In general, we don’t capture organisational knowledge in relation to governance as well as we should. Trustees often start the role, with no real awareness of what has gone before.
Despite the challenges that come with recruitment, relatively few cultural organisations spend sufficient time on succession planning. For many, it can feel overwhelming, complex and far less of a priority than day to day activity and strategic or financial planning.
Yet, succession planning can play a vital role in strategy and effective governance, enabling organisations to hold on to knowledge, minimise disruption, ensure smooth transitions and ultimately save time and money.
So how can we approach the issue of succession planning at a much earlier stage?
We spoke to Doric Bossom (Chair of Wiltshire Creative), Anna Starkey (Co-Chair of Unlimited) and Hilary Knight (Chair of Company of Others), to find out how they focus on succession planning:
Thinking Ahead and Acting Fast – Doric Bossom, Chair of Wiltshire Creative
The saying “no plan survives contact with the enemy” is attributed to Helmuth von Moltke, a Prussian military strategist. In my experience as Trustee and now Chair of Wiltshire Creative, I have found this observation to be alarmingly applicable to the topic of succession planning, where the best intentions are frequently overtaken by events.
Wiltshire Creative comprises the Salisbury Playhouse; the Salisbury Arts Centre; and Salisbury International Arts Festival and is run jointly by an Executive Director and Artistic Director, supported by a Board of between nine and twelve Trustees.
Given the mission-critical positions of both executives, one would like to think that there would be an oven-ready plan to activate when a vacancy crops up. Proving von Moltke’s point in my first year as Chair, Wiltshire Creative instead faced the sudden, unexpected and imminent departure of our Executive Director (ED), for which we were ill-prepared. Developing a search and recruitment programme in such circumstances will always take several months. Our campaign, fortunately, attracted several, high-quality candidates (and an excellent new ED). However, in a perfect, less nerve-racking world, we would have planned more carefully for a seamless transition.
At the Trustee level, maintaining Board quality and depth has been achieved through a mixture of carefully considered and constructed recruitment cycles (at approximately two-year intervals), with occasional infill by co-option when a sudden vacancy in a key skills area occurs. A strong, well-designed and widely distributed recruitment pack, is vital to generating a rich seam of applicants and has, in our case, been productive over the past four years. But as one cannot always plan for the occasional unplanned resignation, having a ‘First Reserve’ list of candidates on file, is a worthwhile contingency.
I am very conscious of the need to give early thought to my successor as Chair of Wiltshire Creative. My own appointment was somewhat unexpected – I was ambushed in a Board meeting and found myself being nominated by my colleagues before having time to think of a decent excuse! The role has proved hugely rewarding and I was glad for the push, but the organisation deserves the next Chair’s appointment to have been given proper, long-term consideration and careful thought. One option could be a framework in which the Chair gives a year’s notice of a change, creating an imperative to study both the potential of existing Trustees and external candidates who might be right for the role.
It just goes to show that, even if circumstances conspire to upset the best-laid intentions, succession planning should be a constant feature of a Chair’s to-do list. It’s part of the day job, not just a consideration when the pressure of a vacancy looms.
Creating a Framework and Seeking Expert Guidance – Anna Starkey, Co-Chair of Unlimited
I’m co-Chair of Unlimited, along with Adel Al-Salloum. Unlimited’s mission is to commission extraordinary work from disabled artists, until the whole of the cultural sector does. We have an interesting context for succession planning, as one day, we hope that our organisation will no longer be needed!
Succession planning for Unlimited is one part of our future proofing strategy, which we are just starting to develop. Our Director, Jo Verrent, has taken a fantastically transparent and galvanising approach to this – she’s engaged consultants to provide advice and support at board and team away days; we’re taking a long view to prepare our thinking, way before any recruitment action might be needed.
We’re establishing a Future Proofing Working Group of trustees, who’ll be exploring the big strategic questions that have been surfacing in our discussions. Additionally, whilst we already have artist representation on the board, we’ll be gathering even broader input from our community of artists too. Our work is artist centered and so any future strategy is meaningless without their participation.
Unlimited is planning on using the Three Horizons framework to help us determine and work towards a plan for change, alongside the day to day challenges of delivery. We have three strategic phases as an organisation: as a relatively new CIO and NPO, we’re currently in stabilise and solidify – and the transition into the next stage is not a set point in time but will be informed by indicators of progress and change.
Each phase for Unlimited will demand different skills and approaches in leadership, and therefore different lenses to bring to succession planning.
Our recent shift to a co-chairing model, is also part of our thinking about succession planning for the board. In an unpaid voluntary position that often requires significantly more than a few hours a month, we need to think about all the ways in which we can make these roles more accessible. Sharing the workload, being able to pass the baton at times of illness, or other life pressures, and distributing governance power and perspectives between two co-chairs, feels important.
Succession planning is a key responsibility for a Chair or Co-Chairs and is where any influencing power needs to be particularly carefully held. The task requires attention to the culture of the organisation and the board, the needs of the beneficiaries of the organisation and the wider forces shaping the next five or so years, as far as anyone can predict those!
Ensuring Inclusivity in Succession Planning – Hilary Knight, Chair of Company of Others
Company of Others (CO) is a dance theatre company based in Newcastle, in the North East of England, working with artists and communities who are othered by society. The company was founded by dancer and choreographer Nadia Iftkhar, who leads it as combined CEO and Artistic Director, and in 2023 the company became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO).
One of CO’s defining characteristics is the close attention that it pays to living its values for artistry, integrity and equity, and it is an organisation that centres on care for its staff, artists, collaborators, community and environment. Upholding these values is a constant process of learning, reflecting and adjusting, and part of my role as Chair is to support the CEO/AD to hold them in balance.
As a Chair of such a values-centred organisation, succession planning is always on my mind. The legal conditions for boards and trustees can have unseen consequences for organisations trying to maintain an equitable and accessible environment. Because we actively seek out people with diverse perspectives and lived experience, some of our trustees may need to participate in ways that don’t conform to board norms for set trustee terms. For example, trustees living with disabilities or chronic health conditions may need to be able to take time out, whilst others with caring commitments may only be able to participate for defined periods, as their circumstances allow. However, their contributions are no less valuable for it.
As a board, we also need to consider succession planning for the company and this too, is challenging. Chronic underfunding of the arts, especially of dance in the North East, by successive governments, means that the sector in general has lost their pipeline of talent in arts management and leadership. It is especially challenging for CO, as it is essential that our staff are highly skilled and experienced in working with the communities that we engage. As such, making a wrong step here, risks creating harm to our communities, artists and company.
We are trying to build flexibility and resilience. In practice, this means creating capacity that allows for some ebb and flow within the board and to have an ‘always-on’ process of rolling trustee recruitment. Our aim is to develop a board that is larger than would be expected for a small arts charity, building additional capacity for trustees to lean in – or step away, as they need to, without risking the overall governance of the company.
Like any board, we look for specific skills in areas like finance and communications, but we prioritise lived experience, values and connections to our community above all. We achieve this, not through recruitment campaigns, but through intentionally seeking out and approaching individuals as we engage with them.
There are no easy solutions to succession planning in small arts organisations, but in keeping our values at the core of our approach, we are finding ways forward that are both equitable and inclusive, and which have care at their heart.