EGM vote supports evolutionary change at IChemE

What next?

While the EGM delivered a vote of confidence, it is fair to note that a significant minority voted that they are dissatisfied with Council. IChemE CEO Jon Prichard sat down with The Chemical Engineer to discuss what happens next, including plans to address the legitimate concerns raised by those who proposed and supported Motion 2.

Prichard began by explaining that IChemE has two key functions: to act as a qualifying body and act as a learned society.

“If I look at the qualification function, I think we’ve got a tremendous track record of delivering high-quality chartered chemical engineer assessment.”

However, there is room for improvement, he says.

“I do question whether we have the right scalable processes. If you look at the way we currently qualify people, we require a lot of volunteer input…far more than any other engineering institution.”

“Do not change the standards, do not change the outcomes – but [we must] look at the processes from an efficiency perspective.”

A stronger voice

The second function, IChemE’s learned society activity, is described by Prichard as working like a member-led, knowledge feedback loop. Members choose policy positions on grand challenges, which in turn informs and drives member activity that results in publications, conferences and courses that disseminate the knowledge to the community and for wider social benefit. This in turn feeds back into the policy activity forming a virtuous circle.

However, Prichard says the current ‘member voice’ that informs this activity is “weak”.

“At the moment I don’t have a mechanism for signing off [a policy position] other than through a VP technical or an individual. It’s got to get beyond the individual. It’s got to be member-led in every sense of the word. It’s a peer review decision.”

Prichard says IChemE needs to create a dedicated committee that would help strengthen member voice on IChemE’s learned society activity by forming a conduit between members and Council through the newly-proposed Congress. The Congress itself will be formed if the governance review is passed at the AGM in May. The Congress would act as an elected forum of members to take issues to Council and hold them to account, and act as a bridge to the membership in general to stimulate their involvement and enablement.

Learned Society Committee

Meanwhile, Prichard’s proposed Learned Society Committee would suggest areas of activity and engage in the decision-
making process for how resources are allocated for learned society activity.

“I think we must have a Learned Society Committee to steer our learned society activity.”

Asked who would sit on this committee, Prichard said: “I haven’t yet produced a plan as to how you populate it. Do you cut it regionally? Do you cut it by area of practice? I need more conversation with the SIGs, with the member groups, and the Safety and Energy Centres to understand how they would like to make this work.”

He said he will engage directly with these groups in the run up to the AGM to discuss how to make the new committee work. If members have views to share on this topic, he said they should direct them through either their member or special interest group.

Convincing the Committee to say yes

A concern that was repeatedly raised by proponents and supporters of Motion 2 was that financial constraints have strangled entrepreneurial activity among member groups and special interest groups. Prichard has sympathy for this concern and sees the Learned Society Committee helping to turn the situation around.

“As long as we comply with our legal requirements then I’d like to see the innovation there,” he said. “We need to migrate from where we are to a position where if you have a good idea, and you can persuade your peers in the Learned Society Committee that it’s a good idea then they hold the central pot that allows the investment to take place. So, it doesn’t become the staff in Rugby saying “no”. It becomes if you didn’t convince your peers that this was a good idea…go back and rework the case until its convincing.”

“we want people to stand on a manifesto. I’d love to see people standing on a manifesto that says: ‘I’m really interested in improving the learned society’”

So, the formation of Congress and the Learned Society Committee should help address member concerns about: support for member groups and special interest groups in terms of staffing resource and the financing of learned society activity; Council elections and Council activity being more open and transparent; and engaging directly with Council to shape and prioritise activity.

On top of this, Prichard revealed that in response to criticism over the election of members to Council, the trustees have decided against nominating candidates.

“Council doesn’t want to nominate any Council members for election this year, because that’s been part of the problem. So, we want people to stand on a manifesto. I’d love to see people standing on a manifesto that says: ‘I’m really interested in improving the learned society’.”

UK support

Another repeated criticism has been that UK members feel the rapid internationalisation of the organisation has resulted in a loss of financial and staffing support for UK members and their activities.

Prichard says IChemE is in the process of recruiting a UK country manager that should help rebalance this loss of support.

“I anticipate that post being populated by a Chartered Chemical Engineer, and that person will be key to understanding the two components: the qualifications function and therefore the relationship with employers…but also the future knowledge needs. I need to firm up the job description and get the advert out.”

Finally, how does Prichard see IChemE re-engaging and providing confidence for those 1,000+ members who voted against Council?

“Council is already making efforts to reach out – and I think that is important.”

“There are some people who are unhappy with the way the Institution ran the campaign – and we can have a discussion around the rights and wrongs of that but actually I think we need to move forward and draw a line under this.

“Do you want to help us build a better future? If the answer is yes, let’s be constructive about it and let’s deliver that.”

He explains that there is currently a working mechanism for governance but IChemE has not been using it well.

“So, let’s use the mechanisms that exist to deliver transformation and change. Whichever side you’re on – generally you’re interested in doing things better, and I think if you speak to both sides, they both want to do
things better.”

Prichard concludes by explaining that many of the concerns that have been raised by members were identified in the plans he first submitted when he took up the role of CEO in 2017.

“If you look at the plans that I put before Council: valuing the volunteer: that was in there; reshaping the learned society so that it adds value was in there; delivering efficiency in the
qualifications programme – that’s in the plan.”

While he admits frustration that the EGM has delayed the roll-out of these measures he strikes a conciliatory note, saying it is important that Council and IChemE staff demonstrate that they have heard the legitimate concerns that members have raised, and notes if he had his time over again, he would have sought to explain his plans earlier.

“Could we have communicated better last year? If I’d known how frustrated people were, in my first month then I would have started a different and more direct communication campaign.”

IChemE is now exploring options for setting up an extranet site for IChemE members to discuss key matters that relate to the future of the Institution. “We want to hear from the many members who did not vote, or who voted for EGM Motion 2. The easiest way to do this is to get involved locally.” 

Member-led mantra

Returning to the proposed changes, Prichard says: “I think the message here is this is all doable. There’s a great institution sitting here with a long history and a long heritage of doing good things. What I’ve come in to do is to ensure it continues to do good things. So any help I can get from the members to move to that position whereby we ensure that all decisions are member led, means we ensure that we support them and we ensure we are serving society. As long as we follow that mantra, we will succeed.”