Iterating organisational change

Australian Athletics

Organisational Impact: Building and Iterating Change Organically

Australian Athletics is organically changing the landscape for women in high performance coaching through dedicated coach development programs. Dianne Huxley, Australian Athletics' National Performance Pathways Lead has been leading the charge and providing critical support for female coaches.

Programs for Change

Huxley was first inspired to offer more support for female coaches after getting involved in the AIS Women in High Performance Program.

Huxley came back from participating in the program and said “Well, we’ve got to do this ourselves. We should be doing our own programs.”

Over the last four years, Huxley, together with Mark Stewart, has initiated several High-Performance Coach Programs, including the Athlete to Coach and High-Performance Coach Mentoring programs, targeted at developing high performance coaches. Huxley was able to utilise funding from the AIS, as well as Australian Athletics to build development programs targeted specifically at women coaches off the ground.

When Huxley first set up the programs, women in coaching wasn’t one of Australian Athletics' strategic pillars but it is now.  By 2032 they plan to “have at least 40% of our team coaches, when they go away to international competitions be women,” Huxley said.

But at the time of developing the programs, Huxley saw an opportunity to start building change. “It was something that I said, ok, we’ve got to do this. It’s the right time,” Huxley said.

One of the most successful programs Australian Athletics runs is the High Performance Coach and Mentoring Program. The program brings together current coaches and pairs them with ten of the sport’s most experienced coaches as mentors.

“One of the things that is part of our strategy was to make sure we captured the knowledge of our most experienced coaches and pass it on,” Huxley said.

Huxley has also set up the Australian Athletics Women in High Performance Coaching Program. The program aims to provide bespoke opportunities and support for women coaches. It includes workshops where coaches share their personal stories, learn about the high performance coaching environment, build leadership skills and learn about attributes of successful coaches. Guest presenters also join the program, and the workshops include sessions on topics like the power of male allies.

The program also introduced coaches to Australian Athletics' High Performance staff. “So we opened up the whole network to them by being in the program,” Huxley said.

The programs Australian Athletics offer have had a substantial, ongoing impact on the coaches involved.

Chloe Stevens, one of the coaches who participated in the programs said, “Having  this group has opened up a whole new world. This program has exposed us to a large  group of people that we can rely on and go to for advice at any time. This has been absolutely beneficial in every way possible.”

“Previously, if there was a room full of people, a lot of these women wouldn’t have the confidence to actually ask the questions. There would be an intimidation. And I think all that’s pushed aside with this program,” said Deb Walsham, another coach who participated in the programs.

“It really developed this strong, collaborative, supportive group, which has continued because theoretically the program finished on October 23^rd [2023] but here we are nearly a year later and it’s as strong as ever, in terms of them supporting each other,” Huxley said.

“It’s really developed a very strong network of women who support each other and share information, celebrate successes, post photos and information.”

In addition to the programs, a community practice is also in the works, that will include mentees from previous programs.

In addition to the programs, the Women Leaders in Sport grant has enabled Huxley to set up a Community Practice group. Coaches from the original group have been upskilled to mentor and “pay it forward” to another group of women coaches.

Huxley explained that none of the programs work in isolation, but instead they all complement each other, and work together to support coaches in their development.

“It’s just happened organically,” Huxley said of these programs working together to create change.

Addressing Barriers 

The programs are helping to address critical barriers female coaches come up against in high performance sport.

One of those barriers Huxley has observed is a lack confidence, despite many of the coaches having high levels of accreditation. “They’ve done a lot of education, but they don’t have the confidence or voice to show what they know in a very male dominated environment,” Huxley said.

Lack of access to extended networks and connections is another barrier. The programs Australian Athletics run address both.

“Having access to some of our best coaches, and not thinking ‘Oh they’re way up there. I can’t talk to them’,” Huxley explains has been a key benefit for the coaches in the programs.

Australian Athletics has also been able to send more female coaches away with teams on bigger, higher profile tours. Huxley believes this is critical for visibility.

“People saw the skills that they had because that’s one of the problems. I know what they can do […] But nobody gives them the chance to step into these roles. So we were able to do that.”

“Sixty percent of those women [the fourteen in the AA program] have had an opportunity to go away on an international team or a camp. So they’ve had that experience in that environment which has been really instrumental in their development of learning new skills, understanding about the whole high performance environment and their confidence to say ‘Ok I belong here.’”

Visible Impact

The coaches who have participated in the programs have received critical mentorship, community and resources. They are now finding opportunities to pay back the support.

Melissa Smith took part in both the Australian Athletics Identified Coach Support Program and the Women in High Performance Coaching Program.

“The programs have allowed me to connect with many high performance coaches in Australia that I would not have had the opportunity or confidence to approach in the past.”

“At the Tokyo Olympics I questioned whether I was good enough for the role of team coach. Fast forward to Paris and I am very comfortable and confident in my coaching abilities and how I have progressed in the last four years,” Smith said.

Smith is now mentoring two female coaches herself to give back to the sport and other female coaches.

Marty Stolberg, another coach who took part in the program said, “Sometimes you can feel alone and isolated coaching. Once you have done your course you are left on your own. To have a program like this where coaches feel heard and supported is extremely important for the coach’s wellbeing which in turn makes a better environment for their squads.”

The Role of Leadership

While Huxley has been leading the charge by running these programs, the entire organisation, including leadership, is in full support.

“We are probably the most gender equal sport in the world,” Jane Flemming, President of Australian Athletics, said. “We don’t have women’s athletics. We just have athletics.”

“Where we have fallen down and where we don’t have the numbers is in the coaching area.”

Addressing the number of women coaches in athletics is a key objective for the organisation going forward.

“If you don’t see it, you don’t believe it,” Flemming said of more women coaches from athletics joining Olympic teams. “It’s not just about girls seeing women that end up with these careers, but women and young boys seeing them.”

Flemming believes leadership plays an important role in tackling gender equity in coaching and organisations need to be “living it [gender equity] through our whole organisation and through our whole sport.”

“I think that’s why it’s really important for leaders to be on board and to be driving change.”

Flemming says there’s talks that gender equity will become a KPI. “There has to be some structural changes where this is mandated, that you think about these things when you’re setting up programs.”

Flemming hopes to see a future “where everyone feels they get a chance.”

“That requires an open-mindedness. And it requires us running programs that are specific to those groups that have felt excluded,” Flemming said.

While the programs have had incredible impact, Huxley emphasises that athletics and sport as a whole needs to keep going.

“It’s important that we keep going with this so that more and more female coaches get recognised, get the opportunities to show how successful they can be.”