Before asking an organisation to commit to a new vision, leaders need to establish what success means, who can make which decisions, and which risks the organisation is prepared to accept. These agreements determine whether the vision can guide action when results create pressure to abandon it.
In The First 100 Days of a Sport Leader executive course, Dan Ashworth shows how to put those agreements into practice: secure clarity from the board, define expectations for senior roles, support decisions that serve the strategy, and review performance against evidence. The following five actions translate those principles into everyday leadership practice.
1. Define success at board level
Ashworth begins with clarity about the role, the mission, and how performance will be assessed. Leaders should agree on a small number of outcomes that will guide evaluation and resource decisions. Without this agreement, different parts of the organisation can act on different definitions of success.
Practical action: Agree on three to five outcomes that will guide performance reviews, resource allocation, and decisions about what the organisation must protect.
2. Translate strategy into decision-making authority
His question—“What’s the job description, if you like?”—extends beyond a list of duties. Senior leaders need to know what they are accountable for, which trade-offs they can make, and how their decisions will be judged.
Practical action: For each senior role, define its accountabilities, decision rights, and the criteria for a sound decision when priorities compete.
3. Protect the risks the strategy requires
A commitment to give young players opportunities has little operational meaning if a coach loses the board’s support after one poor result. Leaders give the strategy credibility by supporting decisions that follow it, even when the immediate outcome is unfavourable.
Practical action: Agree in advance which risks are acceptable and within what limits. When a decision meets those criteria, evaluate the quality of the decision separately from the short-term result.
4. Maintain consistency during emotional periods
Ashworth identifies calm, evidence-based leadership as particularly important after defeats. If priorities change in response to every result, the organisation cannot sustain a long-term strategy.
Practical action: Establish a review after high-pressure events: What did we commit to doing? Are we on track? What does the evidence show? Use the answers to distinguish a problem with execution from a problem with the strategy itself.
5. Use marginal gains to make culture visible
Ashworth points to small changes in the working environment, from the design of shared spaces to the colour of goal nets. None will transform performance on its own. Such changes can, however, influence how people work and interact while making organisational priorities visible.
Practical action: Select a few low-cost improvements to meeting practices, shared spaces, feedback routines, or collaboration between departments. Assess whether they change everyday behaviour, rather than treating their introduction as progress in itself.
Culture is established through repeated organisational choices. People learn what the vision means by observing which decisions leaders endorse, which risks they tolerate, and which standards they maintain when results create pressure to change course.
