The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
The LTA was formed in 1888, eleven years after the first Wimbledon championship. It was tasked with maintaining the new rules and standards of the emerging sport of tennis in the United Kingdom.
The LTA believes that tennis can provide “physical, social and mental rewards both on and off the court”.
Raise the Bar were approached to support the survival of The Lawn Tennis Association’s 53 UK-wide Community Indoor Tennis Centres with the development of a richly contextualised, world class leadership programme. The programme was to promote the long-term sustainability of the centres.
The Objectives
- Transform the commerciality within the centres
- Create a collaborative, high performance culture
- Provide a world class customer experience
The Business of Tennis programme was designed with the country’s leading Community Indoor Tennis Centre operators and provided world class business and industry leaders to challenge thinking, provide strategies for improvement and create plans to attract and retain customers.
ILM Endorsed Programme
- Leading in tennis
- World class teams
- Business planning
- World class communication
- World class leaders
The Outcome
The programme, which used context-sensitive learning resources, avatars and apps, helped transition the role and competencies of Centre Leaders contributing to the viability and survival of the Community Centre network. As a result, the programme was honoured with a Princess Royal Training Award in recognition of standard of excellence delivered.
Princess Royal Training Award
In 2018, the LTA were presented with a Princess Royal Training Award for their ‘The Business of Tennis’ learning and development programme. Community Indoor Tennis Centres provide year round public pay and play opportunities for communities across the UK. The Business of Tennis programme was developed in partnership with the LTA by the Tennis Foundation, Great Britain’s leading tennis charity, and Raise the Bar, to support the 53-strong UK-wide network of centres, helping them not just to survive, but thrive. Managed by the LTA and Raise the Bar, the programme supports people in management roles at Tennis Centres to drive participation and improve financial performance, helping to deliver the long-term sustainability of the Community Indoor Tennis Centre network. Featuring insight from world class business experts and industry leaders, the course is delivered over an eight month period, with each module designed to tackle key business development areas.
