For our next #FellowFriday we are pleased to introduce you to Hannah Taaffe, Girl Voice Lead at Girlguiding and Clore Social Emerging Leader Fellow. Read Hannah's interview which covers her unique leadership journey and some of the projects she is currently working on.

Tell us about your leadership journey to date.

I’m sometimes embarrassed to admit that I grew up largely uninterested in politics – something I now know was a privileged position to be in. But I received a baptism of fire on arrival at a politically active university in the centre of London in the early 2010s, during a wave of protests against tuition fees and austerity. I was lucky to be placed in halls with some amazing feminists who took the time to help me learn and develop my beliefs. Late night (and early morning) debates with them shaped me into the feminist I am today. 
So, freshly inspired and fired up to change the world, I sought out any opportunity to make a difference that I could squeeze between my studies and part-time jobs. I was a steward at protests, did admin work for an anti-austerity organisation, and later became Publicity Officer at the university’s Women’s Network. 
This voluntary experience turned out to be a great launchpad into a career in social impact. During my final year of university, I worked part-time at the Fawcett Society, a women’s rights organisation, and after completing my final exams I worked at Global Citizen, a digital advocacy platform. I learned so much in these roles - from communications and events to campaigns and advocacy. What I love about campaigning is helping people see themselves as agents of change, and inspiring them to take positive action. No action or person is too small to make a difference – everything and everyone can have a ripple effect. 

It wasn’t until I worked at Save the Children UK that I began to see myself as a leader, thanks to an amazing line manager. Her style of line management was all about coaching and finding opportunities to help me grow. She supported me to get involved in projects where I could develop skills and experience in areas I was interested in – such as working with children and young people. 

She encouraged me to apply for the Clore Social Leadership Emerging Leaders (Women and Girls) programme. At the time, I was volunteering with Girlguiding with a group of Rangers (14–18-year-olds) in south London, and was trustee of a small suicide prevention charity called Olly’s Future. But I was in a junior position at Save the Children, so I felt a lot of imposter syndrome when I was accepted into the programme. How could I be a leader, when I didn’t have anything like ‘manager’ in my job title? My time on the programme helped me to see leadership is not about your job title or your place in a hierarchy – it’s about inspiring others around you, which has a ripple effect that can ultimately transform the world around us.

I now work at Girlguiding, where I lead the advocate panel – a group of Girlguiding members aged 14-25 who speak out on behalf of girls and young women across the UK on issues they care about. These young people inspire me every day, and show me that anyone can be a leader, at any age. 

What impact did the 2020 Emerging Leader: Women and Girls Programme have on your leadership journey?

It gave me the confidence to see myself as a leader. It also taught me that wellbeing is fundamental to sustainable social leadership – we must look after ourselves so that we can continue supporting others to create change.
Being part of the 2020 cohort, it’s impossible to think about my time on the programme without remembering the uncertainty and anxiety of early lockdowns. I think that’s what helped us as a cohort to develop such a deep connection – we supported each other through some really difficult moments. This taught me that vulnerability is a huge part of leadership; if you allow others to hold you up, it ultimately makes you stronger. 

What were your takeaways from the Emerging Leader: Women and Girls Programme? 

Many of the tools and resources have come in handy over the years. I often find myself going  back to my Clore Social notebook to help myself or sometimes to share with my partner, who is also a leader in the social impact sector.
But the best takeaway is undoubtedly the incredible network of Clore Social fellows. They’ve been there to support me as I’ve considered career decisions and big life changes. This network has also provided opportunities for collaboration; just recently I’ve worked with another fellow from the programme to plan an event to inspire young Girlguiding members to consider careers in politics.
My work mostly concerns advocacy and external lobbying, but I also support our advocates to feed into internal changes, such as within governance and strategy. I’m always looking for more ways we can bring in the voices of young people into our decision-making. I’ve taken what I learnt on the programme and put it into practice. I’m more confident in making suggestions, challenging constructively, managing upwards and influencing others.

What projects are you excited to be working on in the near future?

I’m currently in the process of two different types of recruitment: recruiting for new volunteer members of the advocate panel, and recruiting a new member of staff who I will line manage. It will be my first formal line management role, four years after I first applied for the Clore Social programme! In that time I’ve mentored and coached junior colleagues, as well as the young people I work with, but I’m really excited to apply my learnings from the programme to this new challenge of line management. As I embark on this new chapter of my leadership journey, I feel lucky to have such a strong foundation through Clore Social. 

What advice would you give to someone considering taking part in the Emerging Leader programme? 

Go for it, and commit to it. It’s a transformative experience. You will learn new skills and tools to apply to your work (or wherever you do your changemaking), and you will be welcomed into an incredible network of Clore Social Fellows which will be invaluable for years to come. But most importantly, you will learn more about yourself and your own leadership style, develop resilience, and learn how to look after yourself – so that you can continue to tackle the social challenges of today and tomorrow.

You can find Hannah on Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can find Girlguiding on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok.

For this month's #FellowFriday we are pleased to introduce you to Anne Bailey, CEO of Form the Future and Clore Social Experienced Leader Fellow. Read Anne's interview which covers her unique leadership journey including how she became an unexpected CEO and her takeaways from our Experienced Leader programme.

Tell us about your leadership journey to date.

I started my career in New York in the late 1980s – think Working Girl and Wall Street. All big shoulder pads and power suits. Most of the bosses were men whose leadership skills were honed on the sports field or in the military. Apart from one leader who was a storyteller whose vision inspired me. 

I moved to the UK when I was 25 and continued my quest to figure out what I wanted to do for work. I found my way into PR based on my ability to write. But I was never quite sure I was in the right job.

I stepped away from the corporate world when my children were young and while I never stopped working, I was mainly freelance for several years.

Clients often told me that I had an ability to inspire and energise people. A headteacher once said to me: “Fifteen minutes with you and I’m excited about my job again.”

One of the projects I’d started while working on my own was to try to find a way to connect schools with businesses, so that students could learn about and prepare for their future careers. It came out of my own frustration of not knowing what I wanted to do for work. It grew over time to become Form the Future CIC, a careers and employment company that I still lead, eight years since launching with a partner in 2015. Form the Future is now a team of 30 people, a committee of advisors and a Board, all of whom I need to lead to some extent. Together we have nurtured a huge network of schools, businesses and community leaders who are integral to delivering our impact. I hadn’t set out to build an enterprise like this and I sometimes feel like an accidental CEO. When I saw Clore’s Experienced Leader programme I saw an opportunity to learn how to be a better leader.

I was lucky to win the 2022 Cambridge Social Entrepreneurship Prize which came with a bursary to put towards my own development. I would never have applied believing that all our resources should be directed to delivering for young people. 

I was intrigued by the Social Leadership Capabilities Framework which Clore Social Leadership programmes are centred around. I immediately felt comfortable with some of the attributes, capabilities and skills which I recognised as strengths and a bit anxious about the others that I thought were weaknesses. What I discovered was that the areas I thought were strengths needed development and I was far better in the areas I thought would be difficult. My main realisation is that leadership comes in many guises – no shoulder pads required – and the art is finding a way that works for you. I’m much more aware now of where I add value and where I get in the way.

Was there anything unexpected that came from your experience on the Experienced Leader programme?

There was much that I loved about the Experienced Leader programme – our generous facilitator, Emily Lomax, our cohort of diverse and inspirational leaders all tackling challenges whole-heartedly in different places and spaces; opportunities to learn about myself through Lumina Spark and a 360 review; experiencing Action Learning, and access to interesting content about the different leadership modules – but none of those were unexpected. But something emerged during the residential that surprised me; when our group discussions turned to funding, I realised just how frustrated I was with the struggle to fund our services. It’s the effort involved to chase small sums of money for short-term contracts, an inefficient use of time by an already stretched organisation who could otherwise be delivering services.

If anything drives me out of the sector it will be the endless quest to raise funds to deliver our services and then to convert to delivery, like a London Taxi doing a U-turn. It’s exhausting. The competitive nature of bidding for contracts means we keep our costs low and our margins are minimal. But this puts our work at risk, as we pay our staff less than they can make elsewhere and then bear the costs of having to recruit and retrain, losing valuable skills and knowledge along the way. 

I believe our work has value and that value should be recognised. The problem we’re addressing isn’t going to disappear anytime soon which is why we need to build a sustainable operation, one that gets fairly compensated for the important work that we do. 

The revelation of just how frustrated I was with our funding situation wasn’t just cathartic - it was also an important driver in reviewing our operations and future strategy. The programme gave me the chance to take time away from the business, to learn from other social leaders and to tune in to what I really felt.

What are you excited to see come to fruition in the next couple of years?

Building on the idea of reviewing our operations to build a more sustainable enterprise; I’m excited to see how we can use data and technology to personalise our services. For a long time we’ve delivered good services, but without precision. In the same way that medicine is moving to genetics to refine treatments, we can make sure that our careers services are fully responsive to the interests and aptitudes of the students we’re supporting. We’re gaining some really valuable insights into the next generation which we’re able to share with employers and place-leaders, enabling our employment eco-system to operate more effectively. Having built something that works well in our region, we’re excited to explore the potential for expanding to other parts of the UK and overseas.

What projects are you currently working on?

I usually have more projects on the go than is possible to deliver, so one of my goals is doing less. That’s a direct result of what I’ve taken away from the Clore programme: focused strategist and empowering enabler coming together so that I provide clarity and direction and then step away and allow my team to take things forward. One thing I’m doing to help myself transition to this approach is learning about coaching. After Clore, I took a course in Leadership Coaching which gave me a lot of insight into the impact of a coaching approach within organisations and some techniques to get started. I was aware that my default was to take ownership of people’s problems, a trait that a lot of founders suffer from and that the crisis of the past few years probably exacerbated but I hadn’t realised the impact this had on the people in my team. What I thought was helping to relieve pressure or find solutions was actually doing the opposite: making them think I didn’t believe in them or their abilities. 

In these challenging times we can only really control one thing: ourselves. Being a social entrepreneur is a tough job and ultimately it’s about mindset.  “Know Yourself, Be Yourself, Look After Yourself” is the first part of the programme and it’s easy to dismiss this. I now realise that, as a leader, the work I do on myself will benefit the whole organisation and ultimately our mission. Our work providing effective careers programmes for young people has never been more needed and I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned to help us to help even more young people.

Our next Experienced Leader programme will start in 2024. To find out more about the programme, and register for updates, please click here.

You can find Anne on Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can find Form The Future 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.

This #VolunteersWeek, Reindolf Asanate-Manu shared with us all the wonderful volunteering work he has been doing for knife violence. 

My volunteering journey has been growing and fulfilling. Throughout my life, I have done pockets of various voluntary activities. I have always had a sense of giving back to the community and making a positive impact on the lives of others. From working with local charities to participating in environmental clean-up projects, I have learnt a lot along the way.

Specifically, about four months ago, a few of my friends and I decided to start a youth education programme on knife violence. We recognised the urgent need to address this issue and provide young people with the knowledge and resources to prevent such violence. We formed a small team of four dedicated individuals and planned organising education meetings in different communities across London and other parts of the UK.

In our education meetings, we focused on raising awareness about the consequences of knife violence and providing practical strategies for conflict resolution and non-violent communication. We have had two meetings so far and each meeting was carefully planned and included speakers with lived experiences (ex gang members) who shared valuable insights and experiences related to the issue.

Though we haven't had a lot of these meetings, we have witnessed positive changes within the community we have reached so far. The young people who attended our education meetings have shown a greater understanding of the dangers associated with gangs and  knife violence and have expressed a desire to find to focus their time on other productive activities. We have received feedback from participants who have shared how our sessions have influenced them to rethink their choices and adopt non-violent approaches.

Beyond the immediate impact on individuals, our work also aims to have a ripple effect within the community. By raising awareness and initiating discussions about knife violence, we want to spark conversations among parents, educators, and community leaders. This will lead to a collective effort to address the issue more effectively, with more people joining our cause and offering their support.

Whilst our journey is still in its early stages, we remain committed to expanding our education programme and reaching more communities. We believe that by empowering young people with knowledge and promoting a culture of non-violence, we can contribute to a safer and more harmonious society.

This #VolunteersWeek, Steve Sloan shared the great volunteering work he has been doing with young people as a part of The Young Lives Foundation.

You can find The Young Lives Foundation on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

This #VolunteersWeek, Rachel shared with us all the lovely volunteering work she has been doing as the Chief Executive of Tempo Time Credits and in her own community.

Tell us more about your volunteering journey?

I am the Chief Executive of Tempo Time Credits. Tempo is a national charity that has spent 15 years supporting communities across England and Wales. We work with a network of charities, social enterprises, corporate partners and local organisations. We work to connect people to the causes close to them – enabling and encouraging volunteering by awarding Time Credits that recognise their contribution.

Whilst in my day job I get to see the amazing things that volunteers give to the community every day I am also very privileged to volunteer in my own community. I am the Secretary for my local community centre, the community centre is run by a small team of volunteers who host the most amazing range of activities and opportunities for local people. From Irish dance classes to a monthly produce market, there really is something for everyone.

In January I set up a Cuppa Club at the centre to address the issues associated with loneliness and isolation. The Cuppa Club has been running twice weekly by a small team of community members and has been making a huge difference to those attending. A slice of toast, hot cuppa, good conversation and the occasional game of cards has been incredibly well received by those that have come along. It’s also created a warm space for those that have been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

Are there any specific details you would like to mention about your volunteering experience? 

I love giving something back to my own community. I get to meet the most amazing people and hopefully make a difference to them through the volunteering that I do. I have also been fundraising in my local community over the last year and raised over £40,000 to support the Ukraine crisis as well as for families in my local community. I work in community development daily, volunteering enables me to work in my community and hopefully make a difference to the people and the community where I live.

How do you think your volunteering work has impacted the community?

Through the volunteering that I have been involved with I have been able to bring others together. Through coffee mornings, cake sales, quiz nights and activities at the community centre I have made new friends, developed new opportunities, and provided a range of local activities that brings people together.

Today, with the lingering impact of the pandemic, coupled with the rising prices of everything from food to fuel, the volunteering landscape has changed. Many who used to volunteer now work longer hours – earning to survive – leaving our communities short of the volunteers so crucial to lifeline support services across the country. In short, volunteer recruitment is an issue happening right now, right on your doorstep. At Tempo Time Credits our work helps engage and retain new people, recognising them for their time and skills. In times of austerity, when they’re faced with difficult decisions every day, it’s a huge challenge.

You can find Rachel Gegeshidze on LinkedIn and Twitter!

You can Tempo Time Credit on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

This #CloreSocialFellowFriday, we sat down with Veronika Susedkova to talk about leadership, strong peer networks, and her work as the Regional Women Centred Advisor and Trainer at WomenCentre. Veronika is a Clore Social Fellow from the 2020 Emerging Leader Women and Girls’ Programme.

Can you give us some background information about your role and your organisation?

I work for WomenCentre, we’re a regional organisation providing services to women in Kirklees, Calderdale and Bradford in West Yorkshire. WomenCentre is also part of a project called Connecting Opportunities that works with new migrants to develop their skills and opportunities to find work, as well as to improve their English, and become more embedded in local communities.

I have the role of regional advisor and specifically focus on women-centred ways of working. So rather than doing a frontline delivery, which is what our organisation mostly does, I work with women on the project and our project partners to use our six principles of women-centred ways of working in all that we do. When the pandemic happened, we adapted those principles into digital and remote or blended ways of working. This includes asking women we work with questions such as: ‘How long should online sessions be?’ ‘What time?’ ‘What topics should we cover?’ ‘How structured should sessions be?’ After going through those questions and more, we came up with a very practical toolkit on how to set up online service delivery so that it supports women migrants. Part of that means acknowledging that there is always support that has to take place face-to-face, but it’s also about finding a blended model that meets the needs of the women we work with.

You mentioned an ethos of women-centred working, can you expand a little bit on that term and what it looks like?

Starting with enabling women’s access to services, one of the key questions we get asked is about digital poverty and inequity of access to technology. To approach this issue in a woman-centred way, we ask women we work with what they need and then structure the support and funding around those needs. For example, providing childcare during online appointments or covering travel to attend in-person appointments. Luckily our funders are flexible enough to allow us, as the people working and volunteering on the ground who understand how the services work, to move the budget provision around so that we can practically buy things that women need.

It also means being a bit more understanding about the challenges that women are facing at home, and that there are often barriers beyond their control that are preventing them from accessing services. For example, a family might only have one computer, and a child might need it to complete their homework, which might prevent their mother from logging into her group session. Or, for instance, a woman might share that she doesn't have time to engage with the programme right now because of other responsibilities and commitments. So, it is our job to listen to these experiences and work around them. Instead of simply moving on, we would listen to women and pause the programme, sending them regular updates until they’re ready to re-engage with us.

There must be some incredible insights from such an approach! As a result, are you noticing a marked difference to your work and the lives of the women you work with?

Yes, we are. We also want others to benefit from these insights and work in more women-centred ways. Our most recent report, launched in July 2021, highlights digital ways of women-centred working, and is based on lived experiences and contributions from women migrants we have worked with. We focus on some of the challenges the pandemic and policy responses present for women migrants by adapting and developing women centred working with women migrants for digital spaces. We would really like for organisations to use this report and the additional resources as tools to enhance their support and improve the lives of women migrants.

What great leadership! Could you share a little bit about your experience on the Clore Social Women and Girls’ Emerging Leader programme?

The programme was centred around feminist leadership principles - it was something our cohort learned together and can now use a common language for. We may have already been applying some of the principles, but weren’t able to articulate them as such. On the programme, we supported one another in a safe space (which we co-held and co-created) - that made us be braver and gave us confidence and the language to call things out that we didn’t agree with.

Another major impact of the programme was the power of peers. Perhaps that aspect was more enhanced within our 2020 cohort because it was among the first Clore Social programmes that had to pivot to run fully online due to the pandemic. It felt great to be part of that transformation, although it would have been so nice to have come together in person! We were able to get to know each other and build a network that we came back to throughout the programme.

Having a group of skilled women with such a breadth of experience who are able to apply a feminist perspective, outside of my usual amazing network of women, has been really helpful. Together, we looked at how we can support one another on an ongoing basis, not just as friends but also as women leaders offering our skills within the sector and beyond.

Having that peer group and knowing we’re not alone is incredibly powerful. We also hear this from the women we work with; having a group of women with similar experiences, hearing their challenges or how they’ve navigated the system, and understanding that they aren’t on their own is priceless.

What does good leadership look like in that case?

Good leadership is feminist leadership. There is a lot to that, but for me it’s about examining what power we hold in the system and how we use that power; it’s about self-awareness and recognising one’s strength as well as areas for improvement, and appreciating the same in others, and also trying to find effective ways to communicate with others. Power and communication could also be connected to lived experience. And there’s also allyship, which can be indispensable.

We hope to run our next Women & Girls Emerging Leader programme in 2022-2023. To find out more about the programme, and register for updates, please click here.

You can find Veronika on Twitter @VeroSusedkova and on LinkedIn.

You can find WomenCentre on Twitter @WomenCentreCK, Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you would like to be featured for a #CloreSocialFellowFriday, send us an email at info@cloresocialleadership.org.uk

Victoria Muir is one of our Forces in Mind Trust supported fellows who completed the Clore Fellowship Programme in 2017. We had the pleasure of interviewing her to learn more about what the experience has meant for her and her leadership development journey in the context of the Armed Forces Charities sector.

Looking back, what are the 3 most important skills you learned? How do you implement these lessons into your organisation?

One of the most important aspects for me was learning from the other fellows. Often, from my experience within the Military Charitable sector, we work very closely with each other but not always across the social sector as a whole so it was extremely beneficial for me to learn how people from different sectors worked. By completing the Clore Fellowship alongside having the validation of FiMT’s support, I have gained confidence in my abilities and learnt new skills. I certainly feel that where I might not have put my voice forward before, I am much happier to add it to the debate.

""If there’s something that is challenging me now, I will go back to the principles I learned through the programme, step back and reflect." 

"Coaching is about creating the time and space to think and hear your own thinking."

"Coaching will play a part in the journey from hierarchy and team membership to one of a truer version of collective leadership."