If you would like to meet Brian or have an informal chat about his suitability as a mentee please call us on 0845 505 1875.
If you would like to meet Chris or have an informal chat about his suitability as a mentee please call us on 0845 505 1875.
Several high profile names from the football world gathered at Wembley last night to celebrate the graduation of the second cohort of the ‘On The Board’ Effective Board Member (EBM) programme. Also recognised during the evening in the presence of football bosses including Bobby Barnes, Deputy Chief Executive at the Professional Footballers’ Association; Greg Dyke, Chairman of The Football Association; and Richard Bevan, Chief Executive of the League Managers Association were Tony Fernandes CBE, Heather Rabbatts CBE and Brendon Batson.
The EBM Award for ‘Significant Contribution to Governance in Football’ is a strategic leadership award which recognises the ambassadorial contribution and visibility in the field and contribution to the advancement of diversity in leadership and supporting the development of the pipeline for leadership. As Chairman at QPR, Fernandes has welcomed the progression of BAME staff including Les Ferdinand MBE who he promoted to Director of Football earlier this year and Chris Ramsey, now manager at the club. In her capacity as the only female Director at The FA, Heather is widely known for promoting the importance of diversity in sport and is a supporter of improving the pipeline of BAME groups across leadership positions in the sport.
A pioneer of black players in football, Batson, along with his then teammates Cyrille Regis and the late Laurie Cunningham were often subjected to extreme racism from fans. Having retired from the pitch, he has worked his way through the ranks at the PFA from senior administrator and previously serving as Deputy Chief Executive of the players union. When being recognised for his contribution, Brendon praised the work of the EBM programmes highlighting the achievements of the graduates and how the programme has been delivered. He gave an empowering address to the audience highlighting some of the barriers that he has overcome over many years in football.
The Award comes at a time when there is still much to do to tackle the lack of diversity on boards within football. According to the Sport’s Peoples Think Tank, “…only 19 ethnic minority coaches are employed in 552 positions across 92 professional clubs, just 3.4% of the roles available.”
On The Board seeks to tackle this issue and help to transfer the ambassadorial experience and insight of players to the boardrooms of clubs across the country. Those completing the course praise it’s aims and outcomes, with Hughton stating; “EBM has given me the chance to broaden my career opportunities, as well as enhancing my ability to relate to boards of directors in my current role.” He is one of only a handful of black managers across the top four tiers of English football. When speaking about The FA’s support of the programme, Dyke stated that; ‘… where BAME players are successful in attaining board places in the game, it will help to widen the diversity of the decision makers in football.”
Created by leading governance consultant Karl George MBE, founder of the Effective Board Member Programmes (EBM), On The Board in conjunction with Sports On Board and sponsored by the PFA and The FA seeks to help players and others involved in football to progress from the pitch to the boardroom. Previous graduates include Les Ferdinand MBE and Chris Ramsey. Notable names such as Chris Hughton, Rachel Yankey, Ugo Ehiogu and Ken Monkou are among the course participants.
The graduation of players throws a spotlight on the continued commitment of the PFA and The FA to tackle the lack of diversity on boards within the sport. The collaboration of EBM and the PFA is achieving results with several participants having already gained board appointments or undertaken board observations. Nathan Blake who graduated from On The Board in 2014 is one example having gained a non-executive position at Newport County A.F.C.
Gordon Taylor, Chief Executive at the PFA, which is the main sponsor of the programme said; “the governance forum is an ideal partner having delivered a similar programme to young, private sector professionals and we are keen to replicate the success with footballers.” The course is accredited by the Association of Corporate Governance Practitioners and Edinburgh Napier University making it a valuable addition to any CV.
For more information about joining the Effective Board Member Programmes, please contact us on 0845 505 1875 or email us at admin@effectiveboardmember.co.uk.
Footballers from the second cohort of the ‘On The Board’ Effective Board Member programme graduate at Wembley on Wednesday 15th April 2015. The ceremony will be attended by graduates and officials from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), The Football Association (FA) and the League Managers Association (LMA) including Bobby Barnes Deputy Chief Executive at the PFA; Greg Dyke, Chairman of the FA; and Richard Bevan, Chief Executive of the LMA. Chris Hughton, Rachel Yankey, Ugo Ehiogu and Ken Monkou are among the graduates. Read More
In January, we were privileged to have Chairman of the FA, Greg Dyke join our On The Board session with the current cohort of footballers.
Previously Director General at the BBC, Greg has been the Chief Executive at numerous organisations including the LWT Group, Pearson Television and Channel Five. He also has current roles at HiT Entertainment and has been the Chancellor of the University of York for a number of years.
The FA are a sponsor of the EBM programmes and with his years of experience on boards, Greg was able to share his wisdom and insight with our students as they prepare to take up board appointments once they complete the course.
This week, we will share with you what student Rauf Mirza learned when he met Greg and what he thinks about the EBM programme. As a consultant, Rauf has worked on several projects with the FA including undertaking board appointments.
Rauf said:
The main points covered by Greg were:
– On boards, always ask the obvious questions- don’t assume anything. Ask to clarify.
– Don’t let experts, like accountants or finance managers bamboozle you with their jargon and information overload. Ask to clarify and ask for information on essentials.
– All board members should be familiar with the financial standing of an organisation. Don’t just leave it to the finance people, and don’t accept everything at face value.
– As a board member, get around the organisation and meet people to really understand the organisation outside the boardroom.
– Observe behaviours of board members and executive.
Why is the FA working with EBM/On The Board important and how it will benefit you in your role?
The EBM programme has clearly been identified by the FA as essential in its strategy to improve/develop its structures and functions. For my part, it will benefit me by receiving structured, professional and accredited training on corporate governance, something I have not received despite having experience on 2-3 boards previously. This training, combined with previous practical experiences will enable me to be more effective as a board member/chair in the future.
How will you apply what your learned from the main points Greg shared in your football related role?
Greg’s vast experience of boards is useful learning and vital knowledge for anyone seeking to join a board. Theory will only take one so far but it’s the real life scenarios and challenges that will separate the effective/contributing members from those merely collecting titles for their CV.
I hope to use this training and the previous board experiences to be invited onto the FA Board.
Overall, Greg’s visit was highly relevant to the EBM course, very informative for learning, and entertaining. It’s a pity there was not more time allocated for more Q and A!
The Effective Board Member Programmes
The EBM course is very well structured, professionally managed and delivered by Karl George who in my experience is one of the best trainers I have come across.
His knowledge and experiences of the subject is excellent and his style is very much interactive, focused on practical learning, and generates an enjoyable atmosphere in the course.
In 2013, a group of ex-football players were the first to complete On The Board. Designed specifically to enhance the ambassadorial experience of players, capitalising on the skills they have on the pitch and combining these with learning in corporate governance, On The Board is sponsored by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and the Footballers’ Association (FA).
A number of high profile names in football graduated from the programme, including Les Ferdinand who today, has been appointed as Director of Football at QPR. Read More
When it comes to diversity, boards of directors in the UK still fall short in terms of representing society at large but work is afoot in Birmingham to change that from the ground up.
The Effective Board Member Programme (EBM) is aiming to shake up the composition and diversity of boards across the private, public and voluntary sectors.
It aims to create a pool of competent and capable board members from a range of backgrounds, who can ultimately help redress the directorial balance in terms of age, gender and ethnicity.
The programme, which has a number of different arms, is the brainchild of Karl George, a former Handsworth Grammar School pupil and accountant.
“It’s often said boards of directors are pale, male and stale and one of the things I want to do is really tackle diversity in the boardroom, whether it’s gender, ethnicity or age,” said Mr George.
“If you want to change anything you have to change it at the top of an organisation, though in terms of achieving diversity we still have a long way to go.”
Read this is Full:
While running a number of successful Effective Board Member (EBM) programmes for young leaders, and expanding them into sport, Karl George knew it was time to address the issue of the lack of women on boards.
There has been much debate regarding the lack of – and in many cases the complete absence of – women on boards, a subject addressed by Lord Davies in his 2011 report Women On Boards.
In the report, Lord Davis said: “At the current rate of change, it will take over 70 years to achieve gender balanced boardrooms in the UK.”
Mr George developed the existing EBM programmes in order to try and help fill this gap.
Read in full below:
Earlier this month, we were privileged to have Chairman of the FA, Greg Dyke join our On The Board session with the current cohort of footballers.
Previously Director General at the BBC, Greg has been the Chief Executive at numerous organisations including the LWT Group, Pearson Television and Channel Five. He also has current roles at HiT Entertainment and has been the Chancellor of the University of York for a number of years.
The FA are a sponsor of the EBM programmes and with his years of experience on boards, Greg was able to share his wisdom and insight with our students as they prepare to take up board appointments once they complete the course.
Over the next few weeks, we will share with you what a few of our current students learned from the session with Greg beginning with Ben Purkiss. Currently a defender at Walsall FC, Ben is also a member of the management committee at The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) who also sponsor On The Board.
Ben said:
For the students of the On The Board Programme seeking positions of governance, the opportunity to listen to somebody of Greg Dyke’s ilk and experience was both insightful and informative.
Throughout Greg’s presentation, which detailed his journey to his current position as the FA Chair, the importance of good governance was repeatedly stressed. Greg has extensive and wide-ranging commercial experience and was keen to emphasise the value of investing time in whatever organisation you represent. In order to govern effectively it is imperative that the director fully understands the requirements of a company and develops an understanding of the company’s aims and objectives. Crucially, not all board members that Greg has encountered had governance training and subsequently lacked familiarity with good governance standards.
With one of the aims of the On The Board Programme being to increase diversity in the boardroom, the support of the national governing body is highly significant. Along with his commitment to good governance practice, Greg reiterated his desire to ensure the FA is more representative of society and hopefully we will see graduates of the course progress to roles within the organisation.
At the PFA we are strong advocates of good governance and work closely with Karl and the Programme to ensure we achieve the highest standards of self-regulation. However, we are always looking to improve and I will be looking to invest even more time in the organisation.
Overall it was an excellent opportunity to listen to first hand insight into the way in which boards operate in practice, the problems they face and notably the relevance of the issues explored on the On The Board programme.
Check back over the next few weeks to see what other on The Board Participants had to say about their session with Greg Dyke!
I am delighted that I have the opportunity to work with The Birmingham Post and several organisations in promoting board diversity. Having been a board member and served many organisations for a number of years, I have continually seen a lack of diversity in the place of influence, which is typically at the top of an organisation.
As a governance consultant and previously as an accountant, I have acquired the skills to contribute to the boards of organisations in different sectors over the past twenty years.
I have observed, like many other leaders in the city, the gaps in board composition. On these boards, I saw for myself the lack of younger faces and women.
Read this in full:
If you would like to meet Victoria or have an informal chat about her suitability as a mentee please call us on 0845 505 1875.
If you would like to meet Sarah or have an informal chat about her suitability as a mentee please call us on 0845 505 1875.
If you would like to meet Lydia or have an informal chat about her suitability as a mentee please call us on 0845 505 1875.
If you would like to meet Bhupendra or have an informal chat about him suitability as a mentee please call us on 0845 505 1875.
If you would like to meet Hayley or have an informal chat about her suitability as a mentee please call us on 0845 505 1875.
