April 17, 2020 –The SLSG is hosting weekly “Conversation Matters: You Ask, We Share” where we spend an hour with sport leaders from across the country sharing information and responding to questions on employment, insurance, leadership, financial management, grief management, and other matters related to managing through COVID-19. The free, online drop-in session hosted by SLSG Partners Steve Indig and Dina Bell-Laroche will remain flexible, based on your questions, and hopefully leave sport leaders feeling informed and inspired to put in place measures to deal with the stuff that is keeping you up at night. As needed, we are also inviting members from our team or other thought leaders who can help sport leaders make better decisions. Thanks to Jason Robinson, our Certified Parliamentarian, for updating us on the benefits of Simply Voting and ways that we can support better and more inclusive decision-making. Here is what we shared during the session:

• Steve updated us on the importance of checking in with your insurance provider to ensure what is and isn’t covered by insurance during COVID-19, including on-line training sessions. Join us next week to better understand the restrictions, risks and ways to ensure you are offering value-add benefits to your registered participants, in a manner that meets your insurance requirements. Steve also spoke briefly about employment matters (layoffs, modifications and terminations), membership fees and contracts

• Dina shared Allow by Danna Faulds to speak to what we can control and what we can let go of as a way of bringing more mindful awareness to our leadership. We spoke about the importance of trust and assessing what our trust levels are with those we are here to serve. If you aren’t busy investing in high trust relationships, you will find that everything will take longer and costs rise. The reverse is true. High trust cultures get stuff done, fast, which reduces costs and keeps people feeling motivated. In what ways are you strengthening your trust levels with those you care about and those you are here to serve?

• Mindset by Carol Dweck is a great little book that Dina blogged about five years ago and she is inviting us to cultivate a growth mindset to tackle some of the bigger challenges that have popped up due to COVID-19. When faced with wicked problems (those issues that don’t have a readily available solution and that need resolving), Dina invites us to consider how we might shift our mindset to learn from others and respectfully debate new ways of tackling recurring roadblocks. Remember, the energy that got us here, is often not the energy we need to deal with our current issues.

• Jason provided a show and tell on the benefits of online voting and spent 45 minutes answering many questions that were raised about a new way of engaging members. Here is a summary of what was shared:

o SLSG has accessed the Simply Voting platform to support sport organizations in hosting online voting events (motions and elections), to be used in tandem with an online meeting platform such as GoToMeeting, ZOOM, etc.).

o Our recent blog outlines the types of support that SLSG can provide and Jason elaborated on those service options and the associated costs.
o The Simply Voting platform allows you to import member lists and create authentic ID’s for all voting members, as well as adapt your motions and responses, implement different voting types, and include key motion/election content.
o Update April 16: Voting types now includes weighted voting, meaning that if your members have unique votes applied to them (i.e. Member A has 3 votes, Member B has 5 votes) this can be entered into the system and calculated on your behalf. This is also helpful for proxy votes.
o There are methods to supporting voting members who cannot access email or who experience technical difficulties; this emphasizes the need for a team approach and a meeting script to ensure you preserve member rights.
o Participants asked how to deal with abuse of virtual Elector ID’s and how to incorporate individuals who have been refunded membership & program fees – options were provided!
o Whatever platform that you use for electronic meetings, you must ensure that you follow parliamentary procedure, you validate attendees, and you allow for verbal participation.

You can access previous webinars or join our next Conversation Matters: You Ask, We Share! on April 22 at 1:00 PM EST where our team member LJ Bartle will provide an update on insurance requirements.

Flow: Each conversation will begin with the SLSG Partners welcoming everyone and offering a few comments on something topical that is affecting the sport community. We will then move into providing listeners with an opportunity to ask a question or share a perspective that they would like some advice on. Dina and Steve will create a safe and engaging environment for the listeners to address some very specific topics that will most certainly benefit the entire group.

The Sport Law & Strategy Group has been providing strategic insight to 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 bring experience and common sense to every project. Our mission is to help you achieve yours. To learn more about us please visit www.sportlaw.ca.

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For more information please contact Dina Bell-Laroche at 613-591-1246 or 613-294-4118 or DBL@sportlaw.ca.