When the Australian Institute of Sport was trying to rally up corporate sponsorship for female athletes, BlueScope Steel stepped up to the plate but in a way that’s never been done before.
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The Change the Game pilot was launched in November 2015 and buddied 10 up and coming female athletes with 10 emerging leaders (male or female) from the industrial giant, both groups purposely chosen to represent diversity.
BlueScope’s general manager for people and performance Kristie Keast led the program’s development and said because sport was such an important part of Australian culture they wanted to be apart of it.
‘We were trying to find innovative ways of tapping into different experiences to grow all of our people,” she said. “It offers personal development and growth for all participants in terms of having an innovative way of sharing experiences in business and sport.”
The program runs for 12 months where each pair will learn about each other’s world and what drives their success in the hope of strengthening attributes within themselves.
Less than 10 % of corporate sponsorship in Australia goes to women's sport.
- Kristie Keast, BlueScope
“It’s trying to leverage [the athlete’s] attributes around resilience, adversity, their results driven and positive mindset that can help our people that are going through an enormous amount of change, particularly in the Illawarra,” said Mrs Keast.
On the other side the athletes would learn how to handle transitioning into a life after sport.
“That transition is quite challenging for them because they’ve had an identity in sport but how do they apply their strengths in the business world,” said Mrs Keast.
Kamini Wijekulasuriya spent most of her working life around Wollongong and is about to celebrate 25 years with BlueScope. She’s recently moved into a new role in Western Sydney and was recommended to participate in the program.
“I went in with a very open mind and a little bit of nervousness not knowing what was expected and what was on offer,” she said.
Like her buddy basketballer Marianna Tolo for the Opals, both assumed Ms Wijekulasuriya would have the most wisdom to impart.
However the drive, motivation and goal setting of Ms Tolo was also a real eye opener, and Ms Wijekulasuriya realised she wanted learn how to apply those to herself and her role in management.
With selection for the Rio Olympics a few months away, Ms Tolo wanted to apply the leadership and communication skills she’d gained to help lead her team to gold. She also hoped to learn about business in general for a time when she’d eventually become a spectator.