It’s a great honour to have been selected to be the Regional Chairman and I’m busy now getting on with the challenge.
I will be making a point of getting out to branches during the year and seeing how branches are engaging with members and delivering events and activities. I’m keen to explore three main topics of interest during my Chairmanship, the thing that springs to mind with is is the three “p”s.
The first of these is promoting the “best Practice” of branches and promulgating these across the region. Although members are able to go to any event they want to, regardless of which branch they are members of, I’ll be looking to explore which events and programmes really work well and whether they can be run by all or most of the branches to improve the value to members across the region. We will also be working more closely with the London branches to make these more coordinated with our region as I know many of you are in London during the working day. London acts a focal point for us and is an easy place to travel to.
The second strand is one of improving our impact on Policy matters. The present government has moved activities from a regional to a more “local” level. Although we could argue that some of the “local” levels are almost the same size as some old regions and that Westminster still has a big hold on things. We will be comparing what branches are doing on the local policy front and encouraging engagement and also looking at what impact we can make if we work more closely together. We all know that the South has major issues with things like infrastructure, affordable housing and skills so we will be looking to make an impact in those and other areas.
The final area we will be working on is to “Punch our weight” with major stakeholders in a more joined up way. This may either be to obtain sponsorship for events across the region, promote regional/national initiatives that will benefit members or do more “combination” activities where branches work together. To me the IoD is about promoting the best standards in leadership to its members. We can do this at branch level by providing events and programmes that provide information or learning experiences that encourage a development of leadership skills and entrepreneurship.
It’s a hugely and enjoyable role to have and I’m enjoying working with the branch Chairman across the region to see how we can make a difference and help businesses of all sizes thrive and grow.
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