Volunteer strategy matters
Yesterday I attended a workshop run by our clubs parent association. In truth it wasn’t so much of a workshop but a briefing as to what added administration clubs will have to undertake over the coming 12 months.
With ever increasing administration comes more pressure on volunteers, making for a more unattractive proposition to present to potential volunteers and as a result the less likely volunteers are to carry on with these further burdens on them.
With this in mind execution of these administrative tasks becomes critical. Of course leadership and peoples kindness will mean that things will get eventually get done, but with the revolution of the web, with everyone having a smart phone in their pocket means that the way you approach your volunteers, the way you structure and frequency of your communication, and the model of your organisation needs to change.
Running your club with the wrong strategy, the strategy focused on the 5 committee members will put you in an uphill battle. The alternative is to think hard about your structure, your resources and the benefits your club could gain from having less pressure on more people through resources and platforms like TIdyClub.com.
Your committee should stretch from 5 to 18. The roles and responsibilities of these people should be well articulated and defined. Through increased transparency everyone know what needs to get done and why they are doing it.
However talking to clubs at the workshop presented what I feel is the predominant issue in clubs. Through clubs not changing their strategy merely because they’re used to the one they have been relying on for the last 20 years is lousy strategy, and must change.
No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.
The goal of winning.
Whilst attending a clubs conference recently we were asked a question about winning. A Gridiron football club was having trouble attracting players because they weren’t winning. In their mind the correlation between attracting and retaining players was directly impacted by the win, loss ratio of the season.
I won’t lie, there is a correlation between people wanting to be a part of winning sides, and clubs and more broadly in life. But lets for a moment looking merely at the maths.
There are 10 sides in your competition. Say only the top 5 will make finals. Meaning that you have a 50% failure rate. Of those that make finals only 1 will win the Grand Final. Meaning you have a 10% chance of being successful and retaining your playing group; provided that this is your focus.
Our argument is that as administrators you should be focusing on making your club successful regardless of the final scoreline. Leave scores and on-field success to the coaches. Your focus should be on creating a great environment to be around, a fun social scene, to provide the coaches and players with all the tools necessary to give them the best chance of winning.
Build your club for off-field success… on field success will soon follow.
Chart to Success
Running a club is not easy, be it sports or other recreational pursuits it all brings the same challenges, of chasing people up, formulating a strategy and getting the clubs name out there to attract sponsors, facilities or equipment.
This strategy is vital to the success fo the club (along with your mental health!). In order for a club to get successful on the field or trying to achieve a variety of things, more bodies need to be in action and more hands doing things.
Create an organisational chart. Separate roles and attach responsibilities. A good manager should oversee the success, and empower others to make the decisions that will mean the club will succeed not just in the short term but well into the long term as well.
