Bev Jullien, CEO of Mothers’ Union, visited Leeds last Friday, to share some of her experience with Mothers’ Union’s Trustees at their very first meeting.
In an encouraging and very practical sharing session, Bev began with ‘Congratulations!’ and assured the Trustees of support from the Worldwide Trustees as well as her own staff team.
Bev has a wealth of experience in managing change. In a previous role she merged two substantial pharmaceutical companies to establish AstraZeneca as a new entity.
At last Friday’s meeting she led the new trustees of Mothers' Union in West Yorkshire and the Dales through some of the stages to expect, and offered suggestions for dealing with them. They heard of the way some of their ‘courageous’ work on restructuring was already being picked up by others, and in its turn was becoming a template for change.
Trustees were encouraged to focus on ‘why we are here’, on business as usual, and to remember that the front line matters – members at parish level, whether in a branch, or individuals.
They were also reminded it was important not only to plan and do, but also to listen and reflect. They must communicate well but keep the ‘receivers’ open too.
And a very practical tip for future meetings: Begin by listing what has been achieved since the last meeting.
Not only an encouragement – but something one trustee described as ‘eating the elephant, a bit at a time!’