Seeing the bigger picture

1. Seeing the bigger picture Kathryn Southworth Vice-Principal Newman University College

2. Or…a place at the table Opening exercise: • What contributions or interventions have you considered making at a Board meeting – but didn’t. Why didn’t you? • Have you made any contributions or interventions and then wished you hadn’t? Why?

3. General principles of governance “If management is about running the business, governance is about seeing that it is run properly” (Tricket 1984)

4. Governance in HE: stakeholder participation • Employers (health, education, industry) • Community (civic leaders) • Church (ex officio Chair) • Staff (collegial, self-governing tradition) • Students (ditto) • Alumni???? (Gillies 2011)

5. Governors’ skillsets • Networking and influence • Financial/accountancy • Business experience and acumen; entrepreneurial; charity • Legal/HR/estates • Public sector management??? • Education??

6. General requirements on governing bodies • Ensuring accountability and effective scrutiny (including appointing auditors and assurances to HEFCE on financial viability) • Approving future direction and strategy for the institution (including change title, validation arrangements, fees) (in post 92 “determining the educational character/ethos) • Appointing the VC or equivalent to ensure effective leadership • Measuring institutional performance (including national PIs or locally determined KPIs including benchmarking) • Holding AGM, if company

7. Business of governors • Board of Governors • Sub-committees • Audit • Finance and General Purposes (possibly staffing/promotion/remuneration) • Estates • Nominations (possibly governor effectiveness) • Training/awaydays/social/observation • Possible joint committees with management/deliberative bodies or observer status

8. Position of staff governors • Elected: mandated-representative -”independent” • Internal / independent – external therefore excluded from potential conflicts of interest e.g. “reserved business”; Audit; Remuneration

9. Why have staff governors? • Traditional collegiality; modern participatory self-government; check on managerialism • Direct experience of institutional life • Links with academic governance • May be able to mediate decisions • May be more willing and knowledgeable than externals to hold management to account; potential to “ambush”

10. Possible problems for staff governors • Unfamiliar with people, issues and procedures largely invisible in institutional life • Lack of experience in key areas of governance responsibilities; technical complexity of some papers • May have confidence or credibility issues • Politicised election process may favour popular or manipulative/skilled (present company excepted!) • Operational concerns may get in way of strategic appreciation; could be “hijacked” • Lobbying and representational pressures and vested interests may compromise corporate interests and independence

11. Actual experiences of staff governors 1: motivation • Opportunity to find out what goes on at top level • Passion for institution and opportunity to help steer its future • Wanting to articulate the experience “on the ground”; making points to management as well as governors; talking about the “elephant in the room” • First thought role “to represent Support Staff” but really “was just representing myself and “happened” to be support staff • Removed from the usual day job • Potential personal development opportunity • A “seat at the table”

12. Staff governors 2: own role on Board • Both Clerk and Chair very careful about making sure I was included in discussion • Staff and student members sat together because they didn’t want to be associated with “management” but then I realised there were no “sides” • Was concerned that standing with management might be damaged if I said the “wrong” things • It would have been helpful to know more about each governor to get a sense of “where they were coming from”: many arrived late and left early so no social contact • Mentoring or partnering with a current Board member would have been helpful when first elected

13. Staff governors 3: observations on the practice of boards • Quite an alien environment: heavily focussed on topics rarely mentioned at other committees or meetings attended • Board a “rubber-stamping” exercise: SMT “excellent at leading the Board where they wanted to go” • Real decisions made elsewhere; things “hidden” from Board • Important things happened at sub-committees: realised “that’s how things work” • Felt powerless in Board: more opportunity to contribute in sub-committees • Governors tend to “see the institution as they want it to be”: disconnect with reality: macho competition to claim ethos is alienating • Governors need to change so Board doesn’t get too cosy • Many governors didn’t seem to understand HE

14. Routine business of the Board September: membership; year end financial data; national PIs; KPIs; report of Principal and academic report VP (each meeting); receipt of committee papers (each meeting) November: auditors’ report; accounts; student numbers; HEFCE assurance papers March: tuition fees; carbon management; SU constitution; single equality scheme June: Budget for following year; risk register; rules for dismissal of senior postholders; honorary degrees; annual reports: chaplain; health & safety; SU

15. The Board from a SMT perspective • Governance is time-consuming for SMT: need preparation, cultivation and lots of papers • Very cyclical agendas and often lengthy; occasional “big issues”: may disguise everyday business of institution • “Critical friends” may be distraction from critical colleagues and reinforce distance or disconnect • Some “holding to account” but rarely from expected angle: much goes without comment • General tendency to support SMT and VC in particular • Strong interest in student and staff welfare, less in other areas of accountability • Expect the unexpected: can have a sense of perspective lacking in internals

16. Bigger picture or seat at the table? • Different perspective • Insight into policy formation • Appreciate the workings of governance and interaction with management • Have the potential to influence policy: but don’t count on it • May come to “think corporately” • May experience at least a virtual round table • Meet an interesting range of people • Enjoy good company, if not good counsel, and probably good food as well