Michael and Steve Connelly, our CPR Group Directors, can turn a somewhat boring club topic into something quite humorous! In this podcast the brothers dust off the cobwebs from some dodgy club infrastructure, the lack of risk management and explore the mind-set behind these oversights.
With over 25 years experience in the sport and community arena, Michael and Steve have seen some outstanding club operations, but unfortunately they have also witnessed many utterly scarey and even dangerous situations.To ensure your club is a safe and happy place, there are some considerations that your management committee should make to protect your members and the community.
Checklist:
Is sending a club volunteer up a ladder to fix a pergola, light or ceiling your norm?
YES/NO
Do you limit spending on maintenance, hoping that one of your volunteers will take on the job, or that Council will eventually replace everything anyway?
YES/NO
Does your club lack sufficient funds to pay for general facility and equipment maintenance?
YES/NO
Has your club always used volunteers to do your maintenance, so you feel there is no need to change?
YES/NO
Where is your club’s line in the sand?
If you answered yes to any of the above then this podcast episode is definitely for you!
Are you aware of the time and effort your club’s volunteers are putting in JUST to make ends meet? Whether it’s ensuring your clubhouse is up to scratch (i.e. not falling apart), or that your courts and fields are well maintained so that members are safe while playing their beloved sport, your club needs to properly value your volunteers’ time.
The fundamentally flawed model
Some clubs are running on a fundamentally flawed model. Your volunteers are putting in too much of their valuable time to make ends meet for the club and fixing maintenance issues that require a professional. It’s time to value your volunteers’ time! By continuing down this path you run the risk of your volunteers becoming burnt out, or worse cause damage or injury to themselves. It’s important to remember that workplace health and safety has a big role in your club to ensure the safety of your members and ignoring it completely can lead to further damage and injury. Now that’s not to say this is the case for every club, yet as volunteer numbers across the country are dwindling, once volunteers move on it’s becoming harder to fill those shoes.
Make your club sustainable
So that you don’t fall into the trap of relying on your volunteers to fix maintenance issues, it’s important to set your club up for long-term success. Having a stream of revenue means that you're able to maintain infrastructure and your assets, and to do so, your whole club structure from your philosophy to membership fees may need assessing. Safety must always come first! There’s no need for your volunteers to take unnecessary risks, so calling in a professional for maintenance is a much better investment than your volunteers' time.
If you’re unsure about your club's long-term sustainability and are finding it difficult to come up with ideas to generate more revenue, our team at CPR Group are the leaders in sports governance, planning and community development. With over 25 years of experience working alongside Australian clubs, Michael and Steve have seen it all, but are still passionate as ever in making your club better for your volunteers, members and community.
Tune in to hear about a very dodgy clubhouse that Michael visited recently, at a club that relies too heavily on the efforts of a small number of volunteers. Michael and Steve share tips for making clubs more sustainable by not relying too heavily on a decreasing number of volunteers.
