| Governance hub

In the hot seat

The chair's position is unique; as the person leading the board or committee, she or he has to ensure the governance of the organisation works well and enables the organisation to be as effective as possible. The chair has all the responsibilities of a trustee, and some vital particular tasks as well. These include planning the board's work, close liaison with the staff over governance and other matters, and managing the chief officer of the organisation. He or she also has to run the board meetings, a practical skill of great importance.

A lack of support?

Chairs are often experienced as trustees when they take on the chairing role. But there's still many challenges. And whilst there are now many sources of support, advice and information for trustees, there's little that specifically supports or advises chairs.

How the Governance Hub is helping chairs

The Governance Hub has undertaken some qualitative research into the needs of chairs and the current provision, exploring issues such as what kind of support would be most useful, what existing resources they have found valuable, and what they find rewarding and challenging about their role. It is already clear that chairs, whilst very busy, would value some particular kinds of support and advice. One strong message coming through is that any new chair should be offered a formal induction, to help them get to grips with their role. Afterwards, they are most likely to benefit from local networks or events, or from exchanges with peer agencies or similar organisations working in their own field.

Contact the Hub

The full research results will be published in August on this page. For more information about the Governance Hub's thinking and research into the needs of chairs, email the Governance Hub.

The information on this page comes from: Polished Performance and Community Leaders: Support for chairs of small organizations (see below).