Sector umbrella bodies have urged larger charities to engage in “generous” collaborations with smaller organisations.
Large, national charities and their boards have a responsibility of carrying out a generous style of leadership and collaboration in the sector, said Sarah Elliott, chief executive of NCVO, at an online event yesterday hosted by Binley Drake Consulting.
When collaborating, large charities should give up more space and power to smaller, local charities that are on the front line of addressing the social issues people face, Elliott said.
“You can achieve the most amazing things if you don’t care who gets the credit,” she said.
Jane Ide, chief executive of ACEVO, echoed Elliott’s sentiment on generous collaboration.
Ide said: “It’s about giving that space to other people, letting them get things wrong sometimes because you’re going to get things wrong sometimes and having that generosity of spirit that says: ‘Okay, let’s work this through. Let’s see where that goes.’”
She said charities should know their purpose, adding: “You’ve got to know the why. If you don’t know why this is important to the people or the cause that you’re there to serve, you’re not going to be able to bring other people on the journey.”
“But if you do, you can absolutely bring other people on the journey with you.”
Leaving ego at the door
At the event, Elliott said: “As a leader, you need to put the architecture in place so that if you step away, whether it’s for a short time or permanently, the organisation has the sustainability to function beyond you and the personality of you.
“The way you do that is by building great teams around you who share the same ethos and understand why it’s part of the business plan to be working collaboratively on these systems issues.”
Ide said: “The ability and that necessity as a leader to leave your personal ego at the door, but also for your organisation to leave its ego at the door. And that’s where a lot of people find it much harder.
“Because one of the tendencies in our sector is [to think]: ‘Oh, there’s a problem. Nobody else is solving it. We’re going to go and solve it.’”
She added that “it’s that fundamental thing of being given permission, enabled and allowed to say there is more at stake than our organisational ego”.
“As a leader, whatever organisation you’re leading, you have to be aware of the fact that the way you lead will change the way people think about leadership.”
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