Common Business Issues
Can you benefit from implementing proven and tested professional sports club and team principles?
Common business issues that don’t occur in sporting clubs and teams
| Business issues | Professional Sports Club |
|---|---|
| Are all of your managers and staff performing at their maximum capacity? | If the team is not performing, the coach is sacked and if players are not giving 100%, they are not in the team. |
| Do your meetings start late or are staff late for work? | Sporting matches start on time as the team is always ready to play at the scheduled time. |
| Do you have staff viewing YouTube or updating their social media accounts during working hours? | Players never update their social media accounts or take a quick selfie during training or a game. |
| Do your managers spend most of their time in their office? | The coach is present during all games and training sessions. |
| Do your staff know how their team is performing? | A sporting match always has a scoreboard. Every player knows the score at all times. |
| Do your staff receive regular updates on the team results? | All professional sporting codes update their ladders after each match. |
| Does your organisation have a contingency plan for sick, injured or absent staff? | Sporting teams always have reserves ready to play at any time. |
| Is training part of your organisation’s culture? | Sporting teams have a culture of constant training for continuous improvement. |
| Are your staff focusing on the same goals? | Sporting teams must have a common goal. It’s the only way to win. |
| Do you promote staff because they are performing well in their current role? | A really talented football striker does not get promoted to coach because he/she is good at scoring goals. |
| Do all of your staff encourage and assist each other? | Players must always encourage and assist each other during the game, otherwise they will never win. |
| Have you ever heard one of your staff members say, “that is not my responsibility”? | Team players have the same goal and will do whatever it takes to win. A striker will defend. A forward will score a try. |
| Are your managers leaders or coaches? | The coach is always off the field during play. The captain is on the field, leading. |
| Do your Board members/Senior Executives support the staff? Do your Board members/Senior Executives watch staff working? | Board members and senior executives are often filmed by media watching their team play, being present. |
| Do you have injured workers who are not treated in a timely manner in order to get them back to work? | Injured players are assessed and treated immediately, sometimes going into surgery the same day. |
| Do you and all of your staff know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors? | Coaches and teams analyse the strengths and weaknesses of every competitor. |
| Do all of your staff understand the set objectives and what role they play as a team member? | Every successful team has a game plan for every game. As all successful sports people know, if you don’t have a game plan, then you aim at nothing and in return, you get nothing! |
| Do all of your staff stay back to assist until everyone is finished? | Players never walk off the field after an 80 minute game if the game goes into extra-time. A player would never state, “I’m only contracted for 80 minutes.” |
| Do all of the staff in a department have the same skills? | Players are selected for their positions. A team of strikers may score a lot of goals, but without defenders, may let in more goals than they score. Sporting teams realise the value of having a team filled with players of different skill-sets. |
| How often do you review individual staff performance and provide feedback? | A coach will provide feedback after each game and training session. They could not afford to wait 6 – 12 months before reviewing a player’s performance. |