Gold medals that shine for generations

Elite athletes in Switzerland are supported by a wide network of partners to perform at a world-class level. One of the key players in this ecosystem is the Swiss Armed Forces. The Federal Office of Sport teamed up with Creaholic for a future thinking approach that put these athletes at the centre of designing a new support system with sustainable impact.

A shared vision of elite sports

The Federal Office of Sport and the Swiss Armed Forces wanted to proactively work to optimise the support offered to top-talent athletes and make it more holistic. The elite sports support network developed a shared vision of not only supporting athletes financially, but also meeting their needs at the beginning of their career and helping them meet their goals and obligations. Furthermore, the solution needed to have a long-term, resounding impact for future generations of athletes and sports.

The questions they wanted to answer from an athlete’s point of view were: what is the most effective kind of support the Swiss Armed Forces can provide high-performing athletes along the different stages of their career? And what parts of the system need to change today so success can be achieved in the future?

To get there, they turned to Creaholic for an out-of-the-box approach that turned up the dial on creativity and focused on athletes’ needs, wishes, expectations and future.

Championing a fusion of military and sport in Switzerland

Switzerland has a reputation as a small but highly successful country, with countless Olympians and World Champions across a huge range of disciplines. Part of this success is due to the support of Swiss Armed Forces. However, athletes’ needs have changed – and will continue to do so. With this awareness, stakeholders worked together to define how the current framework could be adapted to better suit athletes needs in 2030 and beyond.

When the Chief of the Armed Forces was looking for an external perspective on the future development of elite sports support, he assigned Adrian Bürgi, responsible for sport federations at the Federal Office of Sport, and Andreas Csonka, Sports Systems Expert, with the task of bringing on a partner to help them think outside of the box. They knew that to do something bold, they would need a push from outside; guidance, an external perspective and a different way of doing things.

The path to gold

The groundwork was based on Swiss Olympics’ strategy, the military’s vision for 2030, the 2019 Swiss Elite Sports Study and Creaholic workshops. From these sources as well as insights from numerous other studies, research and data, athlete-focused needs and problem areas were defined. These were then confirmed by stakeholders from more than 20 areas, such as heads of sports federations, military officials and elite athletes.

From customer-focused to athlete-centric

The heart and soul of this project are the athletes themselves.

“What I found most impressive was how passionate people were about this project. Everyone was proud to be involved and proud to be helping future generations of high-performance athletes reach their goals”, says project lead and Professional Inventor Claudia Leu.

For every project we take on, we keep customers in focus and create, innovate, collaborate for and with them. This case was unique because it was all about elite athletes and what they need to achieve success – and how to make this success sustainable in terms of environmental impact, clean activity, continuity and inspiration. It’s a project with an output not only for the here and now, but for the after and the next as well. Additionally, the project involved considering an athlete’s life beyond competition and ensuring they can find a place in society after their sport career comes to an end.

Out-of-the-box workshop by Creaholic

A change of scenery can make a big impact on creativity, ideation and collaboration. Creaholic hosted stakeholders at its innovation factory for a custom-made workshop. Participants included athletes and officials from many disciplines and levels to ensure the ideas would benefit the elite sports talents. The goal was to get everyone out of everyday ways of thinking. Participants examined the future of elite sports from the athletes’ perspective – paying close attention to their needs and pain-points – and then used this insight to define what steps needed to be taken today to initiate systemic changes that would create the future they envisioned.

One detail that made the workshop memorable for participants were their very own Creaholic “medals”. Made by Creaholic’s Hampe Wyss, this detail not only got them excited about the workshop, but it also served as a name tag and indicated who they would team up with for the collaborative work in small groups during the workshop.

“For this project, we required a partner with exactly Creaholic’s profile: not too deep in the sporting world, but fresh and future-focussed. From the setup, Creaholic was just the right fit for what we wanted”, Adrian said.

A winning plan of action

Creaholic prepared and facilitated a full-day workshop with over 20 participants. These included Olympic athletes, government officials, heads of national sports organisations and coaches. Working together as a group and engaging in brainstorming activities in small teams, they established five main athlete needs.

In a second session with Creaholic, a smaller but still diverse group prioritised the next steps by selecting those ideas that have the potential for the biggest impact while requiring the least resources to implement.

The six next steps made up a plan of action that was presented to the Minister of Sport, Viola Amherd, who made the decision about how it will be used to meet the 2030 targets and shape the sustainability of athlete’s success in and out of the competition arena – and as an extension, Switzerland’s reputation in the sporting world as well.

Athletes today and tomorrow are surrounded by organisations and people who are ready to help them go for gold. And we are proud to have played this part in the future champions’ experience.

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