Jo Sullivan explores the cultural issues preventing the emergence of strong leaders from within the charity sector.
Never has it been harder to be a leader in the voluntary sector. With 12 per cent less CEOs highly recommending working in the sector compared to 2010, according to the Acevo Pay Survey 2011/12, and many expecting the situation to worsen before it improves, it begs the question whether leadership is an attractive career proposition at all?
In a sector where more than a third of CEOs are aged over 55 and only 23 per cent of organisations have a succession plan for their chief roles, it’s perhaps unsurprising that we’ve become renowned for parachuting leaders in from outside. According to Acevo's survey, 69.2 per cent of CEOs are recruited outside their own organisation and just half are recruited from in the sector.
But does the talent simply not exist, or are we failing to embrace the advancement of our own emerging leaders?
The erosion of budgets is clearly a factor. Many organisations rely on short-term funding leading to a reticence to invest in rising stars in case they move on in the prime of their career.
Funds are also becoming tighter and more organisations face closure when the needs of our society are heightening. This means the challenges of our future leaders differ immeasurably from their predecessors. The upshot is we have never needed better senior staff than we do today – and not simply a carbon-copy of old.
There is also a lack of diversity of our current senior teams. Just under 94 per cent of our CEOs are white and only 6.1 per cent of trustees of the largest 100 charities are disabled, according to the Trustee Leadership Survey of the Largest 100 Charities July 2012. In my own organisation we are balancing the need to develop our own emerging talent with the need to diversify our workforce. We’re also embracing strategies to offer alternative routes into work to encourage more applicants from under-represented groups.
A fear of ambition
Yet amidst all of this there is another underlying cultural issue. In the third sector many people feel embarrassed about ambition, believing this goes against the grain of why they chose to work for the sector in the first place - the passion and belief in the needs of client groups, not for personal progression. They therefore resist declaring their desire for a leadership role for fear that their own ambitions may be seen as being more important to them.
But surely we should be creating an environment where people are proud to flourish. Not everyone can be ‘frontline’ after all. Being a highly effective leader will benefit our client groups incalculably if it creates an organisation that delivers beyond its goals.
As a member of the Leadership 20:20 Commission I am part of a group of emerging leaders that want to do something to address this. The recommendations of this group are now being implemented by a panel under the chairmanship of Baroness Tanni Grey–Thompson DBE which is unique because it is the first time major infrastructure organisations including NCVO, Acevo, CMI and Skills Third Sector have come together to deliver a vision developed by emerging leaders in the sector.
Areas being addressed include:
- Establishing effective pathways to leadership for all, not just the large London based charities
- Increasing the diversity of our leadership
- Encouraging collaboration in developing leaders in affordable ways such as sharing skills across organisations, shadowing and secondments.
- Attracting talent into the sector
- Encouraging the mobility of leaders across the sectors
- Working with funders to include leadership development components in funding agreements
As you go through today maybe take a moment to think about how your own organisations are preparing for your future leadership and supporting your emerging stars in order to equip our sector with the diverse and talented leaders of the future.
Jo Sullivan is a Leadership 20:20 commissioner and head of people at Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. On 20 Nov Jo will be leading a workshop on ‘The succession crisis? How do we ensure leaders of the future are identified, developed and promoted?' at the Our People Our Skills Our Future conference.
