Review of the Registered Clubs Industry in NSW - Clubs NSW

9 Improving corporate governance
9.3.4 Improving management effectiveness by encouraging a more rigorous
approach to recruitment and performance assessment, and clarifying the
respective roles of the board and management
In general, stakeholders did not raise significant concerns about the effectiveness of
club management. Therefore, although some stakeholders suggested that
management should be required to undertake training, IPART did not consider it
appropriate to recommend this. However, it does recognise that it is best practice for
managers to undertake ongoing training to develop their skills and keep up-to-date
on changes in the industry.
IPART considers that its recommendations for improving clubs’ financial reporting
and performance benchmarking are likely to lead to improved management
effectiveness, by helping to ensure that managers’ actions are based on a sound
understanding of their clubs’ financial position and relative performance (see
Chapter 7). It also considers its recommendations for improving board effectiveness
will lead to improved management effectiveness, due to the pivotal role the board
plays in relation to management (eg, through hiring the secretary-manager,
overseeing the secretary-manager’s performance and identifying when a new
secretary-manager needs to be brought in to revitalise the club).
In addition, IPART has identified some specific initiatives for improving
management effectiveness. In particular, it considers that clubs should be
encouraged to:
take a more rigorous approach to recruiting managers and assessing their
performance
provide greater clarity about the respective roles of the board and management.
Taking a more rigorous approach to recruiting managers and assessing their performance
Several case study club boards indicated that the quality of their managers was an
important factor in their club’s success. However, despite the vital role managers
play in clubs, IPART found that some case study clubs did not have appropriate
procedures in place for either recruitment or performance assessment.
IPART considers that clubs should be encouraged to develop and maintain:
a formal recruitment policy outlining the procedures for recruiting people into
management roles
a document listing the key capabilities for each management role.
To encourage clubs to improve the recruitment practices, ClubsNSW should develop
a Best Practice Guideline on this issue.
In addition, IPART considers that club boards should be encouraged to set key
performance indicators (KPIs) for management on at least an annual basis. Some of
these KPIs could be based on the financial performance measure outlined in
156 IPART Review of the Registered Clubs Industry in NSW