07 March 2003
Housing associations must recruit a new breed of leader if they are to thrive as effective businesses in the twenty-first century, their regulator has warned.
Baroness Dean, chair of the Housing Corporation, told the National Housing Federation conference of housing association chief executives on March 3 that their organisations seemed unwittingly to draw senior staff from a limited pool of people.
In 2001, just 13 of the top 105 housing associations (12.5%) had female chief executives – all of whom were white. Yet 60% of RSL tenants are women.
'We need to ask whether we are attracting the kind of people into the sector who speak the same language as our customers, who can connect with them, and who can lead and inspire their organisation,' she said.
Recruitment agencies used by housing associations exacerbate the problem by seeking out candidates that fit their image of a chief executive – a view frequently reinforced by RSL boards. 'The talent within associations often goes unrecognised,' said Dean, who chairs a working party set up to study leadership in the RSL sector. 'In a significant number of cases, it is women and black minority ethnic staff who get overlooked when opportunities arise.'
PFmar2003