"Recruiting trustees with the right skills and diverse backgrounds to strengthen our board."

“When I joined METRO as Chief Executive, the charity had been running with a very small board who were taking on much more work than would normally be expected of charity trustees. So it was a priority to look at trustee recruitment to address this situation and ensure we put a strong governance framework in place to support the transformation the charity needed.

“We decided to invest some budget in the recruitment. We couldn’t afford to pay for support for all of the six trustee roles we were looking for, but we put together a brief and asked a number of organisations to respond with their proposals for recruiting a treasurer and a deputy chair. 

“TrusteeWorks stood out for really understanding the brief, and their expertise and collaborative approach felt like a good fit for us. We felt confident that they would work closely with us and significantly extend the reach of the recruitment beyond what we could achieve through our own channels and networks. 

Getting the right balance of skills and diversity

“Diversity was a focus for us. As an equality and diversity charity, it was really important for us to make sure that the board composition reflected the diverse nature of the communities we serve and the staff we have.

“We had already carried out a skills audit and knew where the skills gaps were on the board. These included specialist areas like fundraising, HIV, and sexual and reproductive health. But we felt we needed most help with finding someone with the right financial experience to be our treasurer and someone with a strategic skillset to be deputy chair. 

“Sarah from TrusteeWorks reviewed the role descriptions we had drawn up and suggested a few tweaks. She also helped us work out timelines and suggested holding Q&A sessions for interested candidates to ensure they felt fully informed before the application and interview stages. 

“The Q&A sessions were a big success and we had good feedback from candidates who found them very informative. METRO did have some historical issues and we felt it was crucial to be as upfront as possible about these and TrusteeWorks helped us think about how best to do this in the sessions. It was a real collaborative effort. 

Recruiting with transparency

“We were impressed that we received 14 strong applications for the two roles. We’d been transparent that they would be demanding roles and that we needed people to get on board with the transformation we were looking to undertake in the next 12 months. 

“Rather than this being off-putting, candidates gave feedback saying that they felt inspired and motivated to apply by the fact that they would be going on a journey with us to help turn the organisation around. I think it was this transparency that laid the foundations for the amount of interest and the high quality of applications we received. 

High calibre candidates with an appetite to make a difference

“It was helpful that the candidates put forward by TrusteeWorks had already been screened by Sarah and the team and they were all of high calibre. In fact when it came to interviews, we had that really tough situation where we could have appointed more than one of the candidates. It was our original plan to have a deputy chair who would come in and eventually take over as chair, but we had two strong candidates and we decided it would give us more capacity if we took both on, so we offered one the chair position and one a permanent deputy chair position. 

“Unfortunately, the candidate we appointed as chair wasn’t able to take up the position, but this still left us with another strong candidate as deputy chair and I’m delighted that the board has now approved that they will become chair.  

“What’s more, two of the other candidates who were close seconds for the treasurer and deputy chair roles, remained interested in the charity and went on to join the board in other roles. 

“In addition to filling the roles, we were very pleased with the diverse mix of gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation of the candidates who were put forward. Increasing the diversity of the board was an important part of this recruitment campaign. 

“Another thing that was striking about the candidates was their appetite to make a difference. I would definitely recommend to other charities not to shy away from being transparent about the organisation’s challenges. I think it was a real motivating factor for our applicants that they could come in and really get involved and shape the future of the charity. 

“I’d also recommend other charities to consider having a staff panel as part of the trustee recruitment process. These panels really did help us think about aspects we’d not considered on the main recruitment panel. 

The impact of appointing the right trustees

“Although it’s still early days, the trustees are already having a clear impact. Our treasurer has really got stuck in to help us through our financial challenges. He is already asking the right questions of me and the finance director to make sure that we’re focusing on the right area of our budgets and addressing key issues. 

“The other trustees have been equally active, attending board meetings, sub-committee meetings and also picking up issues outside of meetings to ensure things run smoothly. 

“We now have a much stronger governance structure in place. We have people with the skills to make robust challenge and to suggest strategies for how we might navigate ways forward. I feel really positive about the future. 

“What I appreciated most about TrusteeWorks was their deep level of expertise backed up by a real hands-on approach. There was a genuine willingness to help and if we didn’t have capacity to do things ourselves, they would step forward and pick that up. It was really supportive and we had great feedback from the candidates too. They felt that the whole process was well executed with excellent communication. I would definitely recommend other charities to use TrusteeWorks for their trustee recruitment. It really was great value for money.”