Part 3 + So What?: How is the TSD role recruited?
Joseph Donkor
Football Executive | Expertise in Governance, Recruitment, and Long-Term Strategy planning
Last week I addressed my second question: What should the TSD comprise? Now I turn to the final question in our three-part series asking:
How is the TSD role recruited?
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There appears to be a disconnect between what CEO/HC/Board say they want and what they end up getting. This indicates a lack of robustness and joined-up thinking when approaching the recruitment process.?Recent conversations with football CEO's suggest that a major reason many current TSD roles comprise solely recruitment, or are strongly recruitment-focused, is cost.?The thinking appears to be, "Why have an expensive head of recruitment and a TSD?".??Effective recruitment relies upon a clearly-articulated vision and strategy regarding the club’s aims as agreed by the owner, board, and CEO.?Only when this is in place can a TSD role and corresponding job description be developed. To what extent is the role created in a bespoke way to fit a club’s requirements??What internal needs analysis is carried out??A solid senior management structure working together to define the club’s needs has to be established so that a coherent, achievable vision can be drawn up.?Effective working relationships are required so that KPIs and role remits can be agreed at the outset. ?
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In clubs operating below the EFL Championship, where revenues and resources are significantly smaller, employee infrastructure, turnover and operating costs must be taken into account. ?Many such clubs function within an outdated cultural model.?Owned by successful business people, they frequently operate with a small number of full-time employees, supported by part-time members who are often fans of the club.?Tighter budgets, in addition to the lack of a clear vision of the TSD role, creates more pressure when recruiting a senior position. ?Clubs need to assess whether a TSD is necessary, or whether another role with a less executive remit would better meet the club’s needs. ?
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Head-hunters are increasing engaged throughout the league to support, i.e. shortlist, TSD hires in the top two English divisions. ?Their remit is to identify exciting talent within the football pyramid, who are then recruited by clubs with enhanced employee infrastructures to fulfil, and here is the problem, “expanded accountabilities and responsibilities”. ?Subsequently, some clubs opt to appoint essentially a Recruitment Lead with the title of TSD, which risks not only undermining the role but also blurring lines between this and existing roles.?Unless the aforementioned accountabilities and responsibilities are closely specified, it is unfair to delegate the hiring or short-listing task to head-hunters, who may not have real access or insight into the club’s culture and its true requirements. ?Head-hunters’ strength lies in their expertise in assessing and analysing a wide pool of talent, developing long and short lists, thereby reducing the need for clubs to use third-parties who may have conflicting interests.
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At worst, this leads to TSDs being effectively set-up for failure and “departing” from the club earlier than expected, with each subsequent replacement - or debate about replacement - further casting doubt on the value of the role.?Each “disappointment” potentially heralds the return of a unicorn leader to the club, which could be a retrograde step.?To avoid potentially hiring the wrong employee it would be astute for clubs to evolve their knowledge and understanding of what they truly require and what the role comprises before accepting candidate proposals from head-hunters in a marketplace where rarely are two TSD roles the same. ?Given that so many clubs are moving to recruit TSDs, as often noted in sites such as The Training Ground Guru, while not fully researching and analysing how such appointments fit their culture, vision and strategy, it’s reasonable to ask what underlies this choice. ?Is it triggered by copycatting the industry, without deploying due diligence, as a form of ‘insurance' cover to avoid criticism??Is it a carefully-identified need for a recruitment analyst, or academy specialist to target specific KPI's, i.e. a step towards an aligned footballing strategy? Or something else?
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For example, if an individual is replaced or removed from a TSD role whose priority focus has been Recruitment, might the appointee have fulfilled the role more successfully if, from the outset, it had been defined and titled as such? Where a position has been promoted as TSD and the appointee is deemed unsuccessful, clubs need to look at their hiring practices, accept responsibility, and conclude to the Board’s satisfaction whether the role was fit for purpose, i.e. devised and presented to head-hunters both professionally and in accordance with the club’s vision and strategy.?
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?So what?
Whether or not these questions have been properly answered here, much is at stake for clubs high within the pyramid regarding the recruitment of a TSD, however the role is defined.?Having rationalised the decision, clubs need to support this growth pathway. ?What does the senior management team need to do to develop an employee into a successful TSD that would justify the position’s worth, stabilise appointees’ employment within the role and support the club’s strategy?
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Club owners and managers who acknowledge the bespoke nature of their requirements are carefully devising their TSD remits to fit their culture and maximise their potential value. ?Now they need to create methodical pathways that develop the TSD position, where developmental milestones are fulfilled in the individual’s career journey, adding value to both club and individual. ?
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The TSD position should not be pursued by individuals for its perceived power but as an avenue to develop the football club holistically and maximise its legacy. ?It’s about club and team success, not an individual’s reputation or ambition.?Where owners and/or CEO's retain a significant influence on the sporting side, this requires excellent negotiation at the recruitment stage for both sides to ascertain whether they can work in tandem to contribute positively to the club’s overall development. ?Clubs looking to move in this direction should “avoid the noise” and adhere to a carefully drawn-up long-term strategy.?
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The case has been made for a clear plan to de-risk TSD appointments such that they can be the positive, protective, and financially prudent measure well-managed clubs need them to be. ?Progress is underway, with pockets of teams working towards greater sustainability, accountability and productivity by means of focussed professionalism.?These clubs are discreetly ascending the pyramid, employing strategic thinking, and eliminating emotion from decision-making.
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This complete thought-piece will be released as one on 25/7/23 at 12pm (GMT).
Part 1: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/introduction-part-1-what-rationale-appointment-tsds-joseph-donkor/?
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1 年Our question at VSI is ‘why is the SD role different across clubs’? Accepting that the context will differ mostly depending on size of club, the principles of the role should be the same. Precedence is seen in other roles such as Head Coach, Physiotherapist, Cheif Scout/Head of recruitment etc.. Once the role is defined as suggested Joseph Donkor as a person the leads & manages the football department then a strategic process adopted by the business to recruit on the skills required to be impactful in this role becomes more visible and consistent across the industry. This said there will always be outliers..!