What makes a great chair of governors?
A question was posed in an online forum recently that really got me thinking - What makes a great chair of governors? Well, for starters 'great' is a tricky word, what do we mean by it? How would we judge it? I tend to favour the concept of an effective chair of governors leading an effective board as that suggests that they have some impact. Whatever language we choose, the interesting part of this question is the 'what?' - what makes it work so let's try and explore that a little. A review of academic literature, and the writing of consultants with years of experience in the field, suggest that the role of the chair is a key leadership role in organisations and influences the effectiveness of, not only the board, but the organisation as a whole. I like the idea of the chair as an enabler who helps others to do their best work - including the executive team. Another article talks of the chair helping the board to "be productive" [1] which is another go