Sean Jarvis: CEO Monthly Report - March 2023

For my CEO Report this month (March 2023), I want to break form the norm of the Six Pillar updates and focus on our overall strategy and vision for the future. There is some excellent work going on, but I’ll update on the pillars next month.

When I joined the Club, it was clear that we collectively struggled with a unified vision or identity. Or in other words, a single approach for what we stood for and our purpose. We had various departments undertaking work with no real collusion or drive for a common goal. Granted everyone wanted to succeed but it was isolated thinking and individual goals.

I’ve seen it many times in sport and that approach simply doesn’t work. Additionally, over the past decade prior to Covid, the Club had arguably developed several unhealthy habits that were detrimental to what was needed to be achieved. Because of these actions and some external uncontrollable factors resulted in us facing a difficult future. This of course needed to change.

What I’m not saying here is ‘we have everything right’ and ‘previous regimes did everything wrong’, but there is no doubt we are clearing the fog and unravelling some of the reoccurring issues. The hard work by all staff must continue if we are to continue to drive forward and any recruits that join us must have this philosophy too.

At the recent Members forum, I presented a slide that gave a visual as to our five-year strategy with an overlapping further five years. It’s a little complex to put in writing but I’ll try to explain it here.

As mentioned above, we were lacking a single vision. So, we have created a positioning and masterplan for all of us to strive towards. Our first port of call was to unearth our DNA, allowing us to create an understanding of who we are and what we stand for. I think as Leicestershire supporters will understand, our strengths have been giving players the opportunity to create a path in cricket and producing some excellent England stars. In other words, good students of the game.

Furthermore, learning and of course wanting to continually improve doesn’t stop on the field. It must apply off it as well. Hence why we have created the phrase ‘Academy of Cricket’. This ‘catch all’ phrase of course applies to our Masterplan too, but a bit more of that later.

The next part was to look at the overall business strategy for the next five years. For us, this was simple and needed to be a ‘turnaround strategy’. In other words, creating foundations and a business plan that ultimately changes the fortunes of the Club, providing it with a brighter future.

As part of this overall strategy, then came five annual sub strategies. These were our yearly sub strategies to achieve the overall goal. As it stands, we are now implementing year three of this approach.

In rewinding, year one (2021) was one of ‘mitigation’. We were, as we know, faced with Covid, which meant the Club needed to respond and effectively navigate our way through some very difficult times and ultimately mitigate versus any loses. It also meant that we needed to reach out to all our supporters, partners, and stakeholders to help us through the difficult period. On reflection this strategy worked for the Club and ultimately allowed us to press the reset button and then look to implement further annual strategies for a brighter future.

Year two was then about ‘emergence’ “ emerging from the Covid challenges and looking to re-establish ourselves. Year two was indeed last year, and for me and the board to say we learnt a lot was an understatement. The restrictions to Covid had all but gone and then it was about really seeing how we could operate. There were many positives but creating the right culture became high on our agenda (and remains so). Getting the right can do culture is crucial to a Club like ours and if we are collectively pulling in the right direction, I genuinely believe anything is possible. I did see that type of culture created (Terrier spirit) when I worked at Huddersfield Town and once momentum kicked in it became an unstoppable force.

Year three is effectively now (2023). We have called this year ‘building’. For us, it’s about really building those strong foundations and relationships throughout the Club and ultimately building a bright future (ala the Masterplan).

I think throughout the Club I could apply this word to each Pillar. For example, our Community Pillar is looking to build a strong Foundation for the Club and develop those relationships with community groups. For Cricket, it’s building a team that can take us to long term success. Putting these solid bases in will help us to create an improved Club going forwards.

At the end of year three (end of this season), I believe it’s healthy to look at the strategy, review it and tweak it if need be. Rest assured I will be doing this. However, to date, the indicators so far are demonstrating that the Club continues to improve (which include increased memberships, increased hospitality bookings and increased commercial revenue). At the end of year three, our next five-year cycle will start.

Year four (or year one in the new cycle), I’ve called ‘growth’. In simple, if everything goes according to plan then we should really begin to see the fruits of our labour and effectively double-digit growth across the Club. Then Year five (year two in the new cycle), we should be witnessing some ‘success’ “ which is what we have called it. What success looks like is for us to define but you would certainly hope that silverware could be included.

Moving into year six (year three of the second cycle), we have described this as a ‘new look’. Hopefully by this point our masterplan will kick in and a new look ground (phase 1) should be up and running. Additionally, it may be a good opportunity to refresh our brand and update it. A further end of year review will take place here and then begin the 3rd year five cycle.

Year seven (year four in the second cycle) we have called ‘top eight’. At this point we would hope the previous years’ work has progressed us to a top eight club. In other words, targeting First Division cricket, quarter finals, and off the field indicators to ensure we are in the top eight.

Naturally, we hope for this success earlier and of course want to achieve that, but we do need a point on the horizon we can measure ourselves against. Arguably, in the past we may have gone from one year to the next with no real long-term strategy.

Year eight (the last year in the second cycle) we have called ‘established’. Here, following the previous year’s success, we don’t just want it to be a flash in the pan, we want to sustain that approach and really look for us to establish ourselves as one of the leading clubs in Cricket PLC.

So, as you can see, we are not just planning for one or two years, we are targeting five to eight, and even further. I will also stress that success is not linear, and invariably we will have some major successes on the way, possibly earlier than we anticipated and we will have some challenges and backward steps to encounter too. However, what I believe we have now is a structured approach that the whole team and our supporters can see our intended journey.

As I said at the members forum and recent AGM, it’s not just the staff that have to believe it, the supporters do too. And that includes being part of celebrating success and working together through the challenges.

Finally for my CEO report this month, I hope you have seen the images of the masterplan ground development. As I explained there are three parts to it: Cricket, Commercial and Educational.

Cricket “ it’s what we do, and we must hit the standards that the ECB and the game impose.

Commercial “ as I described commercial revenues need to increase for us to survive, thrive and prosper. Allowing us to reinvest in the club.

Educational “ this is our USP as we look to work with our educational establishments and create something special, including a world first “ and become a true Academy of Cricket.

For us now, having revealed the plan and vision, we are entering a consultation period that includes our neighbours, stakeholders, commercial partners to name just a few. Over the coming weeks we will be establishing a working party to ensure this vision becomes a reality. News of that party will emerge in due course.

For us, this is just the beginning. There is considerable hard work to be done and we are going to need your support to help us achieve it. These are ‘game-changing’ times for our club. Let’s do this together.

And I for one can’t wait for the season to start. Foxes are you ready?

Sean.