How can we quickly update our charity's constitution? (Anonymous post 🤫)
Ocean King
Leadership & Governance
How to Navigate the Minefield of Charity Leadership
Steve Allman Charity Coach at steveallman.com Posted 1 year ago
Last week I spoke at CharityConnect’s Connections event for charity leaders, where I was able to share some advice and wisdom on how to navigate the complexities within charity leadership.
To give a little background, I became the CEO of a charity at just 26. I had been working within this role for 7 years and I loved every minute of it—until I didn’t. I realised that being a charity leader is the perfect storm for burn out.
Your work is so closely aligned with your values, that you can stop working but you don't stop caring.
When people say, 'You work too much!' it's not that you work too much, it's that you care too much—so it's really hard to draw that distinction and switch off.
You’re thinking ‘why watch Netflix when I could write that email that might save the world!’
The other thing that charity leaders do is that you tend to do is put your hopes and dreams on the back burner because you're so busy helping everybody else fulfil theirs.
Some days you want to change the world, but some days you're so busy, you barely have time to change your socks!
It's not all negative—there are good and bad days–but the bad days can feel more than the good and because of that, it builds up and it can work against you.
So, what are a few things that can help?
- Recognise those red flags. Whether you're checking emails late at night, whether you're working late or choosing work over family and friends, whether stopped going on your daily walk or exercise because you're too busy.
- Change the things you've got control over and let go of the things you can't control. Don't be afraid to ask for help it's not an admission of failure to say that you need help and support.
- Say 'NO'. Stop saying 'Yes' to everything, you're not the man from Del Monte!
- Make time for yourself. Prioritise sleep, eating, exercise, and social time—but take that as seriously as you'd take meetings and deadlines. Put it in the calendar and say it's absolutely necessary.
- Work with your colleagues to prioritise the well-being within your charity. If you don't have the resources, the best thing you can do is make sure that you put in regular time for breaks and reflection, on your own and with the team as well. Charity leaders are always racing towards the next goal and not stopping to take stock of where they have got to, and where they're going next.
- Change your internal narrative. That voice in your head that's giving you a running commentary, you need to pay attention to that—too much negative self-talk and it can easily lead to catastrophising.
- Realise that work doesn't just happen in front of your computer 9-5. Being in meetings all morning is your work, going for a walk to think about your work is work. Planning is work, reading is work. Too many charity leaders do their reading and planning in their free time—but that stuff is work! So make time for it in your working day.
- Separate yourself from your charity role and keep a strong sense of who you are. I got lost in mine! For a long time, I thought that I was the charity and the charity was me, and that didn't do me any favours. You are not the charity and your value and worth aren't wrapped up in the job. It's important to have a separation of who you are when you're not at work.
If I were to do it all again, I would:
- Focus on 'leading' and less on 'managing'. 'Managing' is a funny one, like when you have a baby and people say, 'How are you managing?' It's kind of a bit like 'coping'. Try and have this sense of 'leading'.
- Make sure everyone has clear roles and responsibilities. I think about 99% of the time when there's conflict, it comes down to when people don't have clear roles and responsibilities. Put those in place, trust people to make it happen, and let them get on with it! They can come to you if they need any support.
- Delegate more! Those boring tasks that you don't want to are often a great opportunity for someone else to grow.
- Meet less. Do you need to physically meet? Can you all put your thoughts to paper and then discuss those thoughts?
- Try to formalise your relationship with the board. So that you have a line management arrangement, you have a development plan and you can get regular support.
- Make time for informal human connection. Whether that's internally within your team or externally with funders and partners. Have more real and honest conversations, don’t hold back! We can often conform to how we think a charity leader should be, but that's not you, so it works best when you're just being yourself.
Huge thanks to Ocean King for re-watching my talk and writing this summary! For more information about how I help charity leaders through 1:1 coaching, facilitation and workshops, drop me a message or visit www.steveallman.com
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