Self Development: October 2009

Becoming a NED

Acronyms, don’t they drive you wild? NED is, simply, a non-executive director. Perhaps I’d better introduce properly what an NED is and what it means. According to Wikipedia:

“A non-executive director (NED, also NXD) or outside director is a member of the board of directors of a company who does not form part of the executive management team. He or she is not an employee of the company or affiliated with it in any other way. They are differentiated from inside directors, who are members of the board also serving as executive managers of the company (most often as corporate officers).”

There are NEDs in both private and public sector organisations. An NED has influence, and may handle even be directly responsible for budgets. In the case of the health sector, for example, NEDs may be involved in the commissioning of services worth millions –the results of the NEDs recommendations and actions have a direct effect on a community or organisation.

Tell me more...

I found out about NEDs at a seminar the other day, chaired by Angela Peacock. It was held in the city with a group of women from the finance world and an amazing panel of experts (an impressive line up from Cranfield University, The Appointments Commission and a well known lawyer in the private sector). The majority of this audience was female and the seminar aimed at looking at financial careers and career development, but the advice applies across the board whatever you do, whatever your industry and even if you are not working. The more I heard, the more I wanted to know.

There were some frightening statistics about how few women there are on boards at all in the UK (around just 12% - but even that is an improvement over just 7% ten years ago) and how we compare to other countries (42% in Norway, less than 1% in Portugal).

The benefits of taking a non-executive position crept out as the discussion continued, with each panellist (all earnest champions of NEDs) giving their point of view and suggestions. The more diverse the components of a board, in the panel’s opinion, the more effective it was. Everyone has something to bring, and they were open and honest about the challenges that being an NED presents.

Firstly there is the commitment – though a position may only require 2 days a month for example, the NED must be committed to understanding the business or organisation they are working with and give it their full attention in that time. Many of the panellists had more than one NED, and full time careers. Understanding the level of commitment required is very important.

There are many ways to get into NEDs, and though the panel had used headhunters, on the whole they said that people came to their attention in very many ways. Whitehall, for example, is regularly looking for NEDs and publishes a list weekly in the Sunday Times. Local authorities and PCTs will advertise locally and nationally.

‘Don’t wait to be asked’ – the old school ties days of waiting to be tapped on the shoulder by a cronie are gone. The public sector, especially, has to be completely transparent about their recruitment process for all executives, including NEDs. It’s not quite so much ‘who you know’ any more, but what you can do is build your network to find out about opportunities that may interest you.

The benefits of becoming an NED are huge – not only the experience that you can gain from joining an organisation with a different perspective to your employer or usual day-time occupation, but you can also fulfil social responsibility ambitions and add something to your CV that will give you a great advantage over others. Even if it’s not a short cut to board positions, the simple development opportunities you will gain from the experience are immense.

There are plenty of resources on the internet about how to become an NED, some are companies offering search and select services, or to sell you ‘inside track’ information, or even offer training on becoming and NED. Lateral thinking will find you what you are looking for – whether it’s to pursue a personal interest in aviation (and be an NED of an airline) or to help your local community (support the local authority) or to follow something that is very close to your heart (a charity, for example), then go out and look for an appropriate NED.

The panel were reticent about there being many career advantages to being an NED for small local charities, but their advice remained consistent that taking on any NED is a great self-development opportunity.

The panel gave some advice on how to get appointed – the first of which is confidence. It doesn’t matter that you are an accountant applying for an NED. The second bit of advice was not to give up – if you don’t get appointment, go back and ask for feedback so that you can hone your talents for the next one you apply for.

The ages of NEDs range from late 20s to 80s! The right age is when you choose, not a pre-determined threshold. By becoming an NED you will gain cross-sector experience and widen your skill base. In fact, becoming an NED could be the best thing you do.

Resources:

Appointments Commission: http://www.appointments.org.uk/

How to become a non-executive director (Times article): http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/management/article6513325.ece

Non-executive directors (Guardian article): http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2003/jan/05/wageslaves.careers
Angela Peacock, conference and event chair: http://www.angela-peacock.com/

For a much more detailed, in depth review of the actual event I attended where I learned about this, please read 'Skirting the Boards'

This article may be reproduced with permission from the author as long as all links and references are kept intact.

Here's an example of something else you may consdier, being a Trustee for a cause you support:

http://www.durrell.org/About-Durrell/Durrell-News/THE-SEARCH-IS-ON-DURRELL-NEEDS-YOU/

Abuse is a sensitive subject, but in a recent article in the Times, they featured one of the least talked about areas of abuse: the abuse of children by women.

They called the article, and the accompanying radio programme on BBC Radio 4, 'Breaking the Silence'.

The reason I listened to the programme is that one of the interviewees is a friend of mine. I learned more about her in that short interview than I ever knew before. I knew she had suffered abuse, but no more than that. And she is not the only person I know who was abused as a child by a female. So, in my limited experience, I know two people who have survived this.

One of the things the article covered was the fact that this is such a little known area of abuse. Though indeed statistics show that only 20% of reported abuse is by women, what does that mean in real terms of actual abuse? And how much more unreported? I can't begin to imagine.

So why am I putting this in the Self Development blog? Because we all have different issues to overcome and, sadly, abuse (of many types) is a huge one in many peoples lives.

Esther Ranzten (founder of the Charity ChildLine, now part of the NSPCC) said something on the lines of 'if we are supposed to learn about love, trust, respect and affection from our parents, and we learn instead shame, unhappiness and self-loathing, it's no wonder that these create life-long problems'.

But the term used for those people who suffered abuse is 'survivors', not victims. That is key in moving on from any kind of abuse, I believe. The good thing is that there is help for people, whether through the NHS, independent therapists or charities such as The Aurora Health Foundation.

The point of this post is not to offer any opinion or great solution, just to raise awareness and let people know that if they are a survivor, they are not alone, and there is help out there.