Five things I learnt from delivering SCVO’s new governance training 

Back in May I worked with SCVO to pilot a series of governance training courses – these are three practical half-days with a focus on key areas third sector organisations can find challenging.   

I knew people could get the legal basics on governance from many places, but we felt there was a gap in helping organisations improve their board meetings, build their strategy and strengthen their board-staff relationships. 

Together with the SCVO Information Service I built the training from scratch and was excited to see how it would play.   Here’s what I learned after delivering the first series: 

1. There is a real need for hands-on, practical training.  All three courses were fully booked and well received, so they will be added to SCVO’s training programme and delivered throughout the year.  

We also found that many organisations wanted specific training for the whole board and senior leadership team, so I have a number of tailored in-house sessions set to deliver over the summer.   

2.  Participants have a lot of wisdom to share. We had a great mix of staff and trustees on each course.  The training was designed to allow people to safely share their own experiences and solutions, and this brought real value to each session.  In future I’ll make sure there is more time for this. 

3.  Tools and templates really help.  I have increased the practical resources I share in the training, including board skills and diversity audits; templates for board papers; and team building exercises. These build on the existing SCVO templates, models and checklists. 

4.  ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’ and the board has a big role to play in both.  I have strengthened the focus on board behaviour and included new exercises on defining and living the charity’s values, which build on the five principles of good governance in the Scottish Governance Code for the Third Sector. 

5.  Governance training can be fun! We had a great group of participants who shared their good and bad experiences, helped each other out and laughed a lot. 

Come September, we will be running the new and improved training courses – with huge thanks to the first participants for their feedback and ideas.  The series will cover: 

Running effective board meetings 

Defining strategy, culture and values 

Building strong board and staff relationships 

Each course is designed to be studied as a stand-alone session or in conjunction with the others as a series.  Every session offers theory plus practical hints and tips, with time for participants to share their own experiences.  Join us this autumn!  Or contact the training team to discuss an in-house session for your board. 

Philippa Bonella, SCVO governance trainer