Committee crunch time

This article appears in the April 2009 edition of Sportshorts.

Winter sport committees are now in full swing. As the chaos of the season descends, it sometimes feels hard to get on top of things. So how can your committee be most effective this year? What are some areas to concentrate on, to most benefit your club?

Look after your volunteers (that includes you!)

We don’t need to tell you that your club operates for one reason – volunteers! And it’s important to manage their efforts and needs. Appointing a committee member as volunteer manager can help.

‘It’s just another job for already busy people’ you say? Well perhaps, but planned volunteer management can ensure your club is a place people want to volunteer.

While the volunteer manager role can be extensive, if you’re short on manpower this season try focussing on these areas:

• Review club job descriptions – if you don’t have them, get them ready for 2010
• Talk to all club volunteers and get feedback on their role and workload
• Identify volunteer training requirements
• Organise a volunteer ‘thanks’ event or gesture at the end of the season (e.g. social function or letter of thanks)
• Continuously acknowledge volunteers during the season e.g. put mentions in the club newsletter or on the website
• Plan volunteer recruitment for 2010 – ask are there ways our club could capture more volunteers and skills?

Streamline meetings

If your committee meetings run overtime, are dominated by a few people and resolve little – then take action. Meetings should be a key vehicle for running the club, but all too often they waste time and achieve little.

The ‘must-do’s’ for effective meetings:

• A planned calendar of meetings
• Meetings run in an orderly manner, with contributions from all
• The chair controls the meeting and fully understands his/her legal and procedural requirements
• An agenda is circulated, highlighting items for resolution and important information
• Board papers are precise, easy to understand and distributed on time
• Utilise sub-committees – not everything has to come to the committee meeting.

Communicate to members (and then communicate again!)

When you’ve been involved in sport for a long time, you know the way it all works - but don’t assume everyone does.

The fact is the majority of members probably don’t understand much about your club. Recent research has highlighted many misunderstandings about sports clubs. For example, it’s common for members to think club committees are paid to run sports clubs (you may scoff, but it’s true!)

Communicate thoroughly and openly on news, operations (e.g. wet weather plans, complaints) and contentious issues (e.g. where member fees go, discipline).

Approach club communications with these points in mind:

• Plan – ask yourself, what do our members need to know and how will we tell them? The plan doesn’t have to be complicated, jot it down on a piece of paper
• Multi-level – a website and weekly newsletter are essential starting points. But also plan the extensions of this e.g. meetings and/or emails for specific groups
• Ongoing – the truth is you can probably never communicate enough. Talk to members whenever you can.

What do you need to talk about?
Brainstorm and make a list of all the topics/ issues important at your club. (Better still, ask members what they need to know). Check it repeatedly throughout the season.

What can you use to communicate?
Website, newsletter (printed and/or electronic), member info packs, meetings, emails, yearbooks, flyers, signs and banners.

Be good sports

Your sport should be enjoyable, fair and harassment-free for everyone. It’s important your club and committee believe this – and stand by it throughout the season.

“Sport rage free clubs protect member safety and enjoyment,” says Kerry Turner from NSW Sport and Recreation. “But it also protects your club reputation, which in turn affects membership and sponsorship.”

To a large extent your competition rules likely deal with bad sporting behaviour – enforced by the game officials. In addition you should have in place:

• Codes of conduct for all members
• Disciplinary procedures
• Ground/venue officials to control crowd behaviour
• Member protection program, including a policy.

If you don’t have these, in the first instance, contact your regional/state body to discuss, as they’re likely to have overarching policies.

Kerry Turner says clubs must also communicate their stance on member protection. “It’s no point keeping your policies behind locked doors, you have to get out and tell members what behaviour you expect.”

Some ideas for this include:

• Promote codes of conduct at registration, grading, training and games
• Encourage members to visit www.playbytherules.net.au
• Educate members about being good sports – see our information on sport rage prevention
• Always deal with incidents promptly, effectively and transparently.

Think ahead

Take time out to think about the future of your club. While strategic planning may be the last thing on your ‘to do’ list at this time of the year, you’re focused and amongst the action right now – it’s a great time to start.

“Planning doesn’t need to be cumbersome – in fact, a two or three page strategic plan is more than adequate for most local clubs,” says Jeffrey Slater, a long-time board member of several sporting clubs.

“Generally, all clubs want to achieve things like increase membership, raise funds and attract volunteers. Strategic business planning is about mapping out how you will do this.

“Your first step should be to set up a planning structure. Form a planning sub-committee and set time aside to meet outside of regular club meetings. Then use this season to reflect, discuss and gather information on where you’re at,” says Mr Slatter.

This could involve:

• Talking to your affiliate body (regional, state or national) – where is your sport heading?
• Reviewing your mission and values – are they relevant?
• Looking at trends – within your sport and club (e.g. growth or decline in participation in certain age groups)
• A close analysis of your financial status
• Drafting an action plan, with responsibilities and realistic performance indicators.

Once you’re armed with information, you can then start to write your plan. See our Sports Clubs area for useful planning checklists and plan templates.