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From Sport Facility Management to Community Facility Enterprise
In our everyday work SMN come across a number of leisure facilities which are underperforming, both in terms of number people using them and in their financial performance. And it has to be said at those facilities that we also often experience a lack of leadership, customer care, community engagement and enterprise and a focus on procedures and programmes and a 'can't do' mentality.
At the same time we also meet many people from clubs and from public bodies who are working really hard to get that facility built/developed, being focused on getting the facility developed. Not on what it should deliver and how they are going to make it financially sustainable.
They are completely focused on getting the facility developed. Raising the money, getting the permissions, writing the applications and securing support from the 'important people'. Part of that includes getting letters from local sports clubs and bodies stating that 'they would really to have this facility and they have got plenty of people who want to use it.' Not a word about how they will achieve that, their values, their skills and attitude.
The so-called 'business plan' is often just a spread-sheet which bears little resemblance to the real world and is rarely tested with some poking questions, as the two key deciding factors are whether the facility gets build seems to be a) the drive and connections of the person(s) behind the project b) local and national politics. Sorry, but it had be said.
The facility then gets built/developed, a great opening ceremony is held and often the people behind the project resign, exhausted. Then, and often only then, does the attention swift to how the facility is going to be run and become a vibrant, visible and viable Community Facility Enterprise.
We need to focus on what we are trying to achieve at our facilities and then look at how the bricks and mortar can help achieve that.
It may not be rocket science, but SMN is convinced that we must develop facilities that are WICE2: Welcoming, Innovative, Community-focused, Engaging and Enterprising. They can then develop best practice in terms of how they follow the WICE2 principles and become sustainable hubs for their communities, delivering better sport and physical activity
A few words about the five elements of WICE2 :
Welcoming
Remember, you are in the Experience Industry, competing for people's leisure time and spend. You, your coaches/instructors and the rest of your team must focus on providing the best sporting and customer experiences possible and remember: we are all different, so what you think is a great experience, may not be the same to a 26 year old recreational player or a 42 year old 'returner'.
Help newcomers ease into the place, so the initial 'like-first-day-at-school' nerves disappear and they become advocates. Your best marketing tool is a customer who has just had a great experience at your club/centre.
Innovative
More than ever before people involved with sport and leisure are being asked to do more with less. It isn't easy.
Too many people are too busy solving the everyday short-term problems that they ignore the important medium and long-term opportunities and therefore they rarely get ahead. With fewer resources available this then becomes a vicious circle. If you only come up with solutions when the problem is 'blocking the road' you will always be panicking and fire fighting.
The trick is to spot practical opportunities everywhere in your organisation and to explore them. Some people and organisations/ in the sport and active leisure sector have been very successful in spotting and exploiting opportunities whereas others, often from within top-heavy, centralised organisations have found it very difficult to be innovative. Informal, commercial and self-organised sport and physical activity is growing because they listen to people's lives and speak their language.
Innovative organisations and people make mistakes and have failures. Analyse and learn. This also applies to your successes. Then you will gradually increase your success rate with your innovations.
Community-focused
The notion of ‘sport for sport’s sake’ which implies that sport sits in glorious isolation from the rest of the communities it is supposed to serve simply is no longer valid (I doubt it ever was).
Whenever I come across great sports providers they work for and with their communities, and as a consequence, both parties benefit. They are in reality Hubs for their Communities.
So how well are you connected to your community? Do you know them and do they know you?
Draw up a list of your Community Connectors (people in official/unofficial roles within your community). Invite them to your place, show/tell them what you do, ask them about their needs and see if there are overlaps. Can you work together, benefitting both parties?
Engaging
It has never been easier (and less costly) for sports providers to engage and communicate with their audiences, using texts, emails and social media such as Facebook and YouTube. (You are one of 8,000 people reading this e-newsletter sent to you using a database and email programme which cost little more than £200.00).
If you are of a disposition or a generation which is a bit baffled by all this, get some of your younger digitally savvy people to do all this for you. This is also a brilliant way of keeping people in their late teens/early twenties engaged with your club (the age with the highest dropout rate).
Enterprising
At SMN we encounter many great, enterprising people in community sport on a very regular basis.
Many of them succeed outside the established ‘sporting landscape’ and do not wait for a policy or edict coming down from on high. They go out there and develop some great community and sporting events and raise money (often very impressive amounts) in the process.
Conclusion
So here you have it: five simple questions you must ask yourself at least every quarter. Or, even better, ask your customers, members, guests and stakeholders. Please remember, that miracles don’t happen overnight and major improvements require hard work and dedication, day in, day out. But trust me, it works.
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Community Facility Enterprise in action - three examples:
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Keighley Table Tennis Centre - from 9000sq ft of textile bales to community table tennis enterprise
In 2008 Andy Bray and Peter Holbrook, two table tennis enthusiasts, who had started Howarth Table Tennis Club in a Bradford Council operated recreation centre were faced with the club becoming homeless as the Council wanted to close down the centre.
They then identified a floor in a disused textile mill in the centre of Keighley. £12,500 was raised, the textile bales were given to a charity and a number of volunteers from the club helped to transform the 9,000 sq ft into a modern table tennis centre with 10 tables.
Since then the centre has gone from strength, with Andy and Peter still playing an active role. A major success has been the growth of over-50s table tennis. Initially there were two weekly two-hour morning sessions, but that has now been expanded to sessions every weekday and there are now more than 100 over-50s playing. The atmosphere is friendly despite being competitive. Brenda Butterfield, 77, puts its well, saying: "We come for the fun of it - but we like to win!"
Not a bad outcome for some few £, but with community sport enterprise in abundance!
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From church to climbing heaven
St Benedicts in Ardwick church, had stood empty for four years and its condition was deterioating fast. World renowned local climber John Dunne spotted the opporunity to change the place from salvation to scaling.
English Heritage were happy to provide a £100,000 grant to help convert the church, as they said: "Unless a new use is found for a historic building like a church that is closed, the building won't have a future. It's vital that we are flexible and support new used."
John Dunne is impressed with the sheer size of the building: "There are a lot of climbing facilities in the UK that are 12-13 metres. The size here allows us a 20 metre high wall and a huge area, for good climbers and, importantly, for beginners and school, groups."
This nineteenth century church is now home to a dramatic indoor climbing experience with climbers enjoying their challenges in front of the massive rose window. The cafe has
also gained recognition as great place to relax while watching the climbers.
The Centre is ranked 13 on Tripadvisor's 124 destinations in Manchester, receiving plenty of 5 star reviews. Here's one:
My son climbs at MCC 3 times a week so I've spent a fair amount of time watching folk enjoy the facilities. The Centre caters for all-comers with taster sessions and party groups climbing alongside beginners and committed climbers and those training for competition. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed which is very much down to the positive, knowledgeable and helpful approach taken by staff.
The routes and boulder problems are changed regularly and the Centre makes good use of social media to keep regular users and others abreast of changes and events.
The building itself, an old church, is wonderful and unlike a number of such conversions, the change to climbing centre has been done tastefully and sympathetically which lends further to the harmonious vibe.
Add a well stocked rock shop and homely café and it all adds up to a good place to be, whatever your climbing experience.
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Wharfedale Rugby Club - Stunning location, great people, superb atmosphere
And finally: Is Wharfedale Rugby Club (currently playing in the English Division One) the most beautiful and atmospheric sporting venue in the UK? BBC sports commentator, John Inverdale thinks so:
“To be among a large crowd at a National League match at Wharfedale Rugby Club . . . . was to have found sporting nirvana. If there’s a more wonderful sporting venue in the country for serious competitive sport, I’ve yet to visit it.”
Apart for the wonderful location the welcome and atmosphere at the club is the best and 60-70 active volunteers ensure that the club and facility is very well run.
Wharfedale RFC is located in Threshfield, North Yorkshire and is only a few miles from Cracoe where a few years ago some ladies decided to produce a calendar to raise money for a cancer charity and Calendar Girls were born (enterprise must be in the blood there).
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