How not to be a prat on a Board

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to sit on a range of charity Boards – some brilliant, some less so. Along the way, I’ve witnessed the full spectrum of Trustee behaviour: inspiring leadership, thoughtful challenge, and, occasionally, the odd bit of prat-ishness.

Those experiences have taught me a lot about what makes a Board work well, and what quietly undermines it. So here are a few stories, observations, and practical tips drawn from the best and worst Board behaviour I’ve seen, and some reflections on how to avoid being a prat in the process.

Disagree and commit

The first rule of charity governance is that it is a team sport. As a Trustee you bring your individual skills, experience and perspectives but all decisions are collective and – crucially – made in the best interest of the charity.

There are several ways you can, inadvertently, behave like a prat in relation to shared decision making. When making hard choices, I have frequently seen Trustees value politeness over robust discussion and therefore reach an unhappy compromise rather than consensus. But I have also seen exemplary behaviour.

In one Board meeting for a large, secular charity we were discussing whether or not to accept funds from a lottery. One Trustee spoke immediately after the item was introduced, sharing that his personal faith meant that he was opposed to all forms of gambling. He continued, adding that he was aware that he had joined the Board of a charity that was not founded on the basis of his (or any) faith, and that he would not therefore vote on the decision, but would fully support whatever choice the Board as a whole made.

Had he not spoken up, the discussion could have been awkward, with other Trustees second-guessing his views and not wanting to offend him. But by being so open – and so clearly committing himself to collective governance – he allowed an honest and productive conversation. For me this was one of the best examples of a Trustee understanding their role, being able to separate their own values and interests from those of the charity and of enabling and contributing to an honest conversation.

What happens in the Board, stays in the Board

A pre-requisite for honest conversations at the Board is confidentiality – what happens at the Board has to stay at the Board. One of the worst prat-ish behaviours I have experienced from Trustees is a failure to honour this critical boundary.

Related to the point above about disagreeing and yet committing, it seems particularly hard for Trustees to maintain this boundary when their personal view or opinion is not fully reflected in the collective decision. I have seen this happen in multiple contexts but it is particularly damaging in relation to CEO recruitment. On more than one occasion one or more Trustees have shared with staff who they personally would have preferred to appoint had they not been over-ruled by the majority. This is hugely damaging to Board dynamics and to staff morale.

If you want to avoid being a prat, speak up during the Board to ensure your view is heard, but when you are in the minority, accept it with grace and honour the confidentiality of the decision making. Creating factions within a Board, or splitting loyalties of a staff team is destructive – and very prat-ish – behaviour.

Less can be more

Both of the above points focus on how important it is to speak up and contribute. But another prat-ish behaviour is to speak too much. I have served alongside several Trustees who seem to love the sound of their own voice, or who feel the need to make a comment on every item.

I am not sure whether this is an attempt to demonstrate that they have read all the papers (when often it just reveals that they have done no such thing), a need to impress the others around the table or just a lack of self-awareness. Whatever the reason, less can be more. Many of the best Trustees I have worked with or to, have been thoughtful and reflective. When they have spoken, their input carried weight because you knew they had read the papers in advance and were commenting because they felt they had something of genuine value to add.

Praise publicly, question privately

So far I have not confessed much of my own prat-ish behaviour but I have, of course, been the prat on the board on several occasions. One in particular still sticks with me. I was a relatively new member of a prestigious charity Board. I was younger and (in my opinion) far less accomplished than many of the other members. I wanted to impress.

I had not learned the lesson that ‘less can be more’ so decided to ask some rigorous questions of the Deputy CEO when she presented a controversial item which needed Board approval. Being honest, my intent was as much to demonstrate to other Trustees that I had a right to be at the table as it was to add to the discussion.

But I had misread the situation. The Deputy CEO appeared to me to be a formidable woman, commanding the room and in total control of the agenda item. I didn’t yet know her or the organisation well enough to know she was feeling exhausted and under huge pressure. The questions that I thought made me look so clever, made her feel undermined. She was visibly upset and I was mortified.

Fortunately for me, she was gracious enough not only to answer all my questions but also to speak to me privately over lunch to thank me for the interest I had shown in her item. That gave me a chance to apologise and reset the relationship. But it was a lesson I carried with me into the rest of my time on that, and other Boards.

Now if I have a hard question, I email it to the author of the paper or the CEO or Board Chair ahead of the meeting. This gives the staff member a chance to answer my queries privately, and to be prepared in case similar points are raised in the meeting itself. Praising and encouraging publicly, but questioning and challenging privately and in advance of the meeting have helped me avoid this specific prat-ish behaviour since that day.

Ask the right questions

I have not pulled it out as a specific point, but reading the papers more than a few minutes in advance of the meeting is like a hygiene factor to good Board behaviour. You might think we can’t tell, but it is so obvious to staff when Trustees have not read the papers. When multiple questions in a row are answered with ‘That’s a great question that we will be addressing when we get to item xxx’, a meeting becomes frustrating for staff and Trustees alike.

But over and above reading the papers, is the requirement of a Trustee to ask the right questions. If you are not asking the right questions, there is a risk that a Board meeting can become a ‘show and tell’. Whilst I serve on Boards specifically to learn more about issues I am interested in, passively accepting information and nodding through decisions is a more subtle form of prat-ish behaviour.

This is not the same as always speaking during a meeting. Like the point above about challenge, it requires preparation in advance. As Trustees, we have distance the charities we govern. This should give us a ‘helicopter’ perspective and an ability to see things differently to the staff who are immersed in the work day to day. Asking the right questions to ensure the information we receive ahead of a Board meeting both maintains this distance, and makes the most of our external perspective. This is critical. Whether you agree as a Board to receive a regular set of KPIs, undertake regular reviews of a risk register or run strategy days to help you think further ahead, ensuring you are asking questions that means the papers you receive help you to genuinely add value is, in my view, the best Trustee behaviour of all.

On Friday 7 November, I am excited to be part of the Festival of Trusteeship, joining a panel that is discussing ‘how not to be a prat on a Board’. Register here today.

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