“I’ve seen too many boards that have recruited first-time trustees from immediate networks with a scant recruitment process and insufficient induction, ongoing development or review for the individual to know if they are a good trustee.”
Our latest Secret CEO is an interim CEO with a unique perspective on what really happens behind the scenes for charities in crisis or embarking on significant transformation. Find out what truths they have to tell about the charity sector…
Change happens
Interim CEOs are brought in to manage charities through periods of change. This gives them a unique perspective on the crises and transformations that charities go through.
Sometimes life happens and CEOs go on parental or sick leave, for example, but often the decision to recruit an interim CEO is seen as an opportunity to get the charity back on track before finding a new, permanent hire.
Our Secret CEO says they often walk into,
“cans kicked down the road. It might be that the previous CEO was persuaded to stay put for one more strategic cycle or to see through a particular initiative, or that the board was reluctant to performance manage, resulting in the CEO feeling jaded or, the opposite, invincible. Either one will eventually lose support amongst the team and damage the culture if not organisational performance as well. Or it might be the board and leadership waited to see if new funding can be secured before meaningfully responding to a budget deficit. Or that a strategy period has been allowed to roll over for 1-2 or more years because of [insert justification here], meanwhile staff start to lack clarity on their objectives and morale suffers. These are all things I’ve seen often, sometimes all at the same time.”
They also say that the,
“pursuit of growth gone wrong is a common issue. I don’t know if there was ever a time the third sector wasn’t challenging (ha!) but it certainly hasn’t been in my working life. Yet growth is often a mantra, and I walk in to scenarios where pursuit of growth has taken eyes off the fundamentals of organisational and operational leadership and led to weakness or failure elsewhere in the organisation…The reality is that even achieving the same, or equivalent, year on year will take skill, effort, creativity and change. I’d love to see this reflected in strategies and celebrated by boards more than it is.”
Supporting boards to be better
One of the biggest issues our Secret CEO comes across is with boards. They say that being a trustee is,
“blooming hard, not least because it’s not like any employed role. You and your co-trustees have collective legal responsibility for all areas of the charity, not just the ones that relate to your professional, lived experience or passion.”
But like employed roles, boards need to understand their responsibilities, know what good looks like and hold themselves accountable for their performance. The Secret CEO says,
“I’ve seen too many boards that have recruited first-time trustees from immediate networks with a scant recruitment process and insufficient induction, ongoing development or review for the individual to know if they are a good trustee. Equally though, I’ve worked with a number of trustees over the years who weren’t aware of the six main duties of a trustee or the Charity Commission’s The Essential Trustee and other guidance, which suggests they haven’t done even basic online research of their own. It feels uncomfortable saying this even anonymously.”
At Charity People one of our goals is to improve diversity in general, but particularly on trustee boards. We’ve been hearing anecdotally that EDI is dropping down the sector’s agenda. In our recent poll, more than 40% of respondents answered yes or maybe to the question, ‘Do you think EDI policies will be scaled back or cancelled in the non-profit sector?’
Our Secret CEO reacted to these results, saying,
“I’m really disappointed…One of the few advantages for the charity sector is that organisations are governed by an independent and consensus-driven board of trustees, not a board of directors that is accountable to major investors or shareholders. I’d like to think this is something of a safeguard against any wholesale scaling back of EDI policies. I hope this doesn’t prove to be naïve of me. Based on my recent experience and my immediate network, rolling back EDI policies isn’t part of the conversation. In fact, my most recent experience is of boards considering how they further embed inclusivity. Without understanding more about why the 40% of survey respondents think that it’s difficult to comment further, but I would say if that’s their view I hope they are using their voice to air their concerns accordingly.”
As well as centring EDI to improve diversity, our Secret CEO would like to see trustee boards prioritising their own learning and development with guidance from their chairs. They say,
“I’d like to see the gift of time that trustees give to charities being used to maximum effect, starting with trustees committing to learning about charity governance, and the board/chair embedding governance development and review, so genuinely holding each other to account. The governors also need to be governed. I don’t think it’s coincidence that this is a common weakness in the charities where I’ve been appointed as an interim CEO. The charity governance model of volunteer and lay trustees may be imperfect but it’s not impossible either. There are so many free resources out there and, as a sector, there is a lot of generosity in sharing knowledge and experience to support like-minded individuals and organisations.”
Do Staff have too much of a voice or not enough?
Every charity or non-profit organisation is different, but something we’ve heard more frequently is that staff have been given too much of a voice. However, this hasn’t been the Secret CEO’s experience. They say,
“I am continually struck though, and sometimes saddened, by the number of colleagues at different levels who say they aren’t used to being asked for their opinions or who will thank me for listening to or involving them…I think it’s a privilege when staff find and use their voice because it’s an indicator that they trust it is safe to do so. It’s also a responsibility because you then have to act on it, or not, and share a rationale. As a CEO, there is a judgement to be made on how to respond to staff voice and as an interim CEO I also consider what is appropriate for the scope and tenure of my role and what is for a permanent CEO”
Advice for aspiring CEOs
If you are reading this because becoming a charity CEO is in your career plan and you’re wondering whether an interim is a good place to start, the Secret Interim CEO has some advice for you,
“I didn’t set out to be an Interim CEO but after a couple of CEO roles and a COO role that focussed heavily on change and transformation, I started getting contacted by recruiters about interim roles. I thought why not give it a go, and it went from there.
It can be a tough gig, professionally (there is limited time to fulfil objectives, new challenges will emerge along the way and it can be even lonelier than a permanent CEO role) as well as personally (it can be intensive, locations and working patterns vary and there will be gaps between roles). But it also offers a different degree of flexibility. It’s also a different kind of autonomy. It may mean more latitude although expectations can be understandably high that you will be adept at resolving anything.
Is it an option for an aspiring CEO? That’s a difficult question because some of the best career decisions involve a calculated risk. For example, are you prepared to leave a permanent role for a fixed term role? How confident are you at steadying a ship, problem-solving or leading on absolutely anything that might come up? I’d say be very honest with yourself about your experience and aspirations. I don’t think interim CEO roles are a definite stepping stone to a permanent CEO role, for example. Similarly, if you have a specialism, eg accountancy, income generation, HR, consider whether you have sufficient experience and confidence in competence for overall organisational leadership together with some unexpected and spicy challenges along the way. In a permanent CEO role, there will be time and space for professional development; that won’t be the case with an interim role.”
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