Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
19 March 2021
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This #CloreSocialFellowFriday, we sat down with Mohammed Ali Amla, a 2020 Leading Beyond Lockdown Programme Fellow. Ali is a freelance consultant, and the new Director of Bridge Building at Solutions not Sides.
Can you give us a little bit of background information about yourself and your new role?
I recently joined Solutions not Sides as the Director of Bridge Building, leading on youth empowerment, strategic partnerships and collaborations. Starting a new job during a global pandemic, navigating uncertainty is both exciting and nerve wracking. Leadership during periods of uncertainty and rapid change requires innovation, versatility, determination, humility and a willingness to manage risk, and I’m excited to embrace this new challenge and opportunity.
Solutions not Sides is an organisation that tackles the growth of Antisemitism and Islamophobia and the polarisation around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Britain. We provide education programmes that empower young people with the knowledge, empathy and skills to promote dialogue, conflict resolution, and to challenge prejudice in the UK. Our work is rooted in humanising encounters, diverse narratives and critical thinking tools. We run school workshops and youth leadership programmes that bring Israeli and Palestinian peace activists into schools, creating a safe space to talk about their experiences of the conflict and explore what peace means, taking a solution-focused approach and exploring different possibilities.
This pandemic has also allowed us to pilot our Student Leadership Programme (SLP) online, rebranded as Bridge Builders. We’ll be working with young people aged 16-19, nurturing their leadership skills by exploring social division, interfaith relations, cohesion, conflict, challenging hate, and community activism. We’ll also be looking at examples of peacebuilding from Northern Ireland, The Balkans, and Israel-Palestine. It’s an opportunity to learn, adapt and improve for the future as we continue to empower young people online. That being said, I’m looking forward to organising an in-person SLP later this year.
In addition to my role, I will continue to work as a freelance consultant. My freelance work primarily focuses on youth empowerment, nurturing future leaders, policy advice, leadership development, and inclusion and diversity training. Next week, I’m delivering a masterclass on tackling structural racism for Clore Social Leadership.
What inspired you to apply to the Leading Beyond Lockdown Programme?
The programme came at a time when I was at a number of different junctures in life, professionally and personally. I decided to press pause and reflect on my leadership journey thus far, while asking myself the questions: ‘what does it mean to step back into the professional world?’ and ‘what is my calling and purpose in life right now?’
The last 12 months have been an opportunity to step back and think about my key skills and direction. Coaching and the Action Learning Sets during the Leading Beyond Lockdown Programme created the space to articulate my thoughts and challenges and explore possible directions. It was also incredibly valuable to reflect on those questions within the current context of the pandemic because the world has changed during lockdown. Knowing what the world needs now is even more important than ever before.
It sounds like you’ve worn a lot of different hats throughout your career. Can you tell me a little bit more about your leadership journey and how you unlocked that potential?
It involved a process of trial and error and learning from my mistakes and success equally! I like to describe myself as a multipotentialite, which is a distinct term that just means that I’m not just purely a practitioner, strategist, policy maker, community activist, or academic researcher, but that I’m all of those things and more. During lockdown, I’ve even added theatre making to my repertoire, working on my first theatre project, building on my existing skills whilst nurturing a new direction. I believe in creating an opportunity when one isn't immediately available, and I’m always looking for new opportunities and new ways to expand my skills, knowledge and experiences.
I’ve always been in awe of individuals who have set their sights on a specific career from a young age, and boom, off they've gone. For me, my journey has been somewhat unorthodox. I’ve spent my life searching for my Ikigai, balancing my passion, what I’m good at, identifying what the world needs and finding a balance between volunteering and paid work. Learning from failure is as powerful as success in teaching you the direction that you need to take.
For example, when I was 30 years old, I was made redundant, which felt like a disaster at the time, but it actually opened up my world to freelancing. Freelancing also made diversification really key. It was about getting myself out there and networking, getting to meet as many different people as I can, learning from their journey and experience, but also allowing that to help me adapt, evolve and find my path. I learned how to identify opportunities and develop new partnerships and collaborations. All of those professional experiences—good and bad—have made me who I am and opened my world up. I’m a big believer in the idea that we shouldn’t be afraid to get things wrong, because they will inevitably allow you to get things right as well.
“There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” Brene Brown
Ali is facilitating our upcoming Masterclass on Tackling Structural Racism. You can find him on Twitter @mohammedaliamla, and LinkedIn.
You can find Solutions not Sides on Twitter @ItmakesSNS, and Instagram, and Facebook.
If you would like to be featured for a #CloreSocialFellowFriday, send us an email at info@cloresocialleadership.org.uk.
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