Subject: HomeFront committee decision

Ben should have a meeting with Hugh and remind him that he is a figurehead for the charity and that his personal opinions should not be aired.  I doubt that Hugh is the right man for the job as he seems to be a bigot but perhaps he just needs to be trained.

Hi agree with susan. Hugh really should have had some briefing about his role as Chair and the presumably tight regulations he should be leading the committee through. Maybe he thought he was there to represent himself rather than the policies of HomeFront? Even so this behaviour needs to be challenged now so the organisation doesn't get into deeper trouble and undo all their hard work.

Its a difficult situation - who is actually in charge? The CEO (ie Ben) or Chair and Board of Trustees?

Its surprising that the rest of the committee were so easily swayed.

Hi

Hugh has obviously got a powerful personality and the others couldn't stand up to him particularly without Ben there to step in.   It sounds like the others did try to challenge him but he overpowered them and they went along with the decision despite their concerns.  Not great chairing skills to bulldoze through a decision!    

Hugh doesn't seem to understand the distinction between Governance and Executive roles. As well as being a bigot he seems to think his role overrides any other and considerations re policy, values and stakeholders views. For something as important as this, if the Committee needed to meet while Ben was on his 2 weeks paternity leave,he could have made arrangements to be contactable by phone prior to a decision being made. Think they also need to re-examine the recruitment process for the Chair, particularly references etc as this may not be a one off. Suggest its up to the Board collectively and not just Ben to ensure understands his role and is up to it. Have they got a good mix of skills/experience on the Board?