Carles Romagosa: Connecting the different areas of a technical department

• The importance of connecting and coordinating all the different aspects of the technical department 

• Planning and structuring departmental meetings 

• Finding a balance between guidance and autonomy in your management style

According to Romagosa, who is currently Technical Director at the Thai FA, all the different areas within a technical department are connected, and the strength of these connections is crucial to the effectiveness of the department as a whole. As he puts it, “For me, you cannot develop just one area that sits in a national association - that does not make sense. Everything is related.”

To prove his point, he cites the process for licensing women's clubs in Thailand as an example of a project that required a joint approach across multiple departments of the Thai FA.

“As part of the process we follow for the club licencing in women clubs you have to define, for example, the youth teams that each women’s club has,” he says. “Similarly, we state the number of coaching licences that a club needs and we have established a quota of a minimum percentage of women coaches in the women’s clubs. These are just three examples.

“So, in order for clubs to meet the criteria we have set, we have to make sure that women’s coaches have enough coach education courses to get the required qualification. We can push the clubs to have women coaches, but if we don't offer specific licences for them then it will not work. If you don't connect everything, maybe you can make a lot of mistakes.”

Romagosa, who previously worked as Paris St Germain’s head of youth development and as a youth coach at FC Barcelona, believes that maintaining the connections between the different areas of the technical department is nothing short of essential, and he schedules 10-12 meetings a week to make sure everyone is aware of what their colleagues are doing.

“The most important part of my role is to connect the many different areas of the technical department,” he says. “For example, women's football is related with youth and with education and so we try to connect them. 

“To do this, I'm trying to spend time with all the departments at least once a week and I have regular meetings with them. I am setting up around 10-12 meetings a week just to make sure that I can track every department. Then my main responsibility is to coordinate them and then try to make one step back, just to be able to look at the global structure of football. 

“This is more about coordinating people to ensure all the ecosystem is balanced and we are developing all the main areas at the same time. My responsibilities are more to organise them.”

Connecting the different departments he oversees is just one of the challenges Romagosa faces as a technical director. Managing the expectations of his colleagues can be another, as can finding the right balance between giving his colleagues direction and providing them with enough autonomy to do their jobs effectively.

“With some people in Thailand, there is a gap between the expectations they have and the expectations that I have as Technical Director. Some of the time I am pushing them to follow my advice or my guidance and sometimes I have to let them grow more. In the past they have not been given opportunities to add value to the discussion. This is a barrier that must be broken.

“Quite often, when technical staff have less experience in managing the department than you, they and expect direct direction from you because you have more experience and knowledge. Finding ways to empower the staff is something I am trying to improve. That’s quite a challenge for me.”

• Make time to get an overview of the whole technical department 

• Success comes as a result of connecting key teams and individuals together

• Plan regular catch-ups with key members of staff to make sure everyone is in the picture 

• How do you connect and combine teams and individuals within your department? 

• How regularly do you hold meetings with key individuals and teams? Does this frequency work for you, or do you need to review it? 

• How would you describe the balance between direction and autonomy in your management style? Which aspects of the department’s performance dictate your approach?