Recruiting school governors from the commercial world
School governance has always relied on assembling a diverse mix of people from the local community, from all walks of life and with different viewpoints. But now, as schools face forthcoming funding cuts, there’s a growing acceptance that having the right mix of skills in governing bodies is critical and skills developed through commercial experience are essential. Business people are able to share their skills and bring fresh ideas to help drive improvement.
Until now, spending on education as a percentage of GDP has risen for two decades, meaning that few school leaders have much experience of cost cutting. In the business world however, there has long been an imperative to reduce unit costs, improve design, and extend ever-more features and benefits to products and services, all while driving up quality.
People who have succeeded in this environment have lots to offer our schools at a time when money has to go further and the demand from parents and the broader electorate is to raise standards and push the UK into the top echelon of school systems.
Governors from the commercial world bring the particular skills and experience they develop in business to support schools, helping them to manage the challenges of prioritising within tighter budgets, hiring and retaining talented teachers, and managing the transition process as schools move to academy status.
Typically, the specific skills that a school looks for include finance, legal, HR or IT skills. According to findings from online schools information company The Key’s last annual survey, more than a third of governors believe that having a broader set of skills would do most to improve their board’s impact.
So how can governing bodies and academy boards best go about broadening their skills base with commercially experienced governors? And aside from that business grounding, what other attributes are necessary in a good governor?
Transferable skills
Ideally all potential new governors will appreciate the cultural differences between working in the commercial arena and working in a school environment, where there are no financial bonuses and incentives! People working in education are generally motivated by other factors such as improving children’s lives and their chances of future employment - but it’s perhaps worth spelling them out at the interview stage.
The measures of success are also different in a school than they are in a commercial organisation. A school will generally have a basket of indicators looked at holistically, rather than, say, needing to report quarterly earnings as a business would.
So it’s about understanding the ethos and what matters in a school, and being able to tailor commercial experience accordingly.
To assess whether a candidate will be able to make the change and has the right temperament and attitude to work in a school environment, it’s important to probe their motivation. Why are they interested in joining a governing body? What are their values? Do they have an air of "I know best?" or are they willing to learn?
Look at their experience and assess where their skills are transferable. For example, a candidate from the financial world could be an asset manager looking after £0.5 billion worth of stocks and shares – that’s highly analytical work. So discover what about that is transferable. It’s not scale because a typical primary school budget is is in the range of £0.5m to £3m. But obviously the candidate will be good with numbers and can see the main points of an issue quickly.
Their numeracy skills will allow them to pick things up quickly once in post – including the seriously complicated world of school funding – despite the fact that they won’t immediately understand the finer points of education and the specifics of school governance. These can be learned through training and discussion in the first six months.
Similarly with human resources. A global head of HR with a good grounding in specialist talent management will certainly understand best practice when recruiting a head teacher, but may not be aware of the available pool of candidates and local circumstances which affect the recruitment outcome.
The earlier new governors understand strategy, risks and accountability in a school setting, and the quicker they learn about the school, the more head teachers and their teams can expect from their "critical friend" - the governing body.
So really, look at candidates' experience and their transferable skills to ensure that they should be able to get to grips with what’s important for schools quite comfortably within a few months.
Handling the interviews
Potential governors are likely to be busy, between work and other commitments, so following the initial contact, be quick to respond in setting up a good time to talk, ideally with a phone call or email to kick off discussions and agree a time for interview. First thing in the morning or late in the afternoon are usually good times for a meeting.
Part of the prospective governor’s learning curve will include getting to know the school so try to ensure the interview includes time for a 10 minute walk around. Always allow plenty of time for them to ask questions.
Do sell the school and the opportunities that governing provides. Becoming a governor provides the candidate with an amazing opportunity for their personal growth, as well as to play a vital role in improving the life chances of local children. It also provides an excellent opportunity to extend a professional network by working and collaborating with people who are not work colleagues.
The professional development opportunity gained from working as a school governor is immense. Someone working in HR in a big organisation probably doesn’t have an overview and decision making across their whole organisation, but a school board of governors gives a well-rounded board experience encompassing strategy, disputes, budgets, policies and senior performance reviews for example. Very specifically governors learn to be team players and gain experience of an element of "cabinet responsibility".
So, be clear about your school up front, treat candidates with respect, give a chance for questions, show them around and share your enthusiasm for your school.
Good induction
Having invested considerable time and effort in attracting and appointing a skilled governor, it is critical to offer good and easily accessible training and effective induction. Research shows that of all the governors that resign, 73% do so within their first year. That points to a real issue around effective, best quality induction.
However, providing early support is not always as easy as it sounds. Not only do volunteers start their governor journey at different times of the academic year, but they all have varying commitments in terms of their own work and family. All these factors can make attending training courses a particular challenge. Although some local authority maintained schools will offer governor training, it can cost up to £200 for a day.
There is much good online information and high quality training material aimed at governors at the start of their journey. Much of this is very suitable for business people to get up to speed with schools education and governance.
As well as this, new governors should be provided with key documents well in advance of their first meeting, including the School Improvement Plan, all Ofsted reports, the minutes of the last two governor meetings, as well as copies of the latest budgets and progress reports.
Be clear about which committees are full, and which might need support, and if you would like them to become a link governor, with specialist themes like special educational needs (SEN) or a specific year group or key stage. If possible arrange a brief meeting with the head teacher too.
Working as a governor is a hugely rewarding and valuable role which, in turn, provides skills and expertise directly transferable and relevant to the workplace. It also demonstrates leadership, commitment and confidence.
It’s important to provide those starting out on a volunteer journey as a governor with the much needed support they need to use their business experience to maximum effect in this rewarding and important role.
