Articles

The crisis in service provision is not a problem nonprofits can address through tactical solutions. It needs a strategic approach.

Most nonprofits have visions that require us to understand how systemic change happens if they’re to become reality.

It’s easy to get so fixated on the challenge, that we think about “getting through it” rather than building momentum from it.

Are we here to deliver contracts or change the world? These are the existential conversations I’m having and you can listen in.

When it comes to speed, quality, and engagement, how we make decisions is far more important than what we decide.

In Good Company: a series of conversations on the future of charity and its leadership

Agile planning, agility, and innovation, can all be massively increased simply by trying to come up with “ten ways you can”.

When did you last find yourself consciously choosing your style. whether for a discussion or for navigating a conflict?

When people give feedback it’s more often about them than it is about you. Here’s how to give useful feedback.

Why you need to start now on getting the team match fit, not just for the work of today, but for the work of tomorrow.

A tender process is not the best way to get a charity’s expertise, nor is it how to hire consultants for the best outcomes.

Understanding the ideal scenario and the worst case alternatives will improve your ability to shape your own future.

As the periodic wave of leadership change rolls across our major charities, here’s what new charity leaders need to know.

We’ve seen huge impact from organisations working together within ecosystems of change. How do we make this a priority?

For all the thinks that will be changed by the growth of AI, one thing AI will not change is the value of lived experience.

The ethical divide between charities and businesses is fiction. In reality it’s a spectrum and a huge opportunity.

Understanding and influencing the menatal models other default to, is key to ensuring we get our own message received well.

A theory of change doesn’t need to be a complex flow chart. It’s simply our belief about how we create change.

Energy is the driving force in all that we do. How do you generate enough energy to continually reignite your drive?

A great team is far more than the sum of its parts, but many of our teams aren’t. Here’s how to change that.

It doesn’t matter how passionately we believe, aligning agendas will always be more powerful than pushing a moral cause.

If we want to create better outcomes for whole populations, we need to focus on the system and work with others.

Get past the fight, flight, or freeze response by developing your conflict maturity, and shift into collaborative mode.

We only have to think about a cricket team evaluating itself for racism to realise objecive self-assessment is impossible.

How can you tell if your people are afraid of expanding your mind? And how might you address it if they are?

The footballing analogy of premier leadership can helps us to see that there are far higher levels of aspiration.

It is not the strength of your arguments, it is your ability to create emotional engagement that will help you change the world.

Charities can be sniffy about it, but good sales technique doesn’t just help you get what you need, it helps others as well.

Once you begin to realise your full value to others, a wealth of new opportunities will invariably start to emerge.

There is a huge value to be had from the outsider perspective that we lose when our culture requires assimilation.

Whether through data or direct human contact, understanding relationships are the heart of commercial success.

Learning and growth require us to be open to challenging our beliefs, as individuals but also culturally, as an organisation.

The way that we and others describe ourselves creates, what can become, the self-image trap, preventing our growth.

In any change process, the early sign of resistance is fertile soil in which to grow your own understanding.

Leaders need to stop holding and start sharing the uncertainty so that their teams can develop more agile plans.

When it comes to engaging your strategy, there are some classic rules of rhetoric that can be incredibly helpful.

The best ideas don’t come to you while you’re head-down in work. Make time for some wandering and pondering.

However financially constrained nonprofits may be, we can’t expect things to improve without investing in the future.

Stories and parables are powerful drivers of culture. Here’s how to use a parable of culture change in your organisation.

The lessons from the mini budget are that interventions in complex systems usually have unintended consequences.

It might be hard to hear, but the fact we’ve come through multiple crises in recent years is good news for the future.

Agility and empowerment comes with risks. This is where you need to invest to avoid breaking your organisation.

Nonprofits hold dear their ability to challenge power, but do enough people have the power to challenge you?

From all my recent conversations about future-proofing charity leadership, some clear themes have emerged.

In the right situation with the right training, the manager as a coach model works well, but it’s not always the right solution.

Which of your partnerships and coalitions have the genuine potential to become high performing collaborations?

When people give genuine honest reasons for resistance of new ideas, they’re really helpful. But they’re also rare.

Whether you’re offering your expertise to others, or buying it in for yourselves, avoid the invitation to tender.

If our leadership is to be sustainable and avoid burnout, we need to recognise to the changing role of the CEO.

It’s easy to forget that any charity that earns income is “doing” social enterprise. And that’s most of them.

Most of the drama we face inside and outside our organisations can be resolved if only we act like a grown up charity.

It’s a tough environment for charities delivering services, which is why we need some radical honesty about them.

How to embrace a new model for strategy – one that’s agile and adaptable and fit for the organisations of today.

We all know that recognition is important, how valuable it is to receive. But how often do you celebrate your success?

Understanding why people behave the way they do is the core of perceptive leadership and it’s the key to their success.

Being spoilt for choice or having too many options doesn’t just kill pace, it makes us less happy with the decisions we make.

The key to anticipating change in an unpredictable environment, is to broaden our perspective on the future.

How do we adapt hybrid working to get the best of both worlds? Start by identifying what’s best about each.