Discussion: IOF Strategic Directions 2012-2018
in: Orienteering; General
Nov 17, 2011 2:13 PM
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IOF sent out IOF Strategic Directions 2012-2018 and explanatory notes.
I am opening this thread because operational strength of IOF is one of the weakest points AFAIR. With so high goals we need to be realistic about what IOF Council and commissions officials (volunteers) are able and willing to do. I think that IOF administration should have bigger role here.
GENERAL
It is one step further and I like the transparency of the document and how key goals and strategic initiatives should be set up. In general I agree with the need to produce these documents, although we should agree also what kind of additional documents (data, analysis, indicators, activity plan and reports) should be produced along the way. We need also to go in details if we want to make a circle (strategy-planning-implementation-follow up) at the end of the period.
Implementation list of general activities and indicators (2012-2018) of success for the proposed KEY GOALS and STRATEGIC INITIATIVES should be also presented otherwise nobody would know how to evaluate what we will really achieve at the end of the period. With intermediate reports prepared by IOF we should get information what is going on in more details which will be good information how to correct activity plan for next 2 years. I don't think that this is federation’s task to comment or should do that.
As I understand the process is that we need first to confirm Strategic Directions and then we will talk about how to reach these goals. >> With strategic initiatives we already set a goal so we could also look what these goals are and decide what would be a success and what a failure!
PROPOSALS
1. One of my thoughts was that today VISION drive us only to the subordinate KEY goal and nothing more. Will we get new VISION when we would be one day (maybe) accepted into Olympic family? I think that VISION should be more than that and should be one for all times. In my opinion and knowledge Vision is something that you wanna be and not something that you want to achieve/become! It is not about the process it is about how we see orienteering.
It is a though one to work with the words but I will try.
The vision of the IOF is that orienteering is Olympic sport and it is practiced by all age categories in all countries around the world.
Do you want to add/change/suggest/miss any other proposals?
I am opening this thread because operational strength of IOF is one of the weakest points AFAIR. With so high goals we need to be realistic about what IOF Council and commissions officials (volunteers) are able and willing to do. I think that IOF administration should have bigger role here.
GENERAL
It is one step further and I like the transparency of the document and how key goals and strategic initiatives should be set up. In general I agree with the need to produce these documents, although we should agree also what kind of additional documents (data, analysis, indicators, activity plan and reports) should be produced along the way. We need also to go in details if we want to make a circle (strategy-planning-implementation-follow up) at the end of the period.
Implementation list of general activities and indicators (2012-2018) of success for the proposed KEY GOALS and STRATEGIC INITIATIVES should be also presented otherwise nobody would know how to evaluate what we will really achieve at the end of the period. With intermediate reports prepared by IOF we should get information what is going on in more details which will be good information how to correct activity plan for next 2 years. I don't think that this is federation’s task to comment or should do that.
As I understand the process is that we need first to confirm Strategic Directions and then we will talk about how to reach these goals. >> With strategic initiatives we already set a goal so we could also look what these goals are and decide what would be a success and what a failure!
PROPOSALS
1. One of my thoughts was that today VISION drive us only to the subordinate KEY goal and nothing more. Will we get new VISION when we would be one day (maybe) accepted into Olympic family? I think that VISION should be more than that and should be one for all times. In my opinion and knowledge Vision is something that you wanna be and not something that you want to achieve/become! It is not about the process it is about how we see orienteering.
It is a though one to work with the words but I will try.
The vision of the IOF is that orienteering is Olympic sport and it is practiced by all age categories in all countries around the world.
Do you want to add/change/suggest/miss any other proposals?
Nov 17, 2011 3:52 PM
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VISION 2006-2012
Orienteering is recognised as a truly global sport, attractive to all,
having presence and credibility on the world sporting stage;
included in the Olympic Summer and Winter Games.
VISION 2012-2018
The vision of the IOF is that orienteering is included in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Orienteering is recognised as a truly global sport, attractive to all,
having presence and credibility on the world sporting stage;
included in the Olympic Summer and Winter Games.
VISION 2012-2018
The vision of the IOF is that orienteering is included in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Nov 18, 2011 12:33 AM
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So, no big surprises. We still want to be in the olympic games. Changes from six years ago seem to be mostly that IOF has realised many of the leading orienteering nations have an ageing member base.
They also seem to be paving the way for a split sprint/forest WOC by proclaiming they will "increase external income" instead of living off the WOC-organisers work. I guess the idea is to hire a marketing genius who will find all that money that is just waiting to be invested in a visible and attractive sport.
They also seem to be paving the way for a split sprint/forest WOC by proclaiming they will "increase external income" instead of living off the WOC-organisers work. I guess the idea is to hire a marketing genius who will find all that money that is just waiting to be invested in a visible and attractive sport.
Nov 18, 2011 12:51 PM
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Eriol, but ideas behind the documents are in the right directions. Otherwise I agree with what you said: “living off the WOC-organisers work...hire a marketing genius who will find all that money...”. There is no short cuts to the Olympic Games!
Nov 18, 2011 1:02 PM
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As I know that these kind of open discussions are not very good accepted I will try to make only one example in the next days based on this explanation. It would be interesting to know how many people see this approach useful.
I don’t want to be critical more than it should be. First, exposing the illogical solutions. Second, I will try to present what should be done differently and what could be a strategically flaws in this process. Third, if we really want to have an OLYMPIC GOAL in our VISION we need to work on this document with all our strength, confidence and mutual respect that we have. IOF should understand that helping to grow under development members can’t be just a strategic wish.
Hard work is not to write down the Strategic directions, hard work is to work on them. As only a few people are really interested in these documents it is easier to write something and say: Look this is our destiny. Nobody really care about this as we all have 101 other problems. IOF just need to be seen as a high goal oriented federation (I agree with that).
But when we speak about ourselves, about our wishes in our small rooms about our small sport we need to be fair and present all arguments to each other. For me only data and results counts and only this is worth to analyze. How many wishes from 2006-12 document are already in the basket or were to general that we could see the difference between the 2006 (starting position) and 2012 (achievements).
That is why we just need to know more about how&why these ideas should be achieved and what the desirable outcomes are. I think that we can’t use just “Degree of fulfilment” as a measure how good we are in fulfilment of the activities and how we run the process. We need to make more measurable indicators but this is a different approach than IOF uses today. It would need courage to face not only with how to run the process but also with the potential worse results than we are hoping to achieve.
I will be surprised if IOF takes this direction. In bureaucratic correspondence with IOF everybody will be more polite (as they should be) but I don’t think that enthusiasm is high enough among IOF members to say that Council should make better overall proposal before they are asking for feedback. Document as I see it is done on half way and I am a little disappointed that IOF is trying to convince me that is good enough. I can survive without analysis but with any future indicators and template reports I can’t. It is not just a trivial task to write the IOF strategy and hope for best.
We all know that IOF should write down higher expectations than we could achieve in reality, so nobody will be angry on officials if they can’t bring orienteering closer to the media, sponsors and to IOC if this will not be possible with any kind of hard effort and by any means.
But I suppose that o-community want to see action and realistic picture about where we are now and how big is the gap to the goals we are aiming to? What are the funds that we need to have it if we want to start these activities? Above all, we also want to see / trust that IOF is able to do the right move at the right time.
Personally I would like to see goals with more phases so everybody could understand what has been really done in last period, which activities were a success, what is the result of this success and what is the status (starting point) for each activity for next period.
I could easily say I am supporting this key goal: Orienteering shall be a truly global sport but what kind of feedback from 2006-2012 report/analysis IOF can give me. I know what the general answer is but I would like to know the details for ongoing activities if they want to have my support for next period.
Too long, I know but use this text more like a guiding principles (in IOF terms) for the continuing exchange of views in this thread.
I don’t want to be critical more than it should be. First, exposing the illogical solutions. Second, I will try to present what should be done differently and what could be a strategically flaws in this process. Third, if we really want to have an OLYMPIC GOAL in our VISION we need to work on this document with all our strength, confidence and mutual respect that we have. IOF should understand that helping to grow under development members can’t be just a strategic wish.
Hard work is not to write down the Strategic directions, hard work is to work on them. As only a few people are really interested in these documents it is easier to write something and say: Look this is our destiny. Nobody really care about this as we all have 101 other problems. IOF just need to be seen as a high goal oriented federation (I agree with that).
But when we speak about ourselves, about our wishes in our small rooms about our small sport we need to be fair and present all arguments to each other. For me only data and results counts and only this is worth to analyze. How many wishes from 2006-12 document are already in the basket or were to general that we could see the difference between the 2006 (starting position) and 2012 (achievements).
That is why we just need to know more about how&why these ideas should be achieved and what the desirable outcomes are. I think that we can’t use just “Degree of fulfilment” as a measure how good we are in fulfilment of the activities and how we run the process. We need to make more measurable indicators but this is a different approach than IOF uses today. It would need courage to face not only with how to run the process but also with the potential worse results than we are hoping to achieve.
I will be surprised if IOF takes this direction. In bureaucratic correspondence with IOF everybody will be more polite (as they should be) but I don’t think that enthusiasm is high enough among IOF members to say that Council should make better overall proposal before they are asking for feedback. Document as I see it is done on half way and I am a little disappointed that IOF is trying to convince me that is good enough. I can survive without analysis but with any future indicators and template reports I can’t. It is not just a trivial task to write the IOF strategy and hope for best.
We all know that IOF should write down higher expectations than we could achieve in reality, so nobody will be angry on officials if they can’t bring orienteering closer to the media, sponsors and to IOC if this will not be possible with any kind of hard effort and by any means.
But I suppose that o-community want to see action and realistic picture about where we are now and how big is the gap to the goals we are aiming to? What are the funds that we need to have it if we want to start these activities? Above all, we also want to see / trust that IOF is able to do the right move at the right time.
Personally I would like to see goals with more phases so everybody could understand what has been really done in last period, which activities were a success, what is the result of this success and what is the status (starting point) for each activity for next period.
I could easily say I am supporting this key goal: Orienteering shall be a truly global sport but what kind of feedback from 2006-2012 report/analysis IOF can give me. I know what the general answer is but I would like to know the details for ongoing activities if they want to have my support for next period.
Too long, I know but use this text more like a guiding principles (in IOF terms) for the continuing exchange of views in this thread.
Nov 22, 2011 10:13 AM
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Here is one practical example.
To my knowledge this approach should give us better insight of which outcomes we will really achieve at the end of the period. Also level of fulfilment for each goal can be measure in more details. This is how I see measurable indicators and list of measurable activities. This is the whole package which might be good for future strategy-planning-activity plan-follow up.
From Strategic Directions document
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KEY GOAL: Orienteering shall be a truly global sport
SUBORDINATE GOAL: Being included in international multi-sport games
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE: Strengthen the IOF's position on the world sporting stage
KEY OUTCOMES (one form five): Seek inclusion in further multisport games
EXPLENATORY NOTES (Explanation important for selected key and subordinate goal)
A further dimension of a truly global sport is its presence in multi-sport games. IOC representatives attend such games for all age groups, and this is where they see sports that are not yet on the Olympic programme.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subordinate goal and Key outcome (Seek inclusion in further multisport games) are the same thing. They are presented as measurable indicator but they are written in too general form and are not defined as it should have been.
Key outcome: Pan-American games, Mediterranean games, Commonwealth games, International children's Games, etc
Measurable activities: Preparation, legal and communication phase. Just to name a few activities for each phase.
Preparation phase:
Did we make Analysis of what are the minimum conditions (finance, legal) to become part of the games?
What we should do/change to fulfill these obligations?
What are legal constraints?
What could we learn from other sports which were accepted in last two decades?
Do we have support from IOF members for this action?
How will potential inclusion affect our Elite event structure (WOC, RC)?
What kind of disciplines we want to see on these Games?
Do we need U23 or other definition of classes?
How will participation on these games help athletes to become more professional?
Can IOF members’ aspect to get better financial support from NOC and government for trainings and national high performance projects?
How much resources do we need (human, financial) for working on this and what are financial requirements for sports included into the Games?
Legal phase:
Did we make any formal presentation/meetings with the officials of the formal governing body?
What is formal procedure and what is the first expected date that we could apply for inclusion?
Did we invite officials to see the sport at our world/WG games?
Communication phase:
What kind of information we should start to gather?
What kind of reports we should start to prepare?
How much PR we need in these process?
What are our media canals to present our sport?
Do we need to organize WOC, WC in these countries before?
To my knowledge this approach should give us better insight of which outcomes we will really achieve at the end of the period. Also level of fulfilment for each goal can be measure in more details. This is how I see measurable indicators and list of measurable activities. This is the whole package which might be good for future strategy-planning-activity plan-follow up.
From Strategic Directions document
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KEY GOAL: Orienteering shall be a truly global sport
SUBORDINATE GOAL: Being included in international multi-sport games
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE: Strengthen the IOF's position on the world sporting stage
KEY OUTCOMES (one form five): Seek inclusion in further multisport games
EXPLENATORY NOTES (Explanation important for selected key and subordinate goal)
A further dimension of a truly global sport is its presence in multi-sport games. IOC representatives attend such games for all age groups, and this is where they see sports that are not yet on the Olympic programme.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subordinate goal and Key outcome (Seek inclusion in further multisport games) are the same thing. They are presented as measurable indicator but they are written in too general form and are not defined as it should have been.
Key outcome: Pan-American games, Mediterranean games, Commonwealth games, International children's Games, etc
Measurable activities: Preparation, legal and communication phase. Just to name a few activities for each phase.
Preparation phase:
Did we make Analysis of what are the minimum conditions (finance, legal) to become part of the games?
What we should do/change to fulfill these obligations?
What are legal constraints?
What could we learn from other sports which were accepted in last two decades?
Do we have support from IOF members for this action?
How will potential inclusion affect our Elite event structure (WOC, RC)?
What kind of disciplines we want to see on these Games?
Do we need U23 or other definition of classes?
How will participation on these games help athletes to become more professional?
Can IOF members’ aspect to get better financial support from NOC and government for trainings and national high performance projects?
How much resources do we need (human, financial) for working on this and what are financial requirements for sports included into the Games?
Legal phase:
Did we make any formal presentation/meetings with the officials of the formal governing body?
What is formal procedure and what is the first expected date that we could apply for inclusion?
Did we invite officials to see the sport at our world/WG games?
Communication phase:
What kind of information we should start to gather?
What kind of reports we should start to prepare?
How much PR we need in these process?
What are our media canals to present our sport?
Do we need to organize WOC, WC in these countries before?
This discussion thread is closed.