Welcomes
The President welcomed Bowman Bradley, Vice-Chair of IMechE Council, and Michael Hirst, representative of the Young Members’ Board. Welcome was also extended to Alex Bond, Chair of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Assessment Committee and staff-lead Karen Bayless for the item concerning ‘CPD Application of Sanctions’, and to Zoe Holland for the Diversity & Inclusion item.
Inclusion moment
Roy Allan presented this meeting’s D&I moment – a short film entitled ‘Lads, lads, lads.’ (available on YouTube).
The key strategic items for discussion in this meeting were the development of the Institution’s strategy, the future plans for the Birdcage Walk buildings, and various aspects of our qualifications activities.
Financial performance
The overall financial performance for 2021 was presented in the form of the 3-box model which indicated good financial progress during 2021. Of course, the results are subject to audit. The formal audit by BDO is starting earlier this year on 14 February.
Membership numbers
The year-end report showed that there were 67,037 in paying grades at the end of 2021 versus a target of 66,624; and 111,880 members in total versus a target of 113,282.
Strategy Committee
Giles Hartill presented an update of the work of the Strategy Committee. There are three workgroups developing policy in the areas of: Digital, Membership, and Impact. Work on these topics, plus widespread communication, will be the priority for the period between now and August with the results being presented to the September Trustee Board meeting. The Board supported this proposed programme. It was also confirmed that the strategic focus on ‘maximising the impact of our members to promote engineering….’ Was, amongst other things, intended to enhance the general standing of the Institution and the profession.
CPD - Application of Sanctions
Matt Garside and Alex Bond presented this paper for approval. The paper describes how the IMechE will apply the Code of Conduct requirements for CPD, removing the Membership of professionally active members when they persistently do not comply with requests for CPD records. Professionally inactive will be exempt.
Review of Royal Charter and By-Laws (RC&BL)
The work to finalise the Trustee Board Regulations brought into focus the fact that the current RC&BL have undergone, over the years, successive iterations which have left them in a less-than-ideal state. Updating them, whilst highly desirable, is a significant piece of work requiring careful planning. In a paper presented by Peter Flinn, the proposal was made to undertake a scoping study which would define the details of a full review of the RC&BL. Bridget Eickhoff will lead what will be a 3 – 4-month study with a team comprising David Nowell, Sylvain Jamais, Maria Powell, and a Young Member. The proposal was accepted noting that the intention is not to change the governance arrangements of the Institution, per se, but to clarify the documentation that describes them.
Qualifications & Membership Board (QMB) Report for 2H2021
QMB provided their second report for 2021 covering the latter half of the year. The main achievement, which was crucial to the Institution’s work, was the completion of the Engineering Council licence review and the integration of new requirements into the Institution’s registration processes. The current emphasis in QMB is in developing a common understanding of each board member’s roles, plus five other objectives that have been defined for 2022. QMB members would also like to contribute more to change initiatives within IMechE but are finding it difficult to do so.
RESG Birdcage Walk Refurbishment Programme
The indicative poll of members ran for a 2-week period finishing on 4th February with over 10,000 taking part. Based around the points allocation system used in this survey, the results showed a preference (just under 60% of the points) for retaining Birdcage Walk as the Institution’s HQ building. Most of the remaining 40% were allocated to moving elsewhere but a small percentage favoured a wholly-virtual Institution. In terms of next steps, given that the retention of Birdcage Walk is the only option likely to achieve 2/3 of the votes, the Board agreed that we should proceed to a Special Meeting where a resolution would be presented to propose granting a lease on 3 Birdcage Walk and using the proceeds to refurbish 1 Birdcage Walk.
Diversity & Inclusion Programme
Zoe Holland presented a comprehensive review of the D&I education programme that has been running since the autumn of 2021. Two cohorts have been involved – the early adopters and the first group – comprising about 70 people. Groups 2 and 3 will run from March and September respectively. Feedback from participants has been very positive and the overall conclusion is that the work represents a comprehensive and modern organisational development programme which we should continue to support.
Investors in People (IIP)
Bims Alalade reported that the Institution first achieved IIP recognition in 1999, and had just received Gold status in the latest assessment. In congratulating her and the staff on this excellent achievement, it was noted that the assessors complimented us on the motivation provided by managers, the plans for the future, the embracing of change and the trust in the leadership. An area for potential improvement could be that of ‘recognition’. There is the potential to move to Platinum status and there is also the possibility of pursuing Investors in Volunteers.
Feedback
I hope you find the above to be of interest and your feedback is always welcome. You can contact me at president@imeche.org
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Peter Flinn MA MBA CEng FIMechE
President
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