5.1 Strategic Planning and National Governing Bodies

03 Apr 2009


Introduction

The basic concepts of strategic planning are:

  • Decide what you want to achieve - your mission and related goals
  • Agree the rules of the game - your principles or core values
  • Set measurable objectives which will contribute to the achievement of your mission and goals
  • Decide how to go about delivering the objectives - your tactics or action plan
  • Communicate the proposed mission, goals, objectives and action plan to everyone who needs to know them
  • Review and change the action plan as necessary to ensure it delivers the aims and objectives as effectively as possible


Strategic planning for all NGBs will follow the same broad approach. It's a process based on relevant information and common sense, and does not require specialist expertise.


There are three types of sports organisation:

  • Those that wonder what is happening
  • Those that watch what is happening
  • Those that make things happen

 

Australian Sports Commission, Planning in Sport

At the outset, approaching the preparation of a strategic plan can seem a pretty daunting task. It's easy to gather a mass of information - but difficult to use that information in a constructive way to produce a clear and simple plan. It's easy to think that many of the problems faced by NGBs are outside their control - but difficult to find ways of taking greater charge of their own destiny.

These guidelines are designed to help NGBs through the process to produce a viable programme of work that is supported by all involved in the organisation. Put simply, the purpose of this guide is to help. However, as each NGB will operate in a different arena and with a different set of priorities there is a need to adapt them to each NGB's own circumstances.

Each NGB should seek to find a method, format and outcomes, which suit its own particular needs and stage of development. The NGBs should also take the opportunity to discuss the development of their planning process with Sport Ireland at regular intervals.

 


Why Do NGBs Need a Strategic Plan?

The main reason NGBs need a strategic plan, is to help them become effective so they can provide real leadership and co-ordination for sport in their area.

Sport in Ireland is changing rapidly and set to change a lot more over the next decade. Future changes cannot always be foreseen and because of this some agencies, groups or individuals might question the sanity of spending time looking for a vision for the NGB in the long term. NGBs can look at examples from other sectors and see that organisations that have not planned who have ended up "fire-fighting" and never getting on with their core business. That is why NGBs should have a strategic plan to help them concentrate on the long term interest of their sport rather than have to react continually to things over which they have no control. If the NGB does not provide the leadership, which is needed, their sport will suffer. Moreover, implementing the plan will direct the work of the NGB and its executive.

There will always be a limit on the amount of cash and resources available to the NGB to do all the things they would like to be able to do. The NGB should use its strategic plan as a "window display" for the work that it will carry out and so the plan should assist in attracting resources from partners or sponsors at local level. Strategic planning identifies those things, which will deliver desirable long-term results most effectively. There's an old maxim - usually referred to as either the Law of Diminishing Returns or Pareto's Law - that 20% of the effort generates 80% of the results in any organisation. Conversely, 80% of the effort generates 20% of the results. Effective strategic planning aims to identify and concentrate on the 20% effort and 80% results, not the other way round. This is the very reason that Sport Ireland has chosen to spend its funding on creating NGBs to facilitate and co-ordinate the efforts of those involved in sport at local level.

NGBs are not alone in having to make do with inadequate resources. Almost every organisation has a limit on resources available to them, including Sport Ireland! To counteract any shortfall, strong partnerships are needed. So the fourth reason for having a strategic plan is to build effective partnerships. An effective partnership is one in which each partner achieves more than would have been possible alone. However, partnerships are easiest to form when each partner has clear objectives and short and medium term priorities. It follows that NGBs wishing to work in partnership will have to know exactly what they want to achieve for their own areas of operation and the resources they will have available. There may even be instances where different NGBs can work in partnership to achieve goals common to both.


Sport Ireland does not so much want as need NGBs to have effective strategic plans for the following reasons:

  • To maximise the impact of all the work done by local clubs/organisations over the years in order to build an effective support infrastructure for Irish sport at national level.
  • NGBs are key partners in the job of breaking down barriers and increasing participation in sport, not only the number of people but also their continued participation throughout their lives. This can only be achieved by Sport Ireland working in partnership with NGBs. Sport Ireland needs NGBs to be strong, dynamic, strategic organisations providing leadership to and enjoying widespread support from their target groups and members.
  • Sport Ireland is accountable to government for the use of state funding allocated to sport. In order to be able to make the case for more funding for sport it will have to be able to demonstrate that both it and its partners are effective. That can only be done when there is clarity in what Sport Ireland and NGBs are trying to achieve and how the impact of their work can be measured.
  • It needs to concentrate its limited resources on delivering the objectives set for it by government and its own policy priorities. Therefore it needs to know how and what NGBs plan to deliver and the support they will need.

 

"There ain't no such things as a free lunch" (Crane's Law) - Arthur Bloch, The Complete Murphy's Laws: A Definitive Collection

It follows from this that NGBs preparing a strategic plan do not start with a completely blank sheet of paper. Instead, from the start they should seek to develop their partnership with Sport Ireland and promote mutual understanding of missions, goals, responsibilities, resources and strengths. Each NGB's strategic plan should respond to the needs of its own area but also take into account Sport Ireland policies particularly those relating to participation, inclusion and specific target groups. Sport Ireland's role is to work with NGBs in order to make sustainable differences to Irish sport. It is the role of the NGBs to demonstrate that they are delivering results in an effective manner. This means that their strategic plans must set out clearly what they plan to achieve, how, when and at what cost.

"The best way to anticipate the future is to invent it" - Rosabeth May Kanter, When Giants Learn to Dance

 


What Should NGBs Expect Their Strategic Plan to Deliver?

Ultimately, NGBs' strategic plans should deliver results. Those results must reflect and relate to Government and Sport Ireland policies and priorities but should not be based only on them. They should also take into account the policies and strategies of other agencies both national and local. A key strategy to be borne in mind will be the 3-year strategy of Sport Ireland. NGBs should also be aware of central government policies in relation to target groups in their areas. It follows that the NGB's strategic plan must deliver:

  • A vision and mission based on consensus, shared values and agreed priorities - a clearly defined purpose, expressed in a way that all those involved in the NGB understand and wholeheartedly support
  • A clear statement of realistic objectives with achievable outcomes and how they will be delivered and measured - in other words, an action plan with clear targets
  • Long term sustainability: all programmes developed and provided through the NGB should be sustainable and in line with the long-term plans for the sport.

If the implementation of a strategic plan delivers results there will be a need to review and amend it from time to time to reflect changing circumstances and build on success. If it doesn't, there will be an even more obvious need to review it. This means that strategic planning is:

  • A dynamic, ongoing and systematic process which is never "finished"
  • A way of building consensus and shared ownership on what constitutes a "desirable future" and how to achieve it, giving real purpose to the partnership
  • A working tool to focus on outcomes over a defined period, using hard facts wherever possible
  • A way of building effective interaction with other bodies

And is not:

  • Needed purely to get funding and therefore determined almost completely by the policies, requirements or assumed expectations of funding bodies
  • An occasional burst of activity
  • An unrealistic wish list for some time in the future
  • Restrictive - it can be changed to suit changing circumstances
  • A panacea for all problems
  • Good in theory but useless in practice
  • Something which takes forever
  • A large book, which sits on a shelf or in a drawer

The best plans are short and simple - most people cannot be bothered to read long, involved documents - and implemented.

 


When Should NGBs Discuss their Strategic Plan with Sport Ireland?

NGBs should keep Sport Ireland apprised of progress at each stage of the strategic planning process. The NGBs are a key delivery mechanism identified in the Sport Ireland Strategy. As a result, it is important that their strategies are informed of new developments at national level. Therefore, Sport Ireland and NGBs should be in regular contact at all stages in the planning process.

Each NGB will decide on how it wants to proceed with its strategic planning. However, in terms of progressing in line with Government and Sport Ireland policy priorities and in the context of the need to create real working partnerships, NGBs should contact Sport Ireland:

  1. Before the start of the process: at this point Sport Ireland will ensure that the NGB is fully aware of the Government and Sport Ireland policy. This is the context in which the plan will be set and should be kept in mind throughout the strategic planning process.
  2. Each NGB should be aware of the priorities for its member organisations and should familiarise itself with their plans and objectives.
  3. In the course of development: perhaps after the first draft to discuss "without prejudice" progress made, so that the NGB gets as much advice as possible from Sport Ireland perspective. These discussions should provide NGBs with the opportunity to present how it sees itself developing. In turn, this will help to create an effective working relationship between Sport Ireland and the NGB as the NGB adopts and works to deliver on targets set out in its plan. It is important for the NGB to engage in on-going consultation and discussion with its partners and the local community. There should also be special dedicated efforts to facilitate the input of marginalized and disadvantaged groups.
  4. At the time of submitting its application for core and challenge funding the strategic planning process will have helped NGBs to focus on goals, targets and evaluation systems. Coupled with the work carried out in the planning process, NGBs should have clear expectations of the level of Sport Ireland support for their plans. They should also include the levels of input required from partners to ensure the plan can be implemented.