Room for future improvement found amid the impeccable
Governance Review - Milestones Trust
“Fit was really important for us. We certainly felt that David’s experience and presence would make him come across very credibly with the trustees and SLT. The quality of his report was excellent. He was really open to steers from Don and me and you could sense someone who’s done all that before. Did he deliver? Yes.”
Neil Baines-Thomas, Trustee and Chair of Governance and Risk Committee, Milestones Trust
Background
Milestones Trust supports adults with learning disabilities and mental health needs to live their best lives. The Chair of Trustees is Don Nordberg, an Associate Professor in Corporate Governance, so, as you can imagine, it’s a well-run ship. But with an external governance review due, and having come through a period of adaption to changes in charity governance regulations, they recognised that they needed to have a comprehensive review of the competencies and attributes of the trustees and executive team.
Furthermore, they wanted to look to the future and ask the questions, “What do we need to take us to the next level? What should our thinking be in the future?” and, therefore, identify where were the current shortfalls in that context.
Action Planning was shortlisted and, after a conversation with David Saint, felt to be the right fit.
Brief
David Saint, on behalf of Action Planning, was commissioned by Milestones Trust to carry out a review of its governance. The exam question was “Do we have the right skillset for now and the future?” with the focus very much on identifying any potential improvement to make the charity stronger for the future.
Process
David carried out the usual steps for an Action Planning governance review.
- A quick review of key documentation – Memorandum and Articles of Association, relevant policies/scheme of delegation, and sample Board agenda and minutes.
- A DigiBoard survey – a questionnaire distributed to all trustees, which assesses board effectiveness against the Charity Governance Code. Read more
- Zoom interviews with all trustees and members of the executive team – 16 individuals.
- Observation of a Board meeting in person.
- Observation of on-line meetings of Milestones Trust’s three Committees.
- Preparation and presentation of a report with findings and recommendations.
Outcome
The review was, unsurprisingly, very positive but David was able to propose three key areas of improvement to take the charity from very good to even better.
Firstly, to invest heavily in ‘levelling up’ the Board, so that the more experienced trustees hold back and provide appropriate support to newer trustees, to bring them fully up to speed.
Secondly, to reduce the range of content of Board meetings to allow for a slower pace and richer discussion.
Thirdly, to raise the overall level of governance to be more strategic, by acting like the Board of a charity four times the size of Milestones Trust now. In short, to think bigger.
“David’s recommendations did chime well,” said Neil Baines-Thomas, Trustee and Chair of the Governance and Risk Committee. “The levelling up proposal is one of the reasons we wanted Action Planning to come in. I’ve been pushing the succession planning argument for the last year because Donald is due to step down at the end of the year. David has focused us on finding someone to be in place in 12 months to take over Donald’s position.
“So the first two recommendations we sort of knew but needed to be told. The real jewel was the third one. There were certainly ears open at that point. It raised the question ‘Why do we want to grow? Why do we need to rapidly accelerate our growth?’ That’s still hanging in the air but I see that as a strategy for future focus: to act as if you’re bigger than you think you are. It was brilliant.”
Consultant’s insight
As a consultant, you always want to add value. Presenting a report which basically says, “You are doing a great job – carry on!” doesn’t add any value at all.
There was a danger that this would happen here, as Milestones’ governance is really good. But two of the trustees provided helpful clues: “If we are at 6 or 7 out of 10, how do we get to 8 or 9?” and “How do we get from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’?”
As with any organisation, there were a number of minor tweaks we were able to suggest that could bring marginal improvements. But given the level of aspiration in the above comments, we were able to go much further, and provide a framework for Milestones’ Board and Executive Team to really stretch themselves. Happily that landed well and I am delighted they are embracing the challenge.
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