I saw this amazing article in The Times this morning, which is worth a read by anyone running a charity. Its essentially about how Alex Ferguson's management of the Manchester United team and his great success was down to the way he built the culture. You can find it here sir-alex-fergusons-culture.

As a charity consultant, interim Chief Exec and sometime COO and CEO, I am often amazed at how Trustees want to concentrate on money, want quick fixes, are in thrall to the 'Halo effect' and more but do not understand why they must invest long term in the right culture, the right core values and behaviours as the foundation to better services, fundraising and recruitment.

Is this something you are aware of, ( I began a series of articles here: charitycheckup- core values on this ) when you recruit does your questions matrix include culture as well as competencies? Do your stated values have ubiquitous words like transparency in them, or do they contain powerful universals that specifically relate to your charity and attitudes you could take with you when you leave. 

I always give the example of the Judo Code (themselves developed from an older Code called the Bushido Code) as a fantastic set of values and behaviours, they have lasted over a 120 years in this form and are the backbone of what in 1955  was a sport not many people had heard of. Honour, Honesty, Courage, Friendship, Respect, Courtesy, Self Control, Modesty.

I would be interested to know if your charity has a set of core values and behaviours, how were they created, how are they reviewed. How do you monitor whether managers set examples through these behaviours and values and that staff embody them?