Public narrative leadership in community sport: enabling social change in health and wellbeing through storytelling, relationship building and collective action

Abstract

This paper examines public narrative leadership in mobilising and empowering local leaders for increasing participation in community sport and physical activity for health in Southall, London UK. Public narrative strengthens local leadership for social change through storytelling, relationship building and collective action. Sustained collaborative and participatory research included 27 semi-structured interviews with community leaders. Interviews explored experiences of becoming a local leader and the complexities of engaging with public narrative leadership. Three themes characterise public narrative leadership in Southall; (i) authoring and sharing stories: transforming people, place and health, (ii) empathetic leadership through relational authenticity, and (iii) story-informed collaborative governance for public health through community sport and physical activity. The study provides a unique community perspective from a long-term research partnership. The collaborative research is building evidence about public narrative leadership as a form of collective action and governance for increasing physical activity, improving health and bringing about positive change to the lives of individuals and communities.