Women on Boards
A seat of her own · 5 modules · 3 hours in all
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Free, twenty minutes from the start of the topic.
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1 course
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Course overview.
This Focus brings together all five modules of the Women on Boards topic. It opens with how boards work and where power sits, drawing on the Davies Review, the FTSE Women Leaders Review, the Higgs Review and Kanter's work on tokens, and Konrad, Kramer and Erkut's critical mass of three. It then sets out directors' duties under the Companies Act 2006, trustees' duties in the Charity Commission's CC3, practical ways to read annual reports and board papers, and the collapse of Kids Company. Next it covers board readiness, the skills matrix and public appointments, with a Welsh case study. It then explores the first hundred days, challenge and support, groupthink and the Theranos board, and closes with chairing and the EU Women on Boards Directive.
What you will gain.
Assess the evidence on women on boards, from UK voluntary targets to quotas, and make a balanced case built on decision quality, legitimacy and fairness.
Use a structured approach to read annual reports and board papers, and ask well-framed questions before and during the meeting.
Assess an organisation's financial resilience and your own due diligence as a trustee, drawing on the lessons of Kids Company.
See all 6 learning outcomes
Through this Focus course, you will build the ability to:
- Assess the evidence on women on boards, from UK voluntary targets to quotas, and make a balanced case built on decision quality, legitimacy and fairness.
- Use a structured approach to read annual reports and board papers, and ask well-framed questions before and during the meeting.
- Assess an organisation's financial resilience and your own due diligence as a trustee, drawing on the lessons of Kids Company.
- Compare the routes onto a board, including public appointments in England and Wales, and plan a board CV and interview that lead with judgement.
- Apply constructive challenge, support and practical influence techniques such as amplification, while keeping your independence as a habit.
- Plan open routes to the chair through succession, open recruitment and sponsorship, and compare the EU Directive with the UK's voluntary approach.
The modules.
01How Boards Work, and Where Power SitsFree Taster39 min
This module looks at boards from the inside: what they are for, how governance differs from management, and where influence really moves. It draws on the Davies Review and the FTSE Women Leaders Review, the Higgs Review's four elements of the non-executive role, Rosabeth Moss Kanter's work on tokens and the critical mass of three found by Konrad, Kramer and Erkut, and weighs the evidence on quotas honestly.
Bitesize: Board ready, with module 102Duties, Governance and Reading the Finances39 min
This module sets out what you take on when you join a board, and why it is manageable. It covers the seven general duties in sections 171 to 177 of the Companies Act 2006, the Dorchester Finance case, trustees' duties in the Charity Commission's CC3, codes from Cadbury and Nolan onwards, practical routes through annual reports and board papers, and the collapse of Kids Company.
Bitesize: Board ready, with module 203Board Readiness and Getting Appointed37 min
This module covers becoming board-ready and getting appointed: recognising what you already bring, using the board skills matrix, the four routes onto a board, and how public appointments work under the Governance Code on Public Appointments, with a Welsh case study. It draws on Chamorro-Premuzic and Ibarra, sets out how a board CV differs from a job CV, and covers due diligence and warning signs before you accept.
Bitesize: Board ready, with module 304Being an Effective Board Member35 min
This module explores how to move from appointed to influential: your first hundred days, the balance between challenge and support, and independence as a habit rather than a category, drawing on the Higgs Review. It examines building influence as one of few women, including amplification, then Irving Janis's groupthink and the Theranos board, and closes with a practical routine for managing conflicts of interest.
Bitesize: From member to chair, with module 405Chairing and Leading the Board34 min
This module examines why so few chairs are women and what it takes to lead a board well. Using the FTSE Women Leaders Review 2026, it looks at the pipeline to the chair, the chair's four-part role and the chair and chief executive relationship, the core skills of chairing and the board evaluation cycle. It covers open routes to the chair, Hewlett's case for sponsorship and the EU Women on Boards Directive.
Bitesize: From member to chair, with module 5
Immerse Days and Programmes That Use This Topic
Good GovernanceGoverning wellExplore6 hours£129
Chairing Meetings, Boards and CommitteesIn the chairExplore5 hours 30 minutes£129
Audit and AssuranceAssurance that countsExplore5 hours 30 minutes£129
Ethics, Integrity and StandardsIntegrity firstExplore5 hours 30 minutes£129
Strategic RiskRisk worth takingImmerse9 hours 30 minutes£249
AI and GovernanceMinding the machineExplore6 hours£129
Start small. Pay only the difference.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15.