By Fiona McAuslan, communications director at Getting on Board.
When it comes to trustee recruitment, many board members will tell you that they don’t have a diversity and inclusion issue. Their problem is that they just can’t find new trustees for love or money (well, just love as it’s a voluntary role).
However many of the problems that charity boards and CEOs experience can be traced back to poor board composition and board culture, though on the surface of it, it may not be immediately apparent.
So if you’re a CEO who is finding your plans and suggestions for change and development in the charity and on the board are met with a barrage of vague excuses, then use our board debunker guide to decipher what’s really afoot.
“We tried that once but it didn’t work so we went back to the way we’ve always done it.”
Did the idea really not work – or was it sabotaged by a lack of engagement and buy-in by groupthink naysayers? If one bold person suggests something new and groupthink is against them, there’s every chance it’ll fail. If been-there-done-that is presented as a reason not to do it again, it might be worth doing some digging.
Having a diverse board does wonders to mitigate this sort of situation. Challenge and difference are at the very heart of effective governance. With multiple viewpoints, a board benefits from a font of fresh thinking and creative solutions but, most importantly, the robustness of the honest debate needed to stress-test new ideas into success.
“The trouble with XXX is they weren’t committed. They stayed for a few months and then moved on.”
The odd thing is, flaky trustees syndrome seems to keep happening again and again to this charity. Trustees join with bags of enthusiasm and within a few months are dodging meetings, ducking tasks and dropping out of view.
When lack of retention is the symptom, lack of inclusion is often the ailment. If you hear this at your board meetings (or if you’ve expressed this view yourself) try asking yourself why people want to leave. Could you be more inclusive of your board members, are meetings held at a time that’s convenient for everyone? Are they in a location that is accessible to all? Are meetings conducted in acronyms and shared history, with no support given to newcomers? Are the big decisions actually taken outside of the board room? Are longstanding trustees ready to really listen to new perspectives, or are they most interested in sharing their own opinions? Scratch the surface and you may find it’s the culture, not the individual that’s not up to scratch. An anonymous audit asking trustees these questions is an excellent place to start.
“That’ll never work here because…”
Change can feel threatening and when the status quo has been in place for a long time, all the more so. Often the reasons cited aren’t real, they’re just projections based on fears, past situations, or worst-case scenarios. Trustees are duty-bound to manage risk but part of good governance is taking a calculated risk to support the charity’s aims. Trustee diversity can help mitigate bad decisions. A well-composed board will encompass a range of skills, knowledge and experience to help with decision making.
Trustees are often fearful of open trustee recruitment because they are recruiting people they don’t know. However, a solid recruitment strategy affords many checks and balances to ensure you get the mix right.
Try countering the never speech with a watertight risk assessment exercise that assesses these fears in an unemotional and logical way.
“[Insert name of founder/chair/significant stakeholder here] prefers it when we…”
People who set up charities and those who chair them are driven, committed and passionate individuals. But no single person should be the decision-maker. All trustees carry equal weight in terms of legal responsibility so should have an equal stake in decision making. A diverse board will support diversity of thought, informed debate, and strategising that combines head and heart direction of all the trustees. If that’s not reflected in how your board operates then perhaps a refresher governance course might help.
“Good idea but there’s no one to take it forward.”
Can they not see the eager young trustee with their hand in the air? Nothing punctures trustee enthusiasm quicker than being ignored. Effective delegation means knowing who is best placed to deliver on a particular project. The best way boards can assess this is through regular skills, experience and knowledge audits. Getting on Board’s free templates can help you get started.
“We would recruit diversely but we actually need someone who can [include list of specific skills here]”
It’s a common misconception that encouraging diversity somehow means lowering the bar, or taking an underqualified candidate or passing over a more qualified candidate in order to fill a quota. That is not the case at all.
Encouraging candidates from a particular community to apply for a role excludes no one. What it does do, is encourage people who might feel that the role is not for them to apply. Ultimately, you select the best person for the role, however in making every effort to encourage people currently underrepresented on your board to step forward and apply, you create a greater (not lesser!) pool of people from whom to choose.
“We would recruit diversely but we don’t have the time – we need someone now.”
A good recruitment process could take months rather than the 10-minute phone call it takes to ask Geoffrey from the rotary club to join the board. However, the good news is that if you approach it from the perspective of creating a succession strategy then once your process is in place it can be maintained with just a few touchpoints throughout the trustee yearly calendar. Keeping up to date audits of what skills, experience and knowledge you have on the board lets you see the gaps a trustee resignation might create. Having templates of adverts that can be amended, as well as interview processes and places to advertise mean that an open recruitment process can hit the ground running whenever it’s needed.
Research shows that a relevant mix of people on charity boards is one of the primary ways of building organisational resilience. If you need help transforming your board, we’re here to help! Getting on Board has a range of resources and free webinars alongside Transform, a flagship programme to help charity boards be the best version of themselves they can be.
