This website uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some of these cookies are used for visitor analysis, others are essential to making our site function properly and improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Click Accept to consent and dismiss this message or Deny to leave this website. Read our Privacy Statement for more.
Skills and Development
Blog Home All Blogs

Tips for 2017 Fellowship applicants

Posted By Clore Social Leadership, 27 July 2016
Updated: 14 October 2020
With the closing date for applications fast approaching (midday on Monday 5 September 2016), everyone at Clore Social Leadership is hugely excited to receive applications to our 2017 programme. However, we understand that the process can be a little daunting, so in addition to our FAQs and selection criteria, we have devised a few key points to help guide you through it.

1. Have the support of your employer/nominator

The support of your employer during the Fellowship process is paramount. Your employer needs to understand that the programme is not just an investment in your own leadership development, but an investment in the whole social sector.

Your employer will need to understand their own commitment, as well as the benefits that their organisation will gain from your Fellowship. The support of your employer will become a key element of your development as a leader over the 12 months. From providing you space to share your learnings with your organisation to assisting you with progress and impact surveys, we expect them to stay engaged throughout the Fellowship.

We expect your employer to be your nominator; they will normally be either your Chief Executive or your Chair. In exceptional cases it might be a senior leader in the social sector who knows you well. Make sure they are briefed thoroughly before applying.

More detailed information on the commitment and benefits to employers can be found in the Information for Employers section of our Prospectus.

2. Demonstrate how and why the Fellowship is right for you at this particular time

We want to see what your reasons are for applying to the 2017 Fellowship at this particular point in your life. Where are you on your leadership journey, and why would the Fellowship be right for you now? What do you hope the Fellowship help you achieve?

This will show us whether you have the vision and self-awareness, as well as readiness and head-space necessary to make the most of the opportunity that our 12-month programme will provide you with.

3. Clearly illustrate how you will give back to your organisation and the sector

Although we are strong believers that leadership development encompasses your individual journey, we also strongly hold that it is in fact much bigger than that. We see leadership development as an investment in the whole sector, a way of strengthening the social sector for the future. This is why giveback is one of the key aspects of the Fellowship.

We are therefore looking for applicants who have an appetite to bring back what they learn on the Fellowship to their organisations to achieve better outcomes for their beneficiaries and the community.

4. Show us your flaws

When completing application forms it can be easy to fall into the trap of only showing the best parts of yourself. However, we want to see what you can gain from the Fellowship, how it might help you, and whether you have the self-awareness to do it. Various elements of the programme will allow you to gain further insights into where your strengths lie, and what you could work on.

5. Come to a recruitment event

We are running a number of information events this summer to support you and your application. One of the best ways to get your questions answered, and get a feel for what the Fellowship entails in practice, is to come and talk to the Clore Social Leadership team and our Fellows at one of our events. See our Fellowship Events page for more information and registration details.

If you can’t attend any of our events and still have questions, please call us on 020 7812 3770.

Good luck with your applications!

Tags:  application  challenges  change  culture  event  future  journey  skills  team  tips 

PermalinkComments (0)
 

The best leaders make themselves redundant

Posted By Clore Social Leadership, 20 July 2016
Updated: 14 October 2020
Caroline Mason CBE is Chief Executive at the Esmée Fairbarin Foundation. The Foundation funds our gender equality Fellowship on our 2017 Fellowship programme.

At Esmée we talk a lot about the importance of key people. As one of the largest independent funders in the UK, we place our trust and our money in the hands of some of the most brilliant, entrepreneurial and effective leaders in the social sector.

We have also supported organisations where the actions, and sudden departures, of leaders have failed organisations and their beneficiaries. So you might want to know from me, what do I think an effective leader looks like?

I've seen great leaders who have spotted something they want to change, and built up organisations from scratch to make that change happen for the most disadvantaged people in our society. I've met brilliant people who have moved over from the private or public sector, determined to use what they’ve learned there to help the charitable sector avoid the same mistakes. I've worked with excellent people with a long history of working for non-profits, who have worked their way up and have a huge knowledge of what works in our sectors. And I've met inspirational leaders who have themselves experienced hardship or prejudice, and set out to change the lives of people like them.

All these leaders can be effective - they can make a difference for their beneficiaries, inspire their staff and impress trustees. But they can also make the same mistake - which is to hold too much of the power and influence, too much of what makes their organisation great, within themselves.

Leadership is not about complementing your own strengths and weaknesses, it's about building a team who can shape, deliver, and own a shared vision together. In this sector it is often tackling an issues that affect many people. If you left your organisation tomorrow, would it be able to excel and deliver without you?

The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is a leading independent grant-making foundation in the UK who fund our gender equality Fellowship on our Fellowship programme. Rebecca Gill and Polly Trenow are our 2016 gender Fellows. Apply now to our 2017 Fellowship programme - the deadline is midday on Monday 5 September 2016.

Tags:  casestudy  challenges  change  skills  team  value 

PermalinkComments (0)
 
Page 3 of 3
1  |  2  |  3