By Mike Palamarek, Board Chair (mike.palamarek@skipatrol.ca)
The CSP’s current five-year CSP National Strategic Plan is ending this year, thus the board has started a new update.
The board has finished six of seven key stakeholder interviews with diverse groups of members including national life members, division presidents, education/national representatives, and new and experienced patrollers. The groups have provided important feedback on the current strategic plan, vision and goals as well as given us wide-ranging views on how the CSP can move forward. The interviews have several main topics:
- Key challenges.
- Top priorities in the next five years.
- Training and learning systems.
- Partnerships and intellectual property.
- Four- season operations and new services.
- Membership support.
In late March, the CSP hosted the Big White National First Aid Competition and FIPS World Congress. More than 80 CSP members from across Canada attended either the competition, FIPS or both. The board took the opportunity to host an in-person strategic direction workshop and almost 20 members participated. The workshop dealt with four main topics:
- Member support and engagement.
- Services and training.
- External environment and perception.
- Partnerships and other service offerings.
From the interviews and the workshop, several key strategic themes are emerging:
- Alignment about the current state of the CSP.
- Year-round focus, 365, non-snow events.
- Member retention – focus on fun!
- Revenues are key to staying relevant and sustainable.
- Strategic partnerships and leveraging our intellectual property and assets.
- Increased flexibility – for members, for training, for service offerings.
In May, the board will be conducting Industry partner interviews to gather external data to help correlate the extensive internal data gathered to date. Then in June, the board will develop the initial strategic framework for stakeholder review. After this review, the final step will be to prepare the strategic direction document, key performance indicators and goals that will help guide the new operational plan.
The new 2027-2031 National Strategic Direction will be presented at the September National AGM.
Thank you to the interview/workshop participants and all the members who have provided input so far. Your enthusiasm and dedication to the CSP is evident and especially your passion for helping.
If you would like to provide input, please contact Mike Palamarek (mike.palamarek@skipatrol.ca) this month for a survey link and questions.
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