Spotlight | Building better boards

The UK museum sector has long been at the forefront of conversations around equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), with many institutions making it a priority over the past decade.

Museums, funding bodies and organisations such as Arts Council England (ACE) have invested heavily in initiatives designed to broaden representation, while the sector has made inroads on issues such as decolonisation, workforce diversity, accessibility and community engagement.  

But when it comes to museum boards, progress towards better representation and diversity has been uneven. Too often, boards still fail to reflect the communities they serve, highlighting the work that remains to be done at leadership level. 

Although progress has been slow and patchy, it is happening. According to ACE’s 2021-22 Diversity Report, across all National Portfolio Organisations that reported: 

• 51% of board members were women – against 49% in 2019-20. 
• 24% were Black, Asian and ethnically diverse – compared with 17% in 2019-20. 
• 12% were disabled – a rise of three percentage points since 2019-20. 
• 9% identified as LGBTQ+ – compared with 8% in 2019-20 

There is also growing recognition that a diversity of backgrounds and ages (including working-class people) and lived experience are essential for effective governance. Alongside this, boards require a broad range of skills and professional expertise to shape decision-making and the long-term strategic direction of institutions.  

Creating a modern board that is fit for purpose requires more than recognition; it demands sustained action and boards that are willing and able to challenge themselves. 

Step out of your comfort zone 

Miles Harrison, a governance and leadership specialist who works with Consultants for Good, says: “If you have a board of 10 people and everyone is in agreement, someone’s not doing their job properly. It’s time to step out of the comfort zone and bring in people that do think differently; that’s where the magic happens.” 

While structures of boards vary greatly, there are some common features across the sector. As Paul Baker, a freelance heritage consultant who spoke about working better with boards at the Museums Association’s Conference last year, points out: “I have worked with a lot of great boards, but often [board members] are male, retired and elderly because these are the people who have the time and capacity to become trustees.” 

This situation is compounded by the widespread use of word-of-mouth recruitment. Museum and heritage consultant Hilary McGowan says: “People tend to recruit people they know, people ‘like us’ who are ‘good eggs’. As a sector, we have been slow to move away from that. I have been on boards where the chair doesn’t want people who are going to question or challenge them.” 

At smaller museums, particularly those where volunteers outnumber the paid staff, boards are often made up of  “whoever will do it”, says Katie Smith, head of museums, heritage and engagement at Metropolitan Police Museums.  

ACE’s How to Create Diverse Boards report describes how trustees are often recruited based on existing influence, contacts or wealth, which immediately excludes a more diverse range of trustees. Many people never even hear about roles, and potential candidates, particularly those in younger age groups, may not feel that trustee positions are for them, or may assume they can’t do them in case they miss out on paid work. 

Without a diverse range of voices and perspectives, or people to challenge and introduce new ideas, many boards are in danger of slipping into “groupthink”, where conflict is minimised to reach consensus, often led by the chair.  

Five questions every museum board should ask itself 

• Does the board reflect our museum’s audience and community?
• Is our recruitment process transparent and fit for purpose?
• Where are our skills gaps now, and how do they support our strategic plan?
• Are we regularly reflecting on our practice and updating our training?
• How often do we challenge our own assumptions?

When this happens, boards risk failing their institutions by not fulfilling their governance role. Trustees have legal duties to act in the best interests of their organisation, making effective governance and robust decision-making essential responsibilities. 

To create a better board and, as a result, improve governance, the existing board membership must be challenged, says Harrison, who has worked extensively with non-profit and public sector organisations to produce more-effective boards and governance.  

Recruit outside the usual pool

When working with boards to support change, McGowan says she often returns to an anecdote about a museum that was sceptical of an enthusiastic visitor who later became a regular and, in turn, helped to grow its audience.

She had fantastic ideas and became a volunteer, eventually joining the board, where she became an effective trustee. The experience was eye-opening for an organisation that had built a traditional board of like-minded members. McGowan says it showed the museum that people who “don’t look like us” can bring valuable knowledge, skills and perspectives.

She adds: “I tell them: ‘Don’t be frightened of the woman with purple hair’. The sector is very good at navel gazing, but not so good at looking outwards.” 

Top tips when looking for new trustees 

1. Open recruitment is key to reaching the broadest pool of candidates. Avoid word-of-mouth referrals.
2. Draw up selection criteria that actively look beyond traditional experiences.
3. Be clear and confident about what you need: are you looking for young people, specific skills and/or people from the local community? The more transparent you are about what you need, the easier it will be to find the right people.
4. Get an outside perspective to help you recruit. If using a search agency isn’t the right option for you, invite a trusted contact from a different organisation who can provide an objective point of view.
5. Be honest with new trustees about the time commitment required, including how frequently you are able to meet online, the time needed to read board papers and the time required for training.
6. Set maximum term limits of two to three years for all trustees. Limit them to two terms, and elect officials annually. It will create more opportunities to bring different voices on to the board.
7. Be open to meeting via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, to bring in the necessary expertise from around the country. However, bear in mind that good board culture also requires regular in-person meetings.

Even in the cases where museum boards do understand that they need to evolve and are ready to recruit outside their usual pool, getting started remains a significant barrier. “The first thing they often say to me is that they want younger voices, more women or more people from Black, Asian or ethnically diverse communities, but they are not always clear how to recruit or retain new members,” says Baker. 

Naturally, museums should engage their volunteers and passionate supporters when seeking potential candidates. But reaching a broader pool of people requires open recruitment. This approach has often felt daunting for the sector, but it has become more possible thanks to social media channels such as LinkedIn, as well as digital recruitment platforms. 

Liz Power, director of the Historic Buildings & Places (HB&P) charity, was recruited specifically for her experience in creating progressive, well-functioning boards that understand and deliver good governance. A veteran of the museum and heritage sector, her brief was to support the 102-year-old organisation to become more modern. It was a significant task as when she joined the average trustee tenure was 29 years, and their average age was early-80s.  

“[The trustees] had done it for so long, and they were so tired, that they couldn’t imagine a world where anyone else would take it on,” says Power. Within three months, an extraordinary board meeting was held to vote on becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and the introduction of fixed terms for trustees, allowing members to step down in a staggered process.  

“They were still convinced that no one would want to join, but I persuaded them to let me go out  
and advertise for three new trustees,” says Power. 

Determined to cast the net as wide as possible, she attended every webinar and training session on trustee recruitment that she could. Next, she created a trustee pack that outlined everything a potential candidate would want to know, including the benefits of being a trustee and the training they would receive. The pack, which was made available online, stressed that candidates did not need experience of the sector or boards.  

HB&P launched a recruitment campaign on LinkedIn that specifically asked for applicants  
who were under the age of 35. Power said she would talk to anyone who was interested. 

Over a three-month process, she was able to recruit six new trustees – double her original target – all of whom were under 35. The youngest was 23 and three were from non-white British backgrounds.  

Of course, when trying to recruit a diverse range of trustees, the interview panel plays a crucial role in the process. HB&P’s panel was composed of “four lovely white men in their 80s”, so they brought in an expert on diversity and inclusion who could add their experience to the process. 

The open recruitment worked so well that HB&P repeated the process to find a new chair and three further trustees. Power’s three original recruits have also signed up for a second term. With the staged retirement process continuing – the final two members will leave next year – the new board has transformed the HB&P’s governance.  

“It has reshaped our meetings,” says Power. “We used to focus entirely on the previous quarter;  
now we spend two-thirds of our time on strategy.”   

Meanwhile, the work continues for a younger, more forward-looking and collaborative board. A recent skills audit and engagement survey is helping the trustees understand what support is needed, as the charity moves beyond its transformation.  

“I look forward to the board meetings because we are heading in the right direction with good, inspirational governance,” says Power. “But [managing boards] is a job; it doesn’t happen on the side, and so many people are trying to run organisations and create this level of governance as well.” 

Upskilling trustees

Recruitment is only part of the challenge. For governance to be effective, trustees also need the 
appropriate skills, support and culture to make effective and meaningful contributions.   

“Boards can look diverse but still be too narrow in their view,” says Baker. “It is important to question what candidates are bringing beyond diversifying the board? What skills do we need and what skills can they bring?” 

Boards need to be honest with themselves about whether they are ready to be challenged, how they will respond to new people, how they will make new trustees feel welcome and how to ensure that they are heard and feel that their contribution is meaningful and valued.  

Baker says board culture is key: “Some trustees may join to help the museum achieve something, but then need to move on to create space for the skills needed in the next chapter. Saviour complexes can set in – and it can become very personal.” 

South London’s Metropolitan Police Museum has set terms of no more than three years to avoid this very issue. Smith recommends that electing officer roles annually should be part of the board’s governing document, whatever form that takes. “It is healthy for people to step back because if they are really passionate, they can always leave for a time and return at a later date,” she says. 

A museum expert who declined to be named echoes Smith’s point: “One individual has the potential to derail everything and cause a lot of damage. For example, a treasurer that neglects their duties, a chief executive who isn’t performing or a chair that doesn’t listen to other views. You need to have a governance structure that allows for churn.” 

In addition, the right support, training and facilitation needs to be in place for trustees to fully understand their role and create the right conditions for them to carry that role out effectively.  

Sara Wajid, co-chief executive at Birmingham Trust Museum, believes that many institutions have fallen into the trap of not providing boards with enough support. 

“Because trustee roles are voluntary, [the sector has] been vague about the appropriate level of support to dedicate to boards, and doesn’t see board practice as an active part of our work,” she says. “But you need a board focused on the strategic questions. When so much of the workforce is fire fighting, who is going to ask what’s happening in five, 10 or 15 years, if not them?” 

As well as it being a legal duty, it is incumbent on trustees to do a good job, so they must be clear  
on expectations before they take on the role.  

Long-term strategies

Improving governance through building better, more-diverse boards is a long-term journey that can be frustrating and time consuming.  

“It can seem like an impossible task when so much change is required and people are keen to get it right immediately,” says Harrison at Consultants for Good. 

Building a better board is not a one-off exercise, but a process of continual reflection, renewal and support. As the sector continues to navigate financial uncertainty, fast-paced technological change and evolving audience expectations, governance has perhaps never been so important.

]The challenge for boards is not simply to diversify trustees, but to create conditions where it is possible for different voices to be heard, where skills are valued and trustees are equipped to think strategically about the future. 

As Smith says: “Good boards need a five-to-10-year view. If you can’t see how the world is changing, then you’re going to be blind sided.” 

Caroline Parry is a freelance journalist