Step 5: How To Welcome Your New Trustees
Welcoming your new trustees is an important part of the recruitment process. This is the first time they will experience how your board works and first impressions count! A well planned welcome process (sometimes called an induction) can help a new trustee feel supported, informed, valued and able to make a contribution straight away.
“We undertake an induction for all new management committee members at Somers Town Community Association. By doing so, we are saying that we believe in what we are doing, that we value the input you will have within that, we will support you in your role and we welcome you to the team!”
Before the new trustee attends their first board meeting, all existing members should be told the name of the new trustee and they should try to attend the meeting. All trustees should feel responsible for welcoming the new person and putting them at ease. It is worth bearing in mind that existing trustees may feel uneasy about having someone new on board.
What to include in an induction?
An induction should include information to help your new trustee feel well informed about the work of your organisation and the formalities of how your board works. One easy way to give this information to your new trustee is in a welcome pack. It is also a good idea to include other informal aspects of how your board works. Take a look at Activity 9: How to welcome your new trustee (.doc 3.52MB) to help your board decide what to include in your welcome pack.
“When I joined as a trustee of my local community centre, my induction was invaluable – I don‘t know how else I would have settled in!”
Peter, charity trustee
Making the most of the skills and experience you have.
Once you have new trustees it is a good idea to identify what skills and experience you now have on your board and what if any are missing. You may want to complete Activity 2: how to identify skills and experience (.doc 4.3MB) (optional), that you may have used in step 1 of this process. You may also want to ask all trustees:
• Are there any areas in which you have a particular interest or would like to become involved?
• Are there any areas in which you would appreciate support, advice or more information?
You could add these as additional points to the Activity 2 table.
Other points to consider
What else can you do to make your trustee feel welcome and well informed? Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Trustee buddying. This involves your new trustee being paired up with an existing trustee who will be able to answer any questions, be a point of contact and make sure the new trustee is feeling comfortable and confident in their role.
- Ask the current trustees to think back to when they were new and suggest ideas about what would have made them settle into the role sooner.
- Imagine how daunting it would be to receive a mountain of paperwork at one go! Can you stagger the information which is sent?
- If the new trustee is filling the role of a retiring trustee, consider asking the retired trustee if they would be willing to spend time with the new trustee to pass over paperwork and brief them about the role.
- At initial meetings, make sure any acronyms or technical points are explained. It can be very alienating to not understand what is being talked about. Equally, look at your minutes. Do they make sense to an outsider? Could you include an acronym sheet if abbreviations are used?
- A common anxiety amongst new trustees is asking ‘stupid’ questions at meetings, or questions that everyone else knows the answer to. You should reassure your new trustee that asking questions is a natural part of learning about your organisation and that it is often useful for everyone to look again at why you work in the way you do.
“The first meeting after the AGM is an Induction and Review Meeting, where old and new committee members have the opportunity to discuss what being a trustee involves and to take a ‘heads up’ look at WOCA - what it does well, what it could do better.”
West Oxford Community Association
Help and support
• Charity Commission – www.charity-commission.gov.uk. The Charity Commission website has useful information about documents you should complete if you have new trustees and are a registered charity.
• NCVO Governance and Leadership – www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/governanceandleadership . The website has useful documents and information that can be included in inductions, including Good Governance: A Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector.
• Local infrastructure organisations (LIOs) – Your LIO can help you to design your induction if you need more in depth support. To find your LIO visit www.navca.org.uk/liodir
• Community Matters – www.communitymatters.org.uk. Community Matters is the National Federation for community organisations.
• ACRE – www.acre.org.uk. ACRE is the national umbrella body of the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN), which operates at national, regional and local level in support of rural communities across the country, particularly Village Halls.
• Find a local Trustee Network contact: www.trusteenet.org.uk or your local Council for Voluntary Service www.navca.org.uk/liodir
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