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Trustee Voices - Trustees Week with Emma Hawker
201 Plays1 year ago
It's Trustees Week (6th-10th November), and our Trustee Recruitment team is proud to celebrate the work of one particular MAT Trustee, Emma Hawker. Listen on to hear our team get inspired by the contributions Emma's made to her board, despite the fact she did not initially consider herself to be Trustee material.
Ready to apply and start your Trustee journey? Head to the Trustee Recruitment Service website: www.trusteerecruitmentservice.org.uk
Music by: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: NMNV4U8MSFAJMU0X
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Transcript
Introduction to Trust Volunteering
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the podcast. Today we're going to be talking about volunteering as a multi-academy trust trustee. Some of you might not be aware, but at Governors for Schools, we not only recruit governors, but we also have a trustee recruitment service where we help match multi-academy trusts with the perfect volunteers.
Roles and Experiences of Trustees
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm joined today by Danielle and Emma and we're going to find out what it means to volunteer as a trustee in terms of how you might become one, what sort of things you'd expect to be doing and in general how Emma in particular became to be a trustee.
Community and Diversity in Trusts
00:00:38
Speaker
So Danielle could you just start off by introducing yourself for everyone please. Hi I'm Danielle, I work as the Partnerships Manager for the Governor's School's Trustee Recruitment Service covering the north of England.
00:00:53
Speaker
So Danielle is my counterpart. I cover the South. She's my better work half. And Emma, would you mind just introducing yourself as well? Hello. So I'm Emma Hawker and I'm a trustee at a trust here in South End, where I live. Wonderful. Thank you. So now we've asked Emma to come talk to us today as we want to try and kind of demystify
00:01:16
Speaker
what kind of person might be suitable or appropriate for a trustee role. Emma often likes to hide her light under a bushel and like a lot of people didn't initially consider herself to be trustee material but she very much is for a variety of reasons that I'm hoping you'll come to hear about.
00:01:34
Speaker
So we want to try and banish this lack of belief in people's skills that they might have and encourage more of you lovely people to apply. So with all of that in mind, Emma, could you possibly start off by telling us a little bit about your trust? So my trust is South End East Community Academy Trust, or CCAT for short, and it's made up of six schools here in South End.
00:02:02
Speaker
And I think it's a really interesting mix. So in my trust, we've got, as I say, those six schools. There are three primary schools, an infant, a junior and a secondary school. So a real range. And even though all of those schools are within a mile of each other, they all serve very different communities. So some of those schools serve more affluent communities. Some of the kind of better off areas in South End,
00:02:32
Speaker
And some of those schools serve more of the deprived areas in South End. So even though they're all very close, it's a real mix and really interesting dynamics going on there. So it always makes meetings and things really interesting to talk about, because there's always so many different things going on. That is a really lovely, varied, trust you book there, very lucky with that.
Understanding and Collaborating in MATs
00:02:54
Speaker
Danielle, could you just highlight for everyone, if some people might not be aware, what exactly is a mat?
00:03:01
Speaker
Yeah. So a MAT is a multi-academy trust. So it is a group of schools, usually called an academy, and they work as one entity, so one organization to improve education.
00:03:18
Speaker
And contrary to popular belief, academies aren't private schools. They're not necessarily grammar schools where you have to pass an exam to get in. It literally is that they are just one organization. So sometimes they share branding or policies or, you know, key things, but they are still individual schools.
00:03:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think academies get a bad rap a lot of the time, don't they? There's this preconceived notion about them and just none of it is true, really. They're just absolutely amazing. I think I was going to ask Emma about what exactly does the government structure look like in your trust?
Maintaining Identity in a Trust
00:03:58
Speaker
Well, just to pick up on your point, actually, I just wanted to say that's one of the things that our trust is really strong on. The things that it makes sense for us to work together on and for those schools to come together on. We do lots of that, particularly where it's around being a bit savvy when it comes to costs and making sure that financially, if we can kind of share that burden across the schools, that everyone's getting the best value for money.
00:04:23
Speaker
But there's this really strong desire in the trust that all of those schools still keep their own identity, that they know about the communities that they serve and that they still kind of do that in the way that's right for them. So I think that's something really nice about my trust that they're kind of really keen to work together in the right way, but to still make sure that all of those schools have kind of got their own voice, their own identity.
00:04:47
Speaker
I think that's a really good point. I think the ability to support each other and to, you know, fill in the gaps where, you know, if you've got one school that's struggling with something and another school where actually they're really strong on that area, they can like support each other or even the way that you divvy up the finances to make sure that all the schools and all the pupils in the Trust are receiving the same support.
00:05:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's really a benefit that some people overlook a little bit in a trust. And I think that's one way that we really benefit from those schools being so close to one another. For example, the trust has shared inset days where all of the staff can get together. And then I think it was the one they did earlier in the year. So everyone came together at the secondary school because it had the biggest space. And then in the afternoon, all of those staff had kind of focused development sessions.
00:05:46
Speaker
And they were based at the different schools. So staff got to go to a different school. They got to work with different colleagues from across the trust. And there was such positive feedback about being able to work with other colleagues across the trust and kind of work on some of those shared goals and things. So I think that's one way that we sort of try and make the most of being geographically quite close. I know that's not the case for all trusts, but it is for us. So we're quite lucky to try and enjoy that.
00:06:13
Speaker
That's amazing. I love that. That's so good for like just thinking outside the box, like seeing how different schools work and just getting new ideas and even just for peer to peer development of the teachers. That's absolutely amazing. We just had such positive feedback about it. And I think that's definitely going to be one of the directions that the trust tries to move in. So like I say, it's that kind of balance of not wanting to say to everyone,
00:06:39
Speaker
you know, everybody's working on this, everything is just the same, because the staff in those schools know that each community is so different. But when there are opportunities for kind of peer support, peer learning, peer working, to really try and facilitate that across the schools, because I think the staff really enjoy it, it's really good for those pupils. And I think it's a really nice thing for kind of
00:07:03
Speaker
development and making the most of the expertise that we've got in school without necessarily always paying for lots and lots of external support to come in in terms of professional development because we've got brilliant people in trust and we want to kind of enjoy that and make the most of that and try and share that expertise with the staff. So that's a really nice thing to see as a trustee that they're kind of coming together and working together.
00:07:26
Speaker
It's really lovely to hear, Emma, how involved you clearly are and how passionate you've become about working with this trust. It's so lovely. You're so involved that you feel that close to it. That's really, really lovely to hear. And that's the kind of thing we want people to hear as an opportunity for
Trustee Involvement and Leadership
00:07:42
Speaker
them. So thank you for saying all of that. Well, I've got to say our trust is so, so welcoming and open about any visits that we want to do.
00:07:52
Speaker
about going in and talking to any of the trust leadership, they're so welcoming and so open. I think that's really reassuring as a trustee that they really want us to come in and to have conversations and know what's going on and ask questions. And it just makes it kind of so nice. So it's not, I think sometimes we talk in governance about effective challenge and it sounds a bit kind of scary and confrontational, but actually it's not, it's kind of just having a chat, knowing what's going on,
00:08:21
Speaker
being involved, making sure that everything is working the way it should and whether there's anything that we as trustees can do to support that. And I think having such a good open relationship with the trust leadership team, the staff, it makes all the difference.
00:08:38
Speaker
I know, Danielle, every set there thinking that sounds like an ideal trust. Danielle, when you govern this hat on, it sounds like good leadership to me, doesn't it? So off the back of that, Emma, a bit of a two-part question, I guess. You say you get to go into the schools and things, which
00:08:53
Speaker
people are always really excited about. Do you get to talk to the local governors at each academy as well? Is there like an opportunity for that? And I guess the follow-up question or the question that should have been before is what does the governance structure look like in your trust?
Governance Structure and Committees
00:09:10
Speaker
So, you know, what do the layers that sit below your trust board look like? So obviously, like all trusts, we kind of have the members that, you know, we don't necessarily speak to you that often.
00:09:23
Speaker
And then I sit on the Trust Board with my fellow trustees, and there are eight of us, I believe, including the CEO of the Trust, who sits on the Trust Board with us. And then each of the schools have an Academy committee, or that's what we call them. It's kind of the local governance layer. So that kind of board that focuses particularly on issues for each of those schools. And we have one of those at each school. And we have been reviewing recently our
00:09:53
Speaker
scheme of delegation. So that kind of sets out what everyone, each layer of governance is doing. And we've been working with the volunteers from the local academy committee boards to kind of work out making sure there's a clear focus so that all of those volunteers know what they're doing. So when they go in for school visits, they've got a really clear focus and looking at how we can make sure that communication between all of those layers is really effective.
00:10:22
Speaker
So we've been thinking about that at the moment. And we've just asked our local kind of governance layout. So we're going to kind of name those governors Academy committee representatives, just to make sure that the layers are kind of really clear, because we wanted to make sure that all of the trustees knew what they were doing and that everyone at that local level made sure that they knew what they were doing. Because obviously in an Academy Trust, it's a little bit different to maintain schools where
00:10:52
Speaker
different layers of governance take over different responsibilities, if that makes sense.
00:10:59
Speaker
That makes perfect sense. So for anyone who might be listening who doesn't understand, Maintain Schools are your kind of your normal community schools. They have a teacher, they have a board of governors that sits alongside them. They're governed slightly differently in that they don't have a trust board, they don't have a scheme of delegation. So it's just, that's what Emma was explaining.
00:11:30
Speaker
Thank you. That's it. I don't know if I did. I'm explaining. But we have a kind of main trust board. So everyone who meets and gets together with all of the trustees where we focus on those kind of different issues and things. But we've also got our audit finance and risk committee. And that's made up of some of the trustees on the trust board. And they focus particularly on some of the finance elements of things.
00:11:58
Speaker
And so that's removed a little bit from the local governance layer. And it sits at the trust layer. So they look at that for all of the schools. And we're very fortunate to have lots of brilliant trustees on that who have a whole range of kind of different experience from different kind of financial professional backgrounds and things. So that really helps. And we also have a curriculum and pupil matters committee. And that's the one that I sit on.
00:12:28
Speaker
in addition to the main trust board. And we focus on, as it would suggest, things that relate to the curriculum and people matters. So lots of kind of safeguarding bits, wellbeing, all sorts of things like that. So lots of really interesting kind of bits to get into, and it allows us to focus a little bit more on certain important topics across the trust. It also means that by the trust board taking on some of those responsibilities,
00:12:57
Speaker
the local Academy Committee representatives can really focus on the plan that each school has for improvement and making sure that when they go in to see what's happening in school, they can really just concentrate on what the school is doing to improve and making sure that they're seeing all of the wonderful stuff in action. Thank you. Yeah, that's it's lovely. I think it's so lovely to hear you two sounding so knowledgeable. You've broken down
00:13:27
Speaker
there and made it sound simple.
Importance of Diverse Trustee Boards
00:13:30
Speaker
But I think it's important to mention as well that to become a trustee, you don't necessarily have to have a background in education. You don't even need to necessarily understand everything we're talking about here or intricacies of the structures and things like that. It's not 100% do not have to be an educationalist to become a trustee. Some trusts are looking for that skill set.
00:13:54
Speaker
but others are looking for things like finance, HR, general strategic leadership. So I don't know, Danielle, it's something we talk about a lot, isn't it? You don't have to have this background in education to become a trustee, and that's something we don't want to be a barrier for people looking to volunteer. Definitely. And it always sticks with me. One of my previous managers that I've worked with, and for those that don't know, my background is in
00:14:21
Speaker
educational governance. But we spoke about the avoiding group think and the importance of making sure that you've got the different perspectives because it's good to ask those questions that in your head you might think are a bit stupid or you should know the answer to because actually there's a lot of assumed knowledge in the education space.
00:14:47
Speaker
it's a sector full of jargon just like any other sector but it's got its own unique jargon and it's really important to have people from different backgrounds, different walks of life, different professional roles because you'll all approach the same piece of information differently and interpret it differently. So yeah that's what we really try and push for at Governance for Schools as well is making sure that
00:15:18
Speaker
all boards in education are as diverse as they can be to make sure that they're representative. Yeah, absolutely. We want you to feel empowered within your boards that we sit you within to ask the
00:15:32
Speaker
that I gave in Voted Air Commons, stupid questions. We want you to ask those questions and feel strong enough to ask those questions because that is what you're there to do and good leadership will be accepting of that and use it as a chance to better themselves and to better the trust you're within. So yes, we want our trustees to feel empowered in that sense. Definitely. I think there are often times in a meeting where I think, oh, I don't know if this is a silly question or not,
00:16:01
Speaker
But I don't know the answer, so I'm going to ask it. And I've never once been made to feel silly or daft for asking that question. Every response is always really positive and welcoming, and people are always happy to explain things. So even though I worry about, oh, I can seem a bit silly, no one else seems to be bothered by that at all. So that's really nice. That's so lovely.
00:16:25
Speaker
I bet there are people in your meetings that are so thankful that you've asked that question as well, because I'm always that person that's like, please somebody ask this question. I have had someone say to me, I said, I'm really glad you asked that actually. Definitely, definitely can be really helpful. When I think about our Trust Board, we have such a range of people on there. So we've got all different ages, different professions, you know, everything really. So we've got
00:16:54
Speaker
someone with a long kind of business and finance background, who've got someone from IT. We do have someone who works in education. We've got, I think, a financial crime specialist from Deloitte, our chair who, or she was our ex-chair. She was a lawyer, did lots of stuff for the Law Society. So we just have a huge range of various expertise and insights.
00:17:20
Speaker
And it's so, so helpful because quite often someone will come at something with a different perspective based on their experience that's different from mine. And I thought, well, yeah, now you've said that. That's a really good question or a really interesting way to look at it. So I learn a lot actually from being on a board with such different people and different kind of backgrounds and different take on things. So it's really, really great. And we do have one of the trustees that joined
00:17:49
Speaker
a little while after I did. He's in his kind of early to mid 20s, which I think is another thing. People always assume that trustees are kind of older and retired, definitely not always the case. And I think he has some brilliant kind of insights into things. And because he went to school in South End, he often has a perspective on kind of local things that some of the other trustees wouldn't necessarily have.
00:18:17
Speaker
So it just kind of shows, I think, how important it is to have such a different range of views and experiences and insights into things. It's kind of the best way, I think, to make sure that you're really doing the right kind of job. And like Danielle says, not having that kind of group think we all just nod and agree and nothing ever really gets discussed or debated or scrutinized.
00:18:43
Speaker
can agree more. We need this wonderful outside perspective that everyone else can bring. With that in mind, what do... I would love to be a fly on the wall in your meetings. What do your meetings actually look like at your trust? Because who attends them? How long do they go on for? Is it possible for people to attend remotely? Because we have a lot of trust now. I think it's worth mentioning that
00:19:05
Speaker
are happy for people to just be remote trustees.
Time Commitment and Remote Meetings
00:19:08
Speaker
That is an option we can offer you. But what do your meetings look like, Emma? Well, actually, all of our meetings are remote. They're all held over teams in our trust, just because I think it worked out really well for everybody. Like I say, we've got lots of people with various professional backgrounds on the board, and it just made it so much easier for people to attend those remotely.
00:19:33
Speaker
so that, you know, they can still go to work and make the meetings and things they've got to work. But lots of people who kind of travel into London because of where we are not that far from London, people who have to travel in for work. So joining a meeting remotely just makes it so much more accessible for them. And then, you know, people are able to, I think, attend more meetings than perhaps they might if they were all in person. So I think that works really well for us. We've spent some time kind of working on our
00:20:04
Speaker
online meeting etiquette to make sure that everyone kind of gets their bit in and can get their tech working and get their hands up. So it works really well for us. We have about one full trust board meeting every term, and then one or two committee meetings each term, depending on what's going on at that particular time, whether they're kind of a certain topics that need a little bit more focus. And these meetings last between an hour and a half and two hours. And I would say our
00:20:33
Speaker
and governance professional who is such an essential part of the team. She's really good at kind of making sure that we're sticking to time, making sure that we're covering the things that we really have to make sure we've discussed. And so in advance of that meeting, our governance professional sends out the agenda and all of the documents that we need to have at least a week before. She's really good. She always kind of lets us know when everything is
00:21:00
Speaker
on the central site that we use to access all of those documents to make sure that we've got plenty of time to read through all of those before the meeting. And quite often, I think just because I'm like this, this is what I like to do. When I've had a look at those papers, if I have questions that I know I want to submit in advance, I'll always kind of send those over to our governance professional and she's really good.
00:21:27
Speaker
at sharing them with the trust leadership team so they can kind of start to prepare any responses ahead of time. I don't always manage to do that. Sometimes I don't have the time to do that, but everyone is always really good and is happy to answer any questions that they have as the meeting goes on. So lots of the meeting is talking about some of the papers and reports that we've had. So we have a regular
00:21:53
Speaker
CEO reports and he just kind of tells us about the key events that are happening across the trust. We pick out some bits of our strategic plan, so the plan where we're kind of looking at what the trust is trying to achieve for all of those schools and we pick out some of those elements and focus particularly on those and see what's kind of going on in relation to those bits as well at our meetings and that's really nice because it lets us hear a bit more about
00:22:22
Speaker
things that are going on with the pupils. So it's not just kind of data, you know, lots of it is really interesting stories about things that, you know, the schools have been achieving and programs that they're working on and initiatives and interventions that are going really well. So it's lots of interesting stuff at those meetings.
00:22:43
Speaker
That sounds really interesting and it's good that you've got the governance professional there keeping you on track. Emma, it sounds like you're a dream trustee, honestly, submitting questions in advance.
00:22:57
Speaker
That's every governance professional's dream. Realistically, how much time do you think you give to the role? So, you know, kind of the prep work, the actual meeting time. I know it's really hard to kind of put a number to it, but realistically, what would you say that is? Oh, right. Let me have a think. I have to say, I don't, I don't always manage to get all my questions. I'll talk to you whenever I can.
00:23:23
Speaker
Um, but no, I'll go with this professional is good. She's really kind of accepting of all of that. So I'd say obviously the meeting time, um, will be a maximum of four hours across, I don't know the term of three months or so. And I would say it probably takes me, I'd say a couple of hours to prepare for each of those meetings, because I want to make sure that I've read.
00:23:50
Speaker
all of the documents that I've thought carefully about any questions that I might have. Now I've been involved in governance for a little while. I don't have to look up so many things, but sometimes a topic will come up and I think, oh, I'm just going to have a bit of a Google about that and find out a bit more about what that means in education. So occasionally there's a bit of that. I think when I go and do a school visit, it depends on
00:24:19
Speaker
you know, how much time the people at school have. But I would say I'm probably there for at least an hour. And then I might spend an hour or so writing up some notes and things. And I, to be honest, they're so welcoming and so lovely at the school that I could go in probably almost as much as I wanted. But obviously, I try not to do that too often, because, you know, those local Academy committee representatives, they want to get in as well.
00:24:46
Speaker
And obviously, they've got lots and lots going on in school. They're busy trying to teach those kids. So they don't want me to do much. But they are very understanding of the fact that some of the trustees find it easier than others because of work commitments and things to be able to gain. So I do like to try and do at least one school visit and then a write up of that about once a term. So that's maybe a couple of hours. So what are we looking at here?
00:25:14
Speaker
to about seven, I reckon seven or eight hours at least. Yeah, we usually say when people ask, don't we, Danielle, between seven to 10 hours? Yeah, it will really vary. There's certain times of year when it will be more because we'll have like a safeguard in training and things that we need to do at the start of every year. Some meetings are a little bit lighter on some of that documentation because we have verbal presentations.
00:25:45
Speaker
rather than written reports, just that's one way that perhaps we can make it a little bit less time intensive on the trust leadership team. So it wouldn't necessarily be then that I've got something I need to beforehand, but I'll, you know, listen out and then kind of ask my questions afterwards when it's something like that. But then there's certain times of year where we have more policies to read. And then that could be a bit longer because some of these policies, because it's really important that they're
00:26:14
Speaker
they read properly and they can be quite a few. And I think one thing that we might start trying to do as a trust is looking at whether we can have some sort of strategy day type events. And that would be, I think, a really good thing to do. I think that would give real clarity for the board on where that trust is going. And although obviously that would be a bit more time, I'm very fortunate in that my employer is very supportive of volunteer time.
00:26:44
Speaker
and me being able to take out any time I need to go and do those things. So, you know, being transparent, I think with my employer about the time that I need to do and volunteer things, I think is a really important and useful thing as well.
00:27:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think strategy days are a really great way for any sort of board to kind of re-evaluate where they are. Like in my previous experience, you know, it's something you do on an annual basis and
00:27:18
Speaker
different schools and different trusts hold them at different times of the year. Some schools really love having them first thing in the year to set themselves go in, whereas others would rather have them in kind of that Easter spring period, like just before the year is wrapping up, ready to plan for the next year. But I think they're a really useful tool for trusts and trustees to get on board with.
00:27:47
Speaker
Yeah. And in terms of time, do you think it's fair to say that when you first started as a trustee, it took up more of your time with training and onboarding that kind of stuff? Oh, yeah, I think that's definitely fair to say. At the beginning, I was also having more
00:28:06
Speaker
conversations with some of the other trustees just to help me understand what the trust was all about and kind of get me up to speed with things and get a better understanding of how things worked at my trust. So I had more time kind of talking to people about that. I was doing some kind of induction training and to support that kind of thing. And as I was saying before, things that kind of I didn't necessarily know so much about or wasn't always familiar with, I was doing a bit more kind of
00:28:36
Speaker
research around those things whereas now I'm more familiar with some of that stuff so I don't need to do that every time new papers come out. But yeah there are certain times of year where there's just more going on and I know it's going to take a bit more of my time in certain times of year where it's a bit quieter but I think our governance professional is really good at kind of helping
00:29:00
Speaker
set out and coordinate all of those meetings really far ahead of time, so I've got plenty of time to kind of book that time out, plenty of time to know I have to prepare for certain things, plenty of time when I know I've got certain training that I need to do.
Engagement and Time Reflection
00:29:15
Speaker
So I'm quite lucky in that sense, they help keep me very organised. I think it's fair to say from listening to you talk, Emma, that it's quite an undertaking, so it's something serious
00:29:30
Speaker
for people to consider before they apply, isn't it? It's not just a figurehead role. You're very, very much involved in the proceedings and the strategic leadership direction of a trust. So it's important to consider that before you sign up. Is that something you kind of grappled with yourself? Oh yeah, I definitely had to think about whether it was something I could make the time to commit to. I was a local
00:30:00
Speaker
board governor before I joined the trust board. So I had some sense of kind of certain things that might take some time and what that kind of commitment might be. But I really had to think about, as you say, it's really important. It's so important to attend those meetings and to be really engaged. I couldn't really be doing a proper job if I wasn't reading all of the documentation beforehand and engaging with all of that kind of stuff.
00:30:29
Speaker
So I really wanted to make sure I had the time for it because this has the potential to help impact, you know, thousands of children in my local area. And I really wanted to do a good job with that. It was really important. So it's, you know, it's something I knew I wanted to commit to and to stick with. But like I said, having having conversations with my employer about the amount of time I thought I would need was really important. And they've been very kind of supportive of that. And I think lots of
00:30:59
Speaker
speaking to other trustees. Lots of employers are as long as you're kind of upfront with them about what that means and making sure that it's all kind of work out and you know that they can respect the time that I need to take for visits or meetings and things. But no definitely definitely works worth some thought to make sure I think it's something you want to do as well because actually some of those meetings are after work so I think if I wasn't
00:31:27
Speaker
enthusiastic about doing it and didn't want to do it, it would be hard to do after a long day of work to then, you know, want to sit and talk about things with others for a couple of hours. But because I enjoy it so much, it's not a different thing to do after the end of a long day.
00:31:42
Speaker
No, you can, you can tell that you are enjoying it. In fact, I've got one of the questions we were going to ask you is how are you finding being a trustee? But I think it's fair to say you've answered that you're enjoying it. So instead, I'll ask you, what has been your biggest challenge to date as being a trustee? Is there anything that's been difficult that's come up in the meetings or outside of it? That is a good question. Actually,
00:32:10
Speaker
And I don't know if this is kind of the right sort of answer, but I think one of the biggest challenges for me is getting my head around the fact that I have the right to be there. I don't know, I'm not, I don't think I'm explaining this very well. No, you are. I don't, yeah, this is what we said, but you didn't think you would be a trustee. Yeah. And I was thinking, you know, I'm here with lots of really,
00:32:38
Speaker
clever experienced professional people and I don't know that I'm really making a difference here. And so I did spend a bit of time after my first couple of meetings speaking to my governance professional. I kind of said, you know, how do you think I'm doing? And is there any kind of training or support that you would recommend for me? Because I really want to improve with this. And she was so, so, so supportive and really encouraging.
00:33:04
Speaker
and said, you know, the fact that you're reading everything, you're engaging and you're asking questions and you're not afraid to ask questions, that that was a really helpful thing, I think, for the board. So, yeah, kind of almost feeling like I, you know, getting my confidence up a little bit, I think was one of the hardest things for me. But I feel like it's been a really valuable thing to do for myself because I think I do feel more confident now in my own
00:33:35
Speaker
kind of voice in my own contribution. So I love being trusty. I wouldn't change it. That's so lovely. That's so, so lovely and wonderful. I'm so pleased you brought that up. I know, but they're not always looking for these all powerful CEOs. I mean, sometimes some trusts are. That's what we have to look for sometimes. And that's fine. Absolutely fine if that's what they need. But Danielle, what kind of skill level are we looking for in our applications? What is it that we're looking for in terms of
00:34:05
Speaker
job titles, levels, experience, what things jump out at us to signpost somebody as being an excellent potential trustee. So it varies.
00:34:17
Speaker
obviously. The easiest ones to point out are your kind of executive level people, CEOs, CFOs, et cetera. They tend to be people with years and years of experience and they usually have a certain age bracket, a certain demographic.
00:34:37
Speaker
But like we said, that's not the only voice that should be around that board. There should be people who potentially have strategic leadership skills, they might not necessarily be a CEO, they might be a leader of a team of, you know, 100 people, or they might work in a small charity, and then they've got experience of that kind of not-for-profit
00:35:07
Speaker
governance world and new people, new trustees, people who are bringing a fresh pair of eyes to everything, people who might have lived experience of the specific communities that the trust are dealing with. You've got people who might not be there in their professional career but actually they've been a governor for
00:35:35
Speaker
ages they've been a chair of governors you know they've got that experience to then be able to transfer it over and say no I want to start as a new trustee actually I understand the processes I understand the system and I think I could bring that experience to the table.
00:35:55
Speaker
So yeah, I think a lot of people grapple with what Emma was saying she felt where she didn't feel like she belonged on the board. But actually, everybody, there should be a representation of everybody on that board. And it's really important that the loudest, biggest, most impressive kind of names and titles don't take the front seat.
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah, perfect. And could you please talk people through the process of how to apply to become one of these wonderful trustees with Governors for Schools?
Becoming a Trustee through Governors for Schools
00:36:31
Speaker
Absolutely. So, well, for Governors for Schools, you can apply via our website. We have a trustee recruitment section and you'll be able to select our trustee application form. Is that?
00:36:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's exactly it. So it's all very self explanatory in the form, we talk you through kind of like, what skills you have helps us to match you to the perfect trust. You can also make things known like if you've got a particular trust you're already interested in, how far you're willing to travel away from your home. And you can also kind of like rank
00:37:11
Speaker
in terms of skill level, particular skills that you have. As much information as you can put on there will help us find you the perfect match because we want to help both sides of the table here. We want to help find you the perfect position for you. And we also want the trust to find the right person. So we're never just sending people out randomly. It's a very skills
00:37:31
Speaker
focused on the person, getting the right person for the job. We're really, really focused on that. And sometimes it might take a little bit longer. It's not always a quick thing. Sometimes some trustees will have been with us for a couple of months before we find them the right role. And other times it can be really quick, depends on what vacancies we've got available at the moment. But we will always try and find the right thing
00:37:54
Speaker
for you and it's very much an open discussion as well. It's not just a case of us sending you something and you having to say yes to it. So we work with you as closely as possible to do that. And with applications in mind, Emma, have you got any final words of advice for anyone thinking about becoming a trustee as if you've not made it sound amazing enough already?
Personal Benefits of Being a Trustee
00:38:17
Speaker
I think do it, really consider it, get in touch with governors for schools and the trustee recruitment service.
00:38:24
Speaker
and talk about whether it might be the right thing to do. I just think it's been such a nice way to spend some of my time and I feel really good about doing something nice for my community. I want to live in a nice place and I feel like I'm helping to do that. I've got two small children. I want them to grow up in a nice place and I feel really positive about being able to help their peers
00:38:50
Speaker
because they don't go to one of the trust schools, unfortunately. We're not quite in the right area, which is a shame. But I feel really good about, I don't know, trying to do something that I feel makes my area a better place. It's been really good for me because I feel good about that. I feel like it's really boosted my confidence and my skills and my knowledge. So I think it's really worth considering. And I think I would say that it's worth taking the time
00:39:20
Speaker
I'm working with any kind of service like the trustee recruitment service to make sure that you find the right trust for you because the values and the ethos that my trust have so closely align with my own. That's one of the reasons I think I'm so passionate and it's so easy to be engaged with what's going on in the trust because I just really believe in what they're trying to achieve.
00:39:50
Speaker
And I think it's definitely kind of worth taking the time to find the fit that is right with you, because then, you know, it won't be extra work. It will just be a really enjoyable, extra thing that you get to have in your life. Aw, Emma. I feel like we should be called out the trusty matchmaking service. Like, if everyone's just as happy as Emma, it's just ideal world, really. I don't know if that's just a really nerdy thing to say, but everything is going to be really lovely.
00:40:21
Speaker
Even though I really feel like, well, you know, sometimes I think I still feel like I don't know if I should be here, you know, having a bit of a moment of doubt. They're always so positive and so encouraging and so grateful for everything that everyone is doing. It's just really lovely.
00:40:37
Speaker
Thank you so much to both of you for all of that.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:40:40
Speaker
Hopefully we've helped highlight that you don't need to be a world leader to be a trustee. We really do need as many varied people as possible to help improve educational outcomes of young people. It's certainly a personal commitment to make but I think Emma has really highlighted how worthwhile it can be.
00:40:56
Speaker
If you're interested in making a difference or simply want to find out more, please do visit our website and consider filling in an application at www.trusteerecruitmentservice.org.uk. You'll be able to read case studies, access free training or just have a read through of our frequently asked questions.
00:41:15
Speaker
If there is anything else you'd like to know that we haven't answered, or that you can't find on the website, please do drop myself or Danielle an email at trusteerecruitment at governorsforschools.org.uk. Thank you so much for listening.