“We have a bit of a culture problem”, the Chair says during your interim CEO interview. You talk about team building, collaboration, warmth. You have been beloved by all your teams to date. You believe in your ability to give …

The new Governance Code – I’ve now read it, and here’s my tuppence. People often hear the word ‘governance’ and think it means just the tick box policies and procedures. Got a conflict of interest policy? Great! But really charity …

You’re on a Board that has finally parted ways with a CEO who wasn’t what you’d have hoped for. Maybe it was competence, maybe it was the relationship. Maybe they quit, maybe they’ve been ousted. Maybe you’re still grappling with …

A recent study – Examining the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in charity board governance – led by a team of University of Bath researchers, supported by the Charity Excellence Framework, set out to examine how charity Trustees make …

When you’re new to baking, you might need some basic instructions, like ‘don’t forget to add an egg’, or ‘you’ve used salt rather than sugar’. These are the basic building blocks that an early chef needs to learn. Without it, …

How would you feel if someone told you that your interests were conflicted? That your personal relationships or professional interests stood in the way of you making an unbiased decision? Many people react with defensiveness or shame. “I’m not like …

Since the downfall of so many voluntary support organisations, I’ve found myself delivering a lot of Trustee training: via zoom, in person, even developing videos for long term Trustee induction. And I generally start off with the Trustee duties: the …

Many Boards I work with struggle with giving feedback. Some feel it’s not their place- how could they know more than the professionals who do this every day? Some worry about the adaptability of their own field of expertise: how …

Some Boards don’t like to vote at all, but voting has its place. Sometimes it’s useful as a temperature check during a difficult conversation. But if your Chair is regularly turning to the casting vote to reach agreement, then I’d …

I get a lot of requests for coffee chats about how to become a charity consultant. And, I used to take them, give my advice freely, and not begrudge the time. But, like anything, when it goes from being maybe …