The cover theme in November is “the art of effective challenge” – essentially, how to challenge others’ views effectively in the boardroom without letting disagreements disintegrate into open warfare, and how to approach a situation where you disagree with others, without losing your temper and getting people’s backs up.
One article is by Debra Allcock Tyler, chief executive of Directory of Social Change and author of It’s a Battle on the Board; another is from John Williams, former G&L columnist and trainer at Civil Society Media. The third article, from Paul O’Donnell at workplace specialist CMP, explores what happens when leaders fall out, illustrated by the recent high-profile dispute at Prince Harry’s charity Sentebale.
Our regular columnist, Penny Wilson, also addresses the topic, but from a slightly different angle, warning that healthy disagreement and debate are essential for a high-functioning board.
In People & Culture, we have a piece about charities’ duties to freelancers and gig workers, and in Board Matters, lawyers from Shakespeare Martineau query whether charity patrons are really worth having, following the former Duchess of York’s removal from several patron posts over her association with Jeffrey Epstein.
In Policy & Public Affairs, editor Tania Mason reports on the various initiatives under way across the sector to resist the rising tide of far-right nationalism, and Freedom from Torture media specialist Lara Hawkins describes the challenges of protecting spokespeople with lived experience in the face of growing public and media hostility to immigrants.
Core Functions is the annual responsible investment section, where we have a piece from UnLtd about its new strategy to align its endowment investments with its mission; an article about the RSPCA’s new responsible investment strategy, and a report of a new £50m impact investment initiative to benefit young people.
Last but most definitely not least, we introduce our new columnist, Emeka Forbes – chair of Y2K, head of cohesion at the Together Coalition, and an independent consultant in the sector. In his first column, Forbes argues that charities have an obligation to model how to disagree without contempt, to “rebuild the civic muscle that helps people hold tension without tearing apart”.
Regulars
Cover theme
Opinion
Law & Guidance
Board matters
People & Culture
Policy & Public Affairs
Core functions: Responsible Investment
The final word
