Defining our Future: shaping your professional body

As an RICS member, I am proud to be part of a profession which has done so much to support the world as it grapples with uncertainty. Our profession has been trusted to shape the world for centuries, but the innovation, professionalism and a dedication that you are showing today in this generation does everyone one of you credit.

In the three years since RICS last reviewed its strategy and business plan, COVID-19 has accelerated many ongoing global structural shifts shaping our profession and society. As a result, market, member, and public expectations of RICS are changing, and we need to ensure that as professionals we have the support we need to continued delivering in this shifting environment.

Through the pandemic, RICS’ COVID-19 Recovery Business plan delivered sustainability and resilience, enabling the institution to maintain strategic focus and continue supporting professionals during this most disrupted period. But now we must go further.

We face a new and radically altered future from the one we thought we knew three years ago. RICS Governing Council now believes that the time is right to assess the key strategic pillars of our business plan to ensure that RICS is best positioned to support professionals to deliver as the world’s needs continue to change.

Having listened to views expressed by a wide range of members, on 10 February 2021, Governing Council initiated a review into our strategic direction and priorities. Today, we are delighted to begin the first phase of this process by launching ‘Defining our Future’, an extensive programme of consultation, engagement and conversations delivered with the RICS Executive that will shape how RICS champions and enhances your professionalism in the years ahead.

We want to ensure that our long-term strategy and resilience is built on a foundation of evidence and insight. This needs to be developed with transparency, through collaboration and co-creation with you, and the many stakeholders who enable RICS to support your work to the public advantage.

This is why activity in this first phase will focus on consultation, with a programme of evidence gathering activity running from today until 9 April 2021. A formal consultation will invite responses structured around eight key strategic issues, including the purpose of RICS as a professional body, governance and transparency and our future priorities for the profession. It will also cover qualification and entry to the profession, standards and assurance, our membership value proposition, as well as membership engagement and experience. Short consultation papers, available in different languages, will provide background on these issues to help structure your feedback.

There will also be chances to meet and discuss these critical issues with Governing Council members directly as a series of roundtables hosted online and focussed on each of our key markets. You can find registration information for these events – which we recommend you sign up for early due to limited capacity – on the Defining our Future page. You can also find the consultation papers, details on how to submit your response, and other ways to get involved on these pages.

After the consultation closes, Governing Council will use everything we’ve collated to review its strategy and priorities for the future. We will also publish a summary of the responses to explain how your input has shaped the process.

In the meantime, as we work through this process, RICS will continue delivering essential activity to support you to thrive and continue delivering in your work.

Your views will be critical in helping Governing Council – whose members you elect to reflect our global scale and diverse talents – to set our future strategic direction. We can only build the sustainable future we want to see if we shape it together, so it’s vital that we hear from you and as many of those stakeholders who work with RICS and enable it to deliver positive outcomes, in the profession and for society.

I look forward to seeing you at consultation event very soon. Together, I know we have the common purpose and talent to define our future and the support we need, so that we can continue to serve the public advantage.

Kathleen Fontana FRICS

RICS President

Managing Director, Mitie Projects