The current context for social leadership

At Clore Social we know good leadership is essential for social change. Leadership development is a lifelong journey, and we need to be ready to learn, adapt and change. Everyone is a leader, so we know by supporting and challenging one another, leaders can have collective impact. 

Good leadership is relational, democratic, and inclusive. It is a social process that draws on the different expertise and knowledge of multiple actors, with and without formal position. This view of leadership is particularly relevant to the social sector where leadership is distributed between, and based on the interactions of, trustees, the CEO, employees, and stakeholders.

There are contextual and operational factors that shape leadership in the social sector. This includes working with volunteers; the complexities of engaging a wide and diverse set of stakeholders from trustees and staff to service users and the public; the emotional challenges of working with those most in need; an emphasis on vision and values; and the dual bottom line of impact and financial rigour.  

What context are social leaders operating in?

As we adapt and learn to live with the virus, the wider impact of the pandemic continues to emerge. In this context social leaders must grapple with high levels of uncertainty. Key trends include: 

‣ Financial sustainability at risk: generating income was a challenge for voluntary sector organisations before the pandemic and it remains a key concern. Key shifts such as a decline in face-to-face fundraising mean organisations must innovate to stay afloat.

‣ Rapid digital change: the pandemic accelerated digital change in many organisations – reshaping everything from service delivery to fundraising. However, associated risks such as loss of human connection and cyber security are becoming clearer.

‣ Economic and human impact of the pandemic: poverty and inequalities have deepened. Increases in the cost of living and rate of inflation mean doing business is more expensive. Meanwhile, demand for services is high and increasing. Voluntary sector staff are vulnerable to burnout and poor mental health.

‣ Climate crisis, racial justice, and inequality: there is recognition that these are no longer “cause areas”. They must be lenses to view everything. Leaders must seek to ensure not just that they do no harm but that everything they do makes a contribution towards tackling these complex issues. 

‣ Evolving relationship with government: The pandemic exposed tensions in roles. An increase in public service delivery has led to questioning of the voluntary sector’s ability to raise voice and challenge. Sector infrastructure is weak and confidence in government support is low.

‣ Momentum locally: during the pandemic communities came together with mass mobilisation of local volunteers, groups, and networks. There is an opportunity for voluntary sector organisations to build on this momentum, revitalising/strengthening community connections.

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting leaders in the social sector, we will be using this research as a starting point for a wider conversation for how to bring about change. Check back for updates on how we will be supporting social leaders or subscribe to our newsletter.

• 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.