Croydon Churches Housing Association (CCHA) was founded in 1967 in response to the housing need. Now, they have over 1,500 homes across Croydon, Sutton and Bromley. Recently, Convene spoke to their Governance Manager, Chris Abad.
Read on to see how Convene enhances CCHA’s board.
CCHA’s board structure
So, we’re a housing association. We have a board of 10 and we use Convene as an easy way of sharing documentation virtually. And to also store our data just as an easy method of accessibility and in sharing documents easily.
Why CCHA implemented a board portal
I think that’s the way forward, I think, kind of the old school emails just doesn’t work in this day and age. You’ve got all your information in one place, ease of accessibility. It’s protected.
All your data is in one place and everybody’s getting the same data at the same time. You’ve also got the opportunity to book meetings in advance and have a successful meeting with all the data available to them.
Convene and agendas
I’ve planned my calendar for next year. All my data can preset my meetings. All of that’s done. In fact, as soon as my agenda is planned it can go on Convene. If I need people to see it in advance, I can control who has data and who doesn’t have data. I think it supports in the planning and efficiency. It just makes everything so much more efficient.
It makes my life easy. Who wouldn’t want to make their life easy?
How Convene fits into the meeting process
For me, [the packs] go out on a Monday between 9 and 10. I’ve got my pack ready. I know what I’m sharing with everybody. They will know what’s coming into their inbox and they have a space of time to read it all before the meeting and a space of time to get any questions in.
How Convene encourages transparency
Experienced people can ask more lengthy questions and you have the ability to see it with the answers on the documentation and it’s there for everybody. I think the openness and transparency makes a board a bit more cohesive.
You get to know who raises the type of question, like a data question or [a] ‘What if?’ question. You’ll know from working with colleagues who raises what type of questions.
You welcome different types of questions and the transparency of it whilst in the meeting.
Our support specialists
It’s been pretty good. I think anything we’ve asked for you’ve all been supportive. It’s quick and booked in like the induction. And for any of our members, it’s been helpful and very quick to be fair. I think the wider team are really on it, the speed of contact is pretty good. Can’t fault that.
Convene’s Document Library
We do use the Library quite extensively. I avoid emails. I think if you email somebody it’s a waste of time because that person might have 500 emails. What we do is we sign post them to the Library and provide a link and just say ‘Can you read this document?’ or ‘Here’s this for your information.’
Why would you recommend Convene?
It’s simple to use. I think the functionality is pretty good. The data storage and accessing information that you might need for other areas of governances is second to none.
All the data is there. […] Plus, you’ve got in your Library, the history of information which is very supportive to us.
Just using other functionalities like breakouts if we’re having different discussion. […] Having it all on one system. The simplicity of it all, the ease of functionality is just supportive and it does save you time.
If you think Convene can enhance your board, book a demo today. We’d love to get in touch.