I agree. The SCCU report helps to correct a few inaccuracies that I spotted earlier in this thread, and it's a pretty good summary as far as I can tell.Carl Hibbard wrote:As usual the SCCU reporting is excellent, see here:-
http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/bcf.htm
For obvious reasons, I have a particular interest in item (9): "Andrew Farthing, the new Strategic Planning Officer, would be responsible for the production of the Annual Business Plan, the Annual Achievement Report, and the Long Term Strategic Plan. He felt that the current Strategic Plan did not really set out a clear long term vision for the ECF and he would be talking to current and former Directors about what they felt the ECF would be seeking to achieve."
One of the points I made was that it wasn't clear to me from reading the current Long-Term Strategic Plan, exactly what the ECF's vision was for the desired future of English chess. (And please note - I said that it wasn't clear from the document; I am not saying that the vision isn't clear to others, just that it doesn't come across from the document.) I was given licence to speak to Board members so that I could understand how they would like English chess to look in (say) 5 and 10 years' time. I was also invited to speak to former directors.
It will not be my role to define the ECF vision and strategy, but I do have a responsibility to help the Board to define what they are trying to achieve and to evaluate the possible ways of getting there. My job is then to express this thinking as clearly as possible in the ECF's strategic planning documents. It would help me to have as many views as possible about how English chess and the ECF should develop, because this helps me to challenge the key parties to come up with the clearest possible vision.
I therefore invite contributors to this forum to offer their own thoughts on what they would like to see in terms of English chess in 10 years' time. This is not about personalities, nor is it about specific actions; it's about long-term goals, such as "a chess club in every school", "an English championship featuring at least 90% of the top 20 players" or "ongoing annual growth in graded players of 5%". These are just examples, not necessarily recommendations!
Constructive ideas only please. A strategic vision has to be something positive if it is to inspire action.
Andrew Farthing