Working with the board

The trustee board will look to the chief executive for support in carrying out its roles and responsibilities.

The board might look to the chief executive for advice and support on good governance practice and their legal and regulatory responsibilities. For example, the board might ask the chief executive to appraise the options for a governance review or board training programme.

The chief executive should ensure that trustees have access to the information and advice they need to make decisions. The chief executive can also support the board in organising board meetings to make best use of the time available.

For example, are papers circulated in sufficient time to allow trustees to prepare for meetings? Is a clear distinction made between papers that are for information and those for decision?

The chief executive should work with the board to keep boundaries between board and staff/volunteers clear, and to work together where boundaries overlap. Boundaries are never fixed and the chief executive might find, in practice, that boundaries are blurred in a number of areas of strategy or oversight.

For example, the development of a strategic plan will involve both trustee and staff input. The chief executive should help the board ensure they agree and ‘own’ the strategic plan, but should avoid the board becoming unnecessarily involved in those details of the plan that are more appropriately developed by staff.

The chief executive should also help the board get to know staff and volunteers in the charity, to avoid the perception that the charity is governed by people who are distant or ‘faceless’.

In turn, the chief executive should be ready to report on the charity’s day to day work, be accountable to the board for actions taken and be ready to take direction from the board on future actions and plans.

The chief executive should expect the trustee board to:

• clearly define their role and their level of authority
• put in place procedures for their support, appraisal, remuneration and other formalities
• commit to building strong and effective working relationships
• hold them to account for their day to day management of the charity and the fulfilment of their role.