What the wave of new charity leaders will need to know…
Charity leadership change comes in waves.
And as this wave continues, with Peter Wanless announcing the end of his eleven-year tenure at NSPCC, it’s an opportune time to look at what this generation of new charity leaders will face, how different that is from their predecessors, and what this means for them.
Eleven years ago, austerity had barely got off the starting blocks, Brexit was the fantasy of the few, pandemics were science fiction stories, and the cost-of-living crisis not even on the radar.
The economy was recovering from the 2008 crash, voluntary income was growing well, and the sector was still making good money from the billions in public sector contracts that had mushroomed in the prior decade.
Eleven years on and those public sector funding streams are marginal at best with ever more charities competing to subsidise the state from their own income and reserves (to the tune of £2.4bn a year according to NPC), their finances increasingly threadbare and their voices increasingly “defanged” by legislation, political appointments and unrelenting commissioning pressure.
Volunteer numbers had been declining for years before the pandemic put the boot in, and even those who are volunteering now are less likely to volunteer for charities – according to the last Time Well Spent survey, 34% of are instead volunteering for the public or private sector, versus 27% eight years ago.
Brexit delivered a skills shortage to many parts of the sector, and growing global instability alongside a revolving door of ministers from an increasingly short-term government has gifted us an environment of unprecedented unpredictability.
The cost-of-living crisis has hit public donations and, according to CAF’s annual UK Giving report, any growth is increasingly coming from just the affluent few; meanwhile, our social fabric is wearing increasingly thin, with crumbling state services, historic waiting lists, and rising levels of poverty, deprivation and homelessness.
Traditionally, charities filled gaps left by the state, but those gaps are self-evidently far greater now than charities can hope to fill.
And all of this at a time when our challenges, from social inequality to mental health, from climate change to the impending tsunami of AI, are more complex and systemic than ever.
2013 doubtless felt challenging for the Wanless generation, but in comparison with today it was a walk in the park, and the models of charity and leadership they inherited are no longer the models that new charity leaders need now.
Our new leaders will need to look beyond services and interventions and to think increasingly about sharing goals, unpicking root causes, and creating systemic change. And not just how they can envisage and engineer it, but how they can inspire the widespread participation and influence required to achieve it.
They will need to be much more selective about where and how their organisations can add unique and distinctive impact, where they can develop and lean into their strengths. Where and with whom they can partner for most everything else, and how their charity can work far more collaboratively alongside other organisations. Not just those from different industries, but with those historic rivals from their own.
They will need the personal capability to navigate conflict and lead through uncertainty, but to also be able to cultivate a culture within their organisation that shares those same capabilities. The alternative, that leaders hold all this ambiguity themselves to shelter their organisation, is a surefire way to burnout.
They will need to help their people develop more agile and innovative strategies and systems that can cope with a more rapidly changing world, learning how to learn as they go, and to collectively think their way through the challenges ahead.
And above all, our new charity leaders will need to bring people with them on that huge journey of change. Becoming far more transparent about the positions they take and the decisions they make, while involving, educating, and continually transferring power and control to the people they exist to serve and the employees and partners who are there to serve them.
Charities must change to meet the challenges they face, and leadership change is an opportunity to do just that.
So, to those now taking up the top seat, you are more than welcome to join my CEO seminars and groups, and to start working your way through all the above in the company of your peers, whenever you feel the need.
And to you, dear reader, if you know someone who’d benefit from that invitation, please do forward this on.