Finnish Basketball Association listened to the voice of the field in decision making

The Finnish Basketball Association is heading for the future by listening to stakeholders

The Finnish Basketball Association wanted to find out what the field wants and needs. What is mainstream, what are the new and surprising ideas to develop basketball? How should different perspectives be taken into account in the future strategy of the Finnish Basketball Association? As a solution, the Basketball Association utilized an extensive online dialogue involving stakeholders.

Collaboration with Fountain Park was a way for the Basketball Association to conduct an extensive stakeholder survey of the field’s hopes and expectations. Instead of a mere survey, the collaboration was focused on the interactivity of the online dialogue and the ease with which large groups could be involved.

In-depth planning for the coming years

The time to participate in the online dialogue was quite long, from spring 2019 to almost the end of the year. The results were discussed several times with the core team responsible for strategy work and further processed at the end of the participation period together with the management team. The development of co-operation, which was highlighted in the online dialogue, was further refined into measures together with the association and other core actors in an online workshop facilitated by Fountain Park in the spring of 2020.

“The collaboration with Fountain Park provided an opportunity for an open field for online dialogue, where each participant was able to build a dialogue of their own and tell what’s on their mind. It was also important for us that we received analytics and processed results as a service,” says Secretary General Ari Tammivaara.

Analytics as part of co-creation

The extensive online dialogue, the related interim reporting, and regular processing of the results helped the Basketball Association to improve communication during the participation process and in the further processing of the results. Fountain Park reported on the progress on several occasions. In particular, the analytics behind the reporting, the presentation of the extensive material, and highlighting relevant issues were praised as part of the reporting.

“The message from the field was positively surprising. The results gave information that we are on the right track. We had the opportunity to deepen our planning for the coming years, ”says Susanna Strömberg, Director of Club Services.

“The joint reporting meeting for the management team and board was an important part of the process. There we received excellent suggestions for improving our operations” says Tammivaara.

Although the Finnish Basketball Association regularly consults stakeholders through thematic surveys, the broader co-creation process was seen as a great way to visualize the big picture from the field into a future roadmap.