SSA Invites Saskatoon Meeting -- Sat Mar 1 -- 10am

Dear Soccer Member:

It has been about nine months since the Saskatchewan Soccer Association (SSA) held its 2007 Annual General Meeting in Swift Current. We thought it time to provide the SSA Members with an update on some of the important work that the SSA Board of Directors has been doing since then. We also want to provide some background information on the Board’s plan to engage the membership, in the months immediately ahead, in a discussion of the Board’s new Strategic Plan 2008-12, which came out of the Board’s strategic planning retreat held on September 21-23.

The update that we are providing below covers three particular areas that were identified at the 2007 Annual General meeting as needing the Board’s attention: Board governance, financial management, and strategic planning. In each of these three areas, the Board has undertaken important initiatives that have strengthened the Association and positioned it for success in the coming years. These initiatives have called upon the time and effort of all Board members, who through some busy months have learned much and exhibited great dedication.

Board Governance
You may remember the address that was given at the 2007 AGM by our speaker, Wayne Hellquist, who strongly encouraged the SSA to move ahead with the work already begun the previous year on Board governance. We have much to report here in the way of results, which have created a sense of renewal within the organization.

Standing Committees. The work on Board governance began at the first meeting of the new Board when it struck five new Standing Committees: Audit and Finance, Nominations, Governance, Communications and Public Relations, and Strategic Planning. A differentiation was made between these Standing Committees and other program committees, traditionally advisory to the Board, dealing with matters such as technical development, female development, referee development and competitions. These committees will continue to include Board volunteers who have expertise and, in some cases, lengthy experience in the respective subject areas, but they will henceforth report and make their recommendations to the SSA senior staff.

These changes to the Board committee structure were a consequence of the Board’s larger decision to separate the governing functions of the Association from the program or operational functions –– so that both can be performed more effectively and more efficiently.

The new Standing Committees set to work in the late spring and, with the guidance of their Chairs (Ralph Boychuk, Audit and Finance; Len Lewko, Nominations; Don Story, Governance and Strategic Planning; and Tom Brothwell, Communications and Public Relations), created committee terms of reference, which were subsequently approved by the Board. Since then, a number of these committees have been busy with aspects of the Board’s work of governing the Association.

Governance Policies. A second larger piece of work for the Board has been the drafting of a set of Governance Policies for the organization, to complement its Personnel Policies and Procedures. This very comprehensive document serves to specify the offices, institutions and processes by which the SSA is governed by its Board of Directors. The contents of the Governance Policies include the By-laws of the organization (to be amended at the 2008 AGM to accommodate the changes in Board governance), job descriptions for all Board officers, terms of reference for the Board and each of its committees, a process for the Board’s evaluation of itself, a process for the evaluation of the Executive Director, and processes for the recruitment, orientation and nomination of new Directors.

Board Calendar. One other important document drafted by the Board that bears mentioning is the Board’s Year Calendar, which keeps the Board focused on its governing responsibilities and ensures that the planning for important events during the year is timely and effective.

Management/Finances
In May 2007 the SSA’s Executive Director, Kelly Skotnitsky announced that he was leaving the SSA to take a position with another organization. It was the SSA’s good fortune to have a number of good candidates apply for the Executive Director position, one of whom, Boyd Clark was selected on the basis of his experience as a former Executive Director and his strong expertise particularly in the area of organizational finances.

The Board has already conducted an initial evaluation of the new Executive Director, using its new evaluation process, and it has been very pleased with Boyd’s performance thus far. We believe that the membership will be impressed by his leadership capabilities, management expertise, openness, and engaging personality.

We are particularly pleased with Boyd’s success, over a very short period of time, in bringing order and stability to the organization’s finances. A new system has been instituted for monitoring the finances of the organization. Revenue and expense streams can now be tracked readily, and all financial data is current. Staff budgets are determined by annual operating plans and spending is closely monitored. A tentative budget for 2008 has been examined by the Board and plans approved to have it finalized by January 2008. The Board is proposing to institute a new practice, starting next year, of approving the annual budget in advance of the budget year so that program planning for the year can begin with the assurance that funding will be in place. This proposal will be discussed with the membership.

Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is basically a systematic process for determining where an organization is headed and what it hopes to achieve as it moves forward. It sets out a vision for the organization, and then establishes a set of goals that it seeks to achieve by pursuing specific priorities.

The SSA Board embarked on a strategic planning exercise this fall when it met for a retreat at Cedar Lodge at Blackstrap Lake on the weekend of September 21-23. Facilitated by Wayne Hellquist, the retreat produced an exciting and dynamic new four-year Strategic Plan for the organization, a copy of which we are forwarding to you with this update. The Plan will also be posted on the SSA website.

To explain the Strategic Plan, and to engage the membership in a more general discussion about the future of SSA, the Board is planning a series of visits by a small group of Board members to a number of the Districts in February and March of 2008. This constitutes the beginning of the work that will be done by the SSA Board in the years ahead in pursuit of the Strategic Plan’s key priority of working together to build and grow our organization at the District level.

The following is a tentative schedule of meetings across the province when representatives from the SSA Board will be visiting the Districts. We are asking that the Districts who are interested in having their staff or volunteers attend one of these meetings please provide confirmation to the SSA Executive Director by 31 January 2008. Unfortunately, we are unable, for practical reasons, to visit all of the Districts across the province. We want to encourage individuals from Districts that we are not visiting, and those who are unable to attend the scheduled meeting in their District, to try to attend one of the meetings in an adjacent District. We want to reach as many people as we can.

VISIT SITE DATE

Regina Saturday, February 9
Saskatoon Saturday, March 1 -- 10:00am
Location: SaskTel Sports Centre

Prince Albert Saturday, March 1 -- postponed
Swift Current Saturday, March 8
Yorkton Saturday, March 22
Lloydminster/North Battleford Saturday, March 29

The SSA Board and staff have spent the better part of this year working on the project of renewing the SSA and charting its future. We now need the membership to join us as we move ahead. We look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Sincerely

Jeannette Kuc, President
Don Story, Chair, Governance Committee