It was fantastic to see over 80 leaders of charities and social enterprises at this month’s All Group Forum. We were fortunate to be joined by many industry experts; Mark Fisher CBE, Director of the Office for Civil Society and Innovation gave a keynote speech on ‘the need for trustee and leadership training’ and Simon Hayward did an inspiring presentation on Connected Leadership.
Following an opportunity to network over tea and coffee, the day opened with an introduction from ella Co-Founder, Brian Chernett. The key message was a reminder of how “it is so important in the charity world to remember our purpose, values and behaviours”. Brian went on to highlight the dramatic growth of ella with some powerful statistics;
2014 6 groups 50 members
2015 13 groups 105 members
2016 24 groups 211 members Budget
2017 40 groups 350 members Budget Dream
We were delighted to be joined once again by Mark Fisher who spoke passionately about the need for trustee and leadership training. He also expressed a need for charities and businesses to work together; “I am deeply convinced about the power of businesses who lend the power of their workforce to volunteering”.
Using Simon’s book ‘Connected Leadership’, we have adopted his principles across ella and the management of the organisation so it was fantastic to have Simon at the Forum to present his ideas to the group. He pointed out that “the larger organisations get the higher the potential for disconnectivity. Connectivity is not a nice to have, it is essential”. Simon also questioned our Members on the level of risk taking in their charities when he asked; “do employees have the chance to fail in your organisation?” and expressed that “agility and innovation… should be a priority now and in the future”. This idea seemed to really resonate with the audience, especially in the context of the challenges and failings in the sector last year.
After a delicious lunch kindly provided by CCLA, our venue hosts we trialled a new format for the afternoon session. A panel of four friends of ella, all experienced in issues surrounding governance took questions from the floor around trustees and “What should be expected of boards in ensuring that their organisations are delivering against needs?”.Paul Anderson Walsh, Founder and Director The Grace Project chaired the panel.
Panel:
Chaired by Paul Anderson Walsh, Founder and Director The Grace Project
John Williams, Vice Chair Association of Chairs
Mike Burnage, Co-Founder ella forums
Nigel Rothband, Chief Operating Officer BEN
Luke Holt, Partner Kingston Smith
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mark, Simon and all of our panel members for sharing their experience and knowledge with us. To CCLA for hosting and to all of our guests and members for their continued passion and contribution to this successful day.
To find out how you can be part of the next ella All Group Forum please contact phil@ella-forums.org.
Some Members learning from Simon’s talk:
The importance of delegation with clear parameters
The importance of devolved decision making
The importance of purpose and direction
Some Members learning from the panel discussion:
Importance of Chairs’ role
Importance of discussion
Importance of diversity on board
“I feel the All Groups Forum is an important gathering for learning and networking which inspires me to further develop me and my organisation”
If you have not yet given us feedback on the All Group Forum you can do so by clicking here. It is a short SurveyMonkey questionnaire which will only take a couple of minutes to complete and we value your feedback. As a thank you, on completion you will be given a link to download Simon’s presentation slides.
