I wanted to approach our AGM a little differently this year.
There are things we must and should always include. We’re bound by our Articles of Association and it’s an important part of our governance processes. There’s the business section, the votes, motions and resolutions.
And there’s always a powerful keynote presentation. Chris Frederick was an inspiring speaker this year in a thought-provoking question and answer session.
But what about our review of the year and Q&A with our Chair, President, Board and Senior Leadership Team? How did you feel these compared to previous years? This is where I hope things were a little different this year.
I wanted to stand on that stage in front of attendees and the cameras filming me for our online delegates, with my eyes and ears open and face reality. The AGM should be an opportunity for us to hear you – and to respond.
We haven’t always got things right. Or explained things very well. Or been as open and transparent as you’d like. We know BACP still faces challenges. I want to make space for those difficulties to be surfaced and for your questions to be addressed.
For me, the conversation between myself, our Chair Natalie Bailey, and President Lynne Gabriel, as we were put through our paces by questions from our Four Nations Lead Steve Mulligan, was a key part of this.
We were asked about topics such as our strategy, our role as professional body and statutory regulation. As your Association, we should be openly exploring those issues that are of greatest concern to you. These topics involve questions which aren’t always easy to answer. But I hope we were able to talk solidly about our motivations, priorities and purpose.
We have to acknowledge and address the challenges; not bury our heads in the sand. Whether they’re on SCoPEd, student placements, public protection or elsewhere.
An underlying question to all these concerns – as important as they are individually – is what is BACP’s fundamental role and purpose? Who are we? What is our role in this volatile and uncertain world? How have we shifted and evolved? And how can we continue to best serve our members?
That’s a conversation I think we need to have. And that conversation needs to be part of a new way of working. I hope those of you at the AGM saw us take that tentative first step towards that. I hope you saw that we opened conversations not closed them down, and faced questions head-on so that we can work with you, our members, and strengthen our relationships.
As I said, the AGM is an opportunity for this, but shouldn’t be the only opportunity. We should extend this new way of working across the year and it should be embedded in all we do. I plan to keep talking to you about this, and what we’re doing, and how you can be involved.
This isn’t just me waxing lyrical in my latest blog. I’m committed to this for BACP and determined to show the results of this commitment.
I’m excited to see how far we’ll have progressed on this by next year’s AGM and how much you’ll have noticed this shift throughout our conversations with you during the year.
And I hope we’ll all see how 2025’s version of the AGM will be even more different than this year’s and last year’s.
Watch the BACP AGM on-demand service.
See the answers to the questions we didn’t get time to answer at the AGM on our AGM 2024 member questions web page.
