Table Tennis England

Skills Matrix – completion and notes

26 March 2022

Board Skills and Diversity Matrix

I am doing a test of the proposed Board Skills & Diversity Matrix to understand how it works and see how practical it is.

There are a list of specific points of activity and the guidance for the grades is noted below. As an extra detail, I have a column to justify the grade that I have given myself.

Scoring

1 No work experience, understanding, knowledge or qualifications
2 Have had some limited exposure through work experience or training sufficient to enable background awareness but not sound knowledge.
3 Have had experience or training sufficient to give a sound understanding of the skill. This includes (but is not limited to) having had:

– relevant work experience of at least 2 years, specific to the skill though not necessarily specific to the work of Table Tennis England, or

– relevant training in relation to the skill such as through short courses, industry conferences, seminars or inhouse training programmes

4 Have had significant experience or hold relevant qualifications to give a comprehensive understanding of the skill. This includes (but is not limited to) having:

– had relevant work experience of at least 5 years specific to the skill in an area either specifically relevant or transferrable to the work of Table Tennis England, including experience on boards, at a management level or in a professional services firm

– relevant qualifications specific to the skill, which may include (dependent upon the skill) a law degree, accounting/audit qualifications, a communications or marketing qualification, an IT/ICT qualification, a management/leadership qualification, such as arelevant degree or MBA, etc.

5 Have had significant experience and generally also hold relevant qualifications to give an expert understanding of the skill. This includes (but is not limited to) having had:

– relevant work experience of at least 10 years specific to the skill in an area directly relatable to the work of Table Tennis England, including experience on boards, at a senior management level in a related industry to Table Tennis England, or in a professional services firm,

AND

– relevant qualifications may include those as set out in relation to a score of 4 above.

This score is generally for where this is/was the person’s primary profession or where the person would be regarded as an expert in this particular area as a result of their experience.

Skills Section

Sport Specific

Table Tennis A passion for table tennis! 5 Played for over 40 years at club, league and county standard. Also held administrative posts in club, league and county. National Councillor for Sussex for some years, Held posts as Chair of National Council and Board member

Coach level 1. Tournament organiser level 2, Umpire level 1

Knowledge of the membership of TableTennis England and the interests that impact internal stakeholders 5 National Councillor for many years, play in leagues and competitions and know members from all over the country.
Experience in running clubs, leagues or

holding administrative positions at local, national or international level within table tennis.

4 Held county secretary, currently league secretary for Crawley. Been on management committees of club for many years.

National Councillor for some years. Previous Member of TTE Board.

Experience playing at a high performance level and knowing ‘what it takes to win’ at a World, Olympic or Paralympic level 1 Highest I have played is senior and veteran county.
Experience developing and executing talent development strategies 2 Coaching level 1 been involved in county, league and club development planning

Sport / Education Sector

Sport Sector Understanding of the structure and workings of the domestic sporting landscape –  administration and politics. 4 County and league management committees for over 30 years
Knowledge of the strategy for the  investment into high performance sport 2/3 Only dealt with funding at local level
Understanding of talent pathways and/or high performance sport programmes 2/3 Only dealt with at local level
Knowledge of external stakeholders eg. SE, DCMS, UKS, BOA, BPA, UKAD, CSP, YST, HNSCs, FE/HE etc; 2/3 Familiar with the stakeholders although minimal contact with most of them
Demonstrate an understanding of Government departments, key funding agencies, public funding, personalities involved and decision-making processes 2 Familiar with Government Departments although minimal contact with most of them

Board, Committee and Executive Leadership

Board of Directors Experience serving on public sector, private sector, or not for profit boards. 4

18 months on TTE board.

Served as Trustee of pension fund.

80 hours of CPD relating to director roles and functions.

Experience working with good governance policies 3

Good governance policies may have been in place in TTE, but little evidence of practice seen.

Work in regulated industry and deal with various boards

Committees Experience serving on Committee’s, working groups, advisory groups at local, regional or national level 5

Over 35 years on various club, league and county committees.

Previously Chaiir of National Council

 

Leadership Experience of chairing a Committee or senior leadership position in a public sector, private sector, or not for profit organisation 4

Previously Chair of National Council

Chaired various committees over the years both in sport and business. .

Experience in the development, implementation, oversight and delivery of strategic outcomes and operational activities for a public sector, private sector, or not for profit organisation 4 Work in compliance in my profession. Deal with business plans an ongoing strategy within a regulated industry.
Executive Leadership Sustainable success in business at a very senior executive level in a successful career 3 I deal with business owners for various sizes of company.
Governance Understanding good governance principles; internal controls and the Code for Sport Governance 5

I work in compliance and have a very good understanding of governance principles.

Completed 60 hours of director CPD

Very familiar with the Code for Sport governance

Knowledge and understanding of the requirements on a sports regulator 3

I have been familiar with this for many years.

 

Business

Strrategic

Planning

Experience with planning, evaluation and implementation of a strategic plan, including a demonstrated ability to focus on longer term goals and strategic outcomes, as opposed to day to day management and operational experience 4 I work in compliance and deal with business plans in the authorisation process for the FCA.

I also work closely with various firms to help them with their strategic planning and implementation and also the monitoring of the plans over time.

Also deal with succession planning and business exits.

Stakeholder Relations Experience in strategic relationships with Government, public investment partners such as Sport England and UK Sport, or commercial partners 3 Only dealt with this within table tennis. Good understanding of the relationships involved between the various entities.

Regular correspondence with the FCA and other business regulators.

and / or

Experience in member/customer

relations and effective consultation and communications for public sector, private sector or not for profit Boards

4 As a compliance consultant and previously as an adviser I deal with members and customers all the time.

I deal with formal complaints for various firms and have been very successful in dispute resolution.

Finance & Audit Experience of financial management and reporting and application of internal, procurement and cost controls for public sector, private sector or not for profit Boards, including assessing the quality of financial controls 4 Hold a CIB exam in accounting.

Worked in a bank for some years assessing business management information foe lending decisions.

Also, my compliance work deals in capital adequacy, management information and also FCA reporting on those issues for various firms.

Risk management Experience in the process of

identifying, assessing, monitoring and overseeing the management of financial and non-financial risks

4 My compliance role involves risk management in various forms. I have designed and monitored risk registers and undertaken FCA reporting of various risk issues.
Human Resources

/Executive Performance

Understanding of HR considerations and issues for executive recruitment,

compensation structures and performance review in a public sector, private sector, or not for profit

organisation

4 Set up various recruitment processes involving FCA regulated individuals.

Undertaken benefit negotiations and set up structures for employee benefits.

Undertake performance monitoring of regulated individuals for various firms.

Equality and Diversity Able to contribute to the Board by enhancing perspectives and

experiences through diversity of leadership, background, age, gender or other

3 Am familiar with current thinking on diversity and inclusion.

Dealt with issues for client firms over the years.

Safeguarding and welfare Experience in developing, monitoring and implementing strategies that enable for the safeguarding and welfare of children, young people and adults 2/3 Familiar with the strategies and current thinking on this.

Implemented rules at a local level.

Experience in providing or monitoring services that protect children, young

people and adults

2/3 Understand vulnerability in my professional work

Familiar with reporting procedures

Understanding of health and wellbeing strategies including, but not limited to, mental health and wellness 2/3 Understand vulnerability in my professional work

Familiar with reporting procedures

Legal Experience in the legal and regulatory environment applicable to National Governing Bodies including but not limited to Company Law, Commercial Law, Safeguarding, Disciplinary and HR 3 I work in a regulated environment and have some experience of various aspects of law that could be applied to any National Governing Body.
Technical and Digital Experience in developing, monitoring and implementing technology

strategies, and / or digital innovation in public sector, private sector, or not for profit organisations

2/3 I was on the committee that selected Sport 80 for TTE.

In my regular work, I am used to working with technology and have been an early adopter of technology in financial services.

Commercial

Revenue Generation Experience in revenue growth

strategies i.e. sponsorship,

membership/subscription services, grant funding, ticketing

2/3 Have applied for various grant funding and arranged various sponsorships for publications.
Experience is advising or executing asset creation strategies 2/3 Been part of organising committees for various events
Marketing and Communications Senior executive experience in

marketing, branding and/or customer engagement that creates long term customer value through discovery, acquisition and retention strategies, including but not limited to social

media growth and engagement

3 I have done this for my own business and with various client firms over the years.

My compliance work involves the consideration of marketing ventures from a regulatory perspective.

Competent written communication skills that provide engaging content 5 I write and compile detailed reports for professional publication.
Major Events Experience developing bids and

strategies to host major European and International events

1 No experience
Experience in development funding and commercial models 1 No experience
Experience developing ticketing and fan engagement strategies 1 No experience
Experience in successfully securing broadcast partnerships 1 No experience

Diversity Section

Board Member
Gender: I am (a)… Male
What age category are you in? 23/03/1962
How would you describe your ethnicity? White British
Do you consider yourself to have a disability? No
Are you affected by any

of the following (please tick all

that apply)

Visual impairment

or blindness

Wear glasses to read
Hearing impairment,

deafness or hard of hearing

Sometimes do not hear well.
Physical impairment (wheelchair user, mobility issues, amputee, dwarfism) No
Learning disability or difficulty

concentrating or remembering

No
Mental health problems No
Social or behavioural issues (due to neurological diverse conditions such as Autism,

Attention Deficit or Aspersers’

Syndrome)

No
Some other condition that

impacts your ability to complete day to day tasks (Including

issues with stamina, breathing difficulty, difficulty speaking

or making yourself understood,

dexterity difficulties, long term pain.

No
Don’t know No
Prefer not to say No
None of these No
Other disability No
How would you describe your sexuality? Heterosexual
How would you describe your religion or belief? Roman Catholic
Marriage and civil partnership: Are you presently… Married

Comments about form design

I have completed what I understand to be the up-to-date skills matrix. This paper is to give feedback on how I believe that this document can be strengthened to make it a more effective document in assessing the all-round skill set of a person.

Sport Specific – Table Tennis

The final two questions are over-weight in concentrating on “high performance and “development strategies” at a level that very few people will ever experience. These are very niche and not necessarily very useful for many applications?

More effective questions might be:

  • What level of play have you experienced?

This question will capture a far wider range of experience.

  • Have you run any tournaments?
    • As a volunteer?
    • For profit?
  • Have you officiated at any events?
    • Which ones?
    • What level?
      • Umpire
      • Referee
      • organiser?

Sport/Education Sector

The talent development strategy question should be in this section.

Again, far too much emphasis on “high performance”.  What about the other 98% of young players who are not part of the “high performance” pathway?

  • What level of coaching have you practiced?
  • How are your activities funded?
  • Do you obtain grants to build your practice?
  • Do you understand the different sources of funding that are available to fund your activities?

Board, Committee and Executive Leadership

Experience – How does somebody get their first Board position if much weight is given to this answer?

Working with “Good Governance” policies – Interesting question. It would be more interesting to ask whether a person tried to make a difference if they felt “Good Governance” was not being practiced.

“Sustainable success in business at a very senior executive level in a successful career” – how is career success measured and valued?

“Knowledge and understanding of the requirements on a sports regulator “. There is no sports regulator. Are you referring to NGBs?

 

Business

Many of the questions are too broad and should be broken down to deal with separate issues.

For example, Finance & Audit – should be split into segments

Experience of financial management and reporting and application of internal, procurement and cost controls for public sector, private sector or not for profit Boards, including assessing the quality of financial controls

Should be: for public sector, private sector or not for profit Boards,

  • Experience of financial management and reporting
  • application of internal and cost controls
  • procurement controls
  • assessing the quality of financial controls
    • Budgeting for future spending – projects. Internal costs.
    • Monitoring of budgets
    • Monitoring of contracts

This is similar for nearly all of the business questions.  Not allowing enough detailed thought to be effective.

Commercial

Again, the questions are too broad brush to be effective. Commercial is going to hold much greater priority as we go forward in an environment of reduced funding being provided. Therefore, more detail should be south in this category.

Major Events

There is nobody in the country, with the possible exception of Harvey Webb, that would have any experience of major events as specified in this questionnaire.

This question should probably be re-directed to consider experience of organising and running domestic events, such as Grand Prix, National Championships or similar level events with all the commercial issues surrounding those.

Diversity Section

Whilst I understand the inclusion of this to comply with possible diversity and inclusion issues.  It could also be a negative for many applicants who may be disadvantaged by the application of “positive Discrimination”

What is the relevance of my religion, sexuality or even marital status to my ability to be an effective Board Member?

On a personal basis, positive discrimination is likely to work against me as an older, white male.

Summary

The emphasis of the questions in thus skills matrix suggest to me that it has been put together by somebody or a group of people that consider that “High Performance” is the most important area of the sport and the rest of the criteria simply run off this.

Whilst a lot of the funding may well be performance led, it would appear that the future thrust will all be about inclusion and diversity and participation.

There is comparatively little consideration of actual business and commercial skills that would be useful to a Board.  These will be much higher priority if table tennis is to move forward as a commercially viable business entity rather than an organisation that is totally reliant on centralised funding.

This skills matrix will only be useful if it completed honestly and reasonably. I would happily defend any of the grades I have given myself,

Questionnaires tend to be blunt instruments This skills matrix lacks context on its own and should be the basis of a much wider discussion.

A skills matrix is only as effective as the people using it as a management tool and apply it within a framework of good practice.

Comments about form design

I have completed what I understand to be the up-to-date skills matrix. This paper is to give feedback on how I believe that this document can be strengthened to make it a more effective document in assessing the all-round skill set of a person.

Sport Specific – Table Tennis

The final two questions are over-weight in concentrating on “high performance and “development strategies” at a level that very few people will ever experience. These are very niche and not necessarily very useful for many applications?

More effective questions might be:

  • What level of play have you experienced?

This question will capture a far wider range of experience.

  • Have you run any tournaments?
    • As a volunteer?
    • For profit?
  • Have you officiated at any events?
    • Which ones?
    • What level?
      • Umpire
      • Referee
      • organiser?

Sport/Education Sector

The talent development strategy question should be in this section.

Again, far too much emphasis on “high performance”.  What about the other 98% of young players who are not part of the “high performance” pathway?

  • What level of coaching have you practiced?
  • How are your activities funded?
  • Do you obtain grants to build your practice?
  • Do you understand the different sources of funding that are available to fund your activities?

Board, Committee and Executive Leadership

Experience – How does somebody get their first Board position if much weight is given to this answer?

Working with “Good Governance” policies – Interesting question. It would be more interesting to ask whether a person tried to make a difference if they felt “Good Governance” was not being practiced.

“Sustainable success in business at a very senior executive level in a successful career” – how is career success measured and valued?

“Knowledge and understanding of the requirements on a sports regulator “. There is no sports regulator. Are you referring to NGBs?

 

Business

Many of the questions are too broad and should be broken down to deal with separate issues.

For example, Finance & Audit – should be split into segments

Experience of financial management and reporting and application of internal, procurement and cost controls for public sector, private sector or not for profit Boards, including assessing the quality of financial controls

Should be: for public sector, private sector or not for profit Boards,

  • Experience of financial management and reporting
  • application of internal and cost controls
  • procurement controls
  • assessing the quality of financial controls
    • Budgeting for future spending – projects. Internal costs.
    • Monitoring of budgets
    • Monitoring of contracts

This is similar for nearly all of the business questions.  Not allowing enough detailed thought to be effective.

Commercial

Again, the questions are too broad brush to be effective. Commercial is going to hold much greater priority as we go forward in an environment of reduced funding being provided. Therefore, more detail should be south in this category.

Major Events

There is nobody in the country, with the possible exception of Harvey Webb, that would have any experience of major events as specified in this questionnaire.

This question should probably be re-directed to consider experience of organising and running domestic events, such as Grand Prix, National Championships or similar level events with all the commercial issues surrounding those.

Diversity Section

Whilst I understand the inclusion of this to comply with possible diversity and inclusion issues.  It could also be a negative for many applicants who may be disadvantaged by the application of “positive Discrimination”

What is the relevance of my religion, sexuality or even marital status to my ability to be an effective Board Member?

On a personal basis, positive discrimination is likely to work against me as an older, white male.

Summary

The emphasis of the questions in thus skills matrix suggest to me that it has been put together by somebody or a group of people that consider that “High Performance” is the most important area of the sport and the rest of the criteria simply run off this.

Whilst a lot of the funding may well be performance led, it would appear that the future thrust will all be about inclusion and diversity and participation.

There is comparatively little consideration of actual business and commercial skills that would be useful to a Board.  These will be much higher priority if table tennis is to move forward as a commercially viable business entity rather than an organisation that is totally reliant on centralised funding.

This skills matrix will only be useful if it completed honestly and reasonably. I would happily defend any of the grades I have given myself,

Questionnaires tend to be blunt instruments This skills matrix lacks context on its own and should be the basis of a much wider discussion.

A skills matrix is only as effective as the people using it as a management tool and apply it within a framework of good practice.

A skills matrix is only as effective as the people using it as a management tool and apply it within a framework of good practice.