Whether your team hasn’t lost a match yet, is in the middle of the bunch, or is struggling to get a win on the board, the need for a mid season review at your footy club is still the same.
It can be very difficult at the end of a long season to remember back on what happened throughout the year – what worked well, where you needed a bit of extra help, and how everyone was feeling at the time.
The gap between the end of the season and the AGM is one that we all look forward to as a respite from footy – and gathering some information now will help you to refocus your energies come the end of the season.
The key purpose of a mid season review is to accelerate the rate of change at the club and enhance the performances of the entire group for the rest of the year and the season to come. Again – a desire to improve the current situation is about the only thing all VCFL clubs have in common, be they cellar dwellers or undisputed champions.
It is important to try and get information from as many people around the club as possible – everyone views the club from a slightly different perspective, and hence will have something different to offer. It can take a little time, but it is very important to get the thoughts of the playing group, committee, members, coaching and development staff and also some key community networks to inform the review.
The role of the President as leader in this process is important.
A key element of this information gathering and review is to cut through the emotions to find out where the challenges and improvements are for your club. You will need to log the thoughts without judgment, finger pointing, personalities, and conflicts. You want to go hard on the issue, and be soft on the person.
The easiest way to review the first half of the footy season may be to dig out your club strategic plan and put some ticks and crosses in the boxes of the things you were hoping to achieve in the year. Have you been on track in the identified areas of your club? Has your focus been where you said it would be? Do you have a strategic plan?
Measure this against your budget – are you tracking well on the balance sheet at this stage of the year in relation to your expected profits? Are there any shortfalls in income, or have your expenses blown out in any areas? Are there clear reasons for either of these?
You will want your coaches to have a say in how they are tracking against expectations, and most will have an interest to know how the playing group is assessing their performance at this stage of the caper.
Face to face conversations can occur on an informal and formal basis as a part of this review. You may wish to formally talk with your coaches in interviews about how they are going against their expectations, while a chat on the boundary line with a few of your key members and players at the footy may be an ideal way of getting some insights into the club.
The playing group can be surveyed with a confidential set of questions to be returned to the committee, or put together a focus group with some of the leaders in the group along with a few of the younger boys.
A quick way of supplementing this information and getting the ball rolling may be a quick KEEP, STOP, START discussion on a Thursday night after training.
Remind the group of all the elements of running a footy club – onfield, social, community connections, volunteer commitments, fundraising, facilities, athlete development, and communications.
Ask the questions - What do we want to KEEP doing, what do we need to STOP doing, and what do we need to START doing to achieve the club goals and to set the benchmark for the performance of the club as a whole?
Have a few scribes go to work on some butchers paper. You will reinforce where you are going well, what needs improving, and may get some things that you may not have considered before.
Remember that the on field performance of the club is only one small part of running a successful local football club, and that all clubs are in different phases of their development cycle.
The one thing that we all have in common is the desire to improve our current position – and the value of open, honest, and timely information to get us to focus forward can happen at any time.
For further information and assistance, please contact your VCFL Area Manager.
Last Modified on 04/07/2012 11:37