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Retaining good trustees and board members is a tricky business. Rick Bond investigates the reasons why board members might choose to depart.

Most organisations invest significant chunks of time cultivating and recruiting new trustees. Good trustees are worth their weight in gold, and, after all that effort to bring them to the table, it would be a shame to witness their early departure. So, how do you hang on to them? Many years of organisational reviews have allowed us the opportunity to develop an appreciation of the types of ?board scenarios? that dampen the aspirations of capable board members. Here is a little list of these, some of which may be woefully familiar.

Trivia: a tendency to spend time on essentially trivial matters not directly connected to strategic concerns. A good example of this is the tendency to allow ?matters arising? to occupy substantial parts of the allocated meeting time. This is common within an organisation where members are not aware of or sufficiently focused upon the vision and mission of the organisation.

Decision-making: or rather, lack of it. This occurs where trustees and staff are not clear what was decided and who was given the authority to act. Symptoms are frequent reconsideration of previous agenda items, where little has been achieved since it was last discussed. Often this is the result of poor chairing or following up by the chair.

Rubber stamping: the advantage of sub-committees is that they allow a few specialists or interested parties to really get to grips with an issue without occupying all the trustees? time. This can lead to tightly scripted board meetings with pre-determined outcomes, where those trustees not involved at the sub-committee level have little influence on outcomes. The same scenario can occur if trustees feel that affairs are, in effect, managed by the Chair and Chief Executive.

Alienation: Trustees feel out of their depth or excluded, and often little training or induction is provided. The solution is to ensure that all trustees are effectively inducted, understand the jargon and terminology and have access to relevant training opportunities.

Information: Some trustees become frustrated because they fail to receive sufficient or timely information to enable them to act effectively. Other may be deluged with information, sometimes at the meeting itself. This might demonstrate how hard the staff work, but buries the essential facts and figures required to make strategic decisions. The board and management should review what information is required, how frequently and how far in advance of each board meeting.

Ego battles: the board is dysfunctional if power games are played between trustees. This tends to occur in boards comprising representatives of particular interest groups. Differences of opinion are healthy, but there must be an open system for discussion and debate that involves all trustees. Good trustees, able to sit outside this manoeuvring, will become weary and will increasingly absent themselves from key meetings. Ensure that the Chair has the authority to deal with such battles and prevent them from dominating affairs.

Atrophy: this occurs in boards comprising trustees who have held office for, well, ages really. Any input from a new trustee will be met with comments on the lines of ?we?ve already tried that?, or ?that?s not how we do things here?. This is very frustrating for staff as well as new trustees. And difficult to address. A governance review can reveal the issues (and you can always ?blame? the consultant, sorry, messenger, while carrying out recommendations). Amending the Articles of Association so that trustees have to retire after 3 years in post (and have to have at least a year off before they can stand for re-election) is a useful start, as is an upper age limit.

Stormy waters: When times get tough, some trustees may want to jump ship while others may want to force through pet theories to resolve things without fully understanding the situation. Those wanting to resign must remember that this does not protect them from the consequences of any actions the board has taken while they were in post. Knee-jerk abdications tend to occur where an organisation is not well-governed by its trustees who fail to ensure that the organisation has a strategic vision, while having day-to-day affairs effectively in hand. It is very easy for this balance to slip. Some boards look at long-term aspirations, while failing to monitor the health of day-to-day operational matters. Others become bogged down with these, frustrating those paid to do such work, to the extent that the organisation fails to have a sense of purpose.

In order to attract, motivate and retain good trustees all concerned must act to ensure a clear vision, mission and strategic direction is in place. Staff and trustees must believe that they are working in partnership to achieve the goals of the organisation. The board needs to regularly reflect on its performance and, through investing in training, lead the rest of the organisation by example. It should regularly review its Objects and Articles of Association to ensure they are relevant and adhered to, and record in writing delegated responsibilities and reporting procedures. There must be clear terms of reference for all sub-committees (understood by staff as well). Ideally, all trustees should have job descriptions. These can set out the expectations the organisation has of the trustee, and, in return, what each trustee can expect from the organisation to enable them to be effective. Planning and reporting cycles should be agreed and published, and the Chair needs to ensure that agenda items are not always fixed by habit, but by their relevance to the strategic and operational goals of the organisation at the time. Above all, trustees must feel that they can enjoy the debate because there are systems in place to allow them. And, just occasionally, to enjoy their duties!

Rick Bond is the Director of The Complete Works (UK) Ltd, specialising in delivering management solutions and training for arts and cultural organisations.
t: 01598 710698;
e: rick@thecompleteworks.org.uk;
w: http://www.thecompleteworks.org.uk