A View From the Chair

Recruiting and appointing a new CEO/Principal is one of the most important things a college Corporation has to do and in this blog, FEA Managing Director and Chair of South Gloucestershire College (SGS) Matt Atkinson, reflects on his recent experience of leading the SGS Board through the recruitment process.

Finding myself in the position of being a college Chair whilst leading the FE sector’s leading provider of senior recruitment has been a strange experience for me and being on the ‘other’ side of the process has been both fascinating, daunting and highly pressurised. I now have 100% appreciation for just how crucial it is to get the right process in place so that the Board can be secure in its decision making.

At SGS we have benefitted from an extensive period of leadership stability. Our outgoing CEO, Kevin Hamblin, has been with us for over 20 years and during that time has delivered growth, a merger, several successful Ofsted inspection outcomes, systems leadership and commercial leadership. Recruiting a new CEO to follow such an established one, is never going to be an easy thing and getting it right was of crucial importance to me and the Board.

Having spent several days and hours on the recruitment process as a Chair, I thought it would be useful to reflect on my experience and learnings which may be of help to other chairs who may find themselves in the position of having to recruit a new CEO/Principal.

Lesson 1 – The Chair needs to be able to set a lot of time aside.

Whilst the Board will in all likelihood form a panel of governors to lead on the recruitment process, it inevitably falls to the Chair to take the lead.  Liaising with the recruitment partner, agreeing documentation, speaking to interested parties, having several meetings with the selection panel and the selection process itself – it all takes a lot of time.

Lesson 2 – Plan ahead and don’t get caught out by the senior salary approvals process

This process is incredibly slow and frustrating. We submitted our application in August 2024 for an appointment process that took place in early November. Approval was not received until early January 2025.

Lesson 3 – Get absolute clarity of what the Board actually requires and needs

We tend to throw the kitchen sink at role descriptions and, let’s be honest, it would be impossible for a human-being to deliver on every aspect of the JD. So, it was important for us to have clarity in what we were looking for.  We produced a document called The Priorities and The Person, and we were clear that we wanted someone with excellent strategic ability, a strong influencer and profile builder, an empowering leader and not a micromanager, and someone to come at things with fresh eyes.

Lesson 4 – Play a role in selling the opportunity and the College

Given the current state of the senior recruitment market, it would be foolhardy to assume that there is no need to do a sales job on your opportunity and your college. For me it was really vital to sell the opportunity, advocate clearly about our strengths and challenges ahead and sell the broad vision the Board has for the college.

Lesson 5 – Be aware of the current recruitment landscape and open your mind

The current marketplace for high-calibre senior leaders in the FE sector is very challenging. We were open in our thinking about the backgrounds of potential candidates. We were not parochial in our preferences, our next CEO/Principal didn’t have come from a college. Yes, we wanted someone with a public service background, preferably with an element of senior exposure to education, but we kept an open mind.  What we were clear about, however, was that if we appointed someone to the role who hadn’t led in a college environment before, we would i) provide them with excellent technical mentoring and ii) do everything we could as a board to enable and facilitate their success.

Lesson 6 – Get buy-in and triangulation from a range of sources.

Our process involved a very thorough interview which interrogated leadership, strategy, risk, finance, ambition and motivation. We also used a psychometric tool for triangulation purposes. To ensure objectivity in our process, we involved an independent panel member and a member of the FE Commissioner’s team. We also involved influential stakeholders, the leadership team, staff and students to help us with our decision-making.

Lesson 7 – Consider the impact of the appointment on the rest of the organisation

We are not a broken organisation and the foundations that our new CEO/Principal will inherit are very strong. Therefore, we were clear about finding someone who would be collaborative in their leadership and someone who could make our whole leadership team brilliant. We wanted accelerated evolution rather than revolution.

Lesson 8 – Be uncompromising on the quality of the appointment – even if it means not making an appointment

We set a high bar and were uncompromising in wanting a very strong candidate to lead us into the future. If we were not convinced that we had a very strong candidate we were prepared not to make an appointment, despite the risks of doing this.  

Lesson 9 – Take your Board with you

Usually, only a handful of governors will be involved in the selection process itself. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all board members are informed about the progress of the recruitment campaign, the process that the selection panel has put in place and the conclusions the panel has reached in making its recommendations. It is also good practice to offer those governors who are not on the selection panel the opportunity to play an observer role in the selection process. For example, give them the opportunity to observe one of the panels. I have also been part of processes where a candidate lunch is organised and all governors are invited to this.

Lesson 10 – Utilise the governance professional and HR lead at the college

A good governance professional can make the life of a Chair much easier and having our governance lead very involved in the process made things much easier for me. She viewed the process through the governance lens and made sure we were following best practice at all times. It was also really helpful to bring our HR lead into the process and to keep her informed and engaged throughout all stages of the process.

Lesson 11 – Plan for your role in onboarding your appointed candidate

The job of the Chair doesn’t stop when a candidate has been appointed. It really is the responsibility of the Chair to ensure the new CEO/Principal has a good entry into the college and the role. Ensuring there is a good onboarding and induction plan in place and keeping in touch on a regular basis prior to the individual arriving on day 1 of their new job is all part of the process. After all, who else can take charge of this aspect of the process?

Lesson 12 – Be prepared for losing sleep

Whilst this last lesson may be a bit lighthearted, there is a serious element to it. For me as Chair, this appointment was of critical importance, and the whole process really shone a light on the effectiveness of governance—all anxiety-inducing stuff! Remember to look after yourself in the process and, where you can, share the load with your fellow governors and key internal leaders.

And finally…..

It is now public knowledge that we have appointed David Withey, currently CEO of the Education and Skills Funding Agency to be our next CEO/Principal. As Chair, I am very excited about David’s appointment and the key reasons for appointing him to this role were his experience in running a large organisation, his in-depth knowledge of the wider FE system, his people skills and his strategic abilities and clarity of thought. Now, the whole Board looks forward to where he takes us!

Matt Atkinson
Managing Director FE Associates
Chair of Governors South Gloucestershire and Stroud College