As Jamie prepares to step down as our Chair after serving on our board for 8 years, we’ve been reflecting on some memories of his time at People Know How.
People Know How is governed by a Board of Trustees who ensure the charity delivers on its strategy and purpose. Jamie joined our board just one year after the charity was founded and a few years later went on to take up the position of Chair. After five years in this position, he is now stepping down from the board as both he and the charity move into new and exciting phases of growth and development.
Moulding our processes
When Jamie saw our advert to join our Board of Trustees in 2014, he was drawn in by the innovative and open wording of the invitation to apply. At just one year old, People Know How was looking for board members to help shape the charity.
“I was drawn to it because it was different, it wasn’t just a single-cause charity, but it was saying, ‘We don’t know what the issue we’re going to solve is yet, come and help us work it out’.”
At the time, Jamie was completing a management development programme at Sainsbury’s and was also keen to apply his skillset to something new that would contribute to society in a different way than his day job. Coming from a specialist background, this was also an opportunity to equip himself with the tools for future opportunities in non-specialist leadership roles.
After becoming a trustee in 2014, Jamie started to see that People Know How was moving in the direction of growth and began identifying the governance processes needed to support that growth. In 2017 he initiated a review of all board processes and stepped up as Chair of the Board to oversee its implementation.
Developing People Know How
Throughout Jamie’s time with People Know How we have gone from a brand-new organisation with a couple of volunteers and a strong passion for helping others to a nationally recognised charity with over 20 members of staff, a large VIP community and services that are making an impact across Scotland.
In our first few years, People Know How engaged in many community consultations, performing the first stage of our social innovation model: asking the community to identify their needs and share their ideas. Using his knowledge of working as a learning and development specialist, Jamie worked with another trustee to help create the workshop consultation methodology.
When the consultation results were revealed, the board got to work guiding the charity in developing projects from these findings, ensuring that what we ended up with would have the most impact and the biggest benefit to our beneficiaries.
“It’s only when you look back at everything that’s happened during that time that you realise how big a journey People Know How has been on...I’m really proud of where we are now and how we got there– and of course, All Aboard – I never thought I’d be signing a contract to purchase a canal boat!”
Recent growth
In recent years People Know How has hit a growth spurt. Our collaboration internally has allowed us to guide this growth, working together between the staff team, Leadership Team and the Board of Trustees, facilitating a new strategy and the expansion of our work to the national stage.
“Our most recent strategic review was the turning point. It was a step-change from focusing on the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ to the ‘why’…continuing to deliver projects and gather data at a local level, but then going that step further to harness all of that to have a national impact. It’s a natural evolution in my mind, and now the sky’s the limit.”
Plans for the future
Alongside People Know How’s significant changes over the past few years, the board continued to build on the foundations that Jamie laid in 2017, honing processes, refining governance committees and assessing risk. Using his knowledge from years of work in risk and safety, Jamie supported the board to develop its strategic thinking and methodology.
Now, as Jamie’s professional career accelerates and he embarks on an MBA, he has decided to step down as Chair of the Board of Trustees.
“Reflecting back on my report from 2017, I’m proud that we’ve achieved everything we set out to achieve on that. Now that we’ve got it to where we said we would, it’s time for someone else with a fresh pair of eyes to take People Know How to the next level.”
We are currently recruiting for a new Chair of the Board of Trustees. If you share our passion for solving social issues and have experience supporting a charity to achieve its strategic aims, click the link below to find out more and apply.