Tenterden Mindfulness Group (TMG) are seeking to recruit a suitably experienced Board Chair as the charity moves into its next stage of development. TMG is a leading provider of Mindfulness training both locally, in Kent and East Sussex, as well as nationally via on-line offerings. They are committed to helping improve physical, social, mental and emotional health through education in the practice of Mindfulness across the age spectrum.
Brief History of TMG
Tenterden Mindfulness Group (TMG) came into being following a series of events in the life of its founder Dr Neil Pillai, a local GP. Having followed an 8-week Mindfulness course and felt the impact on his own health, wellbeing, and happiness, his curiosity led him to explore the why by attending a course at Oxford University’s Mindfulness Centre (OMC). Through this, he found there was a significant evidence-base founded in neuroscience and that the brain could be fundamentally changed by regular mindfulness practice.
As a GP, Neil was in the privileged position of being allowed into the personal lives of his patients and recognized that Mindfulness had the potential to help many more people to deal more effectively with life challenges and, by learning to appreciate what’s already here in the present, live a more flourishing life in the midst of it all. Neil started to deliver some Mindfulness courses in 2014 and by 2016 Tenterden Mindfulness Group was established to share the knowledge, understanding and practice of Mindfulness. In December 2018, following a few years of growth, TMG became a registered charity and since then has grown from strength to strength expanding its reach demographically and geographically.
‘’Mindfulness is one way of learning to relate to our experiences in more helpful ways than we may have done in the past. We then give ourselves more of a chance to live our lives in ways that support our own wellbeing and those of those around us. But like any skill, it does require training and practice and TMG aims to support this in whatever way it can.” – Dr Neil Pillai
Outline of New Management Structure
Over the past year the TMG Board of Trustees has taken steps to rationalise and strengthen its governance and management structures, together with its internal and external communication strategies. Whilst the Board of Trustees remains the sovereign body, there now exists in TMG a structure of three separate but interlocking groups with discrete responsibilities for a) organisation and management (OMG: Organisation and Management Group); b) course planning, delivery and design (TG: Teachers’ Group); and c) providing feedback to the organisation from client service users (FFG: Feedback and Focus Group). Nominated Trustees sit on each of these groups, together with other key TMG members.
Responsibilities of Chair
Internal Responsibilities
- To convene and chair meetings of the Tenterden Mindfulness Group (TMG).
- To ensure that TMG has in place all necessary governance processes, and to oversee and monitor compliance with such processes.
- To respect the full range of opinions within TMG, to encourage dialogue upon such opinions, and to seek to achieve consensus in a democratic and supportive way where differences exist.
- To oversee the various management tasks relevant to the maintenance and development of the organisation.
- To ensure there is in place a secure and accurate list of all TMG members, in compliance with GDPR requirements and to keep this list updated on a regular basis.
- To ensure there is in place a fair but robust complaints procedure subject to independent scrutiny accessible to all TMG members and service users.
- To execute, together with the Administrator and Finance Trustee all financial responsibilities associated with the post with due diligence, as set out in the TMG constitution.
External Responsibilities
- To act jointly with the TMG Ambassador as the lead public faces and voice of TMG within the wider community with joint responsibility for developing/maintaining relations with external stakeholders.
- To act jointly with the TMG Ambassador as default contact for external communications.
- To encourage recruitment of new members, and the development of new courses and other activities, through appropriate publicity and other networking campaigns.
Essential qualities for the holder of this post
- Record of effective leadership within a small local charity or equivalent organisation.
- Understanding of the structure and legal responsibilities accorded to Trustees within a CIO, including any financial liabilities of members.
- Demonstrable and evidence-based understanding of the nature of effective leadership within such an organisation including the need to build consensus, respect and collegiality.
- Understanding and awareness of the range of likely needs of TMG users - personal, emotional and social - and a capacity to show empathy with and to help meet such needs.
- Excellent communication skills, in particular the capacity to listen to others and to find solutions to any problems thereby presented.
- Willingness to devote time and energy to promoting the profile of TMG in the wider community.
Desirable qualities for the holder of this post
- Good IT skills.
- Experience of networking within the local community.
Applying for Post
Candidates who feel they meet the above criteria are invited to apply having first registered their CV with First Flight Non-Executive Directors www.firstflightnonexec.com/candidates/register-cv (if they have not already done so – there is no charge) by using the “Apply for Role” tab for role Number 1117 and by completing the application form explaining how they match the key criteria we have set out for the role.
?A DBS check and declaration of interests will be required for the successful candidate prior to appointment.
PLEASE NOTE: interviews are provisionally planned for the week commencing 22nd February 2021.
Deadline for applications: Friday, 5th February 2021.
