1 Expanding horizons – commercial awareness in the sporting landscape

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Commercial awareness is a vital employability skill that is highly valued by employers across various industries (Mawson and Haworth, 2018). This section provides a glimpse into the importance and relevance of commercial awareness as a sought-after employability skill which can be developed through playing or coaching sport. Before you explore it within a sporting context, let’s take a moment to ensure we fully understand what is meant by the term.

Activity 1 What is commercial awareness?

Timing: Allow approximately 10 minutes

Watch the short video from MindTools and answer the following questions:

1. What are the main focal points discussed in relation to commercial awareness?
2. Can you think of any examples of how commercial awareness can be applied within the context of an athlete or coach?

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Transcript: Video: MindTools

NARRATOR

Whatever sector you work in, economics, politics and technology, all affect your business. So how do you stay ahead of the game? Commercial awareness. Being commercially aware means keeping up to date with what’s going on in your industry. It helps you make better decisions, generate new ideas, solve problems more effectively and be a more insightful leader.

End transcript: Video: MindTools

Video: MindTools

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Answer

1. According to the video, having commercial awareness means being mindful of the developments within your industry. This might include being mindful of market conditions, competition, and economic factors that influence an organisation’s success.
2. Commercial awareness can be applied in various ways. You might have identified some of the following themes:
   • Staying updated with news and trends
   • Networking within the industry
   • Seeking education and training programmes
   • Collaborating with sports administrators
   • Volunteering opportunities
   • Collaborating with commercial professionals.

One such aspect of commercial awareness is networking. Whether you are a coach aiming to connect with peers to enrich your experiences or a player/performer searching for new opportunities, networking can significantly contribute to your growth in the sports field. Furthermore, the networking skills developed in sports can be applied to professional environments and is a vital tool in a person’s employability armoury. However, many people feel apprehensive about networking (Brownlee, 2019), possibly due to factors such as limited self-assurance, time limitations, introversion, or concerns about authenticity. The upcoming activity serves as an introduction to networking.

In the Spotlight

As mentioned above, many people feel that networking is quite daunting, but let Leanne alleviate some of those concerns when she discusses her experience of networking in this short video.

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Transcript: Video: Leanne

LEANNE

Networking doesn’t have to be this big event that you have to go to and try and talk to people in a room and be awkward. I believed that I felt like that at the beginning that that’s what it was but it really, really isn’t. For example, when I put myself into college or where I went on to those small short courses, you network with people organically, also connection like I realised that actually some of the best people I’ve met are free people. And going to ask people, do you know someone who is able to do this? That’s networking. You create your own network and what all these different people that you meet become are essentially what I like to call a support network. So you’ve got different areas and different people in your life that you can call on for different things, that becomes a support network. So it doesn’t have to be this big event that you go to. Although, I will say, even more recently in COVID, I’ve done an online course that was just for free but there was an opportunity to talk to people online just via the chat integrated on the course, and that was networking as well, just talking to these people. So it’s not this big scary thing, it’s so important. And I think people put so much pressure on themselves, but it’s something that just really generally happens organically when you’re doing something you really, really love.

End transcript: Video: Leanne

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Video: Leanne

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Overall, networking provides a platform for athletes and coaches to expand their knowledge, access opportunities, build relationships, and gain support, ultimately contributing to their personal and professional growth in the sports arena. These skills can develop your employability and be easily transferred into the workplace, demonstrating your understanding of industries and showcasing an ability to apply that knowledge effectively in a professional context. In the next section you will look at some specific examples of how you could develop your commercial awareness through sport.