Governance
As an Association we know that our values and beliefs are key to creating the right culture for us to succeed in the achievement of our Vision and Mission. Everyone who represents Lincolnshire FA strives every day to bring these beliefs to life.
We believe in…
• Acting with integrity, by ensuring we do the right thing and not the easy thing (even when no one is watching) is in the best interest of the game.
• Being progressive in all that we do, always looking for ways to continuously improve through giving our staff the freedom to innovate will help us best meet the needs of the game.
• Being transparent in all that we do, will help us build relationships that will last the test of time as they will be grounded through high levels of trust
• Recognising and rewarding the hard work, effort, and achievements of everyone who supports and makes the game possible ‘For All’ will help us to ensure that people who make a positive difference feel valued & appreciated
• The pride we have for the work we do drives us to care about everyone involved in football in our community as we know this will be key to making our Vision a reality
The Board and Council of the Lincolnshire FA are made up of volunteers who give up their time to manage the Association to deliver and develop football across the county. Both Directors and Council members have limits to their terms of office. Where a vacancy arises, all roles, whether a Director or Council are appointed to via an open and transparent recruitment process. Appointments are made based on the skills, knowledge and experience of candidates to ensure the Association recruits personnel who can positively contribute to the development of Lincolnshire football.
Board Diversity Statement
The Board of Directors of the Lincolnshire Football Association recognises that decision making is improved when a Board is able to draw upon and harness a diverse range of opinions. The Board is committed to ensuring that its makeup is diverse, and as a minimum, reflective of the population of Lincolnshire and reflective of our football community.
As such, the Association requested that the Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG) outline the approach the Board should take in relation to Director representation. The targets put forward by the IAG have been fully adopted by the Board. The Board have set targets around gender, age and disability. The IAG proposed that an ethnicity target should not be set. The rationale behind this decision was that the ethnic population of Lincolnshire is overwhelming white (96% white, 2% Asian/Asian British, 1% mixed, 0.5% black and 0.5% other). Given that only 4% of Lincolnshire's population is ethnically diverse, the IAG wanted to underline that a more ambitious approach should be taken. The Board believe this shows diversity of thought where a "tick box" approach would be the wrong one. It is imperative that diversity and inclusion are embedded in the County's culture.
Whilst the ethnic population of Lincolnshire is overwhelming white, the Board is fully committed to being representative, where possible, of other protected characteristics, including ethnicity, dual nationality and English as a second language where possible. All protected characteristics will be front of mind when recruiting for all future Board members with data being collected to help monitor the reach of communications. If we find we are not reaching or attracting applications from an ethnically diverse background, we will review the channels through which we advertise our vacancies.
The current levels of ethnic minority representation on the Board are 18%. The Board is fully committed to having Directors who reflect the local demographic and are fully committed to maintaining and supporting current levels, but given the demographic it may not be possible to maintain as Directors reach term limits.
In order to achieve, as a minimum, representation in line with our population demographic, the Board will:-
- Annually review Director representation through the Diversity Inclusion Plan.
- Work with the IAG to identify potential candidates from an ethnic minority background who have the relevant skill set, should a Director vacancy arise.
- Continue to implement a targeted approach to identifying potential candidates to apply for vacant Director roles.
- Continue to seek specialist external support to ensure the content and language of promotional information is inclusive of the communities we are seeking to engage with.
- Continue to promote the work of the Association across our different communities, including, given the size of our County, utilising our expanded Council to support our community engagement.
The makeup of the Board of the Lincolnshire FA clearly demonstrates our diversity given our ethnic representation, our gender representation and our disability representation; we believe that nothing is as strong as seeing real diversity on the Board. This sends a strong statement about us as an Association and our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
|
Intent |
Target |
Timescale |
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GENDER To have an equal voice across all genders on the Board which is representative of Greater Lincolnshire.
|
To undertake all appropriate actions to ensure a minimum of 30% gender diversity of Board Members.
For the gender split to be 50% / 50% (non-binary membership to follow in due course) |
In place
July 2028 |
|
AGE To have broader representation across age groups on the Board, with a specific focus on younger voices to provide diversity of thought across multiple generations, as well as representing a large portion of the football community. |
10% of Directors to be aged under 25 |
ASAP |
|
DISABILITY To increase disability representation on the Board, in line with Lincolnshire demographic data, which shows 19% of individuals identifying as having a disability or long term health condition |
10% of Directors identifying as having a disability/Long Term Physical or Mental Health Condition |
Jan 2028 |
|
ETHNICITY Whilst the ethnic population of Lincolnshire is overwhelming white, the Board is fully committed to being representative, where possible, of other protected characteristics, including ethnicity, dual nationality and English as a second language where possible. All protected characteristics should be front of mind when recruiting for all future Board members and thus data should be collected, if possible, from all applications, to help monitor the reach of communications. |
No specific targets around other characteristics, due to the makeup of the county, however it is a clear statement of intent. |
Ongoing |