Formal Report Proposal – Vancouver United FC

To:                   Dr. Erika Paterson

From:             Huntley Bain

Date:               October 11, 2019

Subject:           Proposal to Improve Coaching Resources/Organization at Vancouver United FC

Research Location

The research location will be Vancouver United Football Club. The club is a non-profit organization in the west side of Vancouver. VUFC provides soccer programming to children and youth in the city as well as adult teams.

Background Details of Readers

This report is intended for the Executive Director, Gregor Young, and the Technical Director, Gus Karvelis, at VUFC. Together the two oversee all of the programing and the administration. Gregor Young was technical director of the club for over 15 years but was promoted to executive director last year. Gus Karvelis took over as technical director. Since the changeover communication has not been as strong as it used to be. Since the executive director and technical director are responsible for providing resources to the staff coaches they are the ones who this is targeted towards.

Introduction

Vancouver United FC is the largest soccer club in Vancouver with over 4500 players. The club is expected to follow the guidelines set out by Canada Soccer Association. There are two main departments in the club; technical and administration. Both departments have a full set of staff but have very different roles. The technical staff are in charge of coaching and executing the guidelines set out by the CSA while the administration aside is in charge of all the behind the scenes tasks like emails and registration.

Since the two departments are separated information is often not communicated to the other side. Staff Coaches are often asked questions by parents which the coaches do not have the answers to because they do not have access to the resources. It is very unprofessional when Staff Coaches do not know basic information. The administration has a lot of responsibility and since the departments are separate there is no sense of responsibility to communicate information to either side.

Statement of Problem

Vancouver United FC does not provide adequate access to resources for staff coaches which leads to a more disorganized club environment.

Players will leave VUFC to go to competing clubs because of the lack of communication and increased disorganization.

Proposed Solution 

A proposed solution to this problem is to create a central location where all the information is stored so the Staff Coaches have access to it. This would allow coaches to know all the information that is being communicated to the parents as well as additional information, so the coaches are prepared to answer any question. Another proposed solution would be to implement a task managing system at the office. The system would make it a requirement for information to be emailed to all of the coaches as soon as possible. That way relevant information would be communicated efficiently and effectively. 

Scope

The reason behind this report is to increase professionalism within VUFC. Over the course of the term the proposed solutions will be implemented, and the results will be analyzed to see if it increases customer satisfaction. This report will focus on these key areas;

• What information needs to be communicated to staff coaches?
• What is the overall satisfaction of customers (ie players and parents)
• Do all staff members view this as an issue>
• What knowledge is expected of the coaches?
• Does this add an unnecessary work for administration staff?

Methods

The club recently sent out a customer satisfaction survey to all member of VUFC. Many complaints were received, and most were regarding the organization of the club. I can access these complaints and see exactly why these customers were unhappy.

I will also talk with the Executive and Technical Directors to discuss implementing a central system. They are the ones who have the power to implement the system, so it is necessary to get support from them. Talking to them will also give me a better sense of where other organizational issues may lie.

After implementing the system, the club will send out another customer satisfaction survey. I can compare the results with the first survey to see if there were any changes. Additionally, email monitoring will be effective to see if complaints decrease.

Qualifications

I am currently a Staff Coach at VUFC. I have worked on both the administration and technical sides of the club, so I am familiar with how both sides run. Additionally, my experience at other companies such as Sherwin-Williams and PepsiCo will help with this project. My experience at these organizations will be beneficial as they are very well-run corporations and some of their strategies can be implemented at VUFC.

Conclusion

There is a lack of organization and resources at Vancouver United FC. Some of the issues can be attributed to the restructuring that happened 2 years ago however there are some areas that have been an issue for much longer. Communication between the technical and administrative sides of the club needs to be much more efficient as it is beginning to look unprofessional to customer. This project will allow me to implement my proposed solutions and see if the change is effective.