Daryl's Blog

I'd been grappling with a difficult remuneration issue and a colleague suggested the name of the minister of a big London church who might have some helpful advice. I called his office only to be intercepted by his staff who decided I would be just as well served by talking to someone else, the point being that the minister simply isn't able to engage with everyone who calls on the offchance, there being upwards of 1200 people in his congregation. This is understandable; he needs protection. Somehow, I won't excuse myself, I lost my way at this point, and my response to being fended off (in the nicest way) was frankly pathetic. Can't remember what I said, but I bet the lovely ladies in the office had total recall when their pastor got back from the training day he had been attending. I shared the experience with a couple of people who backed me up; why should a shepherd of God's flock be so remote?

One reason why I am glad to be a christian is that ..... with unhurried chase and unpeturbed pace .... He follows after me, taking His time, always chipping away at my defences, finding me out.

I lasted about a week, before capitulating and agreeing with both God and the ladies I had been so impatient with. So well done to that minister for having a group of good people around to give him protection from the likes of me. They do their job well. It's a difficult call for people like him, not wanting to be remote, but needing the freedom not to have to be at everyone's beck and call all day long. It's an issue that needs sensitive handling. In my company (Independent Examiners Ltd) you can talk to a director anytime; it's one way we keep quality high, but this doesn't work in a church setting. The senior pastor's telephone number should not be generally known, though there does need to be a system so that people needing help can ask for urgent pastoral support. Perhaps a dedicated mobile which can be rostered to a 'duty pastor'. We have a helpline which can be used anytime for any charity related query. My mobile is 07990807097, though you might get more sense from the helpline.

To close, back to Francis Thompson who helped me so much in the early part of my journey. 'How little worthy of any love thou art. Who wilt thou find to love ignoble thee, save me, save only me?' Yes, that's me. Sorry ladies, you are doing a great job; hope the flowers and chocolates helped a little.

I take great pleasure in talking to groups of trustees and leaders of charities and churches. The dynamics of each situation is unique but increasingly it's becoming clear what the really important issues are. I generally open by talking about accountabilities and legal responsibilities, which is usually why I'm there. Then we start to look at some real situations where things have gone badly or well, drawing a great deal on my own experiences. As we get more comfortable I can begin to dig into the real issues, which are almost always relational. Legal and professional advice can be bought in to help the processes along, but you can't buy trust, or laughter.

A few days ago I received Terry Virgo's newsletter (how does he keep this punishing schedule going? I suppose because it's his joy): in it he describes the New Frontiers core leaders and wives annual retreat as a time to, 'relax together, yet also make one another accountable in terms of care, enquiry, affection and openness'. If you are part of any group of people, these are the issues that matter: care, enquiry, affection, openness. If you don't have them, don't delay, deal with it. I get some interesting responses when I ask this kind of question, but generally the effectiveness or otherwise of the organisation they represent, will be determined by the health of the relationships of the core teams that will cascade down to all the other parts. You have only to look at the machinery of government right now to see how true this is. I'm now going to have to do yet more work on my governance notes.

Now, go back to that winsome TV quote and ask yourself how your team measures up.

Have a good week. Daryl

At some time, if it hasn't happened to you already, your telephone will ring and you will be given good news. You have won a prize, 2 prizes in fact. First you have a hamper of wine and chocolate waiting for you to collect. Secondly, you have won a week's holiday in a prime destination, absolutely free. Now, most times, I am on the ball and cut them short with polite thanks, but no thanks. My wife, who I love dearly, is rather more trusting and if someone says she has won a prize, she believes them.

Somehow they got under our guard and we agreed a meeting, 'to collect the prizes'. There would be a presentation, but we wouldn't be obliged to buy anything, and it wasn't timeshare or points and there is no obligation at all to buy, or join or rent anything.

Whatever you do, don't go, stay away, go to the pictures, visit in laws, anything; if you value your sanity, stay well away. These people are well trained; they know just what they are doing. The hamper is not worth the sacrifice of time and emotional energy. If you get an invite and are tempted, e-mail me and I will tell you what will take place.

So many have lost so much, with so little to show for it; don't join them. We didn't, but it was a near run thing. Have a good weekend.

Someone  wrote and asked me if I stand by my recent forecast that CIOs would not survive the next election. Well I do, although nothing that this tired government does will surprise me. It may be that they have invested too much time and effort into this project to let it fall.

It was flawed from the beginning both in concept and execution. When it was first dreamed up I suspect that its sponsor overlooked the fact that sweeping changes in company law were being drawn up, which would make life a lot simpler for small companies including charitable companies. The new company regulations effectively mean that many of the reasons for having CIOs no longer apply. To make it worse, I also suspect that as plans were advanced it became increasingly clear that whilst it would be relatively simple to change a company charity into a CIO it might be rather more complicated to change an unincorporated charity over - these being the very charities that the proposals were there to help.

I think the best solution is to forget all about CIOs and get on with more important things. The status quo is fine. If by chance we do get them delivered to us one day, I will want to have a good look at them first to make sure they are 'fit for purpose' before we start to make use of them.

My monthly bulletin will keep you posted.

www.iel.org.uk

Recently I was booked in to go and meet the trustees of a charity based in the Midlands. A couple of days later the chair called me. All rather embarrassing. When he told the board what had been planned, they all told him they hadn't agreed to it at all, but thought he was just getting views. How often have people left a meeting you have taken part in, only to find out later that  there were different understandings of what they were there for? So here are some sensible guidelines to remember:

There are only three functional purposes for having a business meeting:

* To inform and bring people up to speed

* To seek input from people

* To ask for approval

Use this filter to determine why you are having the meeting and make sure that participants clearly understand the purpose of each agenda item. Clear understanding by all participants will lead to shorter better meetings.

Example: 'I want to bring you up to speed on items 1 and 2, get your input on item 3, and seek your approval regarding items 4 and 5'.

Thanks to Anthony Tjan for this helpful understanding. Now I need to go and incorporate this into my trustee governance notes - short section on charity board meetings is called for!

Do you have any helpful insights to share?

Have a good weekend. Daryl