CIPR Council Meeting Minutes – 24 February 2011 Public Relations Centre, 52-‐53 Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HP Present: Adrian Anne Anthony Caroline Catherine Dave Deborah Elspeth Gill Imelda
Wheeler Gregory Henderson Cecil Worboys Sanders Copeland Graham Dandy Topping
Jane Jay Jenifer Jo John Julio Keith
Wilson O’Connor Stirton McCarthy Brown Romo Johnston
Liam Lyndsey Matt Matthew
Fitzpatrick Whiteside McKay Francis
Natasha Paul Paul Phil Richard Rob Sally Sean
Tobin Mylrea Wynne Morgan Andrews Brown Keith Trainor
Stephen Steve
Waddington Falla
Stuart Sue
Ross Wolstenholme
Apologies received: Bernard Carey Caroline Binnie David J. Crundwell Iain Anderson Justin Wilkes Matt Appleby Matt Stalker Mark Douglas Miti Ampoma Pamela Mounter Quentin Langley Rachael Paddick Ross Williamson Sally Sykes Sarah Hall Sarah Pinch Tony Halmos Tracy Playle Val Bodden
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1. Introduction by Paul Mylrea Apologies were noted. Paul Mylrea started by going through the agenda items before Council members went around introducing themselves. Paul then reminded new members of signing NDA and Declaration of Interest documents. Paul also thanked Jay O’Connor for guiding the CIPR through a difficult year in 2010. Going forward Paul pointed out there are lots of challenges including public sector. Paul reported that the governance working group is reviewing the Charter and Regulations including the relationship between Council and the board, and that John Brown chair of the group will update Council with details next. Paul also reminded Council members of their responsibilities of being an ambassador of the CIPR. Paul pointed out that priorities of this year include consolidation in finance and discussions of diversity issues. Jay O’Connor briefly introduced the 2010-‐2012 Strategic Plan to give new Council members background info. Sean Trainer asked if the PR professionals should have a role to play in promoting the benefits of diversity to the business community instead of just focusing on statistics. Paul responded that diversity issues should be discussed around the country and be relevant, not just about statistics. The PR professionals should talk to the wider society about it. Jo McCarthy asked how the CIPR is attracting younger members. Paul responded that we have credited courses in colleges. Jay added that we have Young Leaders Forum where young practitioners reaching out to young people in local regions. Anne Gregory commented that from her experience, recruitment is not the core problem, but retention is. She feels a good example with strong retention and diversity is the medical profession. Paul added one of the membership issues is low retention rate among students, which our membership committee needs to look at this year. As part of the 2011 planning, membership journey at the CIPR will integrate professional development and membership grades. Page 2 of 5
2. Governance Working Group – John Brown John reported that following last council meeting and requested by Paul Mylrea as the incoming president, the governance working group composed of volunteers was set up to review the Charter, By Law and the Regulations. The first meeting of the working group took place a month ago. Members of the group raised that transparency of the CIPR business should be improved so that all CIPR members understand how decisions being made. There needs to be a greater clarity between the board, Council and the management team. Board should be elected rather than being appointed. At the President’s request, the working group discussed whether or not appointing the 2012 board at the last Council meeting this year. The key issue is that the Council is not working as a governing body at the moment. The working group took the view that the Council should be the governing body of the Institute. All board members except for the officers elected by members should be voted by the Council. The timing of the voting either at end of year or beginning of year will be resolved. Chairs of the standing committees also need to be voted by the Council either physically or virtually. Council meeting frequency and ways of meeting also have been discussed. Group representatives / substitutes at Council meeting also was discussed. The current 3 year presidency term was discussed and the view of the working group was that it should be reduced to one year. In regards to voting right, the working groups believed associate and student members should be given voting right and affiliate members may be given the right as well. Procurement of goods, services and facilities also need clarification. John stated that according to the Charter, the individual who is providing services should not be involved in the decision-‐ making process of procurement. For some recommendations, Council may amend the regulations at the AGM this year. For some more complicated issues, they will be resolved later. Paul Mylrea pointed out that the intention is not having to go to Privy Council to change things. Any changes to the Regulations only need to be approved by the Council. Paul also reiterated that the 2012 board will be appointed by this Council and Sally Sykes, the next President is aware of that. Dave Sanders suggested all members should have voting right except for student members. Jane Wilson stated that in regards to transparency, board meeting minutes will be circulated to the Council with some redaction on commercially sensitive info and staffing issues. Anne Gregory asked if individuals can lobby to be elected and commented these details need to be included in the review too. Paul Mylrea responded that in the strategic plan, there is Page 3 of 5
competency frame for board members. Board election should be based on competency and representation, not popularity. Matt McKay asked if there is any review on the size of the Council as it seems too large. John Brown responded that the working group did have a discussion on this and the view was if the size of the Council was reduced, representation from regional and sectoral groups would also need to be reduced. Julio Romo commented on the fact there are 2700 members in GLG across wide range of sectors and only one representative on the Council. Paul responded that at this time we are trying to find a good enough solution, not necessary the best solution. The key now is to create sense of responsibility of the Council and transparency. Jay O’Connor agreed and emphasised that currently the most important thing is to get the relationship between board and Council right. Things can be improved once that’s done. There were more comments and discussions on representation on the Council. One member asked if there is any benchmark against other organisations. Paul Mylrea responded that PARN provides industry benchmark but we also have Charter. Paul Mylrea asked existing committee members to stay on their committee for continuity reasons and asked those who are new to choose a committee. Paul also asked the Council to approve the current board composition for now. Paul also asked the authority to appoint chair of the committees. He added the board will look at bringing co-‐opt members onto board from committee chairs later. Jane Wilson asked Council members to email in two choices for committees and whether or not they would be interested in becoming the chair. The Council approved the board composition. 3. Finance Update Paul Mylrea updated the Council that 2010 surplus is higher than it was reported before. One of the reasons for this is cost savings. Issues such as membership payment accruals in accounting practice and PRide also contribute to the higher figure. The accounts need to be reviewed by auditors before the final figure can be confirmed. 4. 2011 Plan Jane Wilson reported that we will promote our uniqueness as an organisation for individuals in 2011 to provide personal and bespoke services. We’ll need to focus on the first two years of membership as people tend to leave after first or second year. We’ll develop a program “My CIPR” and this means membership and professional development will need to work closely together. Page 4 of 5
We will focus on four key areas: membership Journey which is also linked to professional development, which will be headed by James Petre; senior practitioners who will be looked after by Phil Morgan; regions which will be looked after by Jane; B2B which will be headed by Elspeth. Jane stressed that she is focusing on the UK market at this stage rather than exploring international market. 5. AOB Research Working Group Jay O’Connor reported that a small volunteer working group is set up to develop a proposal to support the creation of a Research and Development Unit within the CIPR. This proposal supports the Charter and the strategic plan. Jay asked the Council to approve the working group so that it can commence its work. The Council approved it. Sean Trainer asked how the groups (such as social media group) would fit into the frame work of clarity, competency and transparency of the overall structure in the governance review. Rob Brown responded that these groups don’t have representation on the Council and act primarily as a resource of information. Members of these groups were self selected. It’s not representative, therefore it’s not formal CIPR group. Paul Mylrea also confirmed these groups are not permanent structures of CIPR, but just providing advice. The function of these groups is to provide recommendation which needs to be accepted by board and Council before being undertaken. Stephen Tallents Medal Jay O’Connor presented Stephen Tallents medal to Adrian Wheeler. Next Council meeting will take place at 4pm on 9 May.
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