Dear friends and professional colleagues,
I hope I find you all fit and well as I start to pen my ninth president’s page. I trust you all enjoyed the Christmas break with your loved ones and all of the over-indulgence and festivities.
I’ve got to say I love Christmas and New Year with friends and family, but it was great to get back to normality on 3 January and the festive season now seems a distant memory…
I attended two events in December as your President. The first was the Scottish Region AGM. Past President and Northern Region Chairman, George Armstrong, and I accompanied each other and drove up to Glasgow on the afternoon of 7 December; George and I travel to many ABE events together and always take the opportunity to chat and catch up on all sorts of current issues affecting our industry. For someone who’s been retired from his day job for some time now, George still manages to keep his finger onthe industry pulse and I must take this opportunity to acknowledge and recognise his never-ending commitment to the Association and the Northern Region in particular. I know many other past ABE Presidents also give vast amounts of their time and wealth of knowledge and experience to the Association, not least of which are our Honorary Officers, David Smith and Arwel Griffith. The support, commitment and advice of all past presidents are welcomed and much appreciated, not least by yours truly in my presidential year.
Our Association CEO, John Hooper, also joined us to attend the AGM with George and me. The event was at the usual wonderful venue in the centre of Glasgow, namely the Council City Chambers, which was opened in 1888 by Queen Victoria. The stone building is magnificent with seven different types of marble used in the construction along with endless ornate and decorated plasterwork and oak panelling.
Past IMBM President and Scottish Region Chairman, Ian McPherson, Secretary, Arthur Watt, Treasurer, Stewart McArthur, and other Scottish region members gave us a warm and hearty welcome. Ian even managed to give me the honour of a brief tour of the building and introduced me to Bob Winter, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, who happened to be in a meeting in an adjacent room.
The formal AGM took place at the appointed time; and was followed by an open and interesting session where John Hooper and I took questions from attendees and gave an update of where the Association has come from, where we are now; and where we’d like to be in five years’ time and future aspirations.
The second event I attended was the Association’s Quarterly Business Review (QBR) meeting at our HQ in Northampton on 13 December. John Humphries, our Senior Vice-President, also attended. The purpose of the day was threefold:
1. For members of the Association’s Executive management team (comprised of at least two of the Immediate Past President, two Vice-Presidents, and the President as reserve) to sit in on the QBR to enable us as Directors of the Association to get a better feel for how the strategic objectives of the Association are being delivered through activities at HQ; and to give our advice and support when applicable.
2. For members of the Association’s Executive management team to review and discuss the CEO’s performance; again giving advice and our support where applicable.
3. Finally to have lunch with the staff and thank them all for their hard work and the great job they’ve done in
what’s been a challenging year for our industry. We also wished all of the HQ team the very best for Christmas and the New Year.
John Humphries and I found the format of the QBR to be excellent with the CEO, John Hooper, opening the event with some information and an overview on where the Association is now, and what lies ahead over the short to medium term. John also explained in simple terms about the change management process as we progress and move the Association forward, and how it impacts on people.
Each team within the Association then presented their own information in a standard QBR format of what:
- they said they would do over the preceding three months
- they actually did over the preceding three months
- they didn’t do over the preceding three months that they said they would and why
- other activities came up and took priority over the preceding three months and why
- they plan to do over the coming three months.
All of the activites that are undertaken can be linked back to the strategy and objectives determined by Council and to the Business Plan developed for the ABE by the Executive Team.
This format was simple and easy to follow for us and I hope our presence was welcomed, and we didn’t unnerve any of the presenters. Speaking in front of people does not come easily for some, but, on behalf of John and me, we thank you all for a great job.
January is a very busy month as I am attending a further eight regional AGMs in the UK and Ireland. I look forward to good member attendance and the opportunity of meeting as many of you as possible. I am also preparing for our Annual General Meeting on 4 February, which will include not only the results of the elections to Council, but also the conclusion of the members’ vote on the Special Resolutions in
relation to the Articles of the Association.
Kind regards to you all,
Colin
February 2012
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