Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
John Swain
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by John Swain » Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:36 pm

Jonathan Bryant wrote:
Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:07 pm
John Swain wrote:
Mon Oct 04, 2021 8:46 pm
Further details about the proposal for two Development Officers have been published:

https://developingenglishchess.com/late ... published/

Interesting.

I know that some members of the forum aren't at all keen on this idea, considering the expenditure to be a waste of money. My concern is actually the reverse. £20,000 (maximum) on two part time roles? And that's the proposed ECF expenditure not what the successful candidates to receive.

I can't imagine half of £20,000 minus the ECF's costs as an employer would be an attractive proposition for ... well, almost anybody. In exchange for a day or so per week? But how many folks have a day every week that they can put aside on a long-term basis? And how many of this group would also have the skills, experience and knowledge to do the job well?
Good points!

It's interesting to compare Malcolm's proposals with the last ill-fated scheme for just one Development Officer to cover the whole of England:

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/develop ... r-vacancy/

One of the aspects I could not understand from the 2019 job description was:

"an additional bonus opportunity based on the delivery of performance-related targets including in particular membership fee revenue growth."

Other unpaid organisers might work wonders, generating interest in nearby clubs and localities, setting up chess-playing opportunities in cafes, libraries and new tournaments etc. and thereby attract new ECF members and the DO would reap the financial benefit. Malcolm's proposals avoid this blunder.

Angus French
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Angus French » Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:44 pm

In my opinion, the proposal has lots of excellent ideas - as did Tim Wall's original proposal to create a Development Officer position.

I am not sure, though, why there would need to be two Development Officers rather than one.

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Chris Goodall
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Chris Goodall » Mon Oct 04, 2021 11:45 pm

John Swain wrote:
Mon Oct 04, 2021 8:46 pm
Further details about the proposal for two Development Officers have been published:

https://developingenglishchess.com/late ... published/
Do all the things in that document, by all means. But do them once, get someone to write it all down and/or film it, and publish it on the ECF website.

There is absolutely no reason to pay someone to trot around the country answering the exact same questions they answered the week before, to a different set of people. Which is what all the references to "advise" in that document would translate to.

When you pay someone a salary for what's basically consultancy services, you incentivise them to jealously guard information that it would be in the interest of chess in England to disseminate as widely as possible. Why would anyone give a presentation once to a video camera and email the video to 100 congress organisers, when the ECF are willing to pay them to spend three months giving the presentation in person 100 times?

There is already a chess organisers' handbook. Stewart Reuben wrote it. If anyone is going to be paid to write Chess Organisers' Handbook, Web 2.0 Edition, I vote for Stewart Reuben. In fact, if the ECF were to organise a panel discussion with Stewart Reuben and, let's say, Lara and Alex, Jack Rudd and Alex Holowczak, on how chess organising had changed since 2005, and they filmed that and put it on YouTube, I am absolutely certain that the result would be worth a year of Development Officers running around handing out advice.
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Paul Cooksey
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Paul Cooksey » Tue Oct 05, 2021 6:28 am

I don't share Chris' view that all chess organisation should be voluntary. I'm also a bit less concerned than Jonathan that some good candidates could be found.

I'm still a bit underwhelmed by the ideas though. It seems to me that most clubs are set up to play competitive classical chess. Welcoming to those who want to become that sort of player, but not very motivated to recruit casual players. It isn't that they have lots of desire and energy to recruit these people and just need a development officer to point them in the right direction.

I though that the Casual Chess club in London was interesting as a different model pre-covid. But I'm not sure what the ECF does for a person who wants to play some casual games in an informal setting. Viewing casual players as a potential source of revenue for competitive chess seems wrong to me.

Angus - what do you like about the new proposal? I'm worried I might be being a bit too pessimistic.

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Tue Oct 05, 2021 8:00 am

Angus French wrote:
Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:44 pm
I am not sure, though, why there would need to be two Development Officers rather than one.
I did wonder about that as well. Although I can see the possible merits of local (relatively speaking) knowledge when it comes to development.


If we imagine a scenario where it was one job, it does rather highlight the pay issue. £20,000 ... for how many hours a week?


Just to clarify - following Paul's post - I'm not saying it would be impossible to find good quality candidates. Just that it will be difficult - and particularly so over the long term. And with development you really need to take a long term view.

I speak as somebody who once had a portfolio career. One day doing this; another couple doing that; two more doing something else. It's difficult to maintain. Not for a few months or a year. But long term it gets really tricky fitting things together. You're ONE DAY job may be going swimmingly but if another part of your working week falls down and it can take everything else with it if you can't find something else to replace it.


I also speak as somebody who has worked in sectors that make a lot of use of relatively low pay part-time positions and seen how rapid the turnover is. It's not that people didn't want to stay in the jobs necessarily, just that they couldn't afford to.


But I'm very not against the idea of development officers per se. There's nothing at all wrong with volunteers and volunteering in a lot of contexts. You even have them in the police, for example, with Special Constables. There's a reason why you don't have an entire police force made up of them, though.

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Chris Goodall
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Chris Goodall » Tue Oct 05, 2021 9:22 am

Paul Cooksey wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 6:28 am
I don't share Chris' view that all chess organisation should be voluntary.
That's not my view. There's nothing wrong with spending £20k to get £20k worth of added value. Giving the same £200 worth of top secret chess advice to 100 different people doesn't count as £20k worth of added value.
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Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Tue Oct 05, 2021 9:27 am

All the chess clubs I have been involved with (and indeed hockey and cricket clubs) tended to rely on one or two enthusiasts that do most of the work, usually very well. I hope these dedicated people would be approached sensibly, as some might not welcome advice, even if offered politely.

I would have thought that some sort of info pack as suggested slightly upthread was a good idea, followed later by a message saying, do you need any help? Maybe, you could have some sort of discussion group to find out what other clubs do.

Anybody calling out of the blue saying, "I'm going to tell you how to run your chess club", is probably not going to have a positive effect. But they may have to do that to justify their existence...

Ian Thompson
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Ian Thompson » Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:53 am

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 9:27 am
I would have thought that some sort of info pack as suggested slightly upthread was a good idea, followed later by a message saying, do you need any help?
The real challenge for English chess generally is when the the response is "No thank you. We're quite happy as we are." with the perhaps unsaid thought that the predominately OAP members don't want loads of noisy juniors at their club, and who cares if the club dies when they die. If a Development Officer could address that they might have earned their money.

The other obvious thing a Development Officer could do to justify their existence would be explain to parents and clubs what all the numerous junior organisations do and how to choose which one(s) to get involved with. The DO would need to be seen to be impartial, so that would probably rule out any existing junior organiser from being a DO.

Andrew Zigmond
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Tue Oct 05, 2021 11:53 am

Ian Thompson wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:53 am

The real challenge for English chess generally is when the the response is "No thank you. We're quite happy as we are." with the perhaps unsaid thought that the predominately OAP members don't want loads of noisy juniors at their club, and who cares if the club dies when they die. If a Development Officer could address that they might have earned their money.
No chess club has a monopoly so the development officer could support those locally who wanted to get a different type of chess club going. If the existing chess club just want to keep on as before then they should be allowed to do so - it would stop them from interfering.
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Paul Cooksey
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Paul Cooksey » Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:12 pm

Andrew Zigmond wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 11:53 am
Ian Thompson wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:53 am

The real challenge for English chess generally is when the the response is "No thank you. We're quite happy as we are." with the perhaps unsaid thought that the predominately OAP members don't want loads of noisy juniors at their club, and who cares if the club dies when they die. If a Development Officer could address that they might have earned their money.
No chess club has a monopoly so the development officer could support those locally who wanted to get a different type of chess club going. If the existing chess club just want to keep on as before then they should be allowed to do so - it would stop them from interfering.
I am wondering how many chess clubs have the appetite to transform? If it is many, the case for the DO is stronger.

Juniors important as they have always been. But also a discussion about the compatibility of a a new generation of adults attracted by Queens Gambit, who might enjoy a game of chess with a chat and a convivial drink, with a traditional club built around playing matches in silence with clocks etc.

J T Melsom
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by J T Melsom » Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:27 pm

'I am wondering how many chess clubs have the appetite to transform? If it is many, the case for the DO is stronger.'

It is not just a question of appetite, it is also a matter of resources in the broadest sense. Better facilities (a second room), different skills needed. I enjoyed playing and encouraging one of our new members last night, but as Andrew Zigmond acknowledged on a separate thread, this wouldn't happen on a night when there is competitive chess, and I didn't see others at the club showing similar encouragement to opponents - albeit that it may not have been sought.

Paul Cooksey
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Paul Cooksey » Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:36 pm

I suppose the part of that a DO could potentially help with is "different skills".

J T Melsom
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by J T Melsom » Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:49 pm

But the DO doesn't really have the time for that on a regular basis. An awful lot of the success of clubs is down to enthusiasm and force of personality from the volunteer base. Clubs can be advised of other approaches that might be taken, but I don't see too many people able to take up the challenge. I am always struck locally at how many clubs don't run internal events and look to the county to run league competitions for them because that's the only activity that they want to offer club members. Bit hard to go from that position to one which is welcoming to new members.

I would in passing note how relatively little activity there is on threads in this place about improving club nights. I'm not sure what this tells us about the enthusiasm to adopt best practice, but it might suggest we can do more to share it.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:51 pm

"The other obvious thing a Development Officer could do to justify their existence would be explain to parents and clubs what all the numerous junior organisations do and how to choose which one(s) to get involved with. The DO would need to be seen to be impartial, so that would probably rule out any existing junior organiser from being a DO."

Yes - I've had to gently explain to parents that winning an EPSCA or UK Chess Challenge event does not make you British Champion!

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Malcolm Pein's CEO manifesto

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:56 pm

Ian Thompson wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:53 am
The DO would need to be seen to be impartial, so that would probably rule out any existing junior organiser from being a DO.
I take your point.

Although as per my earlier posts, I was thinking that the only people to whom the job description/pay scale might appeal is folks already working within chess.

If we exclude those the pool of possible applicants gets even smaller.

J T Melsom wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:49 pm
An awful lot of the success of clubs is down to enthusiasm and force of personality from the volunteer base. Clubs can be advised of other approaches that might be taken, but I don't see too many people able to take up the challenge.
Absolutely agree on your first point - and I'm also sure you're right with regard to the second. I'm not at all sure that 'not knowing what to do' is the block to clubs transforming to something that they are not at the moment.