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FIFA's Football for Health: applying Kotter's eight-step programme for transformational change to a mass participation activity
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  1. Nancy Langton1,
  2. Karim M Khan2,3,
  3. Sarah J Lusina2,3
  1. 1Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Division, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  2. 2Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, Vancouver Costal Health Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  3. 3Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Nancy Langton, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Division, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, 2053 Main Mall, Vancouver, Canada; nancy.langton{at}sauder.ubc.ca

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2010.075143

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    There was a time when ‘football medicine’ illustrated the grammar term ‘oxymoron’. Like the words ‘military intelligence’, football and medicine did not fit well together—the two provided anchors for a very wide spectrum. Why has that changed so that a scientific journal's cover shows a young boy whose eyes reflect hope, and a healthy future, largely because he is part of a football community?

    To address this question, and to challenge all sports federations to review their own efforts, we looked to Harvard leadership professor, John P Kotter.1 His eight principles for strategic change resonate in diverse settings, including publicly traded companies and non-profit businesses. We discuss their relevance to Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and its Football for Health programme to highlight a model that other global sporting organisations and national federations could adopt. Please also see the BJSM blog where you can link to a related podcast (http://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/).

    1. Establish a great sense of urgency

    Kotter argues that urgency is critical. This is not easy—the dearth of ‘sport for health’ programmes across national sporting federations and international organisations underscores his point. Success requires ‘change champions’, and to this extent FIFA President Sepp Blatter deserves tremendous credit.

    Blatter's leadership has been remarkable for moving health from irrelevance to pre-eminence in a major sport.2 Blatter and the Chair of the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC), Professor Jiri Dvorak, supported by Dr Michel D'Hooghe, Chair of FIFA Medical Committee, convened national sporting organisation leaders together with a sports medicine lead from almost 200 countries to the first Football for Health conference (Zurich, 2009). That is how FIFA/F-MARC conveyed a sense of urgency. The meeting was not a talk-fest, but carefully structured to obtain buy-in for the concept of having active ‘medical commissions’ in each country. One goal for FIFA.

    2. A powerful guiding coalition with expertise and relationships

    Kotter tells us …

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