Michael Pedersen facilitated workshop training on good governance in sport for the Olympic Council of Malaysia and approx. 100 Malaysian national sport governing body leaders. The workshop training took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 1 June 2016.

Inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s wisdom in terms of design (tell me and I will forget, teach me and I might remember, involve me and I will learn), the workshop training offered participants high levels of engagement and interaction in small peer-to-peer working groups. Among other activities, participants imagined the future and got inspiration from real cases of evolving good governance practices across sports, countries and regions in the world.

Topics covered in the workshop training were as follows:

• The strategic imperative of good governance in sport and a conceptual framework for agreeing to what the scope of governance is
• Board professionalization and integrity, including conflicts of interest and risk management
• Democratic structures and processes
• Transparency and accountability
• Leveled playing field for athletes
• Ethical behavior of staff and volunteers
• Stakeholder engagement

His Royal Highness Tunku Tan Sri Imran, President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, participated in workshop training along with the other participants. Reflecting on the experience, he said: “The workshop was both timely and extremely useful for our Malaysian sports leaders, who were mainly from the National Sports Associations. Breaking up the participants into smaller groups of 5 to 8 persons proved invaluable to ensuring that everyone participated fully in the discussions, whilst generating ideas and getting an insight into some of the new trends in the application of good governance in sport. It was certainly a worthwhile undertaking by the Olympic Council of Malaysia, pointing out the need for a continuing review of our governance processes and leadership methods.”

Most of the participants rated the workshop training as good or very good. Many of them also indicated in their evaluations that the workshop training had substantially increased their change willingness.