First Flight is a search and selection consultancy specializing in recruiting Non-Executive Directors and Chairs. They have successfully completed in the region of 170 non-executive directors’ assignments across all sectors – clients include AIM listed and FTSE fledgling companies, unquoted companies, mutuals, Friendly Societies, SMEs, growth companies, family-owned companies, investment trusts, not-for-profit organisations, UK subsidiaries of multinationals and angel/VC/PE-backed companies.

Chris Spencer-Phillips, who co-founded First Flight in 2006, had no background in recruitment, having worked in the advertising and graphics industries and run publishing businesses. Coming out of semi-retirement and looking for inspiration, he was galvanized by Sir Derek Higgs’ 2003 report on improving the strength and quality of boards; “Given that independent Non-Executive Directors would now have to make up half of big company boards, and that small company boards would need two, I wondered where they would all come from”. First Flight was the response.

Chris is often surprised by the naivety of companies when they are searching for Non-Executive Directors: “there is a tendency towards the ‘male, pale and stale’ stereotype, with the board looking for appointees in their own image (and the larger search firms frequently presenting the same old names). This can mean they miss opportunities: for example, often there’s no-one on the board who ‘gets’ technological advances, social media or digital marketing”.

“Boards now have so many issues to contend with: regulatory ones, complex technologies, new technologies, shareholder relations, strategy, performance, operations, talent, leadership, succession planning, compliance, systems, reporting etc., so it is essential for the Board to be well balanced with diverse members so they can stay focused”.

In addition to a lack of boardroom diversity in terms of skills, progress on age, gender and race is also slow, “which means companies missing out on the vital and challenging debate prompted by different points of view”.

Things are changing, says Chris: “fortunately mutuals, like AIM-listed businesses, are waking up to the corporate governance responsibilities of non-executive directors. In the past, it was often a question of appointing a local worthy with limited business experience.” Private sector organisations too approached appointments in a relatively haphazard way: 75% were a friend or personal contact of an existing board member, and often didn’t face a formal interview.

Gratifyingly for people seeking their first appointment, according to Chris, “First Flight are particularly keen on first timers. They often have greater commitment and a fresh approach, they give more time and can be more effective”.

“We favour non-executive directors who are ‘live’, and are still in, or just out of, executive roles. They therefore have a better sense of where the mousetraps are; with things in business moving so fast this is helpful”.

Chris defines a high impact non-executive director as being involved for 40 or more days per annum; “it’s very difficult to make a difference on less than 20 days a year”.

However, with 10% of non-executive directors holding more than 10 appointments, it is clear that there is a prejudice towards those with existing commitments: “I really don’t know why – last year’s Non-Executive of the Year Award is symptomatic, having gone to someone who held numerous huge appointments, some without success like EasyJet and Barclays”.

“Some of our candidates do have a portfolio of non-executive roles, but we contend that more than four appointments for a director, or two for a chair, would mean that they are incapable of adding real value”.

First Flight don’t accept an assignment without a very clear discussion about what really matters: “Briefs are often produced by committee, who between them come up with an impossible number or combination of criteria. We work with organisations on a skills audit of the board to pinpoint what’s lacking. Sometimes HR people have no idea what a good NED can offer”.

Written by Zoë Blake following an interview with Chris Spencer-Phillips