Charity chairs must let the chief executive be the chief executive and must not “sit on their shoulder, sucking your teeth and saying ‘that’s not how I would have done it’,” veteran boardroom chair Dr Elizabeth Vallance told an audience of trustees yesterday.

Vallance, currently chair of Ican and the dispute resolution charity CEDR, was opening the eighth Trustee Exchange conference in London yesterday with a speech entitled 'The chair's ten commandments'.

Drawing on her extensive experience of serving on voluntary, public and private sector boards, which spans FTSE 100 companies and "tiny, pay-as-you-go charities", Vallance said the skills required of board members were largely sector-neutral, though the nuances and emphasis may be different.

Her ten commandments were as follows:

1. Thy chair must have enthusiasm for the organisation.

"This may be easier in the charity world, than if you are selling lipstick or ice cream," she said, "but even in the private sector you need to at least find the organisation interesting." She said she found serving on the board of an insurance company fascinating, but drew the line at joining the board of a payday lender, even though the money offered was very generous.

"I felt queasy at the thought of having to defend what they did," she said. "If you don't believe in what you are doing and are not prepared to argue for it then you shouldn't be there. It's a very personal thing. I would find it hard to be on the board of an animal charity because I think there is so much we can do with human beings. That's not to say there is anything wrong with animal charities, it's just my personal feeling."

2. Let thy chief executive be the chief executive.

"As chair you should not be second-guessing your CEO, not sitting on their shoulder sucking your teeth and saying 'that's not how I would have done it'. As the saying goes, you must back ‘em or sack ‘em.

“The relationship between the chair and CEO is the most important in an organisation, it can make or break everything you aspire to do. It is very important that the chair forges that relationship and sustains it over time. And it's important to be overt about that.”

Vallance recommended that the chair and CEO ought to meet or speak on the phone every week or ten days, as well as meeting up to go over the agenda before every board meeting.

3. Thou shalt let everyone have their say….

“... without letting everything spin out of control. Keeping a structure on a discussion while encouraging different views and voices about a topic is a basic skill of chairmanship.

“I have failed if a board member rushes up to me in the corridor after a board meeting and says 'what I really wanted to say was...'," she said. "I should have seen that they had something so pressing to say that they had to approach me afterwards, and drawn it out of them in the meeting.” She added that tone and humour were both also important attributes.

4. Know thy board.

Good chairs know how to bring each trustee's skills and contribution into play, Vallance said. “Productive discussion is not a free-for-all. As chair you have to know your colleagues’ strengths and experience and know how to bring them in to make a valuable contribution.”

Board should also be “endlessly refreshed” to meet the evolving needs of the charity.

5. Thou shalt keep to time and keep others to time.

“This is crucial to getting through the business so you don’t end up having to rush the review of the risk register in the last three minutes,” she said. “This commandment relates to allowing people to have their say but not letting them witter.”

6. Thou shalt know how and when to move trustees on.

“Everybody has a sell-by date and you do have to endlessly move people on,” she said. “Knowing how to make space for new blood without offending old supporters is an important skill.”

7. Thou shalt take responsibility for governance.

“Governance is not always high-level, some of it is very basic,” Vallance said. “Processes are indicative of a well-run organisation, or otherwise. Having to constantly reinvent the wheel because you don't have proper processes in place is such a waste of time.”

8. Thou shalt make sure everyone knows what is expected of them.

This commandment is about proper role descriptions and holding people to account for them - a proper appraisal system, Vallance said. “And the chairman must be clear about the culture of the organisation and make sure that it reinforces all of this.

“If you don't have an organisation like this you won’t get the best out of the people because they will be far too busy protecting their backs.”

9. Thou shalt take on the responsibility and loneliness of leadership.

Leadership, by its nature, is an isolated place, Vallance said, and chairs need to be prepared for that. “This can appear controversial, especially in a charity where everyone is on the same side and fighting for the same cause. But I believe the chair has to keep a certain distance from others in the organisation - if only because you may have to remove somebody. That is much more difficult if you are great personal buddies with them.”

10. Thou shalt let the organisation know who the board is and what it is for, who its members are and what they do.

"Too often boards are seen as a collection of people who are unknown to the organisation, that make decisions for the rest of us. As chair you need to make sure your trustees get out and about and earn their spurs with those who do the hard graft.”

Dr Vallance has served on the boards of, among others, HMV Group, Norwich Union plc and Aviva plc. She is currently chair of St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust and of the ministerial Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards.