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Sports management: moving from administration to consulting

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What is the role of a sports organisations governing body? Do members/clubs only expect to be provided with administrative services (and money!) - or do they also seek some knowledge? It might be worthwhile for sports organisations to make the conscious move from the position where they are only performing administrative tasks for their members to one where they are also providing consulting services.

Sports organisations spend a lot of time doing administrative tasks; whether it is planning the next championships, preparing bidding processes, account managing member federations and clubs, compiling statistics, or collecting and distributing revenues. All this is often the core activity of a governing body, be it national or international.

Even though this kind of "bureaucracy" is time consuming and sometimes tedious, the fact is it will never go away, and so organisations need to ensure that it is being done with as much efficiency as possible.

Sports organisations, however, also need to consider what their actual role is. With all the time spent on administrative tasks one would assume that governing bodies simply have an administrative role - but is this true? What is it that Members/Clubs want from their governing bodies? Do they expect them to simply provide administrative services (and money!) - or do they also seek some knowledge? It might be worthwhile for sports organisations to make the conscious move from the position where they are only performing administrative tasks for their members to one where they are also providing consulting services.

You are a consultant!

There are multiple definitions for "consulting", but a simple definition is that consulting is about advising clients. "Clients" like member federations or clubs. Governing bodies probably have never thought of themselves as consultants, but both national or international sport organisations deal with clients who expect assistance in various fields. These same clients are often after a sum of money as well. In order to make sure that the money is used wisely, the client should also be advised on how to use it and how to eventually improve their own performance. Giving this kind of advice makes governing bodies consultants!

Moving from administration to consulting at the organisational level is not simple. To make it happen, a clear understanding of what the three main differences are between administration and consulting is needed. They differ in three main areas; focus, measurement and perspective.

Focus

The focus of administration is operations; getting the job done by delivering and fulfilling expectations. Examples of administration are things such as preparing for the next congress or allocating revenues to the member federations. Administration, whatever the size or scope of the governing body, is usually the most important function.

If the focus of an organisation, however, is simply to complete administrative tasks, the risk is that it will lose a big part of what makes it relevant: its sense of leadership. A leader "shows the way", proposes new ideas and concepts, and is looking for constant growth. The role of a sports organisation is not only to impose rules, it is also to advise its members.

This is where consulting comes in, because the focus of consulting is development. Of course a consulting "unit" has its load of administration, but it allows itself time and energy to stop and think. Consultants focus on compiling and documenting knowledge in order to transfer it to its clients in the most usable way. In short, consulting is focused on being able to give advice effectively.

Measurement

Administration is about efficiency. Doing things right and if possible, in a fast and reliable way. Efficiency is somehow easy to measure; is the organisation able to react quickly to a given situation? Is a request from a "client" addressed within 48 hours? The faster and more accurate things can get done the better.

Consulting, on the other hand is about effectiveness. Rather than looking at doing things right, it focuses on doing the right things. Of course, it is also about being efficient, but effectiveness allows for other types of questions to be answered, such as what are the objectives of the organisation? What is it going to do in order to achieve them, and by when? Consulting is about advising on the right strategy for a better future.

Perspective

Administration is about now. It is about serving the organisation and its client's interests today within a given framework. Using rules and regulations, administration is mostly about being reactive.

Consulting is about the future. It is about managing this framework. How can the organisation and the advice it is giving to its members be constantly renewed and updated? Consulting is pro-active, meaning that the organisation has been able to observe the type of situations being confronted and the type of help that is required by its members and has compiled and packaged this knowledge so that it can be delivered in a useful format before the situation occurs again.

The big test

Moving from an administrative to a consulting role is not an easy task. It requires a rethinking of the purpose of the organisation itself and its basic relationship with its members.

If administration is more about money, about how to allocate it in the yearly budget, how to operate within a given framework and how to distribute it in the most efficient manner, consulting is more about information and its transfer to the clients. To move to more of a consulting role, the organisation needs to create the necessary environment within its framework where the gathering of information, the processing of it and its efficient redistribution is done in a structured way. Only then will the organisation be able to give advice and to solve problems in order to improve its clients' performance. And of course improving clients' performance means improving its own overall performance as well!

So here's the challenge: the final proof of success is when clients are not only requesting money but are also seeking advice.

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