Vicky McLennan was appointed as a trustee of Trust Waikato in June 2017, and in 2018 was appointed to the role of Deputy Chair. Vicky provided us with this review of the Chairing Community Trusts workshop.
The Chairing Community Trusts workshop run by the Centre for Social Impact in March was a particularly valuable development opportunity. This was in part due to its specific relevance and applicability and in part due to the thoughtful co-construction of the programme prior to the event.
The facilitator, Caren Rangi, had a wealth of governance insight and expertise to share, as well as personal experience of community trusts. Ahead of the workshop Caren sought specific guidance from participants to ensure it would be responsive to our needs. She was therefore able to fully address our expectations, tackle the challenges we had identified and capture the successful strategies already being employed by the group. She also confirmed in advance that the proposed workshop themes would be relevant and pertinent to our needs.
The effectiveness of the workshop is reflected in the ongoing communication between the participants, who continue to share practice and seek advice regarding the challenges faced by their respective community trusts. I am also looking forward to the one on one session that is scheduled subsequent to the workshop.
The proposed Community Trusts Knowledge and Practice Hub will no doubt provide a similar ongoing opportunity for trustees to strengthen their governance skills and practices while sharing their experiences and challenges within the specific context of the community trusts.
