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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
27 November 2019
Updated: 23 October 2020
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Blog by Annie Edwards, Project Manager at Young Women's Worker
I’ve been asked to write a blog about my experience on the Clore Social Emerging Leader: Women and Girls Sector Programme – my limit is 700 words, but I’m not sure I can write the word “AMAZING!” 700 times over, so I’ll try and break down my experience a little more for you.
I originally applied for the programme because a colleague from a partner organisation to mine encouraged me to go for it, and I couldn’t think of a reason not to. I’ve always been passionate about women and girls’ rights and ensuring equal opportunities. This has been a common thread for me in my work and studies; at university I studied Theology and had a deep interest in feminist theology and the place women can and should have within faith communities and traditions. I’ve been working for my current organisation, Canaan Project, for three and a half years – we offer girls-only provision in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, collaborating with schools and community partners because we want to see young women flourish.
"I was sitting in a room with the upcoming female leaders of our sector – and I was considered to be one of them."
I looked at the application form and was pretty confident that I wouldn’t be accepted onto the programme. I was hopeful that I would be, as any opportunity to develop (and be pampered in the process!) is something I always enjoy. It remained a genuine surprise, however, when I was accepted onto the programme – mostly because of the calibre of the other women who had also been accepted. I’m a big believer in Imposter Syndrome, and on the first residential (we were spoilt with two residentials – the food and the venue were simply amazing. Nothing like a bit of TLC to make you feel like a leader!) we were introduced to each other and our work and I was just amazed. I was sitting in a room with the upcoming female leaders of our sector – and I was considered to be one of them.
The best thing about the programme was the consistent underlying determination of the Clore Social team to ensure that we left the residentials, the coaching sessions, the secondments and the online learning sessions believing that we were brilliant and we still are today.
Clore Social created a safe space for me to be honest and open about where I fell short in my leadership style, and celebrated with me when I felt I’d made a change or grown in those areas.
"My biggest challenge as a leader has always been my confidence, and Clore Social helped me to find bucket-loads – mostly within myself."
My biggest challenge as a leader has always been my confidence, and Clore Social helped me to find bucket-loads – mostly within myself. My ongoing relationship with Imposter Syndrome was challenged when other women in the group shared that they felt the same – I wasn’t the only one after all! – and that together we could support one another out of that head-space because it turns out it was never true really.
One of my favourite things about Clore was the coaching sessions. I’ve always been a much better talker than a listener, but I’ve not always been brilliant at listening to myself. Coaching helped me to do this so much better, and it’s enabled me to become a better leader because I can communicate my limits, my strengths and my still-celebrated areas of weakness much better. Honesty and integrity are so important to me as a leader, and Clore Social has taught me that a part of that process is to learn to be honest with yourself.
Life doesn’t stop when you become a leader – if anything, it can sometimes make life a bit trickier for a while. But thankfully, I’m still in touch with my wonderful co-Clorers and we continue to support and challenge each other to keep leading the way that only we can.
"Clore Social is more than just a course; it’s a community and safe space to get to know others, and yourself, and love both much better."
Clore Social is more than just a course; it’s a community and safe space to get to know others, and yourself, and love both much better. If you’re not sure whether to apply, or you don’t have a colleague pushing you to do so – then let me: GO FOR IT, GIRL!
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
01 August 2017
Updated: 22 October 2020
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This blog was written by a group of 2016 Clore6: Youth Fellows who, as part of the programme, worked on a team challenge around ‘people development’.
Managing people is a huge responsibility, it can be a minefield of processes and overwhelming information, all of which is often shaped by your own experience of being managed.
In undertaking the first Clore6: Youth programme we were set a challenge to address a key leadership issue in the youth sector – people development. How do we get the best out of the most important resource in our sector, our people?
Following a human centred design process, we refined our approach to address that very real fear that many people told us about: when they become a manager for the first time, they just have no idea what’s going on! People shared their stories of taking on the responsibility and not really getting the support they needed, or being sent on a ‘new managers’ training months after having started!
We recognised that charity training budgets are often tight, the range of courses and training can be vast, but that there is a huge amount of knowledge and experience from individuals across the youth sector, as well as online – but knowing what is key is hard.
Having done our initial research, as a team we felt that the focus should be on creating a resource that new managers can have in preparation for taking on management responsibility. However, in the spirit of challenging our approach, we wanted to make something that provided an overview of the concepts that new managers should consider, and then signpost them to useful resources for further information, rather than trying to cover everything in one go.
In our online toolkit we cover some key topics, from having courageous conversations with team members to self-care, building on our experiences of the things we wish we’d known when we started out at managers.
This video provides a brief overview of these crucial topics.
Visit here to sign up to be one of the first to test our curated toolkit for new managers.
We want your help to continue to refine the video, the toolkit, and to reach as many new managers as possible across the youth and wider social sector. Please share your comments and views below, and join the conversation on Twitter.
The team of Fellows who developed this blog and the New to Management toolkit are: Fiona Ellison, Stephanie Papapavlou, Sally Marsh and Sue Burchill.
The next Clore6: Youth programme will take place early 2018 and we are now taking expressions of interest, please email: info@cloresocialleadership.org.uk
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
10 May 2017
Updated: 22 October 2020
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This blog was originally published on Civil Society Futures, The Independent Inquiry, and is written by 2014 Clore Social Fellow Louise Cannon, UnLtd Award Manager, Building Futures Lead.
I was recently invited to talk to the group responsible for the inquiry into the future of civil society on behalf of UnLtd and the social entrepreneurs with whom I work. Following some scene setting about what the group are looking to achieve, the current challenges facing communities and the scope of the inquiry; one of the members asked me, and another invited guest, whether we were optimistic or pessimistic about the future role of civil society?
Here is my answer.
To state the obvious and somewhat predictable, I believe there will be an important place for social entrepreneurs in the future of civil society. Consistently over the years I have seen social entrepreneurs bring forward enterprising solutions to social issues. Regardless of the challenges of the operating environment, people have come forward to make a change and UnLtd have supported them on their journey.
Whilst we are supporting great ideas and passionate individuals who are achieving results, I have seen a limited number of social entrepreneurs tackling the root causes of the social issues we experience today, due either to the complexity of wicked social issues, or because they are stuck in the day to day operations trying to survive and grow. We are continually looking to improve our ability to support social entrepreneurs and so our own journey must be one which enables us to understand the barriers which prevent a larger proportion of social entrepreneurs from being able to look beyond their individual solution. We need to invest in collaborative approaches to address broader systemic challenges.
However, the burden of responsibility cannot solely be carried by those individuals without support. We exist to provide that support, but how do we help those who are not within our network to start up and thrive, or support others to do so?
In 2015, myself and a small team of colleagues in Birmingham were tasked with exploring how we could reach more social entrepreneurs with the same resources. It might have been easy for us to assume we understood the challenges facing social entrepreneurs, but we decided to make sure and test our assumptions. Our first step was to speak to as many people as possible, in fact, we conducted in depth interviews with over 50 people, both social entrepreneurs and supporters of, and tested the results on over 1,000 more social entrepreneurs. The results were in, and the challenges and opportunities were clear, some even a little surprising. Of those that stood out, were just how regularly social entrepreneurs experience feelings of isolation. Social entrepreneurs are also finding it hard to access funds beyond seed capital, because they simply don’t have the resources to spare for failed attempts. We also discovered some powerful actions that can have a transformative effect for social entrepreneurs.
So we had our answers and so began a series of prototypes to test out ideas and methods looking at each of the challenges and prototyping solutions. Many of the ideas we tested were not new ideas but slight adaptations which allowed us to test their impact for social entrepreneurs. We have used and commissioned research to understand ideas we saw around us that were working in helping people to connect, collaborate and share. We will be sharing the results in the form of a Playbook which will map out ideas we love, tools, methods and solutions we have tried, and more importantly, how others can do the same. We are also working to map the state of social entrepreneurship in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands Combined Authority area which will be replicated if it proves useful for social entrepreneurs in navigating support and finding their own allies.
To come back to the question. I am positive about the role of civil society and the willingness of citizens to act but there are three challenges we cannot ignore:
Empowerment
We need to continue to find creative ways of supporting people to connect, share learning and support each other, this will be critical in embedded solutions coming from communities.
A sense of community is not something which can be dictated by top down idealism, active participation is required. Less empowered individuals and communities need people who they know and trust to help break down the few visible and many more invisible barriers standing in the way.
Scale
We still need large scale solutions, and to drop the hang ups about scale and innovation. Some ideas are worth spreading and innovations worth scaling.
Massive urban growth and climate change require city administrations to realise both the legitimacy and potential of local communities and grassroots movements. Small actions build to large movements.
Limiting Financial Burdens
- For social entrepreneurs trialling new technologies and solutions, the impact of BREXIT and loss of European funds for R&D will be a stymie if not replaced.
- Successful ventures are limited by restricted funds which prevent them from doing what they do best, turning money into impact.
- We need to invest in opportunities for collectivism so that social entrepreneurs and stakeholders can work beyond their individual solutions, and in collaboration to resolve social issues.
- We seek answers to community resilience through social entrepreneurship and community participation to build the bridges to the future without destroying what already exists.
To find out more about how we are doing this get in touch, and finally, to share some of my favourite examples of people, and places making things happen;
Please share you comments below about this blog, or you can contact Louise on Twitter. Louise is an UnLtd Award Manager, Building Futures Lead and Clore Social and Winston Churchill Fellow.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
06 February 2017
Updated: 04 December 2020
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"I am human, and nothing of that which is human is alien to me." Publius Terentius Afer
At the end of his 2016 Reith Lectures, Kwame Anthony Appiah left us with this striking quotation. Written by a man who was ‘ a slave from Roman Africa, a Latin interpreter of Greek comedies and a writer from Classical Europe’, the words attest to a profound appreciation of what it is to be human, and how our humanity, once acknowledged, transcends concepts of nationality, identity or status.
The term ‘alien’, still used within US federal law to describe those born outside the country, is rightly considered an embarrassing and derogatory term in the UK, with connotations of dehumanisation and scapegoating that we prefer not to own. But in my experience of working with marginalised migrant and refugee communities, it’s often a term which recent arrivals, or even those who have lived here for decades, use to describe their treatment by UKBA officials, UK institutions, and even their lack of welcome by the Great British majority.
This painful reality is the opening precept to my Provocation Piece which I developed as part of my fellowship with Clore Social Leadership. The piece explores our current preoccupation with social integration and asks whether we can reconcile this with often fearful or nostalgic concepts of ‘British values’. If, as the Casey Review maintains, we are really looking for a ‘common life’, I argue that we need to be more questioning, more courageous, and more open to a reflexive discussion about ‘who’ we are and what ‘our values’ might look like in collaboration with those who arrive from abroad. What can we learn from people who have experienced themselves as ‘outsiders’; what reality checks can they give us about ourselves and our assumed cultural values; how might their experiences of migration and integration contribute to a dynamic model of cultural heritage for the future?
These questions have framed my Clore Social fellowship in a tumultuous year for issues and debates on migration, culminating in what can only be described as a crisis of national consciousness. Amidst the confusion and strife, it has also encouraged me to look for good practice in advocating for a model of social integration which addresses how we welcome and learn from new arrivals at ground level. From this, I’ve come up with four suggestions:
- We need to acknowledge that citizenship is not a birthright, but is earned by those who want a stake in society. Instead of an Integration Oath, why not use a Citizenship Celebration which brings together and rewards anyone who actively contributes their values and culture to their local community?
- Developing relationships across cultures takes curiosity, empathy and patience. Whether at work, in your neighbourhood or in the school playground, simply making eye contact, exchanging a friendly word is a great start; thereafter, accept that the normal social codes don’t necessarily apply – ask, explain, invite, explore, adapt, exchange and don’t give up.
- You can’t support social integration simply by saying nice things on social media. Stepping out of our comfort zone is what enables us to appreciate what it’s like to feel like an outsider: offer to teach English to your neighbour; ask them to teach you how to cook their cuisine; provide a night stay for a homeless refugee; join in with local or school activities which seem to be ‘for minorities’- you will be amazed by what you learn.
- Let’s offer experiential diversity training for our statutory services which doesn’t balk at exploring cultural difference and can promote empathy, intercultural awareness and cross-sector collaboration.
Whilst it’s a good thing that we starting to have ‘difficult conversations’ about values and identity, we have a long way to go on understanding the dynamics of privilege and power. Step into the shoes of a new arrival, question yourself and your assumptions in relation to those different to you, and you will awaken your own precious humanity.
Please share your comments about Emma’s blog and provocation piece below, or you can join the conversation on Twitter.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
21 October 2016
Updated: 04 December 2020
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"People who never make mistakes never make anything. Leaders should not only be assessed by the successes they achieve, but how they handle their failures too. Social leaders should not be afraid to fail."
This slightly counter intuitive statement was made by Prof. Nick Hardwick, who shared his leadership journey at Clore Social’s recent Leaders Now breakfast event.
Nick Hardwick was HM Chief Inspector of Prisons between 2010-16, and previously the first Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Having spent the first half of his career in the voluntary sector, he worked with young offenders for the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, young homeless people for Centrepoint and refugees and asylum seekers for the Refugee Council. He was awarded a CBE in 2010.
The topic of Nick’s talk was one which he has a lot of experience of: making mistakes. If you never make mistakes you are not trying things hard enough was the central message of the talk - and it seemed to be one that resonated with a room full of social sector leaders.
Often we think that tasks prove to be difficult because of our own inadequacy or inability. But, as Nick shared, things are difficult simply because they are meant to be difficult. If you are doing the right things, you will inevitably find yourself making mistakes. “We are too intolerant of failure” said Nick, speaking of leaders across different sectors.
But making mistakes is only half the story. Good leadership is demonstrated in being able to deal with the errors made. “The rule of holes is to stop digging”, Nick reflected, “and to own up when a mistake is made”.
Unfortunately, as Nick pointed out, the bigger the mistake, the harder it is to accept it. As a result, efforts are often directed into proving that an error wasn’t made, rather than correcting it. Leaders in every sector often fall into this trap, but covering up is often worse than the mistake itself, and it is always better to own up to the misstep made.
Great leaders use the help of the people around them to identify errors and these will often take the shape of our opponents. Although Nick has experienced this first hand in the public sector, of which people are quick to condemn, those voices are often right, and a good leader should try to consider these rather than be defensive.
“There are three rules regarding mistakes”, Nick concludes, “Number one - make them. Number two - be prepared to deal with them when they happen. And finally - when they do occur, have the courage to identify them and put them right!”. Important lessons for leaders of a sector which often finds itself in crisis.
Leaders Now is a new event series for social sector leaders. Each month we invite speakers from inside and beyond the sector to share their leadership journeys and encourage debate at the House of St Barnabas. Sign up to our newsletter and look out on our website for news about the 2017 events.
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