MEDIA: My Business Magazine

An excerpt from My Business magazine, April 2011 Edition, Cover Story "Kicking Goals", By Simon Sharwood.

If someone says they want to ‘kick something into touch’ during a meeting, are you sure what they mean? Is ‘bowling a maiden over’ a successful marriage proposal, or something to do with cricket? And when a colleague suggests ‘changing tack’ with your business strategy, are they talking about replacing little nails?

If these sporting metaphors get you stuck in the corridor of uncertainty, Paula Ward is here to help. The Sydney entrepreneur has just kicked off a new business, Know The Game, which runs workshops for people who can’t even make it to the starting line when conversations turn to sport, and helps them to the top of the podium in business.

Ward developed the idea for the business when, as a Human Resources professional for a large bank, she noticed that sport was a dominant topic of conversation among her colleagues. Having grown up in a sport-mad family with plenty of brothers and male cousins, Ward felt right at home in this milieu.

But while Ward played and worked hard in the company of fellow sports lovers, she also noticed that those with little interest in sport found themselves excluded from many networking and social opportunities. That thought stayed with Ward as her career advanced.

Ward started Know The Game while still employed full time and formulated her products during her spare time. Once they were ready, her website went live in early 2010 and she delivered her first workshops in September of the same year.

Ward's pitch for her new business is that knowing about sport gets you into the game of business. For individuals who find themselves excluded from networking opportunities or even water-cooler conversations, she feels a basic grounding in sport helps them to socialise and network more freely. "I'm not saying you need to know sport to advance your career," she says. "But it can help."

Help is welcome in the world of big business, which often imports migrant workers who possess skills and experience that are hard to come by in Australia. While these corporates generally offer generous relocation assistance, they don't help with acculturation into local peculiarities such as Australian Rules Football. Ward recalls one English participant at her workshops whose son came home from school upset that he was not allowed to play goalkeeper during lunchtime football matches. The bemused parent didn't know the first thing about Aussie Rules until Ward taught him about our indigenous game. One informed parent meant one happy child!

Ward also pitches her services to businesses that make sport part of their marketing, either through sponsorship or as a corporate entertainment activity. "If you have sponsorships, rather than have the same people take the same clients all the time, why not expand the pool of staff who like sports?" Ward asks. "Or why not invite clients for a pre-event session so they can appreciate the game more? They'll be more thankful that you offered education."

To read the full article, My Business is available at newagencies now. We will post a link, when the online version becomes available later this month.

Note: My Business magazine is the leading magazine for small-to-medium enterprises in Australia. My Business regularly covers the subjects of relevance to SMEs through phases of the business cycle. With a current circulation is 39,000, My Business is available on newstands, by subscription and through targeted bulk distribution arrangements.