Before the “new normal” took hold, the Board shared with you their worries that the costs of running the organisation had reached an unsustainable level, that BASI had become disconnected from you, the members, and that they suspected there was a need for significant change in our systems, processes and culture. Our first block of work on this has now been completed and we’d like to share the findings with you, so please join our next Q&A to hear more. Your Chairman, Jim Lister, and our consultant, Tom Cloke, will present the findings along with a discussion on the impact of COVID-19. We highly recommend that you join this session as it will give you a lot of information and understanding about what has been going on ‘behind the scenes’ during this time of change, adjustment and rebuilding towards a leaner, more effective and member-centric Association, fit for future generations.

However, rather than waiting until the Q&A on June 2nd for everything, we wanted to tell you about a number of important changes we’ve made since November, all of which have improved what we offer members and how we do things on your behalf. Some have been behind the scenes and are operational; we are quietly confident you may not have noticed the difference – apart from being more able to get what you need! Other changes have been and will continue to be more obvious, in terms of new courses and creating more value for you and the whole membership. Like most UK based organisations, we do have a number of staff on furlough at the moment but have retained a core team who are pushing ahead with our plans for change; they are enjoying the opportunity to make many of the member-centric changes they themselves have been calling for for some time!

From an operations perspective, early on we made big developments in terms of technology, which not only enabled us to introduce flexible working for all but also meant we could swiftly adapt to lockdown life. The team are now all working remotely, the BASI Office is physically closed for now, and we’re getting better at it every day. We’ve also taken out some of the unnecessary costs and, in particular, removed pointless barriers to members being able to actually speak to us, such as phone line opening hours, which really weren’t helpful.

From a membership and courses perspective, we’ve also made some big modifications and improvements and there’s certainly more to come. We’ve been trying to rebuild the connection with our members and have kicked off with our new Members’ Working Groups; we have six teams of keen volunteers delving into the areas they’re passionate about with the aim of giving BASI a clear message about what more we need to change and how it needs to feel different.

We will be making two new online courses to ease lockdown boredom and also to get you ready for our next winter, whatever shape and form that takes! Our Online Performance Analysis course is available from the 1st June. This is flexibly timed and trainer led, can be used as a CPD but would be equally valuable as additional preparation for a teaching course if you wanted to. We also have worked with POW (Protect our Winters) and through them are able to offer a new Online Carbon Literacy course which also qualifies as a CPD (more info coming soon)

Stay tuned for more updates…