Competence 2: Methodical and evidence-based approach
Sports Professionals adopt a methodical approach. They support raising questions when dealing with professional issues and, together with stakeholders, formulate the best possible solution, based on careful consideration of various sources. In doing so, they contribute to the knowledge development of the professional group.
The first semester of this third year I’m doing an internship at a start-up company, The Kettlebell Fitnessclub in the Oosterpoort area in Groningen. The Kettlebell Fitnessclub is a neighbourhood focused fitness studio where one can train under the supervision of a personal trainer or group based to improve their physical capabilities and appearance in a welcoming setting. The CEO of the company, Rink Dubblinga, and his business partner, Laurens Groeneveld, has asked me to investigate their possibilities on different business opportunities. By conducting research to the company and its surroundings a business advice report was put together with an clear overview of information and possible strategies.
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Rink Dubblinga asked me to take a better look at their current market position. How was The Kettlebell Fitnessclub doing compared to its nearby competitors and how could the company expand its business. Therefore is was a researcher as well as an advisor during the first period of my internship.
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In order to get a clear image of The Kettlebell Fitnessclub I observed the culture and work methods within the company. To extra clarify some of my observations I informally interviewed both Rink Dubblinga and Laurens Groeneveld. I used the information retrieved from the observations and interviews and compared them to the company’s document that were available at the time. The document had clear mission and vision statements and made use of the 7s model which I kept using for the internal analysis in my own business advice report and adjusted when necessary.
For the external analysis I performed a DESTEP analysis about the Oosterpoort, so all the important information would be clear. An market analysis was performed to see what the closest competitors were for the company, out of this rolled a top five with all the information concerning the competitor.
For the strategic decision making a SWOT analysis was conducted to get an overview of the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for The Kettlebell Fitnessclub.
Together with the use of a confrontation matrix the four most likely business opportunities were picked and briefly described. For me this was totally different than previous reports and task about researching business opportunities. I myself was the only one that could be held responsible for the report and Rink and Laurens really could use some information for the further development of their company.
The final business advice report is a clear overview of The Kettlebell Fitnessclub’s information, working methods, competitors, possible business opportunities and details about its surroundings. The result is assessed by Sander Claassen, my internship supervisor. The business advice report was graded with a 6 out of 10 on methods used and the clarity.
Rink Dubblinga and Laurens Groeneveld collected the report to get a quick overview of their own company and got some ideas of it that are already implemented today, like the collaboration with the Poorterhoes neighbourhood centre.
This was the first time for me doing a business advice report single-handed without the help and assistance of a classmate. This in the combination of being an intern in a start-up company made the complexity a lot more difficult than I first thought. There were not many company documents to start with for me so I used all the information there was. I learned much about business related topics from this period. My personal interest in business and management has at least been present. I always thought it wouldn't be something for me to do. But thinking you could work as precise and efficient as you can to make a/your business gain on parts as clients, experience, income makes it a nice challenge. This time the end result came together by using a methodical and evidence-based approach according to competence level B due to the use of familiar models and methods and me playing it a little bit safe to be sure that my outcome would be something unexpected and not usable. To reach level C in the future I would like to choose different and perhaps better fitting methods and models to create a report of higher quality with a better fit to the specific need of the organisation.
I experienced that clear communication and an open attitude gives you much more information and helps you to connect better with the company. This is one of the points I would go directly from the start next time, instead of a more careful approach that is part of my personality.
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The third year being a somewhat safe approach in doing an individual repot has been a nice step towards the graduation year. In this year I would like to try and execute research methods that I wasn't that familiar with before. This would also be more in line with the needs of MIBOSO in getting a better understanding of the clients and their needs as well.
To get a good start at the project and as a necessary part of the graduation a final project plan needed to be composed. This final project plan can be found at header 'Year 4' at sub-header 'Final project plan'. This would help to structure the process throughout the year. By choosing the research methods for this year and at what time they had to be executed. Since the project is in a quite unknown territory and the situation asked for qualitative research. Qualitative research would assure that the needs of the different parties involved would be met with a greater level of detail and freedom of speech than quantitative research would give. The design thinking process was the preferred option, since this is a constant feedback method that gives room for alternation during the process.
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The first step was the inspiration phase of the process was something I already started with before the initial internship period began as mentioned in the previous subsection. I needed to understand and observe the delivery of services including all duties and responsibilities attached. Afterwards, I could honestly share my point of view with the team. Also including understanding and observing the objective for this project as was spoken out during the first meeting with Kelly Schat and Kim Hakkenes. Resulting in getting a clear point of view on the connection between the mission and vision of MIBOSO and the fit with my graduation project.
In future settings that would acquire a similar approach I would have been more pro-active in my communication. This would help in speeding up the inspiration phase and getting to know a company. On my behalf I would say this approach has been as objectively as possible. Since all processes were seen without me influencing the approach as would happen as usual.
During the inspiration phase a schedule based upon the different stages of the design thinking process was created as shown above. This to get an overview in what was needed during the year and which actions were required to be done for a certain time.
As seen in the overview above the schedule is put together is on the week level and not based upon specific dates and hard deadlines. At the time I believed this would help because of the dynamic process that I used and the constant changing factor during the process.
As a result, I sometimes got a little bit distracted with other responsibilities and task during the internship that some parts of the design thinking process took too much time. More adequate handling was required from my side. In the future I need to me stricter on my own time schedule and adjust actions when its needed. This is also made clear to me in the feedback I received from the internship supervisor Kelly Schat.
Because in situations that involve collaboration it is very useful to give other a clear insight in which part of the process you’re in. My lack of keeping track of my own schedule is cause of this issue that’s completely unnecessary. In future projects I will taking this experience with me to keep others up-dated with my work.
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After stating all of the above it shows how development isn't always the steady progession as I would like. In terms of the internship I can proudly say I approached it methodically and evidence-based in a practical manner. However, the structure of the base I used still needs some polishing. So as a true level C health professional I see both the positives and the negatives.
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