula as success on the field.? Businesses share the same issues as sport when it comes to diversity, equality and inclusivity.? The biggest challenge is usually developing and protecting a pipeline of talent.

Athletes make great business leaders for the reasons described above.? There are not many ASX / FTSE / NASDAQ leaders who were not successful in sport to some degree.? Tier-one global consultancies have specific Talent Acquisition teams to actively recruit ex-athletes because their learned traits make successful business leaders.

"As the talent landscape continues to change, we are committed to fully realizing the collective leadership potential of athletes" - EY Athlete Programs

Women leaders in business are still in the minority compared to men. In sport almost 50% of girls will leave team-sport forever during their secondary school years, resulting in a void of women in sport leadership roles - this is a great example of the leak in our talent pipelines and parallels can be drawn across both sport and business.

Half of our girls will give up on the battle for fair access to sport, they will not want to play sport in uniform designed for boys (Or in white shorts!), get changed behind a toilet block or walk home alone through an unlit park.? Half of our girls will leave team sport because there simply isn’t a pathway for them to follow.? You may argue that resilience is built through these testing times but it’s not a fair playing field - boys don’t face the same issues in accessing their chosen sport.

We are seeing more girls take STEM subjects at school and more women graduating with Tech degrees.? Companies have ‘Women in Tech,’ recruitment campaigns and successfully attract women to work for them – so where are our women leaders in tech? Consequences of a talent pipeline forgetting about retention and not addressing the attrition gaps.

Circling back to sport, we’re hearing about the ‘Matilda effect,’ across Australia – more and more girls wanting to play traditionally male dominated sport.? We had the ‘Women’s T20 effect,’ just before COVID when Australia broke records for attendance at a women’s sporting event and the Pies-Blues AFLW opener being moved to a bigger stadium and fans still not being able to get in!!!

“Keep the magic, just make it equal.” - Lewes City FC on equal prize funds for Men & Women.

Now is the time to invest in plugging the gaps in our talent pipelines.? Our girls are benefiting from the momentum created by major sporting events and more girls than ever are participating in grassroots sport.? Let’s support these girls and keep them in sport then coach them to become our future business leaders.

Companies should realise that now is the time to invest in women’s sport but it is still so hard to secure funding for women and girls compared to men's sport.? Investment in grassroots sport will create long term brand loyalty from participants and their support network (Parents). Investment in elite women’s sport can achieve unparalleled media exposure and value alignment.?

It doesn’t take a huge investment to have significant impact – sponsoring a women’s team to eat a hot meal after training or to fund an Uber account so women can safely get to and from matches or training is a great start.? Funding a girls team to buy kit designed for girls will be appreciated and spoken about (The US Rapper 50Cent just did this for a Cardiff U14s girls football team!), fund a competition and secure the naming rights.?Be creative, Canterbury, a New Zealand based rugby kit manufacturer and sponsor of many rugby union clubs, offered to swap white shorts issued to women for a colour of their choice through their 'White Shorts Swap,' campaign:

"We’re committed to furthering the women’s game and levelling the playing field through reducing period anxiety. We’re offering any player or club who has purchased a pair of white Canterbury shorts in the last three years, the opportunity to claim a free pair of shorts in a different colour" - Canterbury, NZ

The tangible returns on investment can be calculated through an increased and more diverse customer base, reaching domestic spend decision makers, brand loyalty etc. Intangible benefits are quickly realised – employee brand value alignment, partnerships with the athletes at client events, cobranding and corporate entertainment opportunities to name just a few. Ultimately, investing in women's and girls sport from grassroots to elite level is a cost effective way to build your future talent pipeline, publicise your brand values and build brand loyalty.

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Invest in your future talent pipeline, get ahead of your competition. Be creative. Invest in women's and girl's sport.

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James Liley is a Rugby Victoria Board Director in Melbourne, Australia and Director at Frank Recruitment Group, the global leaders in SaaS / Cloud Tech Talent solutions where he has been advising clients for over 22 years on talent acquisition, talent retention, diversity and inclusive hiring practices.

Connect with James for ideas and solutions on building inclusive tech teams or sponsorship opportunities across women's and girl's sport.

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