By David Saint, chair, Action Planning.
A narrated version of this blog is available at the bottom of the page
A recent ACEVO webinar attracted an audience of over 75 chief executives. The subject? Growing pains.
Generally speaking, organisations that don’t grow either stagnate or die. But growth brings its own challenges, and clearly a lot of charity chief executives were keen to find out how to tackle them.
Action Planning was delighted to sponsor this event, and in my opening remarks I observed that some chief executives are best suited to start-ups, others to managing growth, and others to managing in challenging times. And some are best suited to the long haul, providing stability by adapting their management styles to suit changing circumstances, staying with the same organisation through thick and thin. No one type is better or worse than the other – they are just different. But it helps to know which you (probably) are.
As it turned out, the three speakers at this event personified a number of these ‘types’.
Tom Andrews, who chaired the event, is a senior support adviser at ACEVO. But he is also a ‘serial founder’, having started and led two charities in succession, in each case moving on once the work was firmly established.
Rosalind Czarnowska is a “permanent interim CEO”. That is to say, her career path is to go into an organisation – usually as a trouble-shooter but occasionally simply as maternity cover – to lead an organisation through a period of transition, for a relatively short term. Then she moves on to the next one.
Susan Daniels is chief executive of the National Deaf Children’s Society – an organisation she has led for over three decades. Over that time the organisation has grown exponentially – in turnover, in staff numbers, and reach. It has moved from a regional charity to a national and now international one. Throughout that time, Susan has had to adapt her style and approach – and be willing to let go of things as the organisation grew too big for her to be involved in all the minutiae.
Interestingly, the ability to ‘let go’ actually applies to all three speakers. Tom had to ‘let go’ of the organisations that he had founded – despite his passion for the cause. He commented that while he had never seen the organisations as ‘his baby’, he did have to change his thinking from ‘my thing’ to ‘our thing’, as others got involved in the delivery – and especially the governance – of the work. And eventually he had to be able to let go altogether, to move on to the next thing.
Similarly but differently for Rosalind. The role of an interim CEO is often intense, and highly charged. Emotions can run high, especially if radical change is required. And yet the interim CEO has to remain semi-detached, knowing they are only there for a relatively short time. They can’t afford to become too personally invested in the organisation. Indeed, this is part of the value of an interim – greater objectivity.
Reflecting on all this, I wonder whether the ability to ‘let go’ may be a clue to coping with growing pains (whilst, admittedly, being far from the full answer).
When Tom said that he hadn’t exactly seen the organisations he had founded as ‘his baby’, he did feel that the analogy of a growing child was helpful.
- Conception is represented by the spark of creativity that brings together a need, an opportunity, and a desire to make a difference.
- Infancy is a period in which the new creation needs protecting, feeding and nurturing. It’s a time of mutual discovery. And it’s sometimes messy!
- Childhood is a time of learning, experimenting, and developing social norms.
- Adolescence is stressful! Boundaries are tested, personal choices become more important, parental constraints are questioned and challenged.
And eventually (if they can afford to these days!) the young adult ‘flies the nest’.
For the parents, each stage involves a degree of ‘letting go’. Letting go of those cherished ‘baby days’. Letting go of the hand as they enter primary school (and not being allowed to hold their hand as they enter secondary school!) Waving them off to university. And finally facing life as ‘empty nesters’. At every stage of the ‘growing pains’ journey, being willing – and able – to let go just a little bit more.
In my work as a charity consultant, all too often I see organisations (and the people in them) suffering as a result of a reluctance to let go. The charity board that persists in micro-managing, despite having an effective chief executive in place. The chief executive who insists on knowing every detail of what’s going on (as Susan Daniels noted, that quickly became impossible as NDCS grew and grew). The fundraisers so focussed on ‘their’ targets that they fail to see the bigger picture of how, by collaborating with colleagues, they could raise so much more for the cause overall. The manager whose project has run its course but who desperately clings on to the familiar, rather than being ready to take on the next challenge.
Letting go. Never easy; not always appropriate. But certainly something worth considering when facing organisational growing pains.
