Charity chairs and chief executives need to have an adult to adult relationship with each other, according to a new report into charity sector leadership.
Specialist recruiters GatenbySanderson spoke to 70 leaders, both chairs and chief executives, about what they have learned from their relationship and produced a report The Chair / Chief Executive relationship: A complex marriage that can stand the test of time.
The report said that charity boards need to be sure that they have the right strategy in place, and that they “know what good implementation of the strategy looks like”.
It said it is important to recognise the role that governance really plays because problems that actually arise from the absence of strong governance can be wrongly attributed to poor relationship.
The report said that “if the right governance and strategy is in place, and the organisation is stable, then the relationship may work without much effort on either side”.
It also said that the notion that the chair/chief executive partnership depends on chemistry is a myth, saying: “It’s true that negative chemistry will be a warning sign for many, given we want to enjoy the job rather than survive it, but there are much more important ingredients to take into account in a lasting marriage.”
Balance of power
The report states that the balance of power, and whether there is or even should be one, is viewed differently according to individual experience, attitude and values.
It says: “There is no clear and accepted rule about who’s in charge in the chair / chief executive relationship”, but that “if the tone is not set well by the chair at the start, the chief executive may have minimal or no influence over the future of the marriage”.
Advice
The report offers advice for both chairs and chief executives. Advice for chairs includes getting the governance right first; understanding the emotional context of the organisation; and avoiding a slow death by using the option to sack the chief executive – but only using it sparingly. It also tells chairs to listen, and "mirror, signal manoeuvre".
The report advises chief executives to “trust your instincts. If you don’t think you can work with the chair then don’t”; allow the chair to start the conversation and remember that respect is everything; and “if you run into difficulties with the relationship, consider first whether the relationship really is the issue, or whether there is an underlying problem which you can raise and tackle together”.
The report said there are four pillars to the chair/chief executive relationship. These are:
1. “Are we talking about relationship, or are we talking about governance” – only in the context of governance does the accepted model of the chair/chief executive relationship become relevant. Governance dictates the rules of the game.
2. “You can go a long way on trust” – there are some relationship basics that need to be in place for the partnership to work before anything else happens.
3. “Assumption is the mother of all…” - Actively seeking clarity of role and responsibility at the start is essential.
4. “Ego is where it all goes wrong” - It has to be an adult to adult relationship; other than that, there are no fixed rules of engagement. While the chair often leads the conversation, it’s the responsibility of both parties to set the tone.
Juliet Taylor, head of not for profit practice at GatenbySanderson and the report author, has written an expert insight article for Civil Society Media about this issues raised in the report, this can be found here.
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