Strategic Planning Guidelines - The Irish Sports Council

and as this is normally clear to customers they don’t waste their own or assistants’ time
asking for books, flowers or whatever. A department store, comparatively speaking, is a
management and customers’ nightmare. This is one reason why many department stores
have disappeared: they cannot compete effectively with tightly focused and more efficient
speciality shops.
“In everything we do, we will promote best practice.” More specifically:
• As sport has the potential to enrich the lives of everyone, no one should be
excluded from it on the grounds of gender, disability, religion, ethnic origin or
sexual orientation. In all our work, therefore, we will promote inclusiveness.
• We will be an open, honest and accountable organisation, which seeks to base its
decisions on objective evidence in preference to unsubstantiated opinions.
Core Values
We all believe in a number of core values or principles – the things we believe in - which
guide the way we live our lives. Unfortunately not everyone believes in exactly the same
things, which is of course one reason why we have political parties and arguments. The
research leading to the production of Targeting Sporting Change in Ireland generated
widespread agreement that the development of sport should encompass seven core
principles:
• A people centred focus
• Equality
• Partnership
• Quality
• Accountability
• Volunteerism
• Sustainability
• We will co-operate with and support other agencies and organisations that share
our desire to promote sport and through it a better quality of life.
”Building Sport for Life” The Irish Sports Council ‘s Strategy 2005-2008
To these must be added an ethical approach to sport – condemnation of drug abuse or
other forms of cheating and a concern to safeguard the welfare of children. These
principles, or core values, underpin the whole development of sport in Ireland. It is
desirable for NGBs also to summarise their core values clearly as this will help to define
the “organisational culture” within the NGB.
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