BoardStars™
There is not enough representation of talent with Black Heritage backgrounds in the boardrooms of our biggest businesses. The BoardStars™ programme is hoping to change that.
BoardStars™ is an evidence-based programme to elevate and illuminate brilliant Black Heritage talent from successful executive careers to the FTSE 250 board rooms, helping them transition into FTSE 250 Non-Executive positions within 2-years of their initial involvement.
The two-year programme has been developed by Prof. John Amaechi OBE, Founder and Leadership Transformation Expert at APS Intelligence, and is supported by Lloyds Banking Group as the founding sponsor and Green Park as the principal Executive search partner. The BoardStars™ programme builds on APS Intelligence’s proprietary STARs™ programme which has a proven track record of helping FTSE clients decrease disparities in the promotion of Black and Ethnic Minority colleagues.
The first BoardStars™ cohort brings together eight experienced FTSE board Chairs, including Sir Robin Budenberg CBE, Chair of Lloyds Banking Group and eight talented and driven C-suite Executives. The programme involves a bespoke leadership inventory, a series of engagement sessions between Chairs and Executives, and coaching sessions with Prof. John Amaechi OBE.
To learn more about the BoardStars™ programme please explore the FAQs below. To apply to join the second cohort of BoardStars™, if you are a FTSE Chair or an aspiring Executive, please email boardstars@apsintel.com for further details.
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FAQs
About the BoardStars™ programme
Only 11% of FTSE 250 companies have more than one minority ethnic directors on their Boards, and only 1.3% out of all FTSE250 directors are Black. Though FTSE 250 companies are making progress towards the 2024 deadline of appointing at least one minority ethnic director, much more work needs to be done.
The need for progress is supported by a compelling body of evidence which illustrates that diverse and inclusive senior teams lead better-governed, higher-performing and more sustainable organisations that are more effective decision-making bodies and are more agile in the face of unforeseen disruption. Yet according to a study quoted by The Guardian in June 2023, despite the commitments of businesses to improve representation in leadership in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, 70% of workers still reported that firms have not increased the number of Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority leaders, and 57% of Black colleagues felt they had been passed over for promotion.
BoardStars™ has been designed to help identify and guide the next generation of board talent via the wisdom and experience of long-standing board Chairs. The programme combines insight-driven, interactive plenaries and a pairing of talented and driven Executives from Black Heritage backgrounds with experienced Board Chairs from sector-aligned businesses, to develop mutually beneficial sponsorship relationships based on purposeful, structured collaboration. The BoardStars™ programme builds on APS Intelligence’s proprietary STARs™ programme which has a proven track record of helping FTSE clients decrease disparities in the promotion of Black and Ethnic Minority colleagues.
The BoardStars™ programme is designed to create dependable, engaged, and authentic relationships between Chairs and Executives that will:
- Disseminate the hard-to-come-by, practical insights of effective board members.
- Enhance Executive social capital and provide inroads to previously hidden networks.
- Illuminate some of the less well-known secrets of successful board members with evidence shared by world-class recruiters and existing Black FTSE board members.
- Enable Executives to see themselves and be seen as viable candidates.
- Grant Chairs access to brilliant Executives from within their sector who will act as neutral and diverse thought partners.
- Provide robust personal coaching from APS Intelligence’s Lead Transformation Expert, Prof. John Amaechi OBE, through a series of peer-to-peer leadership training sessions.
For Chairs
The ideal profile of a participating Chair in the BoardStars™ programme will:
- Be a current or long-standing but recently retired Chair of FTSE 100 or 250 companies
- Have an openness to learning
- Demonstrate a desire to build an authentic, mutual relationship
- Show a commitment to the aims of the programme
- Commit to sharing experiences and insights, and opening up their network
The role and responsibilities vary for between Year One and Year Two for Chairs participating on the BoardStars™ programme.
- In Year One this will involve:
- Programme introduction and launch dinner
- Three quarterly “Ask Me Anything” sessions with Prof. John Amaechi OBE to ensure Chairs are set for success and feel supported throughout
- Eight Executive engagement sessions
- Set time allotted for preparation, referral and additional networking activities
- In Year Two this will involve:
- Quarterly engagement sessions
For participating Chairs, it is estimated that you will spend 18 hours in Year One and 4 hours in Year Two.
For Executives
The ideal profile of a participating Executive in the BoardStars™ programme will:
- Be a senior C-suite Executive in a FTSE 350 company
- Have an openness to learning
- Be prepared to invest time in creating authentic relationships
- Demonstrate a willingness to contribute best practice and share personal insights
- Be ambitious about securing a FTSE 250 board position within 18-24 months
The role and responsibilities vary for between Year One and Year Two for Executives participating on the BoardStars™ programme.
- In Year One this will involve:
- Programme introduction and launch dinner
- Complete STARs™ standardised leadership inventory with development outputs
- STARs™ virtual, semi-structured coaching conversation
- Feedback on strengths and development reports
- Three quarterly “Mastermind” sessions
- Eight Chair engagement sessions
- Meetings with recruitment Executives and sponsor network referrals
- In Year Two this will involve:
- Quarterly engagement sessions
- Meetings with recruitment Executives and sponsor network referrals
- Board-ready CV tailoring
- Initial interviews for NED recruitment process
For participating Executives, it is estimated that you will spend 20 hours in Year One and 14 hours in Year Two.
About APS Intelligence
APS Intelligence is a workplace transformation consultancy that helps large and complex businesses create high-performance, ethical workplace cultures. We build trusted partnerships with businesses to understand, unpick, and challenge barriers to long-term success. With expertise across the talent lifecycle, from recruitment to retention and exit, we help companies drive high performance and achieve sustainable success by developing and providing bespoke evidence-based L&D programmes and executive coaching that create strong leaders and productive cultures. You can learn more about our work by visiting www.APSIntel.com.
Professor John Amaechi OBE is a respected organisational psychologist and the Lead Transformation Expert at APS Intelligence Ltd, the consultancy he founded in 2006. He is a Non-Executive Director of a £2.4bn healthcare organisation, and a board advisor for several FTSE 100 organisations in the financial, legal and professional services, technology, publishing, engineering and retail sectors. Recognised as an influential thinker in HR, John is a Professor of Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School in the UK. The author of The New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller The Promises of Giants, John draws on his early life in Stockport, near Manchester (UK), his career as the first Briton to play professional basketball in the NBA, and psychological insights, to challenge and inspire others. In doing so, he continues to be driven by his mother’s belief that: “The most unlikely of people in the most improbable of circumstances can become extraordinary.”
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If you have additional questions or simply want to learn more on how we can assist you with your personal or organisational goals, please get in touch and we will schedule a meeting.
boardstars@apsintel.com