A REVIEW of Winchester Cathedral identified “significant failings in leadership and management”, the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, said on Monday, when a summary of the review was published.
The Dean, the Very Revd Catherine Ogle, has announced that she’s going to immediately hand over leadership of the cathedral, before her previously announced retirement on 1 May. The Vice-Dean, Canon Roly Riem, is to take charge of implementing the review’s recommendations, a lot of which, Dean Ogle said, were “already under way”.
In a press release, the Dean apologised on behalf of the Chapter to “everyone who has been hurt by the events of the previous few months”. The Chapter, she said, had to just accept “collective responsibility”, but, as its leader, she was stepping back.
Bishop Mounstephen said that “nobody person is entirely in charge.” He also sought to stress that Winchester was not a “failing cathedral”, and that the reviewers had found “much to rejoice”.
He said that, while reading the report, he had been struck that “actions that weren’t taken maliciously or with sick intent, can, none the less, have seriously detrimental consequences”.
According to the terms under which it was conducted, the complete report is not going to be made public, Bishop Mounstephen said. This had “enabled people to be candid with the reviewers”, and was consistent with the Church Commissioners’ “draft statutory guidance for such reviews”.
Although the review was commissioned by Bishop Mounstephen as diocesan bishop, responsibility for implementing its recommendations fell to the Dean and Chapter, he said.
Bishop Mounstephen, paying tribute to the Dean, said that the cathedral had “flourished in so some ways under caring and positive leadership”, and that Canon Riem had his “full support” as Interim Dean.
The review was commissioned in response to the fallout within the cathedral from the departure of the longstanding director of music, Dr Andrew Lumsden, in May last 12 months (News, 18 June 2024).
The review was conducted by a partner on the law firm Winckworth Sherwood, Patti Russell, and a former Dean of Norwich, the Very Revd Jane Hedges. They interviewed 47 members of the cathedral community, and reviewed greater than 140 submissions.
Upon starting interviews in September, the reviewers “immediately encountered stress and, in some cases, extreme pain at what had happened to the institution, to themselves and to other individuals caught up within the fall-out”, they write in an extract of the introduction to the report, included within the summary.
Mistakes had been made by the leadership team on the cathedral, they write, through “misunderstandings . . . poor judgement . . . inadequate advice . . . organisational culture . . . and a few simply as a result of individual personalities”. It was also their view that the leadership weren’t “deliberately dishonest or “uncaring”.
The reviewers add that further mistakes were made “in consequence of the media hate campaign” that followed Dr Lumsden’s departure. Little detail is provided within the published summary about what the review calls “bad behaviour” by the media.
The published remarks do, though, confer with “individuals who of their passion for Cathedral music have mis-directed their energies in a such a way that paradoxically they’ve caused further damage to the institution which they love”.
The reviewers recommend that the posts of Director of Music, which had been occupied by Dr Lumsden for 22 years until his unexpected resignation last 12 months, and Precentor — a position held by Canon Andy Trenier since 2019 — be restructured, and the music strategy be “revisited”.
They recommend that the Precentor proceed to administer the Director of Music, but that the latter has “direct access to the Dean as and when crucial”. The reviewers also recommend that each one other staff within the music department must be managed by the Director of Music.
Canon Trenier, the summary of the review says, “was appointed to bring change by delivering a recent music strategy. There is way to be commended about this strategy. However, it was not properly communicated or consulted upon.”
The reviewers discover “silo working” and the “management styles amongst certain senior leaders” as contributing to the crisis, but says that these can’t be described intimately “due to the need for confidentiality”.
In outline, these amounted to a “failure to appropriately manage people, including the management of poor performance, unacceptable behaviour and contractual changes”, together with a “culture of secrecy, as a result of a misunderstanding of appropriate confidentiality and the aversion of key individuals to conflict”.
“Failures in communication” are also cited by the reviewers as a contributory factor. An additional report by a “communications consultant” has been written, the summary published on Monday reveals. It is recommended that its findings must be implemented.
The contents of the specialist report are usually not descibred, but the general review emphasises that “constructing relationships of trust” is a necessary a part of this work, and recommends that the cathedral construct a culture based on the principle of “radical candour” — a management-studies concept geared toward integrating honesty and directness right into a supportive environment.
In the published portion of the introduction, the reviewers strike a positive note on the outlook for Winchester Cathedral, saying that there’s “every reason to have hope for the long run and that what has gone incorrect previously might be put right”.
This is expanded within the summary, which praises the Dean, and says that there many people “with passion for the life and worship of the Cathedral”.
“Indeed it’s widely accepted that prior to the events that precipitated the present crisis, the Cathedral was being thoroughly led,” they write, and ask that their recommendations “be read on this very positive light”.
