Author: keystonesportingsolutions

President, Secretary, Treasurer—we all know what they are and what they do. But are these position titles in most sporting clubs still relevant?

Sometimes, people can’t see beyond these traditional roles. Society is changing and clubs need to change to meet new legislative requirements and evolving generational expectations not only to survive but to thrive in the future. With increased attention being given to child protection, new roles are emerging in clubs, such as the Child Safety Officer or Member Protection Officer. Technological developments are seeing clubs appoint Social Media Officers to manage the club’s online presence on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, etc., something that would never have been thought of 15 years ago.

Another issue is volunteer burn out. Volunteers are at risk of burning out whether it is because they take on too much, they won’t let go of duties or there aren’t enough people to share the load. Now is the chance to rethink what clubs do, why they do it and who does it. This should be done in conjunction with the Strategic Plan, reviewing legislative requirements (state / federal), State Sporting Organisation (SSO) and National Sporting Organisation (NSO) requirements and any other relevant policies or documents. For example, if in your Strategic Plan you want to sell club merchandise as a fundraising strategy or a promotional / marketing tool then perhaps you need to appoint a Merchandise Officer.

If you want to review your club’s roles, here are 6 steps you can take:

Step 1

Outline the main duties currently performed in the club—not the roles, but the actual duties. You can base this on the duties set out in your role descriptions, if you have them. Also review your constitution to see what it says should be occurring (it is recommended that the constitution is reviewed every 3–5 years).

Step 2

Review the following documents with the aim to see what other duties are needed for the club or in relation to your Strategic Plan: what needs to be done to implement the plan?

• • Strategic Plan
  • Relevant state or federal legislation
  • Requirements from your SSO or NSO; for example, a delegate to attend meetings.
  • Other relevant policies such as a Member Protection Policy

Step 3

Compare the list from Step 1 and the list from Step 2 to see what is needed and what duties can be removed because they perhaps no longer serve a purpose in the club.

Note: I understand that this could cause stress for some volunteers who have been with the club or in a role for a long period and to have that role removed or changed could be quite upsetting. So, please keep this in mind and look at implementing a change management process. Could they be given another role within the club? Can you find some way to keep them involved and valued?

Step 4

Once you have a list of duties that are needed within the club, you can start grouping similar duties, keeping in mind the workload involved with each. If a set of duties is quite time consuming, consider splitting the role or providing an assistant role. For example, one club split the Secretary’s role into a Minutes Secretary and a Correspondence Secretary. Another club had a Director of Coaching and an Assistant Director of Coaching.

Step 5

Now comes the fun part: thinking of really cool names for these new roles! Maybe have a light-hearted brainstorming session with people from your club to come up with ideas. Think: manager, director, co-ordinator, officer, guru, executive, Jedi, supervisor, chief, etc. What words encapsulate the duties and roles that these new positions will take on? For example, a club restructure could see any duties involving the competition (such as working out the draw, premiership table, player eligibility for finals and best player votes) fall under one role, the Competition Director. A President could become Director of Club Operations.

These new names sound exciting and look more interesting on a resume than President or Secretary.

Step 6

Now you have the new role titles and duties for each role, new role descriptions should be developed. The Constitution or other relevant documents also need to be updated. When updating your constitution, consider which of these roles should be executive positions within the club and which should not.

The next step is finding people to fill these new roles. Given existing roles may change look at what new roles the existing committee members can fill.  Another way is to appoint a Volunteer Co-ordinator or group of Volunteer Co-ordinators to assist in finding people to fill these positions.

Good luck. I’d love to hear your stories.

Kat

Ideas Jedi Master 🙂