Sport England announced on 4 February 2025 that chief executive Tim Hollingsworth would leave at the end of July, giving the organisation six months to finish its priorities, its spending review work and the most elaborate goodbye Britain has ever mistaken for a project.
Hollingsworth, who had been in the role for more than six years, was due to continue working on Sport England’s plans before stepping down. This is a perfectly reasonable arrangement. Unfortunately, the farewell process has already begun expanding, which means nobody can say “all the best” until the phrase has passed through consultation, risk assessment and a workshop on whether best is an approved outcome.
The organisation’s ten year Uniting the Movement strategy will continue after Hollingsworth leaves. That gives the strategy an important leadership lesson. Even when the chief executive goes home, the strategy remains behind to occupy the chair, reassure the stakeholders and explain that nothing fundamental has changed except the person who used to sign the emails.
At the Pavilion of Managed Goodbyes, transition officer Nessa Whistle unveiled the first draft of the handover. “Continuity matters,” she said. “We have put continuity in a lanyard and asked it to chair the next steering group.” The lanyard accepted the appointment after a short consultation with itself.
Sport England also said the search for a successor had begun. The process is being led by an executive search firm, which is reassuring. The organisation clearly does not want to risk finding a chief executive by looking around the office and asking who appears calm during a budget meeting.
Director of Ceremonial Succession Jasper Bib said the exit would be orderly. “We are preparing for every eventuality,” he said. “The only unresolved question is whether the leaving card should be approved by the board, the partners, the strategy or the person holding the pen.” The pen has since requested a terms of reference.
Leadership changes can need careful planning. The joke is about the machinery surrounding a normal institutional change, where a goodbye becomes a programme, a programme becomes a framework and the framework demands a progress update on the goodbye. Somewhere, a biscuit has been identified as a stakeholder.
By July, the farewell strategy expects to complete its final sprint, review the lessons learned from the final sprint and commission an independent evaluation of whether anyone actually reached the finish. The goodbye will then be invited to develop a successor.
Real story: Sport England.
