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Role of CEO
Making the decision to have a Chief Executive is a big decision for a lot of sports organisations particularly if the decision is about whether this will be a paid position.
The role of a Chief Executive is to deliver the strategic plan, coordinate an operational plan and essentially manage the day to day running of an organisation. This will involve the management of staff or volunteers. It is a complex role that requires navigation between visionary leadership on the one hand and effective management on the other hand.
In small sports organisations it is common that there will be no paid Chief Executive role. In this scenario the management of an organisation usually falls to the Board members and this can result in a confusion between the strategic role a Board should play and the operational role that a management or executive function should play. It is recommended that even if there is no money for a Chief Executive an organisation should look to assign the responsibilities of that role to someone in the organisation.
Where a sports organisation does have a Chief Executive, many Board delegate day to day liaison with the Chief Executive to an individual Board members - usually the Chair.
The relationship between the Board and Chief Executive will have a strong bearing on the ability of both parties to carry out their work and ultimately on the effectiveness of the organisation. Poor relationships can lead to conflict and be damaging to the whole organisation.
A healthy relationship between the Board and the Chief Executive should be one where:
- Good working relationships are maintained in general between the Board and Chief Executive and in particular between the Chair (or other individual) and Chief Executive
- Clear boundaries exist – Board members do not interfere in work that has been properly delegated to the Chief Executive and/or any other staff
- The Board is engaged in holding the Chief Executive to account for their day to day management of the organisation.
Below are some sample job descriptions for Chief Executives and on other pages in this section you can find further tools to help you decide on the role of your Chief Executive and the relationship that should exist between this role and your Board.
Smart Sport
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