Sustainment

You may be familiar with the workplace adage if you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted. Basically if no one else can do your role, you are stuck in that job until you quit. The same applies to sports club operators; how many time have you heard the crickets when nominations are called for to fill committee positions?

In a small club, the few do everything. In fact, due to the often limited initial members, it is essential that a few do do everything. Operating a sports club in the death zone (where you have too few members to get someone in, but too many to rely on limited volunteers) is a sure fire way to burn through all the good will of even your most dedicated volunteers.

The longer you operate the more inconsistencies begin to creep in. Some of the policies you initiated no longer seem appropriate, or have even been forgotten. Your mission changes to accommodate the new members and a potentially new direction and suddenly you’ve lost the reason for the sports club existing in the first place. Now it’s become just another job, except one where you are wearing all the risk and all the stress…and while no one else is putting their hand up to help, you can’t even blame them.

Avoid this by starting with an end-state in mind that as a minimum does not have you as the only one on the tools. This will see your:

• Vision attract like-minded people to your cause;

• Mission statement show your stakeholders you have a way to achieve your vision;

• Values as nouns using verbs to describe how to demonstrate those values establish your club's culture and enable any new people coming onboard a decision-making framework; and

• Organisational chart, even if one or two people you fill every position on it, so future skillsets are identified rather than people who have roles moulded around them.

If you’ve already started and feel you’ve grown past the point where you have full control – there are not enough hours in the day and the committee pulling in the same direction – you need to re-establish purpose and control by getting back to the basics above.

“Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates.” F. E. Adcock