Case Study: Changing Board Practices to Be Inclusive and Welcoming to All

What is this case study about?

This case study was produced on behalf of Historic England by Dr Ambreen Shah, Associate at Getting on Board. It draws on the experience of the Council for British Archaeology (CBA).

The CBA is an educational charity working throughout the UK to help people of all backgrounds experience and participate in archaeology. It champions all forms of archaeology, bringing together community groups, commercial units, academics and heritage organisations to create and share opportunities to discover, participate in and be inspired by archaeology.

To find out more, visit the Council for British Archaeology website.

What are the key points?

What was the challenge?

The CBA did not have a diverse board and felt board practices could be more inclusive. The average age of trustees was 60; most were white, had academic and professional backgrounds, and were retired. The board used to have a 4-hour meeting 4 times a year, and there was little engagement with them in between meetings.

About 97% of people who take part in archaeology are white (see Profiling the Profession), which was reflected in the board's make-up. The prevailing view was that the organisation needed people with serious academic clout on the board.

What actions were taken?

The CBA took several steps to get new and different voices onto their board:

Building IDE into the Vision and Mission

• The organisation built IDE into its Vision and Mission to embed practices that promoted equity and inclusion throughout
• The organisation's risk register has also been updated, which the board reviews twice a year, so equity and inclusion are part of this discussion as there is a significant reputational risk if the organisation or the board does not do work in this area

Creating friendly and welcoming board practices

• The board moved from a 4-hour meeting 4 times a year to 4 x 2-hour meetings and 4 x 1-hour briefing sessions. The longer meeting focused on business (objective setting, annual reports, risk, finances and other core points), and the briefing sessions created dedicated time for broader discussion
• Instead of meetings that always took place from 1pm to 5pm on a weekday, meetings were held at different times of the day throughout the year, so (for example) people with work or caring responsibilities would be able to attend
• The board adopted a mixed approach, holding 2 in-person meetings a year (with some training also built into the day) and 2 online meetings. The briefing sessions always offered a hybrid option, allowing members to attend online or in person
• The in-person meeting in November is split over 2 days, so there is time for informal networking over a meal and an opportunity to thank all board members. This helps create a sense of belonging and purpose and provides an opportunity for board members to meet the staff

Supporting trustees to thrive

• The board changed its way of writing and structuring reports to make them less wordy. It is now clear from the first half page if a report is for information, approval or discussion, what the board recommends, and what trustees have to do. The default now is for all papers to include a policy section to benchmark issues against, including inclusion and equity
• The board appoints portfolio leads among the trustees to provide more opportunities for them to engage with core elements of day-to-day business and as an outlet for their creativity. There is no IDE lead, emphasising that this is the responsibility of the whole board, with every trustee being an IDE champion
• As part of establishing a new set of organisational behaviours for all trustees and staff, the board supports trustees in designing their own personal support plans. The chair and vice-chair review the plans, asking, "How can we help you to thrive?"

Building strong relationships

• The board provided reassurance that senior academic input could be secured in other ways than solely by having trustees with an academic background
• The CEO and chair have a strong personal relationship, and this ensures both are on the same page
• The CBA is developing 2 boards to support its Casework and Advocacy role and the editorial content of British Archaeology. The aim is to provide space for a wider network of experts in the sector and to enable people to 'stay part of the family' and create a sense of 'belonging' for former trustees

What was the outcome?

The key action was not to go down the pathway of recruiting more diverse trustees first. Rather, to make archaeology more attractive to a greater diversity of people with different perspectives and lived experience, the CBA more fundamentally changed its existing practices alongside the narrative around archaeology.

It was essential to create a sense of belonging. For the CBA, this included the need to "change the concept of heritage so people can come in and own it".

The CBA built on these foundations with inclusive recruitment practices so the organisation was moving closer to where it wanted to be: supporting archaeology to thrive among all communities in the UK.

The result of all this work is that the board now contains:

• 4 men and 8 women
• Only 2 retired/semi-retired members (the rest are all working)
• 2 founding members of the European Society of Black and Allied Archaeologists

Views of neurodivergent people and those who identify as LGBTQI+ are included, and a wide age range is represented, with people from their 30s to their 60s and every decade in between.

Because IDE was part of the organisation's discussion about risk, the Head of Marketing undertook crisis communications training. In the event of negative press, this reassured the board that the organisation would be able to address any situation with confidence and bravery rather than being (for example) hijacked by potentially harmful narratives.

What lessons were learned?

• Educate yourself. "Change starts from within, no one else can change you"
• Don’t feel like you need a finished IDE action plan before taking action. Start with inclusion and equity as an active approach to change, and make a personal decision to start the journey. "My core value is about being in a sector that is about learning/growing – not in a business that has a fixed approach – so I was embedding my core values into this"
• Create belonging and purpose first, as this enables vulnerability and being comfortable with not knowing all the answers. "This can be as powerful as knowing it all"
• Invest in training for trustees. "Trustees have as much to learn and develop as everyone else"

Further reading

Getting on Board website

The CBA board of trustees

Key contact

Neil Redfern, Executive Director and Company Secretary, Council for British Archaeology: [email protected]