By DAVID NAGEL
A NEW era of enhanced communication has dawned on the South East Football Netball League (SEFNL) with a hugely successful Strategic Planning Day held at Casey Fields on Sunday.
Representatives from the City of Casey, Shire of Cardinia, the South East Juniors, all senior football and netball clubs, umpire groups and local media, joined the SEFNL board for a workshop that saw traditional barriers of communication broken down.
Facilitated by Brendan Mason, from Same Page Cultures, the gathering saw nearly 50 people share their ideas and visions that will help determine the future direction of SEFNL.
Groups moved to five stations; 1 – Mission and Purpose, 2 – Vision, 3 – Values, 4 – Mantra and 5 – Projects, before contributing to a timeline of the past, present and future of the competition.
SEFNL Operations Manager, Liz Triffitt, said the day was an overwhelming success.
“Leading up to it, I think some clubs were a bit hesitant and unsure about what today was all about, but I think they’ve been surprised,” Triffitt said.
“Judging by the buzz in the room, and the information that was collected, the day has been an overwhelming success and provided the clubs with an opportunity that has never been there before.
“The clubs have now had their say and will hold the board accountable for its actions.”
Triffitt said the amount of data that was collected meant for some busy times ahead.
“Yes, I don’t think I’ll be going on holidays for a couple of years, there’s so much information that was gathered,” she said.
“It was nice to see some themes come across like development, engagement, alignment with juniors, that type of thing, so there was some really good work done today.
“The clubs, quite clearly in their feedback, said they wanted to share their ideas and today will really help us to grow and learn as one.”
Words like sustainability, integrity, professionalism, innovation and enjoyment were common across all five stations while the introduction of a divisional structure was another key message to come from the day.
The SEFNL board hopes to have the data collated and new policies adopted by the time its AGM comes around at the end of the year.
