How to be an Even Better Chair: Sensible Advice About Chairing in the Charity, Not-for-Profit and Public Sectors [Paperback]

Chairing can be extremely challenging and, until now, there is little in the way of training and guidance available.

Even good chairs want to get better at chairing and leading change. Speeches and models are of limited use – what works is shared experience, the opportunity to be able to learn from others.

This book is by chairs for chairs, and tells it the way it is, covering topics you won’t find addressed anywhere else, such as: what to get right before you accept; what to do if you think you might have been appointed partly because you are a minority; how to recruit, select and appoint the ideal board; how to manage the relationship between the Chair and the Chief Exec; how to achieve effective decision making; how to deal with an underperforming Chief Exec; what to do before every board meeting; and what never to do (ever).

How to be a Better Chair – and its associated website – delivers fast learning from the distilled wisdom of experienced chairs, in a portable and easily absorbed format. It provides guidance on being a better chair and by making the skills of chairing less daunting, will help attract and develop new candidates from a broader cross-section of society, who are able to chair more diverse boards (this is a big challenge).

Authoritative yet readable, How to be a Better Chair brings together the experiences, tips and thoughts of a broad cross-section of both public and voluntary body chairs, many of whom also have senior corporate experience, from John Gardiner, Chairman of Tesco Stores Ltd to Bill Kilgallon, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission.

“This book is essential for new chairmen of all sorts of organizations, and it is no bad revision for those who have years of experience. It's practical, subtle, informative – and often funny. If you chair an organization, or think you might like to try, this is compulsory reading.”

Julia Neuberger, experienced chair

"I sometimes think I'm a whizz at chairing, but then I prove I'm not. So it's somehow comforting to read that even the most experienced chairs can get it wrong, and inspiring to see how they've generally got it right, or put it right. I found this book illuminating, useful, and a surprisingly good read."

Prue Leith, experienced chair

"All boards are as good – or bad – as the people on them and their behaviour. The best way to help the chair improve the effectiveness of board behaviour is to make available the valuable real world experience of those who have been there and got that t-shirt. This book does just that, lucidly and with spirit".

Derek Higgs

"Good boards need effective, diplomatic chairs, yet it is rare that one can find sound advice to help them maximize their boards’, and their own, efficacy. This book is full of practical hints and helpful techniques, based on the personal experience of many who have been there and done it. It is a valuable resource for both those who have been chairing for time immemorial and those coming to it bright-eyed and bushy-tailed."

Geraldine Peacock, CBE, Chief Charity Commissioner / Chair-designate of the Charity Commission for England and Wales

“Effective governance lies at the heart of every successful organization. The leadership role of the chair and the effectiveness with which they operate is fundamental.  This book, with its very welcome, down to earth approach, will refresh the experienced as well as guide those who are new to a chairing role. We make progress by continuous learning and this is certainly an excellent 'manual' to help us all improve.”

Jim Coulter, former Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation

"The experienced Chair no longer has to feel that he or she is alone in leadership."

Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive, National Council for Voluntary Organisations

Whether you are a new chair, an old hand, or even just thinking about whether or not you’d like to sit at the head of the board, this book is for you. It contains the cumulative wisdom of dozens of chairs, from all types and sizes of organization, from huge NHS Trusts to school governors, from charities to arts councils.

It provides a pooled wealth of experience from which all chairs can learn something about being more efficient, effective and quite simply lifting their performance, and that of the board they head. Most chairs end up learning the hard way, and inevitably that will always be the case to some degree. But if this book saves you making just one potential mistake, helps you tackle a tricky situation from a position of greater confidence, or reassures you that others have been where you are now and made it through, then it will have done its job.

Packed with warmth, wisdom and wit, the advice and experiences contained in the book will make the life of every chair a little easier and much less alone.