|
|
Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
28 June 2017
Updated: 07 December 2020
|
Vyla L. Rollins is a member of our Board of Trustees and Executive Director at the London Business School's Leadership Institute.
Many individuals, myself included, are still processing the events emerging from Grenfell Tower on 14th June, which has been reported as the deadliest fire in Britain for more than a century. Given the uncertainty already created by other political and terrorist events in the past six months, the Grenfell Tower fire has added to the sorrow, loss and feeling of ambiguity already sinking into the heart and souls of many in the UK, and beyond.
I can remember waking up to Radio 4 at 6am on the morning of the 14th to early reports of a fire in a tower block in North Kensington. As I lay in bed for the next hour and a half, the rolling news reports were stark, fuelled by BBC eyewitness accounts of what was unfolding. Then, over the next 83 hours, stories of the aftermath of the blaze started to emerge. However, in the dark timbre of those reports (amongst which were many accusations and questioning of the paucity of government and local council response) there was one word that resounded for me like a drumbeat. This word, I sense, also helped comfort and give hope to those impacted by the fire at a time of deep despair and loss. The word was ‘volunteers’.
‘Volunteers from the local community.’
‘Volunteers from the Red Cross.’
‘Volunteers from Shelter.’
‘Volunteers from the music, entertainment and sport industries.’
‘Volunteers from the educational sector.’
‘Volunteers from the far reaches of Britain.’
And volunteers from other organisations that many had never heard of. They came forward. And they served. In any way that they could. Shifting. Sorting. Packing. Coordinating. Facilitating. Listening. Comforting. Embracing.
One of my mentors, Ron Heifetz, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, describes leadership as, ‘taking responsibility for hard problems beyond having formal or informal authority.’ He goes on to state that leadership is a process of understanding, exchanging information, working together-and that learning is required as part of that process. He also states it is not an easy or glamorous process. It is adaptive; it requires listening, watching and sensing and using the information gained from those activities to inform action. I strongly agree with him and, with this belief, am charged to point out that if you think about it, we were all witnesses to what real leadership looks like on the 14th June, and in the days that followed.
Not necessarily in actions made by those in positions of formal authority (offers of cash into bank accounts, helping to facilitate re-housing, etc.) although I cannot discount these as being helpful. But by the responses of the many volunteers – helping those impacted by this tragedy to claim their cash because many don’t have bank accounts; calming others troubled by being offered housing 200 miles away when their livelihoods and educational institutions for their children are in London; soothing and supporting those still in shock when offered re-housing in another high rise tower too reminiscent of the one that came so close to claiming their lives on the morning of the 14th June.
A cacophony of news stories of grassroots leadership exhibited by volunteers continues to emerge and find their space in the 27/7 news cycle. Many stories linked to individuals who are not in positions of formal authority. Leaders like a woman named Mercy. Mercy, who lives near the Tower, learned that two of her friends died in the fire and yet she still came to help. She said: ‘This is what they would want me to do, be out in the community. I don't want to take the day off, this is where I belong.’ I ask, is that not a mark of true leadership?
It is individuals like Mercy, who possess the spirit and will to serve, that I feel deserves our support and attention. And if other individuals possessing a spirit and will to serve also have the aspiration to equip themselves more formally, to bolster the impact and effectiveness their efforts can have within the community and organisations, then we should be ready to help. Ready to help them become the most effective leaders they can be. I, like my colleagues at Clore Social Leadership, am passionate about supporting and investing in sourcing, creating and delivering leadership development interventions for people in the voluntary and not-for-profit sectors. And the events at Grenfell Tower are one reason why.
I believe social sector leaders are the ones we’ll more than likely need and will increasingly look to in the future, to lead us through some of the most difficult and unprecedented social, community and organisational challenges of the 21st Century. So why wouldn’t you support efforts to develop leaders in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector, in any way that you can?
Please share your views and comments below, or you can join the conversation with Vyla on Twitter.
Tags:
casestudy
challenges
change
community
culture
future
politics
socialsector
value
volunteering
Permalink
| Comments (0)
|
|
|
Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
27 June 2017
Updated: 07 December 2020
|
David Green is director of Green Pepper Consulting, a social enterprise working with the third sector.
In the corporate world, ethics and success are not always synonymous. If they were, then we wouldn’t have activists such as Naomi Klein, or organisations like Greenpeace. But it isn’t just big oil or multinational mining companies that should be concerned with ethics.
Indeed, I recall the furore in 2013 when Comic Relief were found, at the time, to be investing in the likes of tobacco and armaments.
The fact remains that with a constant pressure to deliver, it can be tempting to push ethics aside. The outcome, it seems, then becomes more important than the means.
But does this actually matter if the result is the same?
The only ethical response, surely, is “yes it does”. It matters because no organisation operates outside of society. Indeed, for the voluntary and community sector (VCS), creating a better society is very much central to the role. So accounting for how you do this is important; and the reasons why should be clear:
- Greater public trust and confidence
- Credibility with local communities and the sector
- Better governance
- Inspiring loyalty, motivation, and the engagement of staff and volunteers
- More attractive to funders, donors and social partners
Of course the vast majority of VCS organisations spend their money with care; and e. But a wise VCS leader will want to embed ethics into the organisation’s culture at every level, from trustees, staff and volunteers, to its relations with beneficiaries, funders and other stakeholders.
This means not only putting the organisation’s values and mission centre stage, but also incorporating ethics into the leader’s own role.
A good place to start is with effective communications, consulting with staff and volunteers, engaging in external networks, and taking time to explain the organisation’s message, both internally and externally.
It also means adopting good and effective systems. Ethics should be embedded into recruitment, relationships, and practices. Creating an inclusive climate for staff, volunteers and beneficiaries to thrive, to speak up, and to develop will not only build trust and reinforce the organisation’s values, but help ensure sustainability in the longer term.
The leader’s personal behaviour must also reflect the organisation’s ethical values. Shouting and bullying, setting unrealistic targets, keeping people in the dark – none of these are compatible with ethical leadership. Instead empathy, honesty and respect should prevail.
Underpinning all of this should be basic principles of trust, honesty and integrity. As such, a commitment to model individual behaviour on the Nolan principles on standards in public life seems appropriate.
Clearly none of this is new, or particularly difficult to achieve. But it can be forgotten. So leaders should remind themselves, particularly when tough times need bold decisions, that how they get results is just as important to everyone involved, as the results themselves.
Please share your comments about this blog below, or you can join the conversation with David on Twitter.
Tags:
casestudy
change
culture
future
skills
socialsector
systems
tips
value
volunteering
Permalink
| Comments (0)
|
|
|
Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
08 February 2017
Updated: 07 December 2020
|
Social investment is a subject that has been much talked about in recent years. There are some within the voluntary and community sectors with strong views about social investment, either for or against. As someone who has spent almost a decade working in the realm of social investment, I am most definitely an advocate. But recently I have found myself becoming quite frustrated with the social investment sector because I am not sure we are adequately serving those who have social impact at the heart of their mission – charities and social enterprises.
It is no secret that the social sector is operating in challenging times. We are in our 6th year of government austerity and public contracts are feeling the force of that. Given this climate, is the social investment sector providing finance that these often small organisations can access and afford?
Recent research has highlighted the need for social investors to be able to offer not just finance which is lower cost, but also blended finance and finance which can take higher risks. Unfortunately despite this need, often this isn’t the sort of finance that is being offered (although there are a handful of honourable exceptions). What all of this points to is that what the social investment market is currently offering isn’t necessarily what the majority of the market we serve wants from us. We are not responding to demand, but instead we are asking others to fit our needs and those of our investors. And I’m not sure that’s the right way round to be doing things.
When I was interviewed to become a Clore Social Fellow in September 2014 I was asked what change I wanted to help bring about in society. My answer was that I wanted to help redistribute resources; that there is enough money in the world but that at the moment too much of it was accessed by too few, and that I wanted to change that. I still want to change that. And I want to change that because the charities and social enterprises we are here to serve are struggling. We need to:
- Look at new, different and innovative ways to get the money that already exists to a point where it can be used to help the organisations supporting the communities in need.
- Be able to demonstrate that the finance we are providing is creating a social impact and making a real difference to people’s lives.
- Ask investors to support us in offering the type of finance that charities and social enterprises want; simple, straightforward finance that they can afford.
Doing this will be no easy task, but it is something I believe we are duty bound to do. Because if we try we might just do it - and this will benefit everyone.
Please share your views and comments about Deborah’s blog and full piece below, or you can contact her on Twitter.
Tags:
challenges
change
fellow
future
socialsector
volunteering
Permalink
| Comments (0)
|
|
Blog Home
All Blogs
RSS