Why focus on governance?
Posted by:
The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.
– from Life Without Principle, by Henry David Thoreau (1863)
At Clore Leadership we do a lot of thinking about how to ensure the voices of those historically disenfranchised are promoted within the cultural sector.
That is as true in the board room as it is in executive leadership and the quote from Thoreau speaks to the core of where Good Governance begins; those with decision-making responsibility in our cultural organisations need to know how to ask good questions, who it is that should be doing the asking and when and where to listen carefully for the responses.
In 2017, David Bryan, Anne Murch and I published a review into cultural governance called Achieving Good Governance: A Challenge of Our Time, which was commissioned by Clore Leadership with a consortium of trusts and foundations. The review found strong evidence of good practice, with organisations making determined efforts to provide and sustain cultural provision of the highest calibre in a climate of diminishing resources and intense public scrutiny.
The key findings from Achieving Good Governance seemed to chime with the experience of boards and trustees in the creative and cultural sector. These key issues at the top of the governance agenda have only become more acute in the intervening years, including:
- Focusing on strategic priorities and constructively engaging boards with the longer-term agenda.
- Effectively balancing creative and strategic dialogue so that discussions on artistic and creative vision and programming regularly take place.
- Ensuring that trustees are informed and equipped to champion the organisation, balancing risk management with reputation management and advocacy.
- and most critically of all, how to encourage a range of voices at board level, encouraging individuals with relevant, transferable skills and experience to embrace trusteeship.
As with any alliance, we are only effective if we can continue to embrace new ideas, perspectives and provocations from a wide range of voices.
The response
The Cultural Governance Alliance (CGA) was formed in 2018, in response to these governance challenges. It is a strategic peer network that seeks to promote best practice, encouraging trustee boards to engage within and across sectors – itself learning and exchanging to build and enshrine good governance principles into practice.
CGA’s key activities include:
Signposting - Providing a primary reference point for good governance advice, information and practice, including the Practical Guide (compiled by Clore Leadership’s Governance Associates, Prue Skene & Keith Arrowsmith) and the regular #trusteetuesday Tweets for board vacancies;
Collaboration - Coordinating and promoting opportunities including workshops, seminars, training and professional development. Creating and optimising opportunities for the co-production of resources and events; and
Advocacy - Sparking dynamic and constructive engagement with the topic of good governance through dialogue, forums, events and activities, not least the annual Governance Now conference for trustees and sector leaders.
The future
As with any alliance, we are only effective if we can continue to embrace new ideas, perspectives and provocations from a wide range of voices. The CGA is therefore continually paying attention to current trends in cultural governance and seeking out those who are making the process of decision-making in our organisations even more inclusive, even more transparent.
To that end, we are always interested in ideas about what we should explore through the regular webinars run for the sector and, indeed, for themes for the annual conference. Some of the recent topics explored have covered: supporting the inclusion of younger people as trustees; boards engaging with communities; race & decolonisation in governance; funder expectations; engaging those with lived experience of disability on boards.
We are also working on future sessions including an opportunity to hear from the Charity Commission and a webinar exploring the challenge of realising socio-economic diversity on boards.
The CGA’s resources are available to all organisations across the creative and cultural sector, so do take a look at the website and send your thoughts and ideas for what you’d like to see from the CGA to cga@cloreleadership.org.
As we continue to look forwards, there remain as many questions as there are answers:
- What are the tools the sector needs to achieve more rapid progress with board diversity?
- How will digital transformations impact the way our organisations are governed?
- Are existing governance structures still fit for purpose in a world so dislocated by Covid-19, financial strain and culture wars?
At Clore Leadership and the Cultural Governance Alliance, we look forward to exploring these questions with you as we work collaboratively alongside the Arts Council’s Transforming Governance programme, listening out for the answers that are coming from the innovative and inspiring organisations and boards across our sector.
Find out more about Transforming Governance
Transforming Governance is Arts Council England’s new development programme is designed to support chairs, trustees, and senior leaders like you in creative and cultural organisations.
Take a look at the Transforming Governance resources in the Investment Principles Resource Hub
