BSAVA Session Notes - 24-26 April 2023
As everyone walked into the room, the preparation work was in place.
The survey and the assessments, the research and the variety of meetings and inputs via the MIRO boards had led to a comprehensive amount of work that would be powerful as a backdrop and help everyone understand where the result would lead next.
“In an economy characterised by rapid technological and social change, are today’s associations equipped to respond to the rapidly changing needs of members in ways that will expand their role and value, or will emerging alternatives and resources in the new economy minimise and diminish their role?”- dPrism: Feb 2019. The Future of Association
The Exam Question
“How must we evolve the role, proposition and approach of the BSAVA so that we play a leading and valued role in the health and welfare of small animals and the communities who serve them?”
Equipping the stakeholders that we support to deliver at their best
Being recognised as a leading authority on the topics we choose
Ensuring the organisation is commercially sustainable
WHAT FOLLOWS
IMPORTANT NOTE - The following text is an in-sequence summary of the conversations we all had. These are the key points noted during these discussions and as a result of the three days they build in clarity as the content evolved. This means that some statements made in the early discussions may well conflict or be at odds with statements made later.
Discussion around the Exam Question
The initial observation was regarding ‘ the communities we serve’ and whether that is too broad (largely from non BSAVA attendees). This was an intentional broadening as the BSAVA has a much broader influence than the products we may be more known for.
A lot of people (non members) don’t really know what we do currently. We are already spreading ourselves thin so we need to be clear what we offer and who we serve before we go too broad on our proposition. It is important to look broadly but we have to bring that down to the things (topics and products) that add most value to the stakeholders that we can best serve - a much clearer definition of our market, so that we can be much clearer with our proposition.
“The BSAVA do some amazing things that very few people even know about”
Broadness is OK as long as we simplify the story and relevance - without losing the value. The current perceived ‘busyness’ is getting in the way of people recognising our value and us taking proposals to partners.
Looking at ‘communities’ is a great opportunity to think hard about where and how we can create value. There may well be areas that don’t work so well right now that we can improve, or gaps that we are well placed to fill.
When we talk about community we must remember the people who own the small animals. There is a family, or a charity behind them, caring for them. Our propositions have to take account of them.
The EQ seems to be missing the recognition of strategic partnership - there are things that would be much better solved in partnership than by trying to do everything ourselves. Current key partnerships are OK but we could do better, there is always room for improvement. Trust and credibility is strong and we mustn’t forget that we enjoy that right now. Mutual benefit - our shared recognition of that - plays an important part. Partnerships are strong when we understand and share a vision of what we bring together and how each of them plays their part.
Partnership is not simply veterinary partnership. If we want to reach a broader community we need to be mindful of organisations that deal with non veterinary issues - mental health for example. We have examples where we have done this successfully (Psychologist at Congress)
We are quite unique in some of our collaborations - with some, we are working collaboratively while also being in competition at times. That feels worth examining to see if there are better answers.
Health and welfare are always tied together, but many welfare organisations are out there covering that. Does that suggest our focus should be more on health? Is it possible to split them and achieve the right impact? The two are inextricably linked. But we could think differently about where and how we partner.
When we created the Exam Question, we wanted to position health and welfare at the heart of several things - for animals, for professionals and for people in communities. Taking a more holistic approach. We are already having an influence on communities in the area of cruelty and its impact on family welfare - as an example.
We do need to be clear where the red lines need to be drawn - there will be sensitive areas that we don’t want to go near. An example of this might be around the topic of pay for vet professionals - probably not a topic that we would like to engage in.
Topics that we choose to focus on is not a fixed set, it will change all the time as dynamics change and we identify the things we most want to focus on.
The reality is that there is a massive interaction across all forms of community with an incredibly broad range of stakeholders and potential topics of interest. It is hard to pull them apart sometimes.
Example - The breeders can be argued as being at the start of the chain, and they can feel pretty neglected by the vet profession. The vet profession, in turn, will say they are incredibly challenging to deal with. The art is knowing how to influence and engage with them and the correct type of partnership. At the moment, we (BSAVA) have decided that we will not engage directly with breeders.
Does this lead us to marginalise specific communities? As a minimum, we would want to be influencing members of the pet industry to do things the right way. During Covid, a growing number of owners decided to become breeders themselves with absolutely no understanding of the implications.
The Exam Question emphasises the health and welfare of the communities who serve them - this is a critical point as they hold the keys to the health and welfare of small animals.
In some cases, we can serve through other groups; in others, we directly represent them. The communities that we serve and the communities that serve animals. How we harness and engage with each ‘group’ will vary. Serve, lead, and represent all have different implications regarding the involvement we would expect.
Understanding where the money comes from and how it’s spent is important. Everyone needs to remember that BSAVA is a charity and is governed by what a charity can do. We don’t have the same remit as a commercial organisation.
Is our charitable status on the table for discussion?
We would certainly need to understand the implications of such a change, but it is on the table. This is an important distinction as it significantly impacts the outcomes we define.
We can’t ignore the ‘B’ in our title.
We are receiving attention outside of the UK, and we need to decide how far outside the UK and where/how we want to invest effort. We should at least keep the core values of what we have established within the UK and limit any international reach to that scope. There are some interesting questions around the impact of the shortage of vets and the need to accredit vets from overseas.
The Strategic Framework
Our Strategic Outcomes - the Big Prize/s for BSAVA
To be the representatives for small animal veterinary - to be relevant to vets. A trusted source for education.
We are improving the health and welfare of small animals, continuous (measureable) improvement in veterinary practice - skills, knowledge and application. As a result, small animals have access to the best professions.
Member satisfaction - an offering with clearly recognised benefits. More people want to join and the membership is more diverse. They have access to the highest quality of veterinary professional resources in the world. Whether through creation or curation.
We are maintaining and improving our reputation to the point that it’s a no brainer to be a part of this ecosystem
We are a leading influencer on policy and scientific matters
They are the basics that give us our mandate. We can push this further:
We are reducing animal disease through more effective prevention, and those that have disease are getting better quicker with more sustainable results. And that comes at an affordable price.
BSAVA has a stronger and more coherent identity. We are known for the value and impact we create through our work (Policy and Science) and our products (Membership, Education, Events, Publications).
We are a brand that is recognised across all walks of life in the context of being an authority on small animals - pet owners, breeders, members of the public, charities, welfare groups etc.
We are working collectively to raise standards across thriving communities of professionals and stakeholders who care about the health and welfare of small animals. Enabling everyone in the veterinary profession to thrive in their chosen role. Whether internally or externally we are bringing together a broad range of skills, resources and expertise to raise the standard of animal (and professional) health and welfare.
We are creating new knowledge, answering the questions that people are struggling with, and identifying new questions to answer. Filling gaps in knowledge through partnerships, collaboration and relevant research.
We provide a vibrant forum for discussion that can be started anywhere. Topics are being brought to us.This is not a transactional relationship. Engagement has to have meaning beyond paid membership arguably - recognising that funding will always be critical.
We have strategic relationships that clearly show the practical value of our collaboration and recognise our credibility (evidence based) to speak for the profession.
We are more adaptable, ready and open to new developments (e.g AI). And we are open to input from others, we don’t try and have all the answers ourselves.
We have a highly configurable set of propositions (the playbook) that allows us to provide some services for free (e.g students) and some are optional at a cost. With a stake for everyone who could be a member of BSAVA.
We are closely involved in drafting legislation and influencing the results, representing across the profession and including the more disadvantaged members of the profession.
We are at the heart of science - aware of the potential threats and challenges to animal health. Getting the best that we can for our sector. Showing thought leadership and bringing solutions to government that respond to new needs and dynamics - things that haven’t yet been fully considered. Making sure the government and regulators are aware of the issues of the day, or those that are looming.
We can’t ignore our ESG outcomes. A significant number of professions are leaving because they have had enough. From a Social perspective we should have a position around how to turn this dynamic around so that more vets are choosing to stay in the profession.
Ultimately we want to see a happier, more fulfilled profession. People feel like they are playing a valued role and are well supported and resilient - and that they are making a difference, achieving what they had hoped to as a vet (or vet professional).
We are stronger collectively and we are providing the glue for the profession to bring the best knowledge and expertise from everywhere to be applied across our industry.
Maximising the power of the independent voice. Orchestrating knowledge for the benefit of all professions.
Our Vision for BSAVA
We see a world where….
We don’t do this alone, we are working with a highly collaborative ecosystem with a broad range of organisations who share the same, or similar vision and are delivering similar outcomes. BVA, BVNA, other Veterinary Associations.
Collaboration across the profession is much broader, whether it’s a true partnership other than collaboration. Generating products from expertise provided by others. Then there are industry partnerships - sources of investment potentially as long as these are not transactional relationships.
Through this professionals get great access to all the skills and knowledge they need to feel empowered and equipped to do their best work.
Our communities:groups that are working together around a shared aim. Less formal and not underpinned by a formal governance structure - no head or decision making function. Communities can be self organising or deliberately established.
Partnerships: Specific (likely transactional) commercial relationships that have a clear agreement and are underpinned with a governance structure.
Added to this are investments - we have taken a step in that direction with VETBytes and would not rule out others.
Every vet or nurse has a beautifully designed BSAVA App on their phone, offering easy access to formulary, podcasts, policies - a single point of reference. Content that works on a mobile - recognising that sometimes the detail is needed and that is less consumable on mobile.
Working in partnership with practice management systems that allow us to combine our knowledge. Making it highly attractive to practices.
The ability to talk to BSAVA via AI - harnessing the power of new tech to provide dynamic information that draws from our wealth of knowledge in the BSAVA library - knowledge that is trusted and independent. There is of course a regulatory aspect to this.
Wherever we talk and whenever we talk, people will listen because they know we have something important to say.
We are tapping into a vast resource pool of knowledge. Offering access to a community that people feel comfortable with. We already have a massive resource base to draw from - if it was organised better. We are providing more nuanced advice - critical for specialisms. And even where we do utilise AI we can’t forget the importance of direct content when seeking advice about a difficult case.
This opens up the debate of whether owners actually need to take their pets to the vet. A lot will need to be convinced this is a good idea. For now the question is not so much whether this is a route we want to take, it is a case of when and to what degree we adopt new capabilities.
We have to make significant progress with our relationship with technology. We are way behind most businesses. The amount of printed knowledge is considerable. We need to fully appreciate the implications of adopting these new technologies. The real change is less about AI and more about the democratisation of information we already have. The important commitment for our vision is that we will be digital. And that this will be a staged introduction to gradually increase the value.
We don’t want the profession to lose the importance of education and professional development. Any intelligence we build in has to have a learning and development angle so it’s not just a case of searching on line each time a new issue is encountered. Our vision has to cover the way we help professionals develop in the future.
We are not removing the personal aspect from this - this simply changes the focus of interaction and frees up professionals to invest time in more rewarding work.
BSAVA is an independent facilitator of guideline development, organised around communities of practice. We are at the heart of (a group of) communities driving important discussions on the topics of the day. We are creating a dynamic, interdependent ecosystem. The interdependence is critical, there have to be real connections between collaborators.
Sitting between knowledge and practice to help vets deliver the best care by selecting knowledge that allows solutions to be tailored to very specific needs and implemented. Less theory and more practical. Knowledge that draws from a variety of sources to create meaningful scenarios and use cases. Practical execution of a mass of knowledge that sits in various places. Giving people high quality information - and doing it really well.
How would the profession see this vision? What would they want?
Rapid access to information and education that helps them at all stages of their ‘journey’. Including the development of further qualifications. Information that gives them confidence and reassurance. They trust that this knowledge is going to help them do the right things. A strong sense of competence and self belief. Greater confidence is a big driver for them.
A safe place - especially for new graduates. A place to get reassurance that they are on the right track and to access self help in their early working lives. An informal support network where it’s easy to find peers to share stories with or experts whose brains they can pick. The chance to get different perspectives, hear about others experiences and to be vulnerable.
Different focused groups as opposed to regional groups. Groups that focus on specific topics and issues that practitioners care about but can’t always spare the time to study in person. A user friendly, accessible platform that attracts engagement. BSAVA can be an enabler rather than the convener - equipping others to set groups up.
The future of membership?
We know that young people still like a sense of belonging so it’s not that groups and being members of a ‘tribe’ is out of fashion. It’s about choosing which tribe and what a ‘club’ looks like. The new generation of vets need to be proud to ‘wear’ the BSAVA brand. They need to recognise the value for them - it could be helping to open doors that increase their credibility - giving them access to groups they would otherwise not get access to - exclusivity.
External Perspectives
Congress is most suited to people in 1-5 years of life as a vet. Serving other groups with highly practical content is worth considering. Helping them to take the next steps in their career for example, transitioning to other services (specialisms), going beyond the basics, strengthening their abilities in general practice*. Value propositions that align with development pathways. Signposting people to help them map their pathway.
RCVS - being the voice of the small animal profession - especially in clinical areas. Equipping up vets and nurses to practise competently and in line with regulations. A spectrum of care. Recognising the different contexts within which treatment is applied (cat in a charity vs cat in a home).
BVA - it’s clear that these outcomes need to be delivered by multiple organisations and while there may be a lot of overlap, it’s in all our interests to work together and maximise the collaborations.
*We need to bring back the pride in being a general practitioner, being part of a profession.
Reflections on the Vision and Outcomes
We are missing the science element. The JSAP, aspects of Congress (extracts) and the work of Petsavers. We are a platform and funder for scientific research. We choose what research to fund currently rather than direct what to research. In our vision we would be connecting our investment choices with what we see from members as being the big challenges.
RCVS - “the influence of JSP is a drop in the ocean realistically, but being the voice about what the profession needs to get to the thriving place is where BSAVA can have the greatest impact”
Communication of policy to members is key, it's such an important part of what we do but this part of our work is not necessarily the easiest to get the message across so that members of the profession want to engage in it - to show them why they should care. The reality is that members don’t all care about the same thing.
A large number of members are however very interested in our position on clinical policy - this is a significant area of impact and more and more vets are looking for these guidelines. There is a big opportunity for us here. We are impacting the practice of clinical medicine today.
Playing a leading and valued role means knowing what the profession is thinking, what trends are developing, what practices are working / not working. It’s vital that we are at the heart of that. A lot of the big topics cut across the profession and require collaboration across many organisations.
This is all about consulting with the profession and finding out what they need. This clearly requires constant communication with them to be confident we know what to focus on - and the best way to make information available (it can be too hard to work through JSAP).
Is the brand of Petsavers part of the problem when it comes to full appreciation of the value already being created?
To achieve this vision we probably need to be more outward facing and become better known by the public. Currently we are very focused on the profession. We have experimented a little but we quickly realised that as a science based association we are not really good at the kind of communication that is called for in public fundraising - it created a tension with our values. A conclusion was that any public fundraising would be via the profession. And we currently struggle with resource and bandwidth - an area where partnership would be an important consideration. We need to decide whether and how we split focus on both professional and public and to what degree. We don't want to divert investment at the expense of the quality we create for professionals.
We haven’t helped pet owners understand what our research means to them, this would be an interesting lens to put over our vision and give us additional insights about the messages we take to market. It adds to the case for greater visibility with the public. There is an argument for the impact of better appreciation of vets and vet nurses and the value they create. Often the messages that come out from BSAVA appear to be largely negative, we need to change that to get the recognition we want.
The conflict with corporates - there is still an ongoing tension between independents and corporates that we need to help diffuse. Better products for vets won’t solve this conflict alone and currently no one is addressing this. Our independence is an advantage here. It’s not a simple issue, younger vets are not really concerned with this as an issue and there are good and bad employers in both. BSAVA can help to change the rhetoric - and this means starting internally and shifting our bias on this topic. BSAVA has to engage the entire profession impartially and drop any distinction between corporate and independent vets. The prize here is to represent the industry. There is a ripple effect here - we need to align our conclusions with key focus areas - Membership, Event strategy for example.
The public really don’t see this distinction, pet owners largely just see vets. However when things change noticeably after an acquisition they are likely to connect negative changes with the fact a vet has ‘sold out’ and is not a ‘proper vet’ - or is more expensive. This has the effect of reducing the confidence of the vet, to the degree that some will leave the profession.
When we talk about the profession we need to recognise all roles that contribute to a practice - not just the vets and vet nurses. We don’t currently provide much resource beyond the vet and access to membership is limited currently to regulated professionals and excludes businesses). Another case for partnership. We need to review the scope for membership as we revisit the membership model. This starts with deciding whether a membership model is actually valuable. Offering membership to the BSAVA does give professionals a status that is important. Currently members are basically the donors and will expect benefits, but if we represent the entire profession we need to make a distinction between the value each gets. One option would be to have a membership that includes every member of the practice - an associates model. We need to make a distinction between regulated vets, vets in clinics, and the broader paraprofessional family.
Recognition of excellence from BSAVA is a positive benefit that doesn’t come up often but is highly valued. It’s a great feeling to get an award and more could be done with this to create positivity. Many members don’t know we even do awards.
The question of volunteers - at some point we need to have a discussion about this. Currently it’s a huge part of the BSAVA and volunteering and community goes hand in hand. However we do need to revisit the way we currently utilise volunteers and the part they play. It’s hard to imagine a life without volunteers, they are part of our thriving community, although we have been drifting from a volunteer-led organisation to a volunteer supported organisation. There is currently a sense of confusion between volunteers and staff that needs to be addressed-who does what for example.
Signs of Achievement
More vets and vet nurses accessing educational resources more
Increased membership income
Members are staying with us
Vets are demonstrably happier
Fewer people leaving the profession
More people coming back into the profession
Stakeholder engagement with BSAVA is increasing
More organisations wanting to collaborate with us
We are able to invest in the future projects
We are influencing sustainable vet practices - changing mindsets
We are able to correlate impact of project contributions against the vision
We are seeing more positive media stories
There is more dialogue related to the things we are talking about
Our profile is getting raised in the public
Volunteers are staying actively engaged - with the support of their employers to give their time
BSAVA is clearly important to the profession - we are being referenced more, people are making choices based on our guidance, our voice is having an influence
Our organisation structure is enabling us to deliver our vision - it’s fit for purpose
We are creating capacity to do more
Professionals are staying with us from cradle to grave
We are becoming well known globally
We are reporting good financial performance
We have a vibrant, active retirement community contributing knowledge
Our products are fully subscribed-to the point we have waiting lists
We are able to do more on our vision through collaboration
We are the first place people go for information
Our social media presence is growing
We are attracting a lot of young people
We are trapping insights that identify new requirements
Speaker lists are over subscribing - people want to associate themselves with us
We have a better understanding of the impact we are having on patients (e.g vaccination rates, more diagnosis being recorded)
It’s easy to recruit new employees
More people are applying for research grants to a level we feel is high
We are going for more accreditations
More invitations to collaborate with others
We are forging new partnerships and communities, formal and informal
We are seeing more self sustaining communities being established
We have examples of successful collaborations
We are creating impact for things that we could only have done in collaboration
We are broadening the awards we give
People want to see more awards from BSAVA
Our decision making is much more effective
There is 100% member usage of the App - that is giving us the reach we want
Exploring Opportunities and Innovation
What does Innovation mean in our world?
It may mean us being willing to commit to step changes - thinking way beyond and imagining doing things completely different. We need a process for innovation and to be prepared to test our beliefs, talk to others to gather diversity of perspective.
Innovation can simply be doing something that we have been attempting for a long time.
We have to be sure we are fulfilling a real need.
However, it may mean taking a gamble and doing something we haven’t been told is needed but that we genuinely believe is needed.The point is that we don’t innovate for the sake of it.
We need an environment that makes it safe to take some chances - knowing some will not be successful. That means being clear about what we mean by success and failure and being willing to stop doing something, no matter how passionate we are about it.
Everyone has to live values that include making it safe to be innovative. And we need to include the publishing of ‘failures’ so that we are sharing our lessons. We need an innovative mindset deep in our culture, so the word ‘failure’ is not one we should use. Changing our culture is one of the hardest things we do, but it is critical to success if we want to truly change. It starts with leaders living and breathing this mindset - taking time for discussion, creating capacity for idea development, setting the right aims and objectives and measuring the right things.
Every individual has to be willing to innovate themselves, if the organisation is going to evolve then so do the people working there.
Our organisational structure and the environment we create for people has to embrace innovation, although clearly some controls and governance is always going to be essential.
Innovation is all around us, many associations all doing different things. Innovation can be picking up on what others have done and making it work for you.
As we think about opportunities we should remember that being innovative can mean getting rid of things that get in our way
What opportunities do we have?
Creating capacity to do some of this
Redefine the organisation - skill set analysis, structural reviews
Meeting free days
Reorganising volunteers - out of silos so we leverage the expertise we have better (e.g stop having a vet surgeon on every committee)
Outreach / Outsource opportunities to get others helping us
Automations
A stop strategy
Speed up decision making
Operational principles that are adopted by everyone - e.g high performing meetings. Including necessary training to help
Underpinning this will be our governance and the way we make decisions. We need to be willing to review the roles of bodies like Council - to the point of even getting rid of it. There is an opportunity here to change this.
Opportunities to Discover?
This is a chance for BSAVA people to simply rediscover a range of things - what we are doing, why we are doing things, what isn’t working.
Review and Repurpose the Library - We have amazing content but it is not serving us well.
Opportunities to stop?
Take out regions as a provider of CPD and have Education providing CPD for the regions. Can regional volunteers be put into other work? They could be put on regional education for example. Currently around 150 people volunteer in regions.
We can look at our publications and decide whether we really need to produce lengthy textbooks or whether some information is better / more valuable in smaller (bite sized) publications. Not every manual - some are highly prized and help to raise our profile.
What if we binned Congress? - it’s an expensive beast right now and comes with a lot of grief. Maybe what we need is different. It is worth at least a revisit. If we are prepared to be radical we have to be prepared to consider everything. This needs to start with understanding the value of the product - and its relevance to our vision. Congress may continue but in a very different form.
We would have to find alternatives to reaching a vast number of people with CPD and publications as these are fundamental to our charitable objectives. But that mustn’t stop us from thinking innovatively.
Operational Implications
ON STRUCTURE
We need to revisit our organisational model and governance structure - to be clear when we do need committees and when we must be able to work with greater agility. We need to revisit the number of board meetings we expect volunteers to attend. Currently there are more than most would expect.
Council has been in slight disarray since covid. It’s not just council, we have too many committees who only meet / feed in periodically and we need to be in constant communication at the grassroots level. We need to revisit its purpose, make it better if we can and if not move it to the Stop list. Right now it’s struggling to find its identity.
The starting point should be to consider the organisation we need to support the profession - in line with our vision - and then work out what that means. If we rush into repurposing our current model we could be making the wrong changes. We should be willing to explore what others do - we are not the only profession with councils for example. There are skill sets in other sectors that could help us.
Certain changes to the organisation have to go to the members in a general meeting. However in our history it’s virtually unheard of to have a proposal rejected and there is a lot that we can change without going to the membership. The fact that we are a membership organisation is a key factor. If they don’t like what we are doing they can stop us, they can remove the board even.
We need to balance the needs of the BSAVA structure with its purpose and scope. The focus on education and science has real implications in that it depends on a lot more clinical expertise than other associations might need.
Does the current structure actually stop us from achieving our vision? It’s clearly a hot topic but it’s also likely that we can still do everything we want without changing.
ON OUR UNDERSTANDING
We have to understand the small animal market and decide where we want to be a player. What needs we choose to respond to. This requires us to be clear on our segmentation.
We should be aware of what is going on adjacent to our market - human health / NHS for example. There will be things that we can adopt from others' work.
We need to understand the competition and how what they are doing impacts our work. We know our main competitors but need to go deeper into this aspect of the market. And be prepared to compete where there are opportunities to realise the vision.
A lot of our understanding comes from input from volunteers, we do a lot of exploration ‘organically’ but don’t really formalise the insights that we gather.
We need to catch up on the digital landscape - to better understand the technologies we might adopt and what that will require.
ON OUR CONTENT
All of this assumes we have content and can create that. Content creators are changing and they are not being trained to create the type of content that we have. We will need to help content creators to help us. And the list of people we can call on for trusted information in certain topics will be incredibly short. There are examples already of specialist topics that are simply not being studied now. This gives us a challenge when finding experts to help us create content or deliver education.
We need to create a sustainable system that allows us to create content that is consistent to our brand, meets our quality standards and allows us to continue to create high quality material.
ON DELIVERY
Having increased our understanding across all these areas we have to be prepared to commit, make decisions and follow through on them. We need to be prepared to take some risks along the way. There is an extent of revolution in our evolution. We must prioritise though, we said early on that we spread ourselves too thinly - this is a key factor in the challenges in communication. Capacity is a constant challenge that prevents us from seeing through great ideas.
We have to be able to track our progress against the strategy - to be clear that we are actually delivering what we need, against a clear plan with targets and expectations. Without this it is simply gut feeling and impossible to know how we are really performing. We have numbers and reports but it is not aligned to a vision / strategy.
To get this done we need stable and consistent leadership. We have had a lot of churn over the last 3 years and our annual presidential turnover doesn't necessarily lend itself to longer term (consistent) change. Each president brings their own skill set and personality however there is no presidential agenda for each year and the role of the President is to support the CEO and leadership. It is slightly dependent on goodwill and common sense but we will have a strategic framework to give us continuity.
Whatever structure we decide for BSAVA there are limits to what we can do with things like pay - and that impacts how we acquire grassroots knowledge - which is heavily sourced from volunteers - which of course creates the line blurring between Board and Operations. Another reason for revisiting the volunteer structure. One thing is critical - we need to always try and keep diversity in our volunteer representation.
ON OPERATIONS
Financial stability is critical but not enough. To deliver on our charitable aims we want to do a lot more, to have capital to invest - to stay up with the times and give more value to the profession we are committed to. It would help to increase our commercial savviness - it doesn’t mean selling our soul.
We need to raise our game in communication - it has become clear that too many people don’t know what we do. We need to address that, and also be in a better position to engage with key stakeholders so that we can understand them better - this will require strong communication. It is currently quite a stretch to get the information we need from across BSAVA to use effectively in marketing.
ON PEOPLE
Our relationship with volunteers is critical. This has changed over the years, it started as a parent / child relationship but has shifted as the culture, and our organisation, has evolved. We need to make sure we have a relationship that is true to the vision and the culture we want - and that maintains a positive, healthy relationship that reflects the value of our volunteers.
So much of this work relies on teams that are very happy in their work and fully behind the work that they will be asked to take on.
ON OUR MINDSET
Our prevailing mindset - is possibly a little mixed. To some we are a charity first, to others we are a business - albeit operating under a charitable framework. There is a sense that the 2 have to be kept apart.
The reality is that we are a registered charity but we do have to operate as a business and in some areas we need to become more business-like. We can;t do much without financial stability and we have been living on historic success for too long. Our current structure does not necessarily allow for the entrepreneurial nature that we need in some areas. The more we live with this split personality, the more we risk unintentional silos that limit potential.
We steer away from a sense of competing with other associations and treading on toes - of groups who we perceive as friends and partners. There is a lot of squeamishness around this topic. The same applies to our attitude to significant financial investment. It’s worth remembering that some of these associations are very happy to compete with us! Competition doesn’t have to be a bad thing. There are many opportunities to partner, and many occasions to simply take inspiration from what others are doing, whether or not it triggers us to do something better. Ultimately we are all here to further the profession and help it to thrive.
The word ‘sales’ can be conflicting from both a charitable and a veterinary perspective. It is not something that happens naturally. We need to change our attitude to selling, there are more positive ways to project this aspect - we are trading in value.
We have a slight split in terms of our business and our members a tendency to feel we need to behave differently, or think differently depending on our focus. There can be a fear that selling a product might impact membership (devalue it) - we tend to give away our crown jewels. Our priorities may differ between the two but the difference is not as great as we might imagine. It is down to the way we position ourselves and tell the story. We have to be more nuanced in the way we differentiate between free and pay.
What would the ideal BSAVA look and feel like?
There is a legal framework that determines how we need to operate as a charity. The charity governance code defines the core requirements - the main one being a board of Trustees. We are also a registered company which means we have directors - a 1:1 model. This gives us a trading arm that can create revenue - that is fed back into the charity. But we are not using the trading arm status even though we hold that. We were a company before becoming a charity. While we could choose to stop being a charity, the advantages financially are significant and we do fulfil the requirements of a charity.
We are 1 member, 1 vote. Every paying member.
The purpose of the Trustee board is to make sure that the charity is fulfilling its obligations.
The use of volunteers and the way they are organised into committees is a very sensitive topic. People volunteer for very different reasons and there is a fear that they may end up being used in ways they find much less fulfilling.
There is a lot of logic in establishing a bigger clinical board that can be deployed differently but there is equally an argument for having very clear roles that cover much more defined roles.
Any new model has to work flexibly and suit different needs and preferences.
We could look at the distinct activities we run and the nature of the work to establish the best way to use volunteers - for some it’s more a need for a sounding board, ideas source, in other cases the volunteers may run projects themselves. We have to be clear what is in it for volunteers - they are a valuable resource and we want them to feel rewarded for their efforts.
Having a team of volunteer experts feeding in the issues of the day so that product leaders could work out how to act on that insight in their products could be valuable.
Running a programme like Congress is a different matter. Managing a project like that requires dedicated commitment and expertise.
However the cross over between Congress and (e.g) Education’s development of CPD has to be harmonised.
The use of volunteers doesn’t need to take a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Just like the organisation of teams and projects, it has to be appropriate to the job at hand.
Shaping our Priorities
As we move into planning there are some critical activities that we need to include in our priorities:
A strategy and platform for communities
Digital excellence - so we can optimise our use of new tech
A data strategy to support the above
Skills assessment and planning
A mapping of customer journeys
Performance measurement (against outcomes)
Member search - find the new members and widen our membership
Commitment to the vision and change
Making sure we have key stakeholders on board and have good alignment around common interests
Time for reflection is needed, we need the space to absorb this and fully appreciate what it means
Knowing what we can stop
Identifying what investment we need
Ensure BSAVA is highly visible
Requirement identification and definition
Working as one big team
OUR PRIORITY FOCUS AREAS
EQUIPPING OURSELVES TO DELIVER - PEOPLE, PLATFORMS, TOOLS, DATA, CONTENT
BUILDING OUR BRAND - PARTNERSHIP / RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MEDIA, STORY TELLING, CAMPAIGNS, VOICE
ALIGNING OUR ORGANISATION - STRATEGY & PERFORMANCE, THE BLUEPRINT, VOLUNTEER MODEL, REVIEW OF BOARDS & COMMITTEES, OBJECTIVES, MEASUREMENT
DRIVING INNOVATION - RESEARCH, MAPPING THE LANDSCAPE, SHAPING IDEAS / OPPORTUNITIES
CREATING VALUE FOR THE PROFESSION - MEMBER MODELS, SALES & MARKETING STRATEGY, PRODUCT PORTFOLIO, MARKET ANALYSIS, STAKEHOLDER MAPPING
The Challenges we will need to manage
MISSING OUT
Being taken out by competition - politically, in education, with Congress. There are serious players out there who would take away the reason for members to stay with us. There is a risk that we underestimate their strength. Add to this a fear of upsetting our partners.
RESISTANCE
Nostalgia - our love of our history. Resulting in lack of buy in. There is a risk we could end up ‘half doing’ this. Combined with an aversion to risk, limited capacity and not being very agile. Not having a real desire to do this will create real challenges.
As we develop this strategy we need to be mindful that word will be spreading about this work and we need to avoid creating unnecessary alarm or mixed messages. Wildfires are very hard to put out. Our telling of the story will be important.
CAPABILITY
The right skillset - not enough access to the skills we need across the profession (whether that is volunteers, members, staff). This will cover a range of key skills - communications, commercial savviness, market analysis are all skills that will become more important. Outside of our core veterinary environment we have to know who to partner with, we will be looking in markets we are not so familiar with.
We need to also make sure that we don’t lose valuable insights because of a lack of diversity.
PROCRASTINATION
We are quite guilty of ‘groupthink’ and internally focused, a barrier to looking at broader opportunities. We quickly get mired in the detail and go too quickly to solutions without really exploring and allowing ideas to thrive. It makes it very easy to rule things out without giving them a chance.
Fear of the unknown - the big, impossible to predict, events at one end and the relatively unknown (to us) topics of things like AI. Our competitors won’t necessarily be as far behind as we are and this technology / capability is developing at a massive rate daily.
Not having an effective governance model that will ensure we make aligned decisions and ensure we measure the right things. We are describing a big change programme here and will need a lot of management - we have observed that change is a challenge currently.
UNKNOWNS
The changes in the profession that we are already seeing in students coming through in the covid era. We are no longer seeing younger versions of ourselves. That will impact a number of things that will change the shape of our industry.
Making assumptions instead of seeking the facts or testing that our perspectives align with stakeholders. In the absence of the broadest representation possible we are projecting still.
Washing up / Next Steps
This is a watershed process for us
The output is exciting, the critical thing is that we have to process a lot of this and then grasp the nettle. The jury is out as to whether we have done enough to emphasise the importance of the right mindset.
There are so many disparate views on what we feel is very clear, that is a big insight for us.
We have a unique opportunity to look holistically at our organisation and bring everything together, understand differences and see gaps and opportunities. Not doing this is a much bigger risk.
This is a complex picture and we will feel a lot happier when we see a simplified version of this.
(((Add some copy about next steps)))
(((get ADAPTABLE in large somewhere!!)))
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Changes to Frameworks
MoT - Return to Practice
Policy and Science need to be position in the market framework-use anything from Adrienne or work from Annual report and anything else available
DYNAMIC
Vet societies at universities are falling apart, they are almost dead on their feet. Students at unis don’t see themselves as a collection of vets, as a profession that they belong to. When they join RCVS they don’t see themselves as part of a ‘club’. The way they see their role in the profession is shifting as societal attitudes change. They don’t share the identity that vets have shared historically - and we don’t really understand them.
Huge numbers of pets are now being abandoned due to the owner’s inability to care for them. Animal charities now overloaded and unable to take more in - they are also struggling with the economic challenges
The barriers for women to return to practice - cost of childcare
When we innovate in education it’s been very successful - but we are not doing more education projects now? We need to look at how we educate people in the 21st Century. Past work has been market led, vets saying what was missing and needed. Getting projects through the BSAVA system has been a real challenge taking many years - missing research, excessive governance.
BSAVA was much more successful when it was volunteer-led than it is now that we have a management model leading it. We can’t say that there is a direct correlation between the two because so much has changed.But we can’t ignore this and must take this into consideration as we revisit our organisation. One issue is the loss of innovation - despite meetings being held we are not getting ideas. The landscape has changed so much that demands are different now, making it hard to achieve the innovations from the past. And while the landscape may have changed, the mindsets haven’t necessarily changed.
We blur the lines regularly between Board and Operation. Calling on volunteer input does tend to mean we are regularly mixing up the distinction between trustee, board, operations, committee.
And everyone is doing things we are doing now, some with more dedicated resources than we have.
For a charity to work well the tension between volunteers creating ideas and the exec being able to deliver should not be dismissed. There are many balances to be struck. Keeping volunteers focused, bandwidth availability of volunteers, support from employers, capacity for staff to do the work, empowerment of the management team.
Dynamics of volunteering - council members may have more time but not necessarily be cutting edge. We need different levels of volunteers, not just people who have time because they are ‘winding down’. We need all walks of knowledge and experience - the knowledge of many years of practice and younger representatives bringing fresh thinking. Getting younger volunteers is a universal challenge so engaging this demographic has to be done in different ways.
Vets are face to face people - being able to do face to face consultation is part of the criteria for a new vet.
Leaders and Innovators - we need a mix working in the right way. Whether they are different people or the same, it is vital that we get innovative ideas and that leaders know how to take those ideas (that pass qualification) into execution.
Add more on decision model - partner or own/lead, meeting charitable objectives, meeting sustainability goals,
Make sure universities are listed as a stakeholder
Do we need The Power of Science in the vision?
ACTIONS
Certain modules need verifying and refining:
Scoring of stakeholders
Refinement of signs of achievement
Dynamics review
Possible Visual Tools:
A mapping of member / stakeholder need across generations - to solutions / propositions - part of updated market landscape
A merged Dynamics framework with space for impact assessment
A ‘capability’ map that shows what is needed from different roles - employees and volunteers - regulatory roles, operational roles, strategic roles, clinical roles