“Good governance is vitally important. Getting it right goes unnoticed. Getting it wrong can hit the headlines”

Every year the AOP has its own rituals and structures: membership renewals on 1 January, 100% Optical in the spring, our AGM in June, and then into the crowded autumn with student freshers’ events, the Hospital and Specialty Optometrists Conference, and the political lobbying season all competing for staff time. This activity then leads into our planning and budgeting process in October and November, which allows us to be ready to begin again the following year. Both predictable and reassuring, depending on your perspective.

One of the key events within our calendar is the annual process of refreshing our governance structures. In most years, this is relatively minor, with a few seats around our Council table changing and, at most, one or two new faces among our Board of Directors. But every three years or so, there is a more significant process of change, with most Council member seats up for election and/or appointment (we use a mixture of direct elections and committee-led appointments in our processes) at the same time. 2024 is such a year. And, given that this year we have three of our nine Board of Directors roles also vacant, our governance refresh has taken on extra significance.

These processes are not merely performative. Dull as it might be, good governance is vitally important. Getting it right goes unnoticed. Getting it wrong can hit the headlines.

One of the key events within our calendar is the annual process of refreshing our governance structures

When I was at Shelter, one of the things we did was to track the public perception of our brand against our peers in the charity field. Satisfyingly, for most of my time in post, we comfortably outperformed most, if not all, of our peer group. But for a couple of years, we faced real competition from the Kids Company, a charity founded and run by a flamboyant, incredibly charismatic woman called Camila Batmanghelidjh, who had developed a hugely influential new model of working with the most disadvantaged young people.

Chaired by senior BBC executive Alan Yentob, the Kids Company enjoyed massive media exposure and a string of high-profile supporters. While Shelter was an established, respected name, the Kids Company was the cool, up-and-coming contender.

Some of you will know what happened next; if you don’t you can Google it. Suffice it to say that Kids Company’s fall was as precipitous – and headline grabbing – as its rise had been. As the Wiki entry shows, the precise details of exactly what happened are still contested. However, one thing is clear: any organisation that depends too much on the character of the executive team in post and does not put in place proper structures to ensure that the team’s ambitions are underpinned by a long-term operational and financial strategy, risks following a similar path.

More than that, it also underlines the vital importance of making sure that those who are appointed as Board directors truly understand the roles they are taking on.

Alongside our fantastic, experienced and committed people on the Council, this post is an opportunity to draw directly from our pool of 14,000 members, who we know have got a range of skills, knowledge and expertise that can really add value

At the AOP, all but one of our optometrist directors (there are also two lay directors appointed to broaden the Board skillset) are elected from our 34-strong Council.

One of the challenges directors face when they join the Board is that the role is very different from that of a Councillor. At the AOP, the Council is largely an advisory body, there to represent the views of the members to the Board and executive and to give advice on specific areas of interest, especially in the policy arena.

Directors, on the other hand, carry out a formal legal role, responsible for the financial and strategic oversight of the AOP. Councillors can spend a valuable couple of hours poring over the issues arising from the implementation of the GOC’s education and training review or considering patient choice within a GOS environment; Board members will spend a similar amount of time looking at our performance against plans, the management accounts and the risk register.

The challenge for any organisation – especially a membership organisation – is to find people with the skills and time to commit. At Shelter – and I suspect at the Kids Company – while we had no difficulty in getting the famous or influential around the Board table, they are not always initially armed with the time or skills required. Add to that the need to identify Board members who may, in time, have the ability to take on the role of chairman, and recruiting is a real challenge.

This is why the process that we are kicking off today (25 April), advertising for applicants to join our Board, is so important for us. Two of the three new Board members will come from among our existing Councillors. But the third post is open to any qualified optometrist from within our wider membership. Alongside our fantastic, experienced and committed people on the Council, this post is an opportunity to draw directly from our pool of over 14,000 members, who we know have got a range of skills, knowledge and expertise that can really add value. If you are interested, please do read the application materials and don’t hesitate to throw your hat into the ring. We need you!