Have you hugged your tribe today?

We ran across this image today by @gapingvoid (you can buy it here) but made us think about clubs and how the interact with their tribe (community). Most clubs seem to react to their members and supporters rather than getting pro-active and seeing some hug upside.

Clubs already have a massive advantage of having the tribe based on what they do. They’re not like a business who has to work hard to build a tribe. A clubs group of like-minded people is sitting waiting for you.

So give them a hug, send them an SMS, tell them you are looking forward to seeing them, interacting with them and more.

Good things happen when communities and tribes start talking more.

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.

Achieving things with clubs

When you and your committee set out to achieve things for the club, important work, work that is going to make a difference, it will never work out that you will find complete approval from all parties.

Trying to please everyone will end in frustration, stymieing your momentum and ultimately failing. 

The solution is to please precisely the right people, those that will get it and no more. This will give you enough to get the work out the door.

There are always those that actively discourage. Choose what to hear wisely.

Building on the Olympics for Clubs

This article comes from the Department of Sport  and Recreation NSW, Australia. It highlights some great points about taking advantage of that warm fuzzy feeling people have whilst the Olympics are on. 

1. Build on the Games to create spirit and involvement at your club

  • Organise club nights to watch Olympic/Paralympic sport together (and maybe use as a fundraiser at the same time)
  • Publish Games results in your newsletter/website
  • Get the whole club to sign a hero fax
  • Run Games tipping comps or opinion polls on your website/newsletter
  • Put live Olympic news feeds on your website
  • Run Olympic/Paralympic themed training sessions (e.g. tabloids for the kids)
  • Set up a “Gold, Silver and Bronze medal” award scheme for players, officials, coaches and/or volunteers.

2. Use Games time for fundraising

  • Have a gold coin donation day
  • Run guessing competitions based on Olympic/Paralympic trivia, medal counts, race times and/or results
  • Theme one of your training/game days - get people to dress in green/gold and bring Aussie flags
  • Hold an Olympic/Paralympic trivia night (go to www.olympics.com.au for lots of trivia).

3. Capture the Olympic/Paralympic spirit – give it meaning at your club

During the Olympics/Paralympics, we often see the very best in sporting values. Draw on performances and highlight outstanding sporting behaviour, as a way of promoting the same behaviour at your club. For example, highlight the exceptional moments (and why they are exceptional) in your newsletter and/or website (e.g. “Top Olympic/Paralympic Moment: Who saw Sally Sparks’ gesture in the 100m event? It was the ultimate in sportsmanship and respect. What a true sporting hero.”)

4. Capitalise on the interest and attract new members

The Olympics/Paralympics essentially creates free advertising for sport. People will be more interested in becoming involved in sport. It’s a great opportunity for you to attract new members – build on the momentum that has been generated.  How?

Have the basics in place

  • Update your membership forms, website and member databases
  • Be available and prepared – make sure people can find and deal with your club easily via the web, directories etc.

Show the community you support the Olympics/Paralympics

  • Put a banner up at your ground wishing the Australian team good luck, or messages on your website/newsletter
  • Get the whole club to “wear Australian” one game day/training day – green/gold or bring along Aussie flags
  • If Olympic/Paralympic events involving the Aussie team are taking place on your game day, announce the results over the PA.

Generate publicity

  • Publicise any of the special events you organise to local media
  • If an athlete, official, volunteer or coach associated with your club gone to the Games, publicise this to local media before, during and after the Games
  • Create media stories at the right moments e.g. if your sport receives profile at the Games, either via Australia doing well or for another reason, seize the moment. Send out a media release to your local papers about how your sport operates in the local area.

Promote your club

  • Advertising following the Games might prove a worthy investment. You’re bound to double the impact, as sport will be at the forefront of people’s mind. It doesn’t have to be costly - contact your local school about their newsletter advertising
  • Run open days/come-n-try events following the Games. This could work particularly well if you are an Olympic or Paralympic sport who is profiled well during the Games.

Note: there are very strict guidelines about the use of Olympic symbols and words. Make sure you don’t infringe these.

Source: dsr.nsw.gov.au