The Client:
Working in communities to develop aspirations, employability and enterprise. Philippa Harrison, MU Foundation
This case study is from the Manchester United Foundation, that has an excellent community engagement programme as do most football clubs in the UK. This provides a first class example of how, possibly the biggest name in world football, uses in name, it's image and its expertise both in people development and in footballer development to deliver development programmes into the community. Many of those programmes are explicitly employability development programmes.
The Challenge:
Much of the focus by these foundations have been to support individuals to achieve their potential and develop their skills through a range of activities and programmes. It was observed that Mental Toughness (and resilience) had often been both an enabling factor and sometime a desired outcome. But this was poorly evidenced.
The Objectives
In 2015, Football Foundations across England, funded in part by the Premier League Community Fund (PLCF), were invited to take part in a national pilot to access the MTQ48 through the PLCF. The aim was to support, enhance and evidence some of their programmes and to look at the impact Foundations had on the individuals they engaged with.
The Process:
Six clubs were identified for the pilot (including Manchester United Foundation) and trained to deliver and integrate the mental toughness measure and its model into PLCF funded programmes such as the Works and Kicks programmes.
The Conclusion
In order for Manchester United Foundation to be able to provide the best service to key stakeholders (participants) and funders it has to be accountable for all areas of operation and the reasons why decisions are made. Staff continuously monitor and evaluate performance and inform best practice through youth voice consultations, focus groups and systematic reporting, as well as using tools such as baseline questionnaires and psychometrics (MTQ48), which provides the organisation and its participants with a platform from which to work.
The Foundation also uses a social monitoring tool to track engagement levels, contact time and outcomes, which informs the wider picture of which projects are successful and why and areas of potential development. The delivery and creation of programmes and the staff are continuously evaluated and monitored so the organisation can ensure it is adapting and changing to the needs of our young people.
Please feel free to to get in touch if your organisation could benefit from utilising psychometrics in this way.
David Charlton, Mental Toughness Coach and HCPC Registered Sport & Exercise Psychologist
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0) 7734 697769
www.lookingchallengeintheeye.com