The adult social care sector has a close relationship with the charity sector. Many charities’ mission and purpose is to provide services for the very demographic that those in social care see on a daily basis. By their very nature, care workers are ideally placed to become excellent charity trustees. The two sectors are intertwined and often have an intimate understanding of one another.
What does trusteeship involve?
But what exactly is a charity trustee? In a nutshell, charity trustees are the group of people with overall responsibility for a charity. It is a volunteer role. They are often called the board or governing body. They make key decisions about the direction the charity will take and how its purposes will be carried out. They’re the most senior leaders in the charity sector.
Many people don’t realise that anyone can be a trustee. We know the term ‘senior’ puts many prospective trustees off, particularly those who are used to holding a front-line role rather than working at a strategic level.
There is a perception that trustees need to be lawyers, accountants, c-suite professionals or someone trained to a high level in their professional life. While those people can all make excellent trustees, charities thrive best when they have a diversity of knowledge, skills and experience on their boards. Leading a charity is not just the preserve of the great and good.
Who can be a trustee?
While those very senior individuals bring in knowledge, gravitas and certain skills, they might be lacking in the lived experience that is so crucial to a charity delivering on its mission.
Yet the belief that it’s a closed shop persists and it’s certainly off putting for anyone who doesn’t see themselves in that role.
At Getting on Board we firmly believe that everyone can be a trustee, and this is a view shared by the Charity Commission for England and Wales who have said that, ‘Trusteeship can open doors for people, and young people, people of colour, women, and those from different educational backgrounds or regions of the country should have access to that opportunity.’1
A great fit for carers
The benefits that someone who is on the front line of a care home, for example, can bring to the right charity are immense. They might have a keen and practical understanding of the logistics of organising care for a range of different needs, budgeting and the constraints involved, the wellbeing concerns of both staff and patients, the impact of staff shortages and a host of other issues pertinent to the sector, and they will have formed opinions on how to address these.
Most importantly they are likely to care, and this passion is the most important attribute of all.
The qualities that matter
Alongside that, these are some of the other qualities that are good for trustees:
Curiosity: The old adage of ‘no such thing as a stupid question’ is never truer than in a boardroom. So much of what happens on boards is because ‘we’ve always done it that way’. Sometimes just asking ‘why’ is the best way to usher in new thinking.
Dedication: Trusteeship is a volunteer role but it’s still work. Approach it with the same level of commitment as you would your paid job, not a sometime hobby. People are depending on you bringing your ‘A’ game, so choosing a cause or a purpose you’re passionate about makes it all the more likely you’ll perform well.
Humility: There’s no place for an inflated self-opinion in a boardroom. Disagreement is sometimes necessary to get the best result in a discussion, but when trustees approach it with humility rather than ego, the charity reaps the benefit.
Problem solving: First-responding and solution-finding are so much a part of care workers’ innate skill set that those in your team may have come to take it for granted. Don’t let them underestimate themselves! Being able to bring practical solutions to a range of complex strategic challenges is highly valuable to a charity and not as common as you may think.
What’s in it for us?
Charity trusteeship may be a voluntary role but it’s not without a host of benefits. Leading a charity is a brilliant opportunity to learn by doing, and to gain the myriad transferable skills and mindsets needed to tackle today’s leadership issues and help people advance in their career. Organisational governance, decision-making, conflict management and negotiation are just some of the skills that trustees can develop and bring to their day job. In short, it’s as useful as doing a CPD with a key added benefit: 84% of trustees Getting on Board asked in our most recent survey said that being a trustee made them happier.
Getting the right support
Demystifying the role of trustees is an important part of the picture and at Getting on Board we know that the right training really helps. That’s why our Trustee Learning Programme has a whole host of free webinars and workshops aimed at helping people turn their passion into purposeful action and explaining the essentials to people, including the legal ramifications of being at the helm of a charity.
Guiding your employees to become a charity trustee is a proven alternative to developing your talent pool with conventional leadership training. It is a cost-effective strategy that offers learning by doing with measurable results that benefits your organisation, your employees and society at large. As a nice side benefit it also can lead to better staff retention and improved staff satisfaction. And who can resist that?
Getting on Board’s Festival of Trusteeship runs from 6th-10th November 2023. It’s a week of thought-provoking, insightful and thoroughly entertaining online events to help you consider, become and be brilliant and effective trustees. www.gettingonboard.org