Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
09 April 2021
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This #CloreSocialFellowFriday, we sat down with Dr Wanda Wyporska, a 2020 Experienced Leader Fellow, and the executive director of The Equality Trust.
Can you give us a brief background on The Equality Trust and your history with the organisation?
I joined The Equality Trust in 2016. During that time, inequality has become a more pressing issue in public consciousness, and the Trust has also grown in terms of its profile and reach. So, it’s a very exciting time to serve as executive director, and I liken my experience to an apprenticeship where every year I’ve been able to focus on different aspects of the role, and have grown my leadership skills immensely.
We know that inequality impacts people, not just during the pandemic, but throughout their lives. We also know that there currently are high levels of inequality, as well as higher levels of violent crime, poor health, poor educational attainment, poor mental health, increased imprisonment, and increased crime. All of these things are linked, and we must tackle inequality as a root cause rather than tackling these issues in silos.
What has it been like to lead the charity during the past year?
A lot of the work we do is face to face: we have about 20 local groups around the country, and we run campaigns to raise public awareness. This year, like many organisations, we have had to adapt, rethink, and reorganise to bring people together without being face to face. I’m really proud of my team, because we were able to do that really quickly despite navigating the initial challenges of working from home. Whereas we once would have had 80 people in a room, now we’re able to have 800 people in a virtual webinar. This increases not only the amount of people, but also the geographical reach of programmes, which is really important because often charities can be very London-focused.
For our young people's project, we’ve also been able to set up a website for them to share their artwork on race and experiencing inequality as young people, which you can find at imnotyour.co.uk.
Can you share a little bit more about your experience on the Experienced Leader programme, and how it has helped you on your leadership journey?
I have an inordinate love of learning, whether it's crafts, academic subjects, professional development, or anything else. That being said, sometimes the timing has to be right for you to accept learning, and although I've done a lot of management courses along the way, it was only really the last year and with Clore Social that I felt that I was in the right space to receive that learning and that I was hitting the ground running.
One of the most powerful aspects of the course was receiving feedback from a cohort of peers who were having the same problems and asking the same questions as I was. Through that process, I gained a lot of self-awareness, and realised that sometimes you need to hear someone else articulate what you’ve been struggling with to really process it.
The opportunity for self-analysis has also been extremely helpful, which was a bit surprising because I’ve always railed against analysis of personality and character traits and putting people in boxes. However, over the last year I’ve done a number of those psychometric tests, and they’ve given me the chance to reflect on myself as a leader, even if that means coming face to face with uncomfortable truths.
What is your relationship with authentic leadership, and is being an authentic leader something that you are conscious of in your role?
I think authentic leadership is absolutely crucial, and I don't think there's any other way to lead when you're CEO, because you are so closely identified with the organization that you become the ambassador of the organization. However, there are good sides to that and there are bad sides. When you practice authentic leadership, you have to be very mindful about what you're prepared to share and what you're not prepared to share. For those of us who are women, or black, or Asian, or LGBTQ+, or disabled, many of us have an additional job, which is not just being CEO of our organization, but also being a spokesperson on those various issues. So, I think we have to be careful to protect ourselves and to be very clear where our red lines are, and to be clear when we want to take on that role of spokesperson, and when we don’t. I've made a conscious decision to talk about race, gender, and class, and I have no problem with sharing a lot of my experience, but we mustn't assume that everybody is prepared to do that. A lot of people might just really want to do their CEO job, rather than being such an authentic leader that their whole self is out there in the spotlight all of the time.
I spent many years in jobs where my voice and perspective wasn’t heard, so I enjoy having a platform to be heard. I also feel the responsibility to raise voices that aren't often heard, and raise points which aren't often heard. At The Equality Trust, we try to use our influence in order to give other people a voice in all of our work.
Looking forward, what are you excited for in the future?
I'm currently building a new team and recruiting more staff because The Equality Trust is growing and blossoming, which is wonderful to see. This year, I’m really looking forward to putting what I've learned in the Experienced Leader course into practice with this new team.
I would also love to see the charity sector really come together. One of the things that we are doing is setting up a coalition of organizations in the sector that want to tackle structural inequalities. We really urge organisations to start to think about what they're doing in terms of tackling the root cause of inequalities. Collaboration between the right partners takes a lot of work, but can produce huge results, because we become more than the sum of our parts.
You can find Wanda on Twitter @WandaWyporska, and on LinkedIn.
You can find The Equality Trust on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
If you would like to be featured for a #CloreSocialFellowFriday, send us an email at info@cloresocialleadership.org.uk.
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