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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
09 December 2019
Updated: 07 December 2020
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How do you keep going after 25 years in one sector? How do you know that you are doing a good job? How do you know what your purpose or ‘deepest work’ is? How do you know your next steps in your career? You join the Clore Social Women and Girls programme and you find out!
The programme inspired and challenged me at a fundamental level; being with women from the sector and learning from others’ experiences was deeply challenging and humbling. The Clore Social programme used a variety of interactive learning methods to draw out our experience. From YouTube clips, inspiring speakers, journal articles, homework, workshops, group exercises, coaching, Action Learning Sets and one-to-ones, aided by an abundance of post-its and sharpies, we trawled through a massive amount of content. It’s demanding and requires you to commit… and to juggle your workload.
However, having completed the course, I will claim several things:
- I am more able and willing to step forward knowing that I will fail. One session by Liz Peters enabled us to take big theatrical bow when we got a silly exercise wrong. I’ve taken this to the office and when I take a ‘failure bow’ I make it good. The message is, ‘It’s ok to make mistakes. It’s ok to get it wrong.’ I’ve learned to ask myself, ‘What will you do about it - wallow or learn?’
- I am still learning to say, ‘YES, AND...’ instead of, ‘YES, BUT…’ as this can be a powerful enabler to the team around me.
- I am more aware of my energy and attention and when I work best. After a one-to-one coaching session with the excellent Pat Joseph, I prioritise diary dates, planning and margins and therefore work to my strengths.
- I have accepted more speaking engagements. Using the power poses that Liz emphasised you’ll find me breathing and standing like Wonder Woman before I speak, imagining amazing women cheering me on.
- I am more aware of the strengths and the issues that women with disabilities face thanks to learning from women in our group.
- I am more aware of a ‘systems thinking’ approach after the session with Jennie McShannon. Asking key questions about the root causes of a problem and how we can work together to bring about change comes more naturally to me. I still need further work on this!
- I am more connected and able to offer and receive support from my cohort. Our Action Learning Set will carry on and the five us will keep learning from each other, thanks to Jane Garnham our fantastic facilitator. I have also taken the bold step of training to be an Action Learning Set Facilitator and I’m booked on the training course. I wouldn’t have done that before. I would have discounted myself.
Leaders face an enormous amount of issues, women in leadership even more so. The problems that I arrived with are still there, yet my perspective has shifted. I am more aware of my own and others’ strengths, our purpose and my ‘deepest work’. As a result, I think I can carry on longer in the resilient yet fragile women’s sector which deals with so much trauma and injustice. I know I’m doing a bloody good job and I want to enable others to know that too – including you! If you have read this far then I hope this is prompting you to apply... to get the dates in the diary… to talk with your Trustees...
Most of all, I’ve learned from all these women I have met. I’d like to think they have rubbed off on me, helped me to emerge and not listen to the ‘imposter voice’ that seeks to stop me before I start. What a dreamy and inspiring space to enter! I can’t recommend it more highly. But give it your all, make the most of it, stay curious, you might just find out your ‘deepest work’ and get some tools to help you be the best version of you, failures and all.
Josephine Knowles is the Co-Director (and Co-Founder) of Beyond the Streets, a charity that works with women facing sexual exploitation - and is the organisation’s only Argentine Tango dancer!
Tags:
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
18 October 2019
Updated: 07 December 2020
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By developing our social leadership capabilities we can increase our impact for our teams, beneficiaries and sector. But the journey of leadership development is far from easy.
It’s hard to find time for learning and development when the immediate needs of the social sector are so great. So how can we commit to (and stick with) our own leadership development? This blog post explores how understanding our personal tendencies can help us stick with our leadership development goals.
Know yourself and your tendencies
Leadership development must start with self-awareness, which is why our programmes start with “Know yourself, be yourself, look after yourself”. But for a leader, self-awareness is about more than knowing your strengths and weaknesses. It’s also about understanding how to make time for your leadership development and what strategies can help you stick with your development goals.
"The question we should ask ourselves is: How do I respond to expectations?"
According to Gretchen Rubin the question we should ask ourselves is “How do I respond to expectations?”. In her book The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too), Rubin explains that we all face two kinds of expectations—outer expectations (meet work deadlines, answer a request from a friend) and inner expectations (keep a New Year’s resolution, start exercising). Our response to expectations determines our “Tendency”—that is, whether we fit into the category of “Upholder”, “Questioner”, “Obliger”, or “Rebel”.
“Upholders” respond readily to outer and inner expectations. They keep the work deadline, and the New Year’s resolution, fairly easily.
“Questioners” question all expectations; they’ll meet an expectation if they think it makes sense and meets their inner standards — so they follow their own inner expectations.
“Obligers” meet outer expectations, but struggle to meet expectations they impose on themselves. An Obliger journalist has no trouble writing when she has an editor, colleagues, and deadlines, but struggles to write a novel in her free time.
“Rebels” resist all expectations, outer and inner alike. They want to do what they want, in their own way, and if you ask or tell them to do something, they’re likely to resist.
Developing strategies according to your tendencies
According to a nationally representative sample for the US, Rubin’s research found that, the US population roughly breaks down along the four tendencies:
- 41% Obligers,
- 24% Questioners
- 19% Upholders
- 17% Rebels
If we have some insights into what our tendencies are, it’s easier for us to make a leadership development plan that we actually stick with. Understanding other people's tendencies can help us understand how to best support them in their development. Here are some strategies to consider for different people with different tendencies, that can help them stick with their development goals.
Scheduling (most important for Upholders)
Scheduling is a powerful tool for Upholders. They love to keep a schedule and march through every item. They can make time for leadership development by putting it on the calendar. Upholders can meet inner expectations, but only when those inner expectations are articulated. This means that it’s important to schedule a time for self reflection or coaching to help articulate their development goals.
Clarity (most important for Questioners)
For Questioners, creating Clarity is key to starting a new habit. They want to know exactly what they’re doing, and why. They won’t meet an expectation if they don’t understand the reason. They need robust answers and must clearly see and trust the authority and expertise of the person asking them to meet that expectation.
Identity (most important for Rebels)
For Rebels, the most effective habit-change strategy is to connect the new habit to their identity. Because Rebels place great value on being true to themselves, they can embrace a habit if they view it as a way to express their identity. Creating Clarity is also helpful to Rebels, because it focuses on why a habit might have personal value for them. The more Rebels think about what they want, and why they want it, the more effectively they pursue it.
Accountability (most important for Obligers)
All Four Tendencies (even, under certain circumstances, Rebels) find accountability to be useful for developing habits, but Obligers absolutely require structures of external accountability. If you (like me and 41% of people) are an obliger, it can be difficult to meet your goals in the absence of external accountability. That means you need to build that external accountability into your leadership development.
One programme that taps into people's need for accountability to help organise their development is Clore Social’s new programme called Peer Journey. Recently, a cohort of social leaders have kicked off their journey. They’ve all picked a leadership challenge they are faced with that they will work to address over the next 10 weeks. They are grouped into smaller peer groups that they’ll regularly check in with to help support each other, learn from each other and (importantly) hold each other accountable.
The Peer Journey Programme can work for Upholders (if they schedule time for it), Questioners (if they understand why) and Rebels (if they identify with it) alike - but it’s especially helpful to Obligers. One of the previous participants put their finger on it by saying:
"I just know that if they hadn't been there waiting for me, I never would have finished the things I had planned."
“The accountability of the peer group was huge to me. I just know that if they hadn't been there waiting for me, I never would have finished the things I had planned.”
How do you respond to internal and external expectations?
How can you use these insights to create the conditions needed for you to make time for and stick with your leadership development.
To learn more about building habits and understanding people’s tendencies watch the talk: Gretchen Rubin: The 4 Ways to Successfully Adopt New Habits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBNEVXg2CNU
Take the four tendencies quiz to identify your tendency: https://quiz.gretchenrubin.com/four-tendencies-quiz/
Blog by Nora Dettor, Digital Transformation Manager, Clore Social Leadership
Tags:
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
03 June 2019
Updated: 23 October 2020
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There’s a wonderful scene in the opening of Disney’s new remake of Aladdin where Aladdin, with a sparkle in his eye and a cheeky smile, takes his first leap across the rooftops in the song “One Jump Ahead”.
My daughters watched entranced, caught up in the magic and wonder of the film. I loved it too, and it got me thinking about the very human story of a plucky, courageous boy – fighting against conventions and assumptions and using his confidence and playfulness to help him reach his goals (with a little help from a Genie of course!). It struck me that this is what we ask of our social leaders who join Clore Social on our programmes – to take that first jump into exploring what it takes to develop inspirational, empowering and passionate leadership capabilities; to stretch themselves to take that bold step on their leadership development journey.
What we can’t provide on our programmes is Genie magic (although it’s something we are working on!), but when Will Smith’s endearing Genie says “you look like a Prince on the outside, but I didn’t change anything on the inside,” he strikes right at the heart of the Clore Social approach to leadership. Knowing himself, and being an authentic leader, is central to Aladdin’s success.
‘Know yourself, be yourself, look after yourself’ lies at the heart of the Clore Social leadership development model. Greater self awareness can help you build your resilience so that you can respond flexibly to the challenges you face. And “courageous changemaker” is one of the key components of our leadership capabilities framework. On our programmes, participants discover what it takes to lead with courage, and we have fun with it too, reigniting the playful aspect of work, with a sparkle in our eye – Aladdin style!
This summer we are setting a challenge to social leaders across the country through our #leadershipstartsnow campaign. We are asking you to take that same running jump that Aladdin did and take the next bold step on your leadership journey. We want to galvanise leaders across the social and non-profit sector to join our growing community of change-makers who are making an impact on their organisations, communities and the world around them.
To help you, we have thrown open the doors of Clore Social and through our online Backpack resource have made available our most impactful tools gathered from ten years of running innovative leadership programmes.
In the Backpack you will find some great ideas for developing your leadership capabilities; and a new series of videos featuring Clore Social staff and coaches will give you inspiration to take your leadership to the next level.
With the recent Unite survey reporting that 80 per cent of charity workers saying they have experienced workplace stress and more than 40 per cent of them saying their jobs are damaging their mental health, there is no better time to take that “one jump ahead” on your leadership journey.
Dip in and see what you can find – and share your favourite tools with your network. We hope you’ll find a bit of Genie magic sparkle in there too!
Blog by Victoria Flint, Director of Marketing and Communications, Clore Social Leadership
Tags:
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
30 January 2019
Updated: 23 October 2020
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Blog by Louise Drake, Director of Programmes and Innovation at Clore Social Leadership
How often do you find yourself saying these things? Or secretly thinking this to yourself and feeling guilty that you haven’t achieved what you set out to achieve? Or taking work home that you never got a chance to do during the ‘working’ day?
If you say these things more often than you’d like, read on.
At Clore Social Leadership, our Leadership Development Framework starts like all great leadership frameworks, requiring leaders to learn more about themselves (warts and all) before moving on to consider the other complexities involved in leading people and organisations. ‘Know Yourself, Be Yourself, Look After Yourself’ is where we start, requiring a holistic view of the ‘leader’ as a whole person. Invariably, productivity, time management and work life balance are a few topics which arise in the ‘look after yourself’ element.
‘Productivity’ is a hot topic in many spheres, not least in understanding why the UK lags behind many other nations. Whole government departments are trying to understand the UK productivity gap and how to close it. So it is no surprise that on an individual and organisational level, it is something worth spending time reviewing. In my opinion, leaders should spend time considering their own personal productivity and that of their organisation, because it is fundamental to healthy, thriving individuals and organisations doing their best work, something everyone working for social change should aim to achieve.
As part of the programmes at Clore Social, we advise Graham Allcott’s Productivity Ninja in our top list of books you should read. This month, I have embarked on a deep dive review of ‘productivity’, attending workshops with Graham and Bat-Hen G, both inspiring individuals hacking their way to productivity. I share my key learnings and top tips below and hope it gives anyone feeling overwhelmed a sense that there are solutions, and at least some inspiration for those of you reading who may already be on the productivity journey.
1. It’s about attention, not about time. We live in an age where some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley are working on how best to grab every inch of attention from you, mostly via your phone. Manage your attention, not your time. For more on this concept, read this.
2. Once you have conquered your attention, the next thing to realise is your attention across a 24 hour period is not equal. We are humans after all and not computers, so we have rhythms and we are impacted by our biology more than we would like to believe. Jump out of bed and love the morning? Get your best ideas at 1am? Lucky larks, the working world is built for you. Night owls, figure out the system that works for you. Watch Daniel Pink talk about time here.
3. Agility. Be OK with being agile, and by that I mean, being OK with changing your own priorities and, as a leader, those of your organisation. Tech companies have been working in an agile way for a long time and we’re all starting to catch-on. It’s still hard, if you make a ‘to-do’ list of things or goals for the day, giving them up can on some level feel a bit like failure. It’s not. We live in a fast paced work. In Bat-Hen G said in her session ‘tech start-ups are used to changing their priorities on a day by day if not hour by hour basis. You may have to review your priorities a couple of times a day, in such a fast paced environment’. I’d argue that in some social change organisations that is also the case, especially for those on the frontline. You can’t know what the future will bring and it’s OK to change your task priorities on a daily basis. Note of caution - be sure to have a structure to your agility, and communication is key here for leaders if you don’t want to leave your teams in a spin. Examples of agile working practices can be found here. An interesting review of agile working can be found here.
4. Create a second-brain system. Your brain is not built for memory - allow it to do its best work, which includes creative thinking and problem solving (the stuff you are employed for and I expect you really enjoy). Creating a ‘second-brain’ has many benefits but one I’d like to pick out for leaders is the concept of being ‘Response-able’, not responsible. Of course, as leaders you have responsibility, however it is your job to be Response-able. Leadership happens in times of crisis and opportunity. You should have a system and a second brain that allows you to know what is happening and needs to be done, so if there’s an opportunity or crisis you need to deal with, you can. You have the capacity and a second brain that you can turn to and delegate the appropriate tasks and roles. Especially in moments of crisis, if you try and remember all the other things that need to be done, you won’t. The second brain system will be your best friend in so many ways and will allow you the achieve top tip 3, but allowing you to be comfortable with being more agile. Read more about second brain here.
5. Essentialism. ‘Do the right things, not everything’. This top tip may sound like it is contradicting the two above, but stay with me. If you know the broader mission and vision you want to achieve, a question to consider personally and organisationally is ‘what is my/our highest point of contribution?’. By keeping this in mind, you can learn to say no to things that do not help you achieve your mission and vision at your highest point of contribution. You can be more agile in the day to day as you can be sure you know where you are headed without knowing exactly how you will get there. When working to achieve change, saying no can be the hardest word, but for your personal and organisational impact it should be in your top words as a leader. Read the 4 minute book summary of Essentialism.
I could go on, but in my attempt to be more ‘healthily’ productive I’ll stop now.
A lot of what we look at in leadership development is changing behaviours and habits, and some of these are heavily ingrained. Try a few of these out and if you struggle at first, try, try and try again. You won’t necessarily become a productivity ninja or time hacker overnight, but having a go at a few of the top tips may well start you on your path to feeling less overwhelmed and more productive.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
23 October 2017
Updated: 23 October 2020
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Don Macdonald, a trainer, trustee and former charity CEO, is writing a series of New to Management blogs for us. His new book, Twenty First Century Skills for Nonprofit Managers, published by BEP, is available to buy now.
As charity leaders and managers, we have all received rejection letters or emails from funding agencies or trusts, some of which in turn threatened the future of our organisations. The first duty of a charity is to survive, and according to management consultant Peter Drucker, management is obviously instrumental in leading the organisation through difficult times and ensuring survival.
There are recent lessons from the private sector about this. Provident Financial radically changed its business model, switching over sales staff and customers to Internet use, and changing from local part-time staff to full-timers. Debts rose and profits fell drastically because traditional customers were averse to this approach. The shares crashed out of the FTSE 100 and the CEO had to leave.
Why do charities collapse?
There are numerous reasons why charities collapse or close down, some of which overlap.
- The need which they were set up to overcome no longer exists, or never really existed in the first place;
- The need still exists but the funding disappears e.g. training charities after the introduction of the UK Work Programme;
- The business model is all wrong;
- Malpractice or mismanagement.
One of the most destructive cases is when a founding CEO directs the organisation on the wrong track. An example was Novas Scarman, founded in 1998 as a care and homeless charity, which crashed from a 2008 turnover of £21 million to closure in 2012, with redundancy for 300 staff.
However this also happens to long-established organisations. The English YWCA, set up in 1855, has virtually disappeared, yet the YW pioneered really interesting youth work in the 1950/60s, including outreach work with young women and men. The YW also provided 4,000 beds for young woman, centrally managed in 1996. After this, the YW was hit with a huge demand to install essential fire precautions in its hostels; it had not saved sufficient funds for these, so they sold all their hostels and carried on with youth work, rebranding as Platform 51 in 2010. Two years later, as Civil Society reported, ‘Platform 51’s spending ... (had) outstripped its income by more than £1m each year since 2008.’ So in 2014, it transferred its remaining youth work to another charity and became a small research and lobbying organisation.
Yet if you take the right action at the right time, it is possible to rescue an organisation from severe deficits. The UK Outward Bound Trust had a deficit of £3 million on a turnover of £8/9 million in the 1990s and was ‘close to insolvency’ according to its current director. It was turned round by an interim CEO, who had run the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, through a process of restructuring and offering shorter courses.
Do’s and Don’ts
So what should a manager or leader do to prevent such issues?
- Show leadership, be resilient, don’t panic and seek help and advice;
- Always keep on top of the finances;
- Think long-term, stay well-informed to predict trends, and produce a realistic work plan which should be regularly updated to look ahead for at least three years;
- Do not put all your eggs in one funding basket - diversify so that if one fund winds up, you have other options;
- Do keep evolving, but change a winning formula gradually - not so radically that success is destroyed;
- Carry out a regular risk analysis and save for emergencies.
Please share your views and comments below, or join the conversation on Twitter.
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