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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
30 November 2020
Updated: 07 December 2020
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As our Leading Beyond Lockdown programme draws to a close, we want to celebrate the participants who have inspired us with their dedication to their development and the causes they work for.
As part of the programme, we have had the pleasure to collaborate with Dr. Jeremy Hinks, Director and Leadership & Development Coach with Alpamayo Coaching Ltd. Inspired by the commitment and diversity of the programme participants, Jeremy writes about his experience with coaching on the programme.
“It was inspirational to speak with these activists and influencers, so committed to their respective causes. Hearing them name their challenges and then being witness as they chose to face them down has been a learning experience for me too.” Dr. Jeremy Hinks
Over the last few months, I have had the privilege to work in partnership with a group of leaders from the social sector, whose diversity, dedication, and commitment to their respective causes was a big inspiration. From the range of social issues they worked for, to their own life experiences and job titles, each participant brought a unique perspective to the table.
Whether they were new to coaching or had experienced it before, they were all excited about what the opportunity might offer to them, particularly aligned with the leadership training, group work, and networking opportunities that collectively made up the Leading Beyond Lockdown programme.
While the participants’ coaching objectives were uniquely individual, they shared a common interest - exploring how they could best fulfil their leadership role at a time when the sustainability of their organisations is threatened by the COVID19 pandemic.
Seeing the bigger picture
Some of our coaching conversations revolved around self-awareness and confidence-building for those who found themselves in new positions, or in old positions made to feel new by the change in relationship dynamics caused by the home working enforced on the majority by COVID19. Others related to more effective communication, decision making, and relationship building that harnessed difference effectively.
The ability to see the bigger picture was central to a lot of conversations. There was a sense that the ability to do so was often drowned out by the volume of work involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation. The importance of self-care was also often lost beneath wave upon wave of ‘doing this, supporting that, and delivering the other’. Bringing the importance of self-care back to the surface and drawing oxygen back into its lungs was a particularly satisfying part of these coaching partnerships.
"Bringing the importance of self-care back to the surface and drawing oxygen back into its lungs was a particularly satisfying part." Dr. Jeremy Hinks
All the coaching partnerships had a ‘whole of life’ aspect which was experienced in two different ways. Firstly, many conversations explored past experiences and reflected on how they were influencing current behaviour. Coachees saw a lot of value in becoming more conscious of their behaviours and feelings and to think about those that were no longer serving them well. Secondly, our conversations often explored how to achieve the balance between their work and out-of-work roles. Of course, this has become more challenging as COVID19 has required us to co-locate all these roles, challenging our ability to maintain the boundaries between them that are so important to our wellbeing.
Building trust and connections online
Forming a relationship built on trust via an online connection proved to be as possible as it is in face to face coaching. After all, we have all grown in our capability to manage the strengths and weaknesses of virtual communication.
It was also interesting how the relationship was influenced by coaching someone in their workspace at home. For example, the occasional presence of children, dogs, cats, deliveries, and unscheduled interruptions from a forgetful partner might have been a distraction. Instead, each interruption afforded an opportunity to learn more about each other and somehow this fostered a helpful level of intimacy not easy to achieve when coaching in an office environment.
Adapting to new uncertainties
As I write this, we have just entered a second period of lockdown in the UK, perhaps ironic given the title of the programme. However, the need to adapt to new uncertainties is a certain part of our future, whether it’s COVID19 lockdowns or an as yet unforeseen challenge.
As I reflect on the value of the coaching in the Leadership Beyond Lockdown I am in no doubt of the general benefits. Simply being on hand to help coachees face their challenges in a supported space where they are not judged, yet feel open to challenge, is of great value to them. It is the coaching equivalent of the ‘Hands. Face. Space.’ narrative which is used to remind us of our individual responsibility in containing the spread of the COVID19 virus.
I already know that each of them leave the coaching partnership with a greater sense of agency and clarity. Past experience suggests that there will be benefits from the coaching that will arise as time passes, benefits that will influence both their personal and professional life.
For me, one of the great aspects of Leading Beyond Lockdown has been the greater reach of the benefits of coaching into social sector organisations. These benefits can only be realised if its availability increases to meet the needs of an ever more diverse community of potential beneficiaries. To sum up, I’ll end with a great comment from one of my coachees on the accessibility of coaching and with thanks to all my coachees for having me work alongside them.
"I have to admit that I've viewed coaching as something similar to regular yoga practice or getting a personal trainer - probably really good for you, but reserved for those with certain privilege that working class me would find inaccessible, and I'm glad to have been proven wrong!" Programme Participant
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
30 September 2020
Updated: 07 December 2020
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Emily Lomax, Clore Social Fellow and Programme Director for our Emerging Leader Women & Girls and Experienced Leader programmes shares a unique insight into programme delivery and participant experience during the crisis.
It has been eight months since I read the awe-inspiring biographies from the 2020 Women & Girls Emerging Leader cohort and the Experienced Leader cohort. I was lucky enough to have been appointed as their Programme Director to ensure that they achieved, or hopefully exceeded, their learning priorities from the six-month programme.
I was due to meet them all at their first residential in May. As a Clore Social Fellow myself, and long-time facilitator for multiple Clore Social programmes over the years, I knew how much the participants would be looking forward to meeting each other and to forming the bonds which would challenge, inspire and support them not only in the months of the programme but for years to come.
But, as we all know, the World was to turn upside down. Not only was this residential cancelled, the whole viability of the programme was put into question. Would people have the desire or capacity to participate whilst juggling home and work – both envisaged to put them under pressure that we had never seen before. How would people cope and how could the programme fit?
In considering the next steps I frequently reflected on the centre of the Clore Social model – something that has become a mantra for me ever since I did the programme myself, guiding me through difficult decisions as a CEO and then in establishing my own organisation; the importance for social leaders to KNOW YOURSELF, BE YOURSELF AND LOOK AFTER YOURSELF. Now, more than ever, these things felt so important if social sector leaders were to be able to rise to the challenges ahead. Clore Social, in my mind, felt even more important than it ever had done before. These people are the front-line of making sure that social change is a priority and that people stay at the heart of decisions – we had an obligation to support and challenge them.
"Clore Social, in my mind, felt even more important than it ever had done before." Emily Lomax
The other thing that was in my head was how this wasn’t our decision alone – the Clore Social model goes on to talk about ‘working with and through others’. We needed to engage them in deciding what to do next. We therefore conducted a survey in early April asking for ideas and for an honest response on whether or not they would want to continue to be part of the programme – with no judgement if the answer was no. 91% of participants on the Women & Girls programme and 64% on the Experienced Leader programme said they wanted to continue and 33% on the Experienced Leader programme decided to defer until 2021.
Delighted that the programmes would go ahead, we now had the daunting task of re-shaping the content to be less dependent on the face-to-face elements, and to try to find ways to bring the magic of Clore Social relationships to life through virtual means. Louise Obi-Drake, Clore Social’s Director of Innovations and Learning, is brilliantly creative and knowledgeable and together we shaped a new way of doing things. The key changes were:
- Establishing a new programme of e-learning to support participants’ journeys and to help them to feel connected to the programme
- Re-writing the programme handbook so there was clarity of expectations and timings amidst all the uncertainty
- Being clear about what could be flexible and co-created, for example, the placement element of the programme is unlikely to be a week of being hosted within an organisation face-to-face
- Kicking off the action learning and coaching elements of the programme as soon as possible so participants could build relationships and seek space and support
- Re-shaping the residential into a series of online sessions to be held in May, where possible at the same time as the original residential, to aid planning
"This is the conversation I have been waiting to have all my life." Programme participant
Five months on and I am astounded by how much energy the participants have put into building connections and supporting each other. On a daily basis the programme’s instant messaging channels are buzzing with questions, suggestions, shared inspiration, honest requests for help and sharing when times are tough. These are unique times and participants have responded by stepping up and supporting each other. They have instigated new instant messaging channels to start specific conversations, have attended additional, optional webinars that we have arranged to add additional support and instigated so much supplementary learning.
Last week I asked for some informal feedback and was astounded by the flood of positivity – “This is the conversation I have been waiting to have all my life,” and “I finally feel like a leader.” These people are stepping up and out amidst all the chaos around them in order to make a difference to people’s lives. I am humbled.
They are also incredibly busy and at times struggle to find the space to focus on themselves and on the programme. And that is ok. They, I hope, are learning to be kind to themselves and that one of the joys of the Clore Social programme is that it is self-led and that you create your own path – focusing on the elements that will make the biggest impact for you – it isn’t about pleasing me, it is about what makes the biggest difference for you.
"I finally feel like a leader." Programme participant
A few observations of thing that have helped these inspiring leaders during these unstable times:
- Taking the time to plan
- Being kind to yourself if things don’t always go according to that plan. Not chucking the plan out at this point, but adapting and evolving – dealing with ambiguity is a really important skill as a social sector leader and this, in itself, is an opportunity for learning
- Being vulnerable and ask for help
- Collaboration is key. Ask for shared resources and ideas, no need to spend time reinventing the wheel when you have such an awesome network to draw on
- Finding ways to fulfil your learning priorities through your day job, and through your home obligations to save time and to connect parts of your life together. We only have one life after all so why not learn whilst being a parent to a reluctant toddler as well as when chairing a board meeting.
- The Clore Social model is relevant today and every day. Return to it when times are hard.
I am so excited to see what the next few months of the programme will bring and am so grateful to spend virtual time with these inspiring people – I just hope we get to meet each other sometime soon!
----------------------------------
Connect with Emily Lomax on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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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!
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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
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