Strategic Planning Guidelines - The Irish Sports Council

Irish Sports Council strategy and policies
�
NGB Strategic Plans
�
Members’ and Clubs’ expectations
There is no need for the external analysis to be long or complex: a bullet point summary
of no more than about a dozen key points which the NGB should take on board is usually
adequate. One way of structuring them is under four headings in a “PEST” analysis:
• Political factors such as the government’s commitment to increasing participation in
sport by those who are disadvantaged for some reason, particularly young people, and
its desire for greater accountability in voluntary bodies
• Economic factors such as the potential sport offers to create employment or work
with tourism interests
• Social factors such as the changing role of work patterns or emerging health concerns
such as obesity in children
• Technological factors such as competition from computer games for children’s time
and the impact of the internet and e-mail on NGB administration
It can be useful to follow each bullet point in a PEST analysis by its implication for the
NGB: for example, one implication of changing work patterns is that there may be scope
to develop coaching courses for adult participants during normal working hours.
2B: Internal Analysis
The internal analysis, perhaps paradoxically, can be a lot more difficult; certainly it
should be wide-ranging and cover all the current work of the partners in the NGB. Again,
the analysis need not be long-winded and can be prepared in bullet point form. But it
must build up to a factually based, wholly objective and, if necessary, brutally frank
picture of the NGB.
Wherever possible, basic facts and figures should relate to the way in which the NGB is
structured. This will also allow the NGB to identify trends over time and benchmark its
performance against other NGBs. The main areas to review are described below.
18