By Robert Murtagh, Unions21 | 4 min
Robert Murtagh, Director (Ireland) at Unions21, reflects on his experiences of the Unions21 Future Leaders programme
We often hear phrases like ‘strategic plan’ or ‘strategic decision-making’, as if by using the word ‘strategic’, we are magically elevating the status of the decision, or the plan. How often do we use this word and ever truly evaluate its meaning? This question, “what do we actually mean when we talk about strategy?” is at the very core of the Future Leaders programme, module 1.
As a participant in 2023, sitting in the basement of the FDA offices in Borough High Street, this module was a lightbulb. As a young trade union official, with my previous experience as President of NUS-USI (the national student union for N. Ireland) and having previously participated in leadership programmes, I instinctively understood what it meant to act ‘strategically’ but had never explored what ‘strategy’ actually meant for organisations and trade unions.
Strategy is quite simple to understand, and indeed that’s the point; it must mean something to everyone, including leaders, staff members, executive members, reps and members. Your strategy is what binds you together, and ensures that you are a team pulling together, not falling apart.
Any union or organisation can have a strategy. This means defining a clear purpose, mission, vision and values, and while it is simple to define, it’s much harder to actually create. It isn’t something that you draw together on the back of a cigarette packet because it sounds good, it involves a genuine, honest and to some degree empirical reflection on your power and influence, your organisational capacity and a deep understanding of the future of your labour market, particularly if you’re a union in an area of the labour market in decline.
This was yet another point of clarity for me on the programme; a union’s strategy isn’t about the union, we don’t exist simply to exist. Unions are, at our core, vehicles for delivering change for our members - in the workplace and in society. The strategy isn’t solely about a vision for us as organisations, it must be a vision for our industry and our society, with success measured in the long term, not tomorrow. This is the first step in ensuring we are growing our power and influence to shape events, and not just be shaped by them. How many union leaders, officials and reps feel like we’re constantly reacting and firefighting?
Of course, a strategy without the means to support it is futile. This is why understanding our organisational capacity is fundamental when determining our operational plans that can deliver success. From our strategy, we can better understand where the various areas/departments of our union have responsibility; from finance and HR to organising, and everything in between, each area should have its own roadmap and indicators of success, while collectively feeding together to achieve the strategy, akin to the Mersey, the Dee and the Clyde racing into the Irish sea. By understanding our organisational capacity, this will ensure that we have the right people and the right skills to meet our targets, grow our union and win for our members.
Ultimately, there were many lightbulb moments throughout my time on the Future Leaders programme, and getting the opportunity to discuss with trade union colleagues challenges and obstacles in a confidential and non-judgmental environment was invaluable. No doubt this has been a solid foundation on which I’ve continued to build my trade unionism.
For more information on the Future Leaders programme for 2025-26, including how to book your place, click here.
