Building for the Future

By Pål Rasmussen

While Phase I of the Building for the Future project is now well underway, we have moved to Phase II. We are currently taking a strategic review of the IGU’s event portfolio, looking at different ways in which it can be optimised. All three IGU conferences are globally recognised within the gas industry and have a long history. They are hence one of IGU’s best opportunities to profile our organisation and work. In order to do this it is, however, necessary to optimise the events with regard to the strategic policies, branding/positioning, conference programme, commercial model and organisational model.

We got the approval for Phase II from the Council in Cartagena, Colombia, and there has already been good progress. Over the last six months a number of the identified elements have been implemented. For most of our events we have now agreed with the individual NOC to establish Steering Committees. These will make it possible for IGU to be more involved, gain experience and obtain better control over the planning and running of each event. Only this way can IGU establish a clear branding and role accountability and create strong alignment to the IGU Vision and Mission for each IGU event.

With the new Steering Committees IGU will have stronger involvement and this requires both more resources and expertise. As of 1 August we have therefore appointed an IGU Events Director, Rodney Cox. The appointment of an Events Director is aimed at strengthening IGU’s brand by ensuring consistently high quality conference events. By engaging Rodney we fulfilled one of the key recommendations from IGU’s Building for the Future Phase II.

With the appointment of an Events Director, we also launched Phase III of the Building for the Future initiative that will assess potential changes to the governance and organisation of IGU. In recent years IGU has responded to the changes of our industry with new strategic initiatives. A successful completion of these new initiatives requires a realistic assessment of how IGU should develop and change to best do this. In April 2016, the IGU Management Team was asked by the Executive Committee in Durban to accelerate the changes in IGU’s governance. As a consequence we are also now working to refine the IGU staff goals and objectives and identify strategies for achieving those goals. We are establishing guiding principles on which changes to the organisation should be based and defining and analysing at a high level alternative governance models for IGU. Last, but by no means least, we are outlining changes in key accountabilities relative to the current model. Luis Bertrán Rafecas, Deputy Secretary General, is leading this effort with a target of delivering preliminary findings and recommendation at the October meeting of the IGU Council in Amsterdam.

For me, it has been a pleasure to drive forward the Building for the Future project, and to see the implementation of the different parts of project. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has been involved Phase I and Phase II, and also those who are supporting IGU in maturing Phase III.