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Top Tips on Being an Effective
Chair
Liz Cross
Explore our shared take on effective chairing
What do HA’s need in particular?
Share some top tools and techniques
Objectives
What does effective look like to you?
Effective Chair’s Focus- my take
•Purpose
•People
•Process
•Probity
•Plan
•Possibilities
What would you add
from your experience?
What does your HA/the sector
need in particular?
The Role
Langland’s Good Governance Standard for Public Services
Is corporate governance and HA
governance the same ?
• Shareholder value vs stakeholder value
• What measures do you use to test impact – social,
economic, environmental
• Accountability mechanisms – who judges your success
• Would corporate governance be improved if private sector
boards adopted some of Langlands’ tests!
Tools and techniques
to increase
effectiveness
as a chair
and of a board
STRUCTURE PROCESS
CAPACITY/
CAPABILITY LEADERSHIP
BEHAVIOUR
PERFORMANCE
CLIMATE
VISION/VALUES/STRATEGY
The Connectives’ Proprietary Model
Key Competencies
• Thinking strategically*
• Guiding strategic action
through others
• Critical information
seeking
• Problem solving and
decision making
• Sensitivity to others*
• Influencing
• Working with others*
• Confidence and self
control*
• Corporate citizenship
• Building capacity and
capability*
•What do the best chairs do more of and better
•The Connectives
Board Members Competencies Framework
Its not what you do it’s the way that you do it !
Focusing the Board
Corrective Monitoring
• Sentinels
• What’s the problem
Co-ordinate Strategic
• Strategists
• What’s the plan
Co-create Generative
• Sense makers
• What’s the question
Chait – Governance as Leadership
Reframing the work of Non-Profit Boards
Personality
Preferences
Taking into account people’s
differences around:
• Talking things out or thinking
things through
• Evidence based or possibility
focused
• Logic or person centred
• Structure or spontaneity
Personality Tests – the big 5 factors
Techniques for Group Work
•Adjournments
•Issue park
•Presentation
•Q & A
•Small group work
•Thinking pairs
•Use the flip
•Vary the room layout
Getting more out
of people
and
meetings
Self reflection –
how do you know you’re effective ?