Accountability is an opportunity
I have never met a senior leader in the public sector who wishes there was more accountability from regulators.
No one says ‘if only we could’:
be inspected more often!
spend more of our time rewriting documents in case they come this year!
sit in more meetings and talk about the very latest changes our regulators will expect to see!
Having said that, I have met a number who wished that their manager took more notice of what they did or that their trustees actually read the report they spent the weekend writing.
So, how to turn accountability into an opportunity?
1. Back to the start
What does accountability really mean?
In reality it is pretty simple. You do your job and give an account of it. That’s it.
If your written reports, and meetings with those who hold you to account, only cover a minority of what you do then something needs to change.
Either the reports are asking for the wrong information or your time is absorbed with matters which either need to go elsewhere or not exist at all. I will explore this in full in another blog down the line.
In short though, the meeting can act as a health check. If there is a lack of alignment with your activity and what is demanded by a trustee meeting it is a useful catalyst.
2. Repurpose your reports
Too often the report for the trustees has a single purpose, to cover the meeting concerned.
This is wholly disproportionate for the amount of work which has gone into it. A single report may have:
several authors
three (or more) drafts
its own timeline which takes priority over everything else
admin time dedicated to checking and formatting
an appendix to cover everything that has happened since the report was submitted two weeks before the meeting.
Collectively, it is a huge amount of work. There is nothing wrong with that if it makes a difference, but too often it doesn’t.
Reports don’t get read and no one other than those present in the meeting get to see it.
This is a missed opportunity, particularly for other senior leaders who would benefit from knowing more about what is happening in your area. If the report is succinct enough for trustees to get to grips with it, the same applies to your colleagues.
3. Manage upwards
As I often say, the relationship between senior leadership and trustees cuts both ways.
The primary purpose of the meeting may be for you to answer their questions, but it is not the only one.
Trustees are there to bring their experience and add value. A good chair will ensure that they do and generate a sense of collective responsibility in doing so.
You can help yourself by preparing some questions for trustees before the meeting. You can:
Ask for their perspective on the trickiest issues.
Gain context from the trustees who have been in post longer than you.
Check they have followed up on their own actions from the last meeting.
The key is for them to help you do your job, not the other way round.
4. Spread the load
It may be ‘your meeting’ but that does not mean you have to be the only senior leader in there.
What are your options?
Give a middle leader the opportunity to attend with you. The trustee meeting you have attended many times may be old news to you, but it could be a golden professional development opportunity for someone else.
Bring a senior colleague with you, even if just for moral support when you are anticipating a tricky meeting. Demonstrate that collective responsibility exists, and that your perspective is the same elsewhere. Show that you work together as a team to overcome hurdles.
Ask the boss to attend, even if just for part of the meeting to present a single item. They may be able to connect your agenda to the bigger picture and discussions held elsewhere.
5. Tell them what is really going on
The trustees who attend your meeting/sub-committee will also likely attend others, including the ‘main meeting’.
It is possible, depending on your level of experience and length of tenure, that they have a better overview of the big picture that you do.
The issues you are struggling with may well not be unique to you. Instead they may reveal cultural or systemic problems with the organisation as a whole, which you should not be tackling alone.
You will, understandably and rightly, be reluctant to start throwing your colleagues under the bus. In senior leadership you need to take responsibility for whatever happens, whether it was your fault or not. There is a difference between pointing fingers and covering for everyone and everything else at all costs.
An experienced trustee understands that difference and may ask you some uncomfortable questions. It is perfectly reasonable for you to say that you need to have some conversations outside of the meeting and come back to them next time. In that way you are not arguing black is white or putting your head in the sand.
Remember that:
Accountability is an inevitable part of the job. The more senior you go the more stakeholders get involved in this process, including those who you may only see rarely.
Each meeting of this type, and report to go with it, is wasted if only used once. It can be used in multiple ways with multiple audiences, including for ways which make your life as a senior leader easier.
