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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
12 July 2019
Updated: 19 November 2020
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By Shaks Ghosh, Chief Executive of Clore Social Leadership
One week from today we will be waking up to the announcement of a new Prime Minister. For months now, every news channel has been fixated on an endless cycle of questions around leadership. We've heard about the crisis of leadership in this country; about how the different models of leadership on offer across the political spectrum point to evidence of an increasingly divided society; and how our assumptions around what constitutes good leadership are being rewritten.
These debates present an interesting challenge to the social sector. What interests me is: what are the parallels for how leadership is perceived in our sector; what role can we play in finding common ground to unite the divisions in our society; and how can we inspire a new generation of leaders who can tackle the social challenges that lie ahead?
Today we have published a new report ‘Talking Leadership: a report of qualitative research into leadership development in the social sector’. Thanks to support from Barrow Cadbury Trust, we were able to speak to over 50 CEOs and senior leaders from charities and other organisations. We wanted to find out their views on leadership in the social sector and what their ideas were for how leadership development could help inspire generous and collaborative social leaders of the future.
They told us emphatically that effective leadership development is essential for creating the skills and relationships needed to address complex social challenges and forge a strong and effective social sector. Our conversations highlighted a belief that leadership development should be available to everyone – and not just those at the top.
"Effective leadership development is essential for creating the skills and relationships needed to address complex social challenges."
In our series of research reports on leadership published in 2016, we identified the three principal barriers to leadership development as: cost, time and confusion. Three years on, it is clear that those same barriers still exist.
Charity leaders told us there is still a great deal of uncertainty about the meaning of leadership and leadership development. The benefits and value of leadership development are poorly understood and articulated, particularly for organisations or their beneficiaries. It is difficult for individuals to understand their leadership development needs, what opportunities exist, or how to access them.
There is concern about how much it costs and the benefit and value it brings. And in these troubled times, and with a growing burden on providing more services for less resource, there is little time for it. It is also particularly difficult for individuals to navigate the wide variety of leadership programmes on offer, and it can be challenging for organisations outside major urban areas to access them.
Despite this context of uncertainty and scarcity, it may surprise you, then, that the overwhelming message that rings out from the interviews is one of abundance. A striking insight arising from our conversations is that there is an abundance of untapped potential for leadership development within the sector. Our interviewees highlighted examples of inspirational leadership development taking place right across the sector. We heard from senior leaders working with ingenuity to develop the leadership capabilities of their teams. In many cases this involves utilising inexpensive and/or free options for leadership development, such as peer learning, mentoring and informal networks or action learning sets - and generously sharing their skills and expertise with others.
"We heard from senior leaders working with ingenuity to develop the leadership capabilities of their teams."
The leaders we spoke to made strong pleas for more accessible leadership development. There is a clear desire to create more opportunities to learn from others through peer-to-peer learning, shadowing and secondments, mentoring and to create dialogue, learning and action on leadership across the sector.
What was particularly striking in the interviews I undertook was just how powerfully and emotively people spoke about their own leadership journeys. The message they told me echoes what I hear time and time again talking to our Clore Social Fellows - of that seminal ‘switch on’ moment when they step into their leadership role and how they can never go back to their old self. To give just one example, one interviewee told us about how her boss tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to be a leader - from that moment she walked taller, her behaviour changed and she took responsibility. How exciting the future looks if we can do that for all our young leaders - and it doesn’t mean a huge investment of time or money.
The message of abundance, for a sector that is so used to thinking about leadership development in the context of scarcity and resource constraints, presents an exciting opportunity for us to take a creative and innovative approach to supporting leadership development.
As a sector, we need to tackle this challenge head-on and explore new ways of developing the millions of leaders that are working within organisations across the sector; help individuals access appropriate development at different stages throughout their careers; and identify opportunities for them to learn from and share their skills with others.
"As a sector, we need to tackle this challenge head-on and explore new ways of developing the millions of leaders working across the sector."
Here at Clore Social we have some exciting new developments which we are looking forward to sharing with you all. We will be developing a new 'innovation lab' to design and test different solutions for supporting leadership development across the sector; identifying ways to harness the untapped potential we’ve identified through this report; and working alongside our colleagues in the sector to help build a generation of inspirational social leaders for the future. I look forward to sharing more with you on this in the coming months.
Read more information about the report and download a copy here.
 Download File (PDF)
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
31 January 2017
Updated: 20 October 2020
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Crisis and Glasgow Homelessness Network have announced their intention to create a new dedicated body that is sector-led (by homelessness specialists from charities, government, research bodies and others) to improve the lives of people affected by homelessness by instigating a shift in resources to evidence-based solutions. As part of her Clore Social Leadership fellowship, Ligia Teixeira explains why.
For the past few months I’ve been working on a project to build the case for a new Centre for Homelessness Impact. Today we release the feasibility study that is the culmination of an intense six-month project. It’s an exciting moment for us, and I wanted to explain why.
Since Crisis was created 50 years ago, we have used a variety of strategies to end homelessness, from campaigning and lobbying to delivering services directly, and producing evidence on the causes and consequences, latest trends, and the scale of the issue.
Things have changed significantly since the mid-1960s, when homelessness first made it into the national consciousness. But the pace of change has not kept up with wider scientific and technological developments. In fields like international development, early years, or education we’ve improved our understanding of what works by applying scientific methods and a culture shift towards evidence-based practices. If the homelessness sector is to accelerate progress towards a future without homelessness we must create new roadways.
One way to achieve this is by focusing on what works by finding and funding solutions backed by evidence and data. That’s a challenge. The evidence is often weak or lacking, and in the rare examples where a programme has been tested to see if it worked the results are often ignored.
That’s why we need a new organisation that is sector led and owned to help make the use of evidence the right thing to do – it becomes the ‘new normal’. To help ensure that our values aren’t only articulated in our efforts but in our outcomes. It’s a simple idea, but with the potential to make a significant impact.
We joined forces with Glasgow Homelessness Network, a like minded organisation, to explore the desirability and feasibility of the concept. We had hundreds of rich conversations over a six-month period with people working towards ending homelessness and change-makers championing evidence-based practice in other fields. We gained valuable insights that shaped our proposals and which we share in the report published today. We have been encouraged by the widespread support for the concept, and feel there’s a unique opportunity to make this vision a reality.
Why now? Because over recent years we’ve learned a few things about what it takes to tackle today’s toughest systemic challenges. That ending homelessness faster and more effectively requires a few important culture shifts. We need to:
- take a whole government approach and to break out of siloed service and policy practices. The homelessness sector alone cannot end homelessness. It requires putting the issue on the map in areas like education, health or criminal justice
- build capacity, and take an interdisciplinary, deeply collaborative approach. This is a challenge. Professionals need support to apply evidence in real-life scenarios and existing funding mechanisms are by and large promoting competition rather than a focus on personalised solutions and effectiveness
- directly fund interventions and programmes with the best evidence behind them, and take an experimental and human-centred approach to service development. To improve positive impact we need to be able to do the right things well.
- engage people affected by homelessness more effectively in all our efforts, bring their perspectives and experiences to the heart of policy and practice. Solutions that are grounded only on the experiences of professionals and ignore the user voice and evidence are no solutions at all
- engage people and their communities more effectively in our efforts to end homelessness. There is an education job to be done, in schools, universities, mainstream services, businesses and workplaces. There is a rich resource in this space that we’re currently not tapping into. We know from trends like the sharing economy that when individuals come together to drive towards a greater goal, we can gain traction on much bigger challenges , and find new ways forward.
This type of systems-change work requires agility, scale and networked organisations, both within and across different social policy areas. It requires commissioners, practitioners, researchers, campaigners as well as communities who work together and do not stand still.
With the new Centre, we’re hoping to start addressing some of these issues. We’re not naive, we know it won’t be a silver bullet. Other things will also need to happen - we need housing in the right places and at a price people can afford, and stable jobs that pay fair wages. We need to address the root causes of poverty and inequality, and protect our social safety net and strong (networked) local services.
But evidence-based approaches are an important part of the solution. It’s no surprise that currently there is public scepticism about the sector’s ability to end or even significantly reduce homelessness, or positively engage with people affected by homelessness who refuse ‘standard offers’ for help. Making policy and funding decisions based on the best possible evidence and holding mainstream services accountable will help restore confidence.
This is therefore a critical moment to consider what is needed to build on our international reputation for preventing and tackling homelessness. We think Scotland is the ideal place to begin. If the Centre for Homelessness Impact works here - Scotland has taken larger strides to end homelessness than most other countries, its rights-based and assets-based approach to homelessness is widely celebrated as progressive, inclusive and ground-breaking - it will provide a model for others to follow.
This study is just the beginning of a long journey but it does show that there is both a need and a demand for a new organisation. Funding is now being sought for the project, with a view to opening the new Centre later this year.
We’ve been working on these issues for 50 years, but this could be a turning-point. It’s time to apply our collective efforts to meet the challenges of a complex homelessness system that developed organically over the years. The system must be redrawn so that we are able to improve outcomes and make even better use of today’s resources and technological advances to achieve step change in how we prevent and tackle homelessness.
Crisis and GHN hope that the new Centre, by bringing everyone to the party who feels the same way, will make us faster, more effective, and able to ground our solutions in the needs and voices of people affected by the problem.
Please click here to download Ligia’s report which she prepared as Head of Research and Evaluation at Crisis and at a 2016 Clore Social Fellow, supported Oak Foundation.
Share your comments about this blog and the report below, or contact Ligia on Twitter. This article was originally published on Crisis.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
17 January 2017
Updated: 15 October 2020
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Paul Farmer is the CEO of Mind, and Chair of ACEVO. Paul’s blog is in response to our third report, Leadership Development in the Third Sector: Bridging Supply and Demand.
A New Year always means new plans, good intentions, and aspirations for what we as a charitable and social sector can deliver for our beneficiaries and wider society.
2017 is no exception. It would be easy to argue that 2015 had its challenges as the year when our sector was put under scrutiny like no other, and last year saw seismic changes which we are yet to see the effects of.
So what about this year? I suggest this is the year when we need to define the nature and requirements of the 21st century charity leader, and it is the point where we must start to invest in our people.
To achieve this, I see three key areas of development.
First, we have to prioritise leadership development for all leaders within an organisation. As an example, Mind runs a leadership development programme which brings together senior leaders from local Minds and the national charity to learn together. This will be the third year we have run this, and it imbues a culture of investing in and prioritising leadership across the network.
Secondly, we have to respect that we all learn in different ways. For me, the power of the Acevo membership is the strong networks it creates. I learn from experience and conversation, others learn through courses, others from learning sets and so it goes on. There is no leader that cannot learn from another leader.
Finally, we each have to keep on learning. There is no leader that cannot learn more: about themselves, their own people, the wider world. If we think we know it all, we should pack up and go home now.
The challenges we now face as sector leaders are huge. We have to earn the trust of all our stakeholders, we have to recognise the balance between managing risk and becoming overwhelmed by compliance and bureaucracy. We have to operate in a 24/7 multimedia world without succumbing to always being available all the time for everyone. We have to recognise our limitations and those of our environment. But we also have to be bold, brave and ambitious for our beneficiaries.
If we don’t invest now in learning about leadership, our organisations probably won’t survive into the 22nd century.
Please share your comments below or reach out to Paul on Twitter.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
13 December 2016
Updated: 15 October 2020
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As 2016 winds down, I find myself considering the fervent sector debates that have taken place over the year in the media and beyond. One thing is clear: strong leadership is more important than ever before, and the demands on leaders are increasingly complex.
In partnership with The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, The Barrow Cadbury Trust, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and ACEVO, we commissioned a survey to get to grips with the leadership development issues that matter most in our sector. Richard Harries took a hard look at the results and produced his third report for us, Leadership Development in the Third Sector: Bridging Supply and Demand, which serves as a plea for more support for the sector’s tireless and hard pressed leaders.
Almost 500 medium and large charities and social enterprises responded to the survey, and what emerged from the data is a picture of a sector which has a push-pull relationship with leadership development. Although the majority of respondents stated they saw the benefits and criticality of leadership development, a lack of time and money significantly impacted their ability to invest in it. What this boils down to is that of the organisations surveyed, only 0.5% of their annual income was spent on leadership development. Furthermore when compared with the wider economy, our sector is three times less likely to invest in leadership development.
Undoubtedly there is a demand for leadership development, but time and the financial capacity to invest in it is stymied. Also, questions arise as to whether the current market offering fully serves the leadership needs of the sector. Taken together this begs the question: How do we bridge the gap in supply and demand?
Having digested leadership development lessons from the past (report 1), and how to face future sector opportunities and challenges (report 2), we have devised a 12-part strategy to transform social leadership. Coupled with this is our recently launched Social Leaders’ Capabilities Framework which sets out the capabilities we believe emerging leaders need to be truly transformational.
By sharing these assets - our three reports, the 12-part strategy, and our Framework - we are inviting the sector to make full use of them to develop leaders, and we are also petitioning leaders of all levels to continue the debate. By now we all know that leadership really matters, and we can’t afford not to act. As we head into the New Year, it is incumbent upon all of us to focus on a sure-fire way of ensuring that the organisations we love continue to serve the people they were built for.
Our Starter for 12 - How to Transform the Social Leadership of our sector (for full descriptions, please read report 3, pages 12-14):
- Use the current challenging climate to promote the value of leadership
- Achieve scale and critical mass quickly
- Understand and segment the market
- Make training affordable
- Focus on the elements of ‘making a market’: (a) stimulate demand (b) organise supply and (c) advice and brokerage
- Innovate - especially around digital technology
- Invest in good infrastructure
- Create a supportive leadership community
- Create an appetite for leadership education
- Adopt a policy-led and evidence-based approach to leadership
- Know what good leadership looks like
- Deliver a short period of sustained and substantial investment
Please share your views and comments below, on Twitter, or even contribute an opinion piece to our Leaders Now blog.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
31 October 2016
Updated: 15 October 2020
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Steve McGuirk is the former County Fire Officer of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, and Chairman of Warrington and Halton Hospitals Foundation Trust.
This blog is written in response to Clore Social Leadership’s reports about third sector leadership development. Read report 1 here, and report 2 here.
It has always been tough leading change in a challenging world, but there are an increasing number of factors that support the idea, ‘it’s never been like this before’.
This presents a huge number of paradoxes for people in any leadership position trying to figure their way through this complexity – but I think there are added layers for those leading social change.
For despite the millions of words written and advice offered by gurus and consultants, there are no tailor made solutions. Each person (leader) and each organisation is unique; there is no unilinear solution to change.
Nevertheless, I think it is helpful to play around with some of the paradoxes of modern leadership – I talk about three here - if nothing else to provide a sanity check.
First, and I think most significant, is the paradox of the ordinary versus the extraordinary.
What I mean by this is that the last twenty or so years has seen the evolution of a much more technocratic, engineered approach to people management and organisational development. Whilst, in many respects this is vital and positive, the approach has also resulted a complex and vast set of expectations of leaders, wrapped up in the language of competences, values, emotional intelligence and so on. Each dimension is inarguable its own right, but collectively they represent a huge personal challenge with an anticipation that those who eventually make it ‘to the top’ will be some kind of upgraded version of our species – Human Beings 2.0 if you like. In the charity and social enterprise sector there is the added aspect of judgement around the ethical and moral compass of the leaders concerned.
The paradox, though, is that the majority of those leaders don’t ‘feel’ extraordinary – they just see themselves as ‘normal’ with all the insecurities and anxieties everyone else has to deal with.
But this first paradox is further heightened by the second, which is the paradox of the speed in making decisions versus the need for thoughtfulness and reflection.
There was a time - not that many years ago – when the decisions of leaders took time firstly even to be noticed, then to filter through an organisation and have an impact. That is clearly no longer the case as the immediacy of communication pervades every dimension of life (closely linked, of course, to social media).
The paradox here, though, is that figuring out solutions to the wicked problems we face requires time and more considered analysis than the 140 characters available on Twitter. Yet that thinking space and time is more compressed now than ever before. In fact, it’s virtually disappeared.
And, as if that wasn’t enough to contend with, the third paradox kicks in.
So, this is the paradox of the clamour for rapid and transparent decision making – only possible by using instinct and intuition (often built upon experience), but against the backdrop of a society or constituency seeking to apportion blame for anything that goes wrong.
By definition, real innovation (the disruptive kind we need to generate social change) is unlikely to have a strong evidence base of its potential success. If it did, it would be improvement not innovation. The point here is that innovation is more about courage and a leap of faith – the difference being now that every aspect of that leap will be visible and open to the analysis of everyone and ‘there’ on the Internet forever more.
So, where does this leave leaders going forward?
As I have indicated, there are no answers to these paradoxes and there are many other paradoxes that could be considered.
The best leaders, therefore, don’t agonise about trying to be superhuman or find elusive answers.
Instead, they use their ‘ordinariness’ as an asset to engage people at all levels and they are savvy enough to join or create their own leadership networks and safe spaces to experiment. But, most of all, they understand the need to invest in their own learning and personal development because if one thing is certain, it is that the world will continue on its change trajectory which will result in more, rather than less, ambiguity and complexity.
We are keen to hear your views about this blog and our reports either by submitting blog ideas for Leaders Now, commenting below or joining the conversation on Twitter @CloreSocial. You can contact Steve on Twitter @gmccfo.
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