How Do We Support Our Board Members Through Times of Challenge and Change?
Advice on protecting the wellbeing of trustees facing challenges.
What is this advice about?
Our research shows that heritage boards struggle with recruiting diverse trustees.
This advice is designed to give heritage organisations guidance on supporting board members’ wellbeing.
It forms part of a wider strand of work around heritage board diversity. For more advice in this series, see the 'Inclusive governance boards and diverse trustees' section of the Inclusive Heritage Advice Hub.
What are the key points?
- Being a board member can mean facing challenges and periods of change that can have negative impacts on trustee wellbeing
- Considerations towards 'psychological and cultural safety' mean developing a culture of dignity and respect that allows all trustees to take part as their authentic selves
- Mentoring and buddying systems can bring a board closer and develop trust, whilst at the same time enabling knowledge and skills exchanges
- Signpost to external systems of support for board members where there isn’t the internal expertise and capacity
What are the 'psychological and cultural safety' considerations for heritage boards?
Getting to know your fellow board members is important. Your relationships are key to the organisation’s success. You hold collective responsibility and are accountable for the overall management of the organisation, including areas where you may not be directly involved.
When you know and trust each other, you will encourage and respect each other. You are more likely to give time and effort to board work, pulling together and supporting each other during times of challenge and change.
Cultural safety is a way of working with people from different cultural backgrounds that does not diminish, demean or disempower individuals. At board level, a lack of cultural safety can lead to 'covering' (as described by sociologist Erving Goffman), where individuals downplay parts of their identity, or where they experience imposter syndrome, doubting their abilities and therefore not speaking up.
The Historic England 'Barriers and Enablers to Board Diversity in the Heritage Sector' report explored how board meetings are run. The most significant barrier that focus group interviewees articulated was the culture of the boardroom and how trustee behaviours made the space “not safe”.
One younger interviewee noted:
Young people are intimidated by being on boards. The environment is difficult to navigate – at worst, hostile. They are not sure how they will be heard and whether their experience will be valued.
The report refers to them feeling that they must navigate “unwritten rules” and that they have “a sense that certain people are at the centre and others on the periphery.” This view was supported by the focus group, which was made up of people interested in the heritage sector but who had not been on boards yet.
Participants expressed doubts that boards would be welcoming environments in which their voices would be valued or that boards would be accessible environments for anyone neuro-divergent, meaning they would not be able to participate fully.
It is common for board members with lived experience expertise to feel both vulnerable and undervalued because they are sometimes left out of the wider business of the board, even though those with professional expertise or skills can also be those with relevant and lived experience. There are ways you can help create conditions where individual Board members feel safe to express themselves.
How do board relations factor in this?
Trustees should look for – and ask each other for – solutions. Blame results in shame, leading to distrust and relationship breakdown.
Some questions to consider here include:
- What’s your Board culture? The chair has a crucial role in ensuring that everyone can contribute and be heard
- Does your chair create a safe space where board members can be open about their needs and challenges?
- Does your chair ask how individual board members (especially new ones) are feeling?
- Does the chair have a review with trustees at least once a year? What is the CEO’s (or equivalent) relationship with the chair? What is the chair’s relationship with the rest of the board?
- Do board members challenge each other appropriately? Board members should seek to listen and understand each other’s needs and work towards mutually desirable outcomes
- Are board member values aligned with the organisation’s?
- Do trustees engage with each other (within and outside of meetings)?
Buddying and mentoring
Encourage voices to be heard. Provide opportunities and encourage board members (particularly those who are often silent) to speak inside or outside meetings in a way that feels comfortable for them.
Do you arrange for new trustees to be mentored by existing trustees or assign them a board buddy? Do Board members have the opportunity for 1-to-1 discussions outside of formal meetings?
Who else might be best placed to support trustees who are struggling? (Chairs do not always have the emotional skills to handle some situations.)
Set expectations
Do board members have clear expectations of what is appropriate (and what is not appropriate) behaviour? A code of conduct will provide a framework, but having regular conversations can prevent problems from happening in the first place. NCVO has a sample template of a code of conduct.
Training
Equip board members with the necessary skills and experience to contribute, and undertake periodic skills and attributes audits to identify areas for development.
External networks
Meeting with peers from other organisations within the sector can help individuals feel less alone and inspire them by learning about other boards’ practices. Networking opportunities can be found at:
- Getting on Board
- Action for Trustee Racial Diversity
- Young Trustees Movement
- @StraightCharity and @QueerTrustees on X
Also of interest
