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As voluntary organisations take on a greater role in providing services, trustees are constantly being challenged to redefine their roles. But tensions between them and senior staff can provide a stumbling block to progress. Rachel Downey examines potential sources of disagreement and looks at the difficulties that charities are facing in recruiting trustees.

"Chairs are from Mars, chief executives are from Venus" is the intriguing title of a conference being held next week. The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (Acevo) has organised the event because it believes that many people working in the voluntary sector view the two groups as living on separate planets. The perceived differences can result in senior staff pulling in one direction while trustees steer a different course. The result is frustration and an organisation heading for the rocks.

In the past year Acevo has worked with 15 charities in which trustees or the chairpersons alone were in conflict with the chief executive. The most common cause was trustees interfering in areas which the chief executive regarded as theirs, such as the day-to-day management of the organisation. "Trustees have responsibility for the organisation and that means there will always be this tension between them and chief executives," says Acevo chief executive Stephen Bubb.

Tensions also surface when there's a lack of clarity or a lack of agreement about what an organisation primarily exists for. Is it to provide services, to give out money, or to lobby, challenge and make a noise in the ears of government and decision-makers? These decisions have to be taken by trustees after discussion with senior staff, says Barnardo's chief executive Roger Singleton. Staff also need to be clear about the job they are expecting trustees to do. "Where there's confusion in these areas, we get a lot of negative activity and run the risk of resources being wasted."

Another fault line emerges when staff want to change the role of the organisation. Long-established charities, set up to alleviate poverty and hardship among vulnerable groups, are often governed by trustees with somewhat old-fashioned views about the role of the organisation as a benevolent alms-giving body. Staff working with disadvantaged groups can begin questioning the role of the organisation when they find themselves helping out people in distress whose circumstances do not improve. They question why they are still needed and whether the organisation should be focusing on attacking the causes of the hardship.

In one example, trustees of the Children's Society had reservations about the charity's campaign against custody for under-18s, as the policy directly challenged the judicial system. But after visiting the society's remand review project at Feltham young offenders institution and speaking to staff, they returned full of enthusiasm for the charity's approach.

"As our work develops and we get into more controversial areas, we have been more keen to get the trustees out and about," says Ian Sparks, chief executive of the Children's Society. "That's what makes the difference for them." But, he adds, this has to be linked with the charity's stance as a social justice organisation. "We are about causes not just the amelioration." Trustees' induction includes learning about these principles.

S parks argues that the real reason why staff can end up doing one thing and trustees thinking another is because voluntary organisations "do not press our trustees hard enough to go out to see what the reality of life is. My experience," he adds, "is when they go out and see it, they come back enthused by what we are doing. There will always be difficult issues where difficult decisions have to be made and the only way is to be open and talk them through. Sometimes chief executives can be too clever by half at spinning stories. Communication between trustees and staff has to be frank."

Direct confrontation between senior staff and trustees is rare. But when it does occur, the outcome depends on personalities, experience, and the weight the individuals carry in the outside world. And in the social care charitable field, filled with high-profile charities with royal and celebrity chairpersons, that last consideration counts.

Conflicts can be exacerbated by one person's intense investment in an organisation - with many chief executives warning "beware the founder syndrome". One likened the emotional commitment demonstrated by some founders to that of raising a child. This passion is valuable in staff, but in the hands of founders who will not let go and want to control the running of the organisation, it can be disastrous.

But a chief executive who won't make room for the trustees to govern can also be disastrous. "I believe strongly that trustees should be supportive and challenging and you should not become too cosy," says Singleton. "There should be some rigorous challenge and if people find that not nice, they should consider whether they should continue. I hear a lot of chief executives grumble about their trustees but there are some trustees who are saddled with rather arrogant chief executives who think they know it all. If they want to run everything, they should set up their own business."

Tensions also arise because of the different experience and skills base of trustees and chief executive. "In my experience the amateurishness of trustees does get in the way sometimes because you have very experienced chief executives," says Acevo's Stephen Bubb.

Debra Allcock Tyler, chief executive of the Directory of Social Change, goes further and questions whether some trustees are up to the job. "A lot of them do not understand what their responsibilities are as a trustee, particularly in the small voluntaries," she says. "Trusteeship is a voluntary role - it is not like being a non-executive director of a profitable company, for which you are paid." Many do not realise that they are liable if there is any mismanagement, or the organisation gets into financial difficulties. And they can be struck off, meaning they can never become a trustee again.

Allcock Tyler argues that chief executives must challenge trustees about their commitment, what they are doing, and what they want the organisation and the senior staff to do. Every two years Barnardo's conducts an audit of its performance among senior staff and trustees. Through this it identifies a programme of improvement and change for the next two years. "It's a way of sanctioning everybody to be critical about how we are performing," says Singleton.

Other voluntary organisations are following suit. Viv Fox, the national director of Change, the national charity for people with learning difficulties and sensory impairment, wanted a way of making her trustees "more successful". She says: "As much as I can go off and do my thing, I felt they should be more involved in the process."

She sent out questionnaires to all trustees and filled one in herself. It made them think. Some returned forms saying they were too busy and were not able to commit the time required to do the job properly. Another pointed out they lacked the skills in certain areas and the chief executive saw this as an opportunity to provide them with training. The outcome was that the need for more members of the board became evident. Recruitment is already under way.

A new Trustee Act came into force in February, giving trustees greater freedom in how they manage the financial side of running a charity. It means that each board has to review all the risks facing the charity not just financial ones. Unfortunately, that legislation will not have a direct effect on the calibre of trustees.

Governance and trusteeship are also under the spotlight of the government's performance and innovation unit in its wide-ranging review of the voluntary sector. This influential body is examining the legal and regulatory framework for charities and the voluntary sectors. It is questioning whether the basic principle of trusteeship is the right foundation for the governance of charities.

The review also raises the thorny issue of whether trustees should be paid. It asks whether there is any contradiction between paying trustees to carry out their duties, paying trustees to provide other services for their charity, and having paid staff members as trustees. Although many are averse to this suggestion, the advantage would be that people not in full-time work could afford to become trustees. As Acevo's Stephen Bubb puts it: "Those who come from the older constituency have more time but are not as up to date with what's going on elsewhere. The people you want to get on board do not have the time."

Acevo is also lobbying for the new law to make it compulsory for employers to allow their staff time for public duties to include work for voluntary organisations. Both moves could improve the recruitment difficulties (see box).

However, the issue of who wields the power in voluntary organisations cannot be solved as easily. As Tesse Akepki, head of governance and trusteeship at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, puts it: "There's no answer for this. In every organisation power will lie formally or informally in different places." She advises: "Be clear about what the board is there to do, and work everything else around it. Be clear about who should be doing what; have ownership of what should be done; keep an eye on personal and hidden agendas. Be able to confront conflict and take a strong stand against inappropriate behaviour - the 'softer side' of things. No amount of legal activity or professional skill can act on this."

You just can't get the trustees these days

Recruiting social care staff is not the only difficulty facing many voluntary organisations in the field - they are also finding it tricky to find trustees. "Recruitment is definitely getting harder," says Tesse Akpeki, head of governance and trusteeship at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. "Personal liability and regulation has increased. And the voluntary sector is competing with public appointments."

She warns that some charities are failing to take up the challenge. She highlights NCVO research¹ released earlier this year, revealing that some organisations are still using the recruitment methods they relied on a decade ago. The study revealed that only one-third of charities had job descriptions for trustees, and only a quarter offered training and induction. It recommended regular reviews of size and mix of trustee boards, and recruitment methods. Akpeki believes that the way the role is presented is crucial. "Demystify things and make it worthwhile for people - just show them they could make a difference.

"It does depend on the sexiness of the organisation," she adds. "Bigger charities do not have much challenge in attracting trustees." Barnardo's chief executive Roger Singleton concurs. Not only does the charity have few recruitment problems, the board can identify the specific skills which it needs and can "go out and get them". But his confidence is not mirrored by chief executives in smaller charities or even in large voluntary organisations in other fields.

One is Julia Ross, chairperson of the Mental Health After Care Association (Maca). The association has a long-standing connection with an accountancy firm which means trustees with financial acumen are available, but there is a dearth of people on the legal and business side. The fact that Maca works with people with mental health problems makes it more difficult to attract trustees. "It's not high profile and if people are aligning themselves with it, that stigmatises them as well," says Ross.

Preliminary findings of research due to be published next year, seen by Tesse Akpeki, show that even when charities can attract trustees, they are not the right match for the skills the organisation needs. Voluntary organisations are taking the "anyone will do" attitude, or are going for big names, which can be fatal.

"It requires a much more imaginative approach," adds Singleton. "There's a tendency for people to go looking for people who have a lot of rich contacts - it never works. It's better to look for those people who are conscientious and have the time and ability." He suggests retired people and existing and previous service users should be targeted.

¹ C Cornforth, Recent Trends in Charity Governance and Trusteeship, NCVO, 2001 from Hamilton House on 01536 399016 or via website www.ncvo-vol.org.uk