Case Studies

David Morgan and the CDI

About the Career Development Institute
The Career Development Institute (CDI) is the UK’s professional body for all aspects of career development. It consists of a dedicated team, expert Associates and volunteers. The CDI’s Chief Executive is David Morgan, who manages the organisation and its operations and reports to the CDI Board.

Brief
The CDI faced two issues that led it to seek the support of an executive PA.

The first was the need to recruit a new Honorary Secretary to the Board. The voluntary role was responsible for the organisation’s governance and also had administrative responsibility for arranging Board meetings and taking and publishing minutes. The administrative element of the role was very time-intensive, and it was proving difficult to find someone able to commit the time needed on a voluntary basis.

At the same time, there was an awareness that it would be valuable for David Morgan to have someone to support him with the administrative and organisational elements of his Chief Executive role.

Tasked with finding the support needed, David reached out to two providers. A Board member had suggested he speak to Sandy Hearn at Executive PA Solutions, and from his first conversation with her, David knew he had found the right fit.

He says: “Sandy immediately understood what we wanted to do, and I liked that she had a very clear offer. We would have a set number of hours of support per month with an element of flexibility within that.”

Sandy suggested that experienced executive PA Liz would be the right fit for David and the CDI. Much of Liz’s career to date has been in the education sector, which meant she would bring an understanding of the CDI’s world that would help her get up to speed quickly.

Approach
Liz has taken on all the administrative elements that were formerly part of the Honorary Secretary’s role. There are Board meetings every quarter and Liz handles all elements of the organisation of these meetings, including agreeing dates, booking venues, setting up planning meetings to finalise agendas and distributing papers beforehand.

She also attends the Board meetings and takes minutes. She ensures action points are distributed a few days after meetings take place to help the Board maintain momentum and focus, with full minutes following afterwards.

Liz has helped to give the Board greater visibility of matters by filing all documentation on SharePoint, which members can access remotely at any time.

David comments: “Liz has helped us to become more structured and to improve the processes we have in place. Everything feels simpler and quicker.”

For David, Liz has taken on diary management, ensuring he has regular meetings with key stakeholders and team members. She also helps in other areas where needed, including administrative tasks such as booking hotel rooms for Board members attending events on behalf of the CDI.

David says: “Before, I’d have a meeting with a key contact, we’d agree to meet again in six weeks’ time but wouldn’t put a date in the diary until it was too late. Having Liz means those regular meetings are always scheduled in.”

As well as the support he gets from Liz, David also highlights the support he gets from Sandy. He comments: “At the beginning, Sandy was in touch frequently to see how things were going and keep me up-to-date. Now, Sandy and I catch up quarterly for our review meetings, it’s good to feel she’s always there.”

Results
David was initially sceptical about the need for the support of an executive PA. He says: “My feeling at the time was if there was money to spend on extra resource, there were better places. However, I’m so glad we chose to work with an executive PA.”

Liz’s support has helped the Board with its work. David says: “It has helped to professionalise the operation of our Board. We’ve been able to recruit an Honorary Secretary and they’re able to focus on the governance aspect of the role rather than the administrative aspects.”

She is enabling David to be more strategic in his work too. “I didn’t realise how much time I was spending on tasks that were urgent but not important until Liz arrived. I have been freed up to spend more time with the team, work on policy, be in touch with members and liaise with stakeholders.”

He concludes: “It has been a very healthy investment. Everything is much more organised because you just have to speak to Liz and it’s sorted.”

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