New chairman for SCRU

The South Canterbury Rugby Union could return to having a chief executive officer, albeit a part-time position.

The union dropped the position early last year but outgoing chairman Stephen McFarlane hinted that someone may be needed at the top in a part-time role.

In his report to the annual general meeting McFarlane stated that "a part-time leadership position may be a necessary component of the union structure in the future".

McFarlane noted that in 2009 the board chose to take a conservative spending position "and to complete the work themselves at points where a leadership requirement existed".

One of the reasons McFarlane gave for standing down was the 300-plus hours that he spent on the union and part of that time was no doubt undertaking roles previously done by the chief executive.

The union has outsourced its sponsorship and accounting functions and intends to utilise a human resources company in 2010.

No details of how much each of those cost were available individually but some are roles traditionally undertaken by a chief executive in a smaller provincial union.

McFarlane is, however, happy with the specialist approach.

"If the union had each of marketing, financial, leadership and HR consultants in place and was in aggregate spending as much as a stand-alone CEO I believe that would still be a good outcome."

McFarlane said that the reality was that a union the size of South Canterbury could only afford to employ a chief executive who was a generalist.

"They may have strong skills in one or two areas but not across the board. For instance, those who are good in the marketing-relationship area can often be less than ideal at the finance and vice versa."

McFarlane said that having specialists in place "gives us a higher standard of performance in the individual areas and no higher cost".

"The reality, however, is that we have only spent 50 per cent of what a CEO would cost to date."

McFarlane believes there is a role but the decision would be for a future board.

"I think initially it would be project based, such as support to develop and standardise office systems. Once the office is humming then the leadership requirement would be reviewed.

"It may not exist as a requirement.

"It might be 20 hours, it might be less.

"If the union do decide that specific project or leadership input is required we still have a lesser cost."

McFarlane admitted that without a chief executive his job requirement was certainly expanded well beyond purely a board role.

"Partly, the extra time also reflected bedding in and further developing a new way of doing things without a CEO," he said.

"A chairman five years from now, if current initiatives such as technology and systems are bedded down, will find that the bulk of his role is the governance of the union and that he has relatively little operational involvement."

- © Fairfax NZ News