FWB’s Strategic Board Session Empowers Home-Start Edinburgh to Better Serve Families

FWB recently ran a Board session for Home-Start Edinburgh, our chosen charity for the year. A local community network of trained volunteers and expert support, Home-Start help families with young children through challenging times. Our team at FWB is deeply committed to giving back to the local community and supporting this charity is a key part of this commitment.

One of our initiatives to support Home-Start was to work with the Trustees on their Board and consider ways in which it could be more effective for the families it seeks to help.

Judy Wagner, one of the founders of FWB and, Kirsten Hendry, Head of FWB’s Public Sector and Not-for-Profit Practice, spent an interactive evening session with the Home-Start Board, involving individual, group and plenary discussions on general board effectiveness and how that could relate to Home-Start and its challenges and opportunities.

Judy started the session by discussing the attributes of a good board such as its culture, behaviours and processes, including the ability to accept and resolve challenges or different views. She stressed that it’s important for all trustees to have appropriate skills and knowledge of the charity and be able to give enough time to the organisation, so they can be effective in their role.

Clearly the role of the chair is key – enabling the board to work as an effective team by developing strong working relationships between members of the board and creating a culture where differences are aired and resolved. Whilst the board should take decisions collectively and confidently, once decisions are made, it must unite behind them and accept them as binding.

It was agreed that the best boards are strategic, and lead rather than try to manage, and ensure they are self-critical, committed to improving performance and focused on succession planning

Judy then went on to talk about the tools that every board needs i.e. focused agendas, which ensure that they have the conversations that matter, and high-impact papers, to ensure they get the right information.

Board members will often say “We have too many topics competing for board time” or “We tend to spend the first half hour approving minutes and reviewing matters arising which does not help set the scene for a rich debate” or “There are big topics we never seem to get around to or cover in enough detail.”

Quite often this is because boards are focused on the wrong things – they spend too much time on admin and looking in the rear-view mirror – and too often there is too much to talk about – the agendas are increasingly overcrowded.

Judy encouraged the Board to think of Covey’s rock theory in relation to Agenda points. If the board agenda is an empty jar, then put the rocks in first i.e. the big picture priorities or key strategic items; followed by the gravel or the ad hoc/urgent issues and finally the sand – routine or admin items.

Ensuring the Board gets the right information is also important and this should be aligned to the afore-mentioned ‘rocks’ or key strategic aims – focusing on what matters and starting every report with a statement that links it to the organisation’s big picture goals and strategy will help guide the board in its decision making.

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In addition, thinking critically, and addressing the two questions – ‘So what?’ and ‘Now what?’ will aid in that decision making process. How you start to think about interrogating the information that you’re being given with those high level but crucial questions is very important, because all of the sub questions and detail evolve from being able to answer those key questions.

Finally, all of this is very well, but if it’s not communicated effectively then boards can fall at the last hurdle. So, papers need to be structured in a way that allows board members to have the right conversations around them i.e. thinking of the ‘rocks’ and focusing on the right questions; whilst using clear language and explanations; keeping the information brief to make it concise; and making sure all relevant information is included to create complete board papers.

That way the board can arrive at the right conclusions, focusing on key strategic priorities, whilst ensuring the more routine issues are dealt with appropriately, and operate effectively and efficiently as a diverse but united entity.

Andrew Lindsay, Chair of Home-Start Edinburgh, reflecting on the Board session, commented “Judy, assisted by Kirsten, led and facilitated a tremendous board strategy session for Home-Start Edinburgh.     The benefits of having Judy’s experience of successful and effective boards gave our trustees invaluable insights and learnings that we can take forward with Home-Start Edinburgh.”

Chief Executive Eliza Waye added “FWB have been incredibly supportive throughout the process, really taking the time to get to know our charity, how it works, and where the opportunities lie.  The session was well led, with everyone at ease from the beginning.  Judy and Kirsten created a space where trustees could really share and reflect on their experiences at Home-Start Edinburgh”. 

“Home-Start Edinburgh has a strong cohesive board, fully committed to helping the families and young children who need the charity’s help” said Judy Wagner, “and it is commendable that the Trustees wanted to ensure they, as a Board, could be as effective as possible. They are living proof of the criteria discussed in the session – the need to be self-critical and committed to improving performance.”

Home-Start Edinburgh is our chosen charity to support for the year. They are a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support, helping families with young children through challenging times. Their volunteers visit families weekly for a couple of hours in their own homes, offering non-judgemental practical and emotional support. This helps build the family’s confidence and ability to cope with various challenges, such as isolation, bereavement, multiple births, illness, disability, or general parenting struggles. They also run regular parent and children’s groups and arrange social events for referred families. For more information on Home-Start Edinburgh and to volunteer or donate please visit Home – Home-Start Edinburgh.