Leadership and the board

Abstract

The chair is the official leader of the board, but this leadership may, and usually will, be shared with the chief executive as discussed in Chapter 5. Chairs are constrained in their leadership of the board by: the time that they give to the job, their understanding of the issues, the attitudes of the members to their leadership, and the role played by the chief executive. All of these they can seek to change, but it remains a difficult role to play.

‘As an employee I should be assessed, even if the trust is performing well it depends upon how high are the standards of performance. The year on year contribution of the chair and non-executives ought to be assessed. No-one is looking at the role of non-executives and they should be.’

(trust chair)