Summary of the board meeting on 6 August 2024
Dream South D Trust Extraordinary Board Meeting on 6 August 2024, 6.30-8 pm, 183 King Edward St
Meeting started: 6.35 pm
Karakia to open
Present: Bridget Schaumann (Secretary), Kathryn Harkin, Sarah Jones (Chair), Warren Chambers, Nic Pye, Nikita Choveaux, Rosie Hill, Hurihia Luafitu
Apologies: Denise Ives
A. Feedback from the team
Rosie, Nic and Nikita each provided feedback on what had worked well, what had not worked well and what we could change since the board introduced changes to the way we set the work programme in June.
Nikita shared the team’s feedback on progress against the success measures.
The team left the meeting.
B. Feedback from the board
Trustees provided their own feedback and reflected on the team’s feedback.
Five things that worked well:
Projects have been completed.
The team is working well together.
Doing quick win projects was a good idea.
Leading our own projects has accelerated progress.
The board getting involved in operations has benefited overall project progress.
Five things that didn’t work well:
There were delays in communication from the board early on.
The board and team are not aligned around the concept of CLD.
The process for setting the work programme needs improving.
The board allocating projects to team members created confusion around roles.
The manager was not sure what decisions they could take.
C. Decisions
Communications:
Bridget will be a regular liaison person between the team and board, meeting with the team to check in on projects and answer questions or refer questions to the board.
When the team has a question, it can:
talk to Bridget or
email the chair who will coordinate a response from the board (this is a change from the current practice of emailing the whole board) or
talk to Kathryn and Warren if it concerns a new project or work schedule issue or
talk to the chair if it concerns policy, minor finance issues or board meetings.
Trustees will clarify with the team when they are making a call or decision for the team, as opposed to providing reflection or guidance only. The team is also responsible for asking for clarification if they are uncertain.
If the manager is unclear about what decisions they can make, or they have concerns about a decision made by a trustee/the board, they talk to the trustee/the board.
The team can contact individual trustees for their contacts and expertise.
The manager attends the operations section of board meetings.
The work programme:
For now, the board will take responsibility for setting the work programme and, through its subcommittee of Kathryn and Warren, make any final decisions about it.
Kathryn and Warren will meet with the team every three to four months to review the work programme. Working together, the board’s subcommittee and the team will:
at the first meeting, rationalise the number of projects in the work programme
review and amend the work programme - deciding what projects to prioritise, phase, scope, rescope, stop, start, pause etc
for new projects, prepare a short description for each, including a clear objective and a statement about CLD (explaining each project’s specific approach to CLD)
discuss how to implement the goal or focus area if the board sets one.
Between meetings, new opportunities for projects that crop up are discussed by the team with Kathryn or Warren.
The team has responsibility for scoping projects (with the understanding that project scope may evolve from the original description), writing proposals, allocating tasks, managing workload and doing the project work.
Actions:
The chair will update the project proposal template to include space for “Project objective” and “Approach to CLD”.
The team will provide the board with a list of who is doing what finance tasks at the moment, and if there is anything that is currently unallocated.
Kathryn and Warren will set up a time to meet with the team about the work programme.
Whakataukī to close:
Close 10pm