Each time I look through the profile book it impresses me how
unique a group the Fellows are. Although we work in a wide variety
of industries and roles, we all share a common perspective and
experience. We have also all participated in the vision of Lord
Sainsbury.
The Society has in essence two broad aims. Firstly to add value
to the UK and international economy by supporting the aims and
vision that Lord Sainsbury expressed in setting up and supporting
the scheme and associated bursaries that we have all benefited
from. Secondly, to add value to each individual Fellow by
organising and encouraging interaction, and otherwise supporting
our careers.
We are entering a period where the future form and role of the
society may well be decided. There are now almost 300 Fellows,
representing a considerable network of talent covering all major
sectors and functions, and many countries. The debate on what makes
us unique, what aims we should have and how we can realise them is
coming to a head.
Recently, a strategic review was initiated to better understand
what role the Society should or could fulfil. To further understand
the Fellows' profiles and their current views on the scheme we have
asked Hall Associates to undertake a telephone review. You will
therefore be contacted over the next few weeks and asked a range of
questions. At one end of the spectrum we can be a mere alumni
association, at the other, we can seek to positively influence
views and attitudes across commerce. We are interested in your
views on the Society's future role and how you would like to be
involved.
HR Pack
You will have found enclosed our publication Re-engineering the
Board to Manage Risk and Maximise Growth, or "HR Pack", targeted at
key HR decision makers. This pack was designed by our
Communications Group to challenge the view that accountancy and
legal training are the best qualifications for effective boardroom
directors, and to highlight the strengths of the engineering
mindset. Most of our outward communications to date have been via
Public Relations. The HR Pack is a deliberate break from this
approach and provides a more direct channel. If the evaluation of
this new approach is positive then we intend to look at additional
opportunities for new publications and forums for challenging views
and arguing for wider adoption of our values. Please give us your
feedback on this pack.
If you would like extra copies to circulate to your HR Directors
please let Cathy know.
Website & Improved Engagement
We will shortly be launching a new website and interaction
platform. Many of you will already be members of the SMF group on
LinkedIn but this new website has vastly increased functionality
and a new social engine to allow for private communications between
Fellows.
As Fellows are geographically dispersed, the website is also
intended to provide a material forum for useful interaction on a
variety of initiatives irrespective of geographic location.
How we support each other and add value as a community will no
doubt dictate the future success of the Society. We hope that the
website will enable a higher degree of interaction and engagement
by delivering value to every Fellow that uses it.
Funding
As you know, the SMF bursaries are funded by Lord Sainsbury via
his Gatsby Charitable Foundation. However, the Society itself has
been funded to date almost entirely by Lord Sainsbury's private
funds. Whilst we have been informed that the future of the scheme
continues to be assured, and all recent feedback on our performance
has been most positive, we have also been asked to take a hard look
at whether there is a point at which the scheme becomes self
funding.
We are currently reviewing whether to incorporate the Society
and establish a registered charity to further pursue this question.
A key benefit of this incorporation would be a tax efficient
vehicle for those Fellows who have expressed an interest in
investing back in to the scheme.
We also collect annual subscriptions from the Fellows. These
subscriptions go directly to supporting the Society's aims. They
are not a 'social fee' but, rather, they underline the identity and
activities of the Society and point to the responsibilities of the
individual recipient of the award. We continue to ask for your
support in collecting these fees.
Mentoring & Other Activities
An outstanding success of last year was the launch of the
mentoring scheme. Fellows have been partnered with mentors at the
very highest levels of UK PLC. We intend to look not only at how we
can extend the scheme in size, but also how to access new key
sectors of Fellow involvement such as Finance and
Entrepreneurship.
We also launched the successful Energy Roundtable. This is a
forum - currently physical but soon also to be online too - to
exchange latest ideas between those with a role or interest in the
Energy arena. We would like to have additional roundtables in areas
of key importance to the economy such as Finance and Manufacturing.
Please let Cathy know if you would like to be involved in this.
Other activities where our involvement continues include
supporting the next generation through the RAEng's BEST Programme
and the Engineering Leadership Award scheme. If you feel you now
have the time and would like to become further involved please do
not hesitate to contact Cathy or myself.
There is no easy way to measure the sphere of influence that the
Fellows have. However, by rising to the challenges we are set, and
increasing our ability to collaborate, we can exert a positive
influence of a disproportionate magnitude to our size.
Lastly, I would like to warmly thank outgoing President Ernie
Poku for all of his hard work, initiatives, and achievements during
his term of office.
