Answer fowlling questions 10

My name is Pierre Lafontaine, I am the CEO and National Coach for Swimming Natation Canada, based out of Ottawa and I have been involved with the corporation now or the association for now eight months and probably one of the exciting things that happened at Swimming Canada Natation is the at the world championship in 2005 in Montreal in July we won five medals which was fantastic. But, it was following a terrible 2004 Olympics so I think what is happening now is people are starting to be able to feel that they can move forward and Canadian kids can win and that is what I think is a nice forward movement.

2. How would you describe your leadership style?

About empowering as many people in the ability to succeed in every way whether it is the nutritionist, the coaches, even the kids that do not win, having the ability for them to feel like they are part of a winning team. So, it is tough for everybody to win but it is for everybody to feel like they have got a role in it, not any different then the school district or anything. Everybody can be part of the winning team.

3. What are your thoughts on swimming and its connection to Canada ?

You know in Canada everybody has got to swim because we have got millions and millions of lakes so I do think that every family think of swimming as something they need to do for safety. And so whereas if you think of Hockey in Canada you think of the NHL, swimming you think of it as being a survival thing and then from there it is for me to sell that you could do more. You could be on a swim team, you could do triathlon, you could do diving, and so, number one, I think everybody feels that they need to swim, parents want to give their kids swimming lessons, after that you get into school, it is grabbing these kids and making them come into the swimming team role instead of soccer.

4. What was the state of affairs at Swimming Canada prior to your arrival as CEO?

Probably believing that we can do it. Swimming Canada, there is a big difference between swimming Canada and Canadian swimming. Swimming Canada is the organization that kind of runs the show or sets the goal but Canadian swimming is the family, it is the clubs, it is the universities, it is the swimming lessons providers, it is the mom and dads that put their kids in the sports and dream that maybe you can make it to the Olympics. So, Swimming Canada I think was in the business of trying to dictate roles and responsibility and the change has really been more to convince people that we are in the service business, we are about empowering clubs and coaches so they could do their job better, not for us to tell them how to do it but for us to give them the tools to be able to do what they gotta do.

5. Your role may be described as that of an agent for change. Can you describe the initiative, or turnaround, that you fostered and led at Swimming Canada?

I think there has been a lot more team approach so instead of having ten provinces that do there own little thing, instead of having 350 coaches that do their own thing, I do a lot more of bringing people together, I do a lot more of consultation with groups, it takes a lot more of my time but I think a lot more people feel like they are part of decision making and they feel they are part of the forward movement so for example when we talk about I really feel we need to develop the university program, well I have probably gotten the best ten coaches in university and got together through a bunch of meetings and when I talk about developing clubs I have gone with some of the best club coaches and some of the worst club coaches and I say, All right, what do you need? What do you need for us to help you so you can do what you do best? Which is try to win.

6. What are the overall objectives of this initiative?

Make people proud that they can stand up on the block and compete with anybody else in the world. That is really important because feeling like you are empowered and feeling like you belong is really important quality in life and so if you feel like you belong to the world of international sports, that will stay with you for rest of your life. But if you feel you are international level and you do not feel like you are as good you are carrying this for along you are feeling going, ah man, I could not do it and this and that. I think that feeling of being able to do it, to me is really important.

7. How will Swimming Canada's objectives be implemented at the level of community swim clubs?

It starts for us setting the goals so one of the things we talked about was all right, what do we need? Well the first thing we need is to find ways for clubs to grow. We need find ways for club to be structured so they do not have to reinvent the wheels every year. We are going to be doing all sorts of things such as improving the coaching education, we are going to do a lot more work into providing clubs with tools and equipment, not equipment in terms of weight room but in terms of material like posters and this and that to be able to serve their constituent which is the swimmers and the families better. We are going to do a lot more work at educating the parents and the parents board in how to run clubs and we are going to set target testing protocol around the country so that everybody basically like a national exam, everybody knows where they are compared to everybody else and have levels of progression and levels of the word is, of success.

8. What were the most important barriers, both internal and external to Swimming Canada, that you faced while leading the initiative?

Changing peoples mindset, making people look at other ways to do the same thing, making more and more, it is hard to make people feel like their part of something if they are not sold to it so selling the dream I think is another challenge. You know, I am by myself running around this huge country probably the size of the country as one, even the economic reality of different parts of the country can also be a challenge. City of Toronto has not built a new facility in twenty five years. In Montreal they are building pools right left and center. The provincial governments in Quebec and BC are great supporters of amateur sports, other province do not even give them lip service, they charge to much, they put road blocks to, what about opening every gym in the schools from three to six at night to allow schools to do after school sports, badminton teams. So, I think these are the the roadblocks that I see, it is just a matter of me having to take the time to convince people now that is all.

9. What were the most important features, both internal and external to Swimming Canada, that helped facilitate your leadership of this initiative?

The swimmers are great ambassadors to be great people, they are good, they are clean, it is a healthy living, it is not an aggressive sport, it is a sport for life you could start swimming at three and still swim at ninety-nine, you could do it competitively or just enjoyable. And swimming allows you to do all sorts of other things, you could go water skiing, you could go to a friends house, but also you could compete in triathlon, you could be lifeguard, swimmers make great athletes for rowing, high school and grade school track and field coaches love swimmers because they can run forever. And so, these are all great qualities that swimmers have that are an asset for us.

10. For various reasons, the outsourcing of organizational or business functions has become popular with the corporate sector. How is the phenomenon affecting Swimming Canada?

For us it is not a matter of contracting it is a matter of, because I look at contract as being not part of the family. I think to me it is more I need, I do need a huge amount of people around the country to feel part of this organization and I do need a huge amount of people doing work all over the place. For example, I will give you an example of universities. My dream would be in sports that we have thirty universities; we give them thirty in a physiology department, we give each university one target. For example, University of Calgary, develop the best protocol for altitude training in the country. University of Toronto, do research on the effect of lack of sleep and performance. Wolfville, the effect of cold through training and all of a sudden you would have an entity that would take and really push the limit of knowledge around the world. To do that, I have to empower them enough to make them feel their part of a bigger picture and same thing for high school teams. Could you imagine if every high school swimmers or coaches feel like they are helping promoting international swimming? And so if they have kid who is a good swimmer and they say, all right, you move there and you try to do it. So, outsourcing to me is empowering. To do that though the amount of communication is huge and communication in an organization like mine is gotta be one of the key success.

11. In the context of competitive swimming and the operations of Swimming Canada, where do new ideas come from?

Looking at other sports, looking at other fields, looking at how do you make a swim meet not a swim meet anymore, make it an event? Well, you go see soccer tournaments. How do you make a conference not just be another conference? You bring business people to come and talk to coaches. So, I think the swimming world is pretty set in one way and I think we need to start adding things to it that will make things happen. You know, to me, in a community like this and you have a swim team, you go okay, the month of August, everybody trains in triathlon. And we find a huge triathlon middle of September. One of the things I would like to do as one for example in Canada, is every swimmer in the country runs the Terry Fox Run and make it a goal for the country so we could have cross training and use things like this and like I mentioned earlier in a different conversation, that maybe swimmers could row six weeks of the year? Maybe rowers could swim six weeks a year. So, start thinking outside there is only one way to do things, there is many ways to do things.

12. How has the Internet affected the operations of Swimming Canada?

It allows me to stay in touch with more people, it allows me to pass my message a lot more, but the issue with the internet in terms of communication is that if it’s not up to date all the time then it becomes actually a problem. And so that means you have to have somebody that’s very earmarked at making, whether it’s a little club with a website, or for me at Swimming Canada I’ve got a make sure that the info out there is perfect. I keep thinking, I’d love to have something like a website for all aquatics in the country and you go 1-800 like an 800 number, 1-800-swimsafe, or swimming website and from there you get to boating safety, to swimming, to water polo, to diving. I have one website to mom and dad look at, all the swimming lessons in the country and you can register under one umbrella. And same for 1-800 website, you could phone and say, "I’m in Toronto, I live in Oakville, I’m looking for a place to sign up my kid for swimming. Where do I go?" So, I think these are the drawings of the bigger way to communicate but also puts a lot of pressure on making sure that your organization is up to date daily.

13. What are the major trends affecting Swimming Canada?

It is really pushing our thoughts on how fast we have got to move. I mean, if we want to start being competitive again we just need to move faster then everybody else in the world. So, this little dream about those universities, these little dreams of getting corporation with their strength, not their money but their knowledge, to come onboard with us to push. I was just reading last week on the luge the skate on the luge and the technology to make the allow to make the skate so fast is, and so I would like to have groups of people to make it so we are not always two years behind. I was just showing my staff just before I left Australia designed a new pool it is probably the most advanced pool in the world. You know, with force plates in the wall and so on so forth and one of my coaches comment was well,here we go, we are behind again already. Why dont we try to get somebody in Canada to build even better then that! So, I think that is what it is. It is not just doing something, but doing it better and faster then other people, and really I keep going back to this word of urgency. Having the urgency to find new ways to do things and not just keep doing the same things over and over again. You get the same results.

14. What are the most significant uncertainties that Swimming Canada must contend with?

If I could have a plan that is well scheduled and well organized then I would not be hoping that the kids come through. So, if it is for me to design and build a structure that would allow the kids to come from the cradle to the gold medal and for them to see the pathways but also our budget is four or five times less then the Australians, twenty-five times less then the Americans, six times less then the English, so budget is one. I do not want to say, oh boo-boo I do not have enough money, but it blocks us from doing certain things, but I think Sports Canada are moving forward now they are giving us budgets two years ahead instead of one year ahead so there are some very positive moves there is no question about it. Even with the new government here with his language on supporting amateur sports by adding a bit more money, by giving tax breaks to families who are putting kids through sports, these are all great things and maybe it is the right time because the issue of obesity but language of sports again in this country is back like it was in the seventies.

15. What common characteristics do successful national swim programs share?

The organization itself has a vision and goal and they aim at that goal daily. The goal is not, oh, we would love that! The goal is, this is where we are going and regardless of what happens that is where we are going. And they will go get the people that fit and will work towards that goal, and even the great swim clubs, the great swim clubs that are still great forty or fifty years later is because they have a goal and they make it happen. They do not say, we do not have enough money to hire a good coach, we do not, they say, you know what? We want to be the best in Nova Scotia, the best in Canada, we have got to do what we have got to do to do it. And then lift your sleeve up and let us make it happen.

16. Research suggests that competitive analysis is the cornerstone of effective strategy formulation and implementation. Are there key areas/issues within the world of competitive swimming that appear to be blind spots for those charged with conducti...

I do think that even within our own organization in Canada that there is so little best practice that we should just take the fifty sports that we have in Canada and just sit down and talk about, what is the best tool for communication? What is the best tool for marketing? What is the best tool for long term athlete development? What is the best way to recruit kids?And so, I think yes there is lots of great things to learn from outside, but we are not even doing it from inside yet. And so, and even within a community like here, I would say, lets go and find out the best sport, what they do, and how they recruit kids and so on and I think just that alone, and that does not take anymore money it just takes people to talk and we just need a catalyst of making things happen. So, for example one of the things that I did is we studied women in coaching. There are not a lot of women in coaching, so, for Christmas and after in January we basically went through every NS, and said, all right, what do you guys do?And we put together a whole package so that everybody in the country that deals with coaching would know what everybody else was doing so that they could use what works for them. Took me two months, two me, maybe it should be done by somebody else but I wanted it, I wanted to improve our women coaches, so I say, I am just going to do it!