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How do you create an environment where people can perform today while still innovating for tomorrow? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

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Whether you're leading a football club, a business, a public service, or an innovation team, the challenge is remarkably similar:

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In increasingly complex environments, leaders need to be architects of culture, connectors of people, translators of information, and guardians of long-term thinking.

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The research also reinforced something I have long believed: Leadership is not separate from performance management. Leadership is one of the mechanisms through which performance, creativity, and innovation become possible.

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That resonates strongly with creativity research. Innovation rarely comes from individual brilliance alone. It comes from bringing together diverse expertise, encouraging constructive challenge, fostering trust, and enabling people to set off chain reactions of ideas.

One of the strongest themes from the research was that high performance emerged when leaders created environments where different perspectives could come together productively. Leadership was less about having all the answers and more about creating the conditions for collective wisdom to flourish.

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These are also the foundations of #innovative organisations.

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🔹 Connecting people across organisational boundaries. 🔹 Balancing short-term pressures with long-term capability building.

🔹 Aligning diverse specialists around a shared purpose. 🔹 Creating psychological safety so people could challenge, debate, and learn. 🔹 Translating complex information into actionable decisions.

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The most effective leaders weren't simply managing performance. They were:

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to understand what leadership looks like in some of the world's most demanding #performance settings. While #football was the context, the lessons apply to any organisation pursuing sustained high performance.

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#creativity, #innovation, and the conditions that enable people to do their best work. We interviewed 26 senior leaders across Premier League and elite football environments, including Sporting Directors, Performance Directors, and Heads of Department

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I expected to find insights about performance systems, structure, and decision-making. However the findings strongly aligned with what I've spent much of my career studying….

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Samuel Moore @samuelmoore.org · 22/07/2025

Can #leaders learn about creativity, innovation & high performance from football? ⚽️ Our new study explored the #leadership and performance management requirements of Performance Directors in elite football. I expected to find insights about performance systems, structure, and decision-making.

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Reposted by Mark Batey

'A 2021 study estimated that UK academics contribute $391 million worth of unpaid labour annually through peer reviewing alone. These non-cash contributions are essential to the functioning of the scholarly publishing system yet are often overlooked in discussions about cost and value.'

timeshighereducation.com

We must break the link between publisher revenue and article volume

Volume-driven publishing pushes up costs and threatens research integrity. We need new agreements with healthier incentives, says Anna Vernon

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Find out about our part time hybrid executive masters for sporting leaders by following @msd-mmu.bsky.social

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This was a fab opportunity to enhance creativity and innovation ensuring the club continues to thrive and lead in the competitive environs of elite football. A big thank you to the legend that is David Weir MSD for the invitation (and an awesome dinner with Fabian Hürzeler and so many of our MSDers)

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Practical Applications: 🚀 Well that would be telling wouldn’t it! But we found some new approaches that will help the club 'Challenge the Establishment'

Building a Creative Culture: 🥇 Psychological Safety: Essential for fostering innovation 🥈 Diverse Teams: Mixing roles, departments, and backgrounds to harness diverse strengths 🥉 Role of Leadership and Culture: Aligning people, teams, and systems to support innovation

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The Workshop: 🏋️‍♀️ Group Challenges: We tackled a real BHAFC challenges to find an extra performance edge 🏋️‍♀️ Innovation Tools: Learned and applied tools such as ‘How to’ framing, the Kipling Method, Picturestorming, Attribute Listing and Dot Voting to generate and refine ideas

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➡️ Strengths are Weaknesses Too: Avoid over-relying on any single strength ➡️ Follow the Creative Process: Follow a structured process of accumulation, generation, and evaluation (and leave space for incubation)

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🔑 Key Takeaways: 5 Key Principles for Creativity & Innovation: ➡️ Connections: Creative ideas stem from remote associations ➡️ Chain Reactions: Foster a psychologically-safe climate to encourage idea sharing ➡️ Strength in Diversity: Leverage diverse perspectives for richer ideas

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We delved into key principles, processes, and practices to boost innovation within the club – and tackled a live challenge at the same time.

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Mark Batey @drmarkbatey.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

⚽️ Creativity and Innovation for High Performance with Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club ⚽️ Delighted to lead a #Creativity and #Innovation Workshop with the senior team members of @officialbha.bsky.social last week.

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Highlights from our paper on the conditions for Mental Toughness in Women's ⚽️ Published in PLOSOne - doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Mark Batey @drmarkbatey.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

With Brighton and Hove Albion FC ☺️⚽️ Update incoming next week 🔥@officialbha.bsky.social #ChallengeTheEstablishment #TheSeagulls #InnovationForPerfomance

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But by setting a supportive culture through safe leadership practices… bringing in some outside inspiration… and experimenting with structures we can often set off the ideas that become innovations that can make a difference.

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There are no one touch, simple solutions to helping companies (and councils) boost innovation.

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And some more… - Back to the Floor: Leaders engage in everyday tasks will see and hear more - Do Something Different: Don’t fall into a comfortable behavioural rut.

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- Read Widely: Gain diverse knowledge by reading, watching and listening around. - Get a Mentor: Learn from others' wisdom and impart yours - Look for Lucky Inspiration: Many inventions come from unexpected sources. Keep an open mind

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Then there are everyday practices any of us can apply…

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Case studies 2: - Business Model Innovation: Wolves FC's partnership with Castore – now evolved into the Sudu company bringing great value for fans

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Case Studies 1: - Biomimicry: Nature-inspired solutions like slime mould for transport infrastructure and beetle experts solving aviation challenges. - Elite Sport: Manchester City Academy and the England Cricket Team drew inspiration frm areas such as foster care, military, and corporate mergers.

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Some of the key takeaways : Principles: - Connections: #Creative ideas emerge from the interplay between diverse knowledge - Chain Reactions: Ideas thrive when shared and bounced off others - Strength in Diversity: #Diversity enhances innovation - #Leaders need to know how to harness these

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What’s the deal? Outside In Thinking is about leveraging cross-industry, open innovation practices to boost #knowledge exchange for high #performance.

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Helping Empower Innovation in Local Government We all know the landscape for government innovation is pretty tough… So I gave a keynote for government leaders 🧵 👇

Mark Batey @drmarkbatey.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Great presentation 👏👏👏

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Mark Batey @drmarkbatey.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Out today for the #FieldofPlay2025 Sports Analytics Conference. Wonderful to catch up with our @msd-mmu.bsky.social students and grads, meet some old friends… and looking forward to networking and making some new ones. Lots of takeaways for data and innovation #everydayisaschoolday #alwayslearning

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Mark Batey @drmarkbatey.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Been drinking a lot of coffee today 🫨