Chair's development

The Governance Handbook tells us that the chair, with support from the vice chair, is responsible for ensuring the effective functioning of the board by:

• setting the highest of expectations for professional standards of governance
• giving clear leadership and direction
• keeping the board focused on its core functions
• encouraging working together as an effective team
• having honest conversations with those not committed or ineffective in their role
• building skills, knowledge, and experience of governors
• ensuring everyone:
  • is actively contributing relevant skills and experience
  • is participating constructively in meetings
  • is actively involved in the work of any committees
  • understands what is expected of them
  • receives appropriate induction, training, and development.

This can be a challenging prospect for those who have not held the role before. We seek to build confidence, support development, and aid you in your role with our Fulfilling the Chair’s role programme. Experienced chairs will also find Fulfilling the Chair’s role helpful in supporting them to reflect on practice to invigorate their leadership of the board.

Fulfilling the Chair’s role is an accredited three-part programme, consisting of two 1:1 sessions (two hours each) and an observation of the chair in action at a board meeting.

Our experienced facilitators will support you to develop an action plan that will empower you to improve your own practice, lead more effective meetings, overcome challenges, and build a team that will result in more effective governance for your board.

We offer a Running an Effective Meeting session on our core training programme which is also suitable for chairs of committees and vice chairs to support succession planning. The course will explore:

• the relationship of the Chair with others within the governance role
• the role of a Chair within a meeting
• scenarios.

For more information please visit our Training Package.