PLANNING FOR THE 2013-2016 QUADRENNIAL AND BEYOND

When the Cycling Canada Board of Directors gathered in Ottawa for their semi-annual meeting in mid May of this year they were pleased to have the results of the extensive surveys done with our shareholders and stakeholders to feed into the strategic planning process that is underway for the 2013-2016 quadrennial and beyond.

The inputs were received through three specific surveys and interviews.  The largest survey was mounted on the Cycling Canada website and also made available through a number of cycling media partners and received a strong response with over 560 cyclists, coaches, officials and others taking the time to provide their opinions and perspectives on various areas related to the national and provincial cycling associations and their respective roles.  A second survey was completed by members of Cycling Canada program committees and advisory groups and offered more detailed responses from those that are directly involved in the programs and activities of the national association.  Finally, interviews were held with senior staff and Board members of each Provincial / Territorial cycling affiliate of Cycling Canada to gain their insights on how they see the national body working with and on behalf of the affiliates in the future.

This data was delivered to the Board by two consultants who had undertaken the collection and analysis of the information.  Robin Porter carried out the interviews with the Provincial/Territorial Cycling Associations that are affiliated to Cycling Canada and Rose Mercier gathered and analyzed the responses to the two surveys noted above.

This environmental assessment was supplemented by two benchmarking reports that covered National Sport Organizations of similar size and characteristics and National Cycling Federations of other countries that had common characteristics.

This is what we heard (themes from Input):

Partnership (instead of alignment) /Independence

• Communication
• Understanding roles
• Standards
• Accepting the reality of the differences among provinces
• Independence of action consistent with “alignment”

Development

• Transition to national team from provincial programs
• Pathway to podium and respective roles needs to be clear

Leadership through facilitated collaboration

• Increasing role in direct delivery (by CC)
• Investment in areas that ultimately benefit High Performance

Use LTAD as basis of strategic plan

Increasing capacity and efficiency between CC and P/TSO

• It is more needed than we realize, find it and share it
• Roles / work to be done by P/T, with Cycling Canada (expectations)

Sharing best practices

Take a stance on “Advocacy” plus other non-core activities

Being Realistic

• Acceptance of reality
• Reality of sponsorship
• National structure
• How CC fits in larger context

With all of this information to support the planning process, the Cycling Canada Board carried out the initial planning work on the strategic plan with attention to the inputs received from shareholders and stakeholders.

This represents the frame for the plan and acknowledges that there are some areas that the community wants to see more support and activity in and areas where there is less support or, in some cases, understanding as the program or activity is not well promoted or communicated.  With this in mind the highlights of this initial planning are summarized below for the major areas of Mission, Vision and Strategic Imperatives.

Cycling Canada exists to pursue world class results by leading high performance programs and enabling the development of athletes.

Canada is a leading competitive cycling nation, consistently celebrating international success.

Resources

Grow the human capital and discretionary funding necessary to achieve strategic goals.

Development

Consolidate and strengthen a national structure enabling coordinated initiation and progressive development of cyclists.

High Performance

Enhance and expand the system of professional-quality support for Canada’s competitive cyclists.

Profile

Move Canadians to take pride in Canada’s national cycling team and their accomplishments.

Next Steps

Once the London Olympic Games are concluded the Board and management will return to the planning work and set out the goals and strategic drivers for each of the imperatives noted above.  Specific key performance indicators (KPIs) will be set in each area and the time in which they are to be accomplished will be built into the consistent evaluation of the KPIs by Cycling Canada.

Once this is done in draft form the opportunity to discuss the draft with our primary shareholders, the Provincial / Territorial cycling associations will be provided at the October 2012 Annual General Meeting where we will have a facilitated session on the national association’s plan and how it aligns or helps align with provincial / territorial plans.

Early in 2013 we expect to have the strategic plan for 2013-2016 approved and begin its implementation in April of next year.

If any member would like to receive a summary of the survey findings please send your request to:  greg.mathieu@cyclingcanada.ca.