By Adam Ives, governance and executive officer, NAHT The School Leaders’ Union | 5 min
Governance will always be the domain of the General Secretary, the union’s most senior elected official. Governance relies on an almost sacred relationship between the General Secretary and the National Executive, and the concomitant democratic lines of accountability flow directly through that relationship into a union’s operations.
As a union grows in size, there is a scope to provide dedicated staffing resources to the function of governance to ensure its efficient coordination. Critically, whether these resources are deployed along administrative or strategic lines will fundamentally shape the governance capacity of the union.
The governance team: from administration to strategy
When forming a ‘governance team’, it is essential that the link is maintained with the General Secretary, where ultimate accountability for governance sits. In practice, this often leads to the development of a ‘General Secretary’s Office’ or a standalone governance directorate. This dedicated staffing resource can efficiently alleviate the operational burden on the General Secretary’s time by managing essential governance functions. These can include:
Coordination of ballots and elections
Overseeing the complaints process
Management of democratic conferences
Oversight of the union’s national democracy.
A further benefit of this independent positioning is the capacity to take a step back from the union’s immediate operational demands and facilitate compliance with rules and procedures.
On a foundational level, this team should offer dispassionate constitutional counsel. With expertise centred on the union’s internal dynamics and necessary compliance with the Certification Officer and trade union law, it can serve a similar function to the role a Data Protection Officer may play for compliance and data security.
Effective governance, especially in unions that have revised their rules to support a strategic approach, must be facilitative. This function thrives where it can direct strategic and operational decision-making through the appropriate democratic structures, effectively turning a prohibitive “no” into a constructive “no, but…” or a simple “yes” into a supportive “yes, and…”.
The strategic payoff of resourcing
We have previously examined how strategic governance can bring a strategy to life. Operationally, the decision of how to resource a governance team directly impacts this, particularly concerning frontier issues.
There is often a temptation to prioritise administration first, as the time cost of managing a union’s governance is significant. If this burden sits with the General Secretary, finding an administrator may seem like the easiest solution. However, a greater relief and more profound institutional benefit lies in considering the strategic role.
A General Secretary’s Office possesses an inherent democratic and organisational vantage point that allows a governance team to navigate the tensions of a union’s strategy. It can facilitate cross-directorate working, engage with key stakeholders across the union, and act as a bridge between the union’s democratic and operational sides.
Considering frontier issues like artificial intelligence or the rise of far-right populism, strategic governance at the operational level is best positioned:
To anticipate where challenges will arise.
To understand where agility exists in the union’s structures and how it can be leveraged with appropriate democratic oversight.
To possess the reflective capacity to consider how the union’s architecture can adapt to strategic risks and opportunities while maintaining institutional coherence.
These skills are essential for transitioning a union from merely having the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of strategy defined, into an integrated approach that permeates the core of union operations. If a union seeks to maximise its institutional capacity, support its democratic governance in effectively implementing strategy and successfully meet contemporary challenges, then servicing the governance of the union with a senior strategically oriented role will best meet these needs.
As a union matures, it may further delineate functions within that governance team, such as specialised roles for compliance, balloting and management of the union’s democracy. By harnessing the unique vantage point of a General Secretary’s Office, other functions that run across multiple operational areas, such as equalities, international affairs or people management, may also be introduced alongside the strategic governance model.
Checklist: “Do we have the right operational capacity to govern strategically?”
Do we have designated staff members to oversee the management of the union’s governance and democracy?
Do we invest in governance roles that anticipate, adapt to and lead change, rather than merely enforcing compliance?
Are our governance team empowered to take a step back from immediate operational demands to counsel how action can be taken through the appropriate structures and in line with a coherent strategy?
Does our governance team possess the reflective capacity and institutional authority to bridge the union’s democratic and operational spheres?
Find out how your governance measures up
Unions 21 has produced an audit process for you to assess the standard of governance at your union. Take the audit now and benchmark yourself against other unions.
This article is supported by Slater and Gordon
