Collective Conversations: Inside Impact Hour: Why getting the design right changes everything that follows: Activate West Wales

Opening

We were really excited to work with Activate West Wales for the Impact Hour, having already heard about the energy and momentum building around this project.

Activate West Wales is a regional partnership, established in 2023, that brings organisations together to improve health, wellbeing and access to sport and physical activity across the region. It was set up to support stronger collaboration across sectors, including local authorities, sport organisations, education and community groups.

Our conversation focused specifically on Activate West Wales work to improve opportunities for women and girls. Activate West Wales had already taken important steps in making this happen, setting up three highly engaged working groups around ‘visibility’, ‘opportunity’ and ‘systems change’.

The question we wanted to explore together was how to build on that momentum. To date, the working groups have been organised and led by a single coordinator.

The question was how could Activate West Wales help the groups become more autonomous, independent and sustainable, without needing a coordinator to drive or hold everything together?

The heart of the conversation became a discussion about how to create the structures, relationships and shared ownership that allow a highly collaborative project to become sustainable over time.

What We Heard

During the Impact Hour, much of the conversation centred on how to help the existing collaborations move towards something that feels practical and sustainable. Four main themes emerged from our discussion:

1. Clarity: Partners need to be clear on what each working group is there to do, what they are bringing to the table, and what they need from each other. Without clarity, there is a risk that meetings remain focused on updates, rather than becoming spaces for shared thinking, decision-making and action.

2. Ownership: The current model where local authority leads help convene the groups, is providing a useful foundation. The working groups could build on this model to create an environment where partners feel ownership of the work, bringing ideas to the table, taking responsibility for actions, and feeling confident to drive things forward without relying on one person to coordinate every step.

3. Infrastructure: We also talked about the practical ways to support the working groups such as how actions are tracked, information is shared, partners stay connected between meetings, and impact is communicated.

4. Simplicity: Keeping things simple was really important. This meant finding ways to ensure there was enough structure to help people participate, contribute and take ownership with confidence, without having overly complex or heavy governance.

What this showed

Activate West Wales has proved that collaboration doesn’t happen, or become sustainable, by accident. Even when there is energy, goodwill and a shared ambition, people still need clear structures that help them know how to contribute, make decisions and move forward.

We see this regularly in partnership work. In the early stages, momentum is often created by one person, or a small number of people who are willing to connect others, spot opportunities and keep conversations moving. That role is hugely valuable, but over time it can become a pressure point if the wider system does not develop around it.

For Activate West Wales, the opportunity is to move from a model where collaboration is being coordinated, to one where it is more deliberately designed. That means thinking about what the groups are trying to achieve, as well has how they work together, how ownership is shared, how actions are followed up, how partners communicate, and how learning is captured.

What changed:

What became clear during the session was that the next step was creating more clarity around how the existing activity is held and shared. Rather than adding more meetings or workstreams, the focus shifted towards strengthening what was already there i.e. the working groups, the relationships between partners and the shared ambition for women and girls in sport.

In particular, the Impact Hour helped to consider ‘sustainability’ as something practical. This centred around giving the working groups a simple shared framework to help each group understand its purpose, how decisions are made, what partners are responsible for, and how progress is tracked.

What happens next

By the end of the conversation, there was a draft action plan that was broken down into manageable steps:

• Start with a simple, shared framework: Create a shared framework for each group, setting out its purpose, priorities, roles and ways of working. 

• Make an action plan to make progress visible: Develop a clear action plan so partners can see what has been agreed, who is leading on each action, and how progress is being made.

• Find the right tools: Identify a simple way for partners to share information, stay connected and capture learning between meetings.

• Create consistency: Find a rhythm that works for partners for meetings and touchpoints so that collaboration feels easier for everyone involved.

• Protect the energy that exists: Keep building confidence among partners that this is shared work, not something held or driven by one person. That sense of shared ownership will be what helps the collaboration last.

Final reflection

What stayed with us after the session was how regularly we see this challenge in partnership and systems work because our current systems have not been designed to encourage effective collaboration. That is why getting the design right is key. It doesn’t have to be in a complex or bureaucratic way. It can be simple solutions, such as clarity of purpose, shared expectations, visible actions, good communication and people knowing how to contribute. If we want collaboration to last, we have to design the conditions that allow people to share ownership, stay connected and keep moving together.

Consultants:

Lizzie Stanton

Preeti Shetty