Achieve More Issue 9
Achieve More Issue 9
Achieve More Issue 9
issue #9 spring 08
Managing change
How support can help you transform p.8
Shock? Denial? Anger? How people react to change p.5
Performance Hub
(*charities, voluntary organisations,
|020 7520 2540
community groups and social enterprises)
helpline: 0800 652 5787
info@performancehub.org.uk
Our vision is of high performing TSOs
www.performancehub.org.uk
having a positive impact upon the lives
of millions.
Finance Hub
|020 7832 3016
Our overall aim is for improved third
financehub@cafonline.org
sector performance, and performance to be
www.financehub.org.uk
an integral part of the third sector’s agenda.
Governance Hub
Four specific aims contribute to this
|020 7520 2514
overall aim:
helpdesk: 0800 652 4886
• To increase TSOs’ awareness of the
governance.hub@ncvo-vol.org.uk
benefits of focusing on performance and
www.governancehub.org.uk
improve their ability to use performance
tools and approaches.
ICT Hub
• To increase and improve the performance
|020 7520 2509
support offered to frontline organisations
helpdesk: 0800 652 4737
by local, sub-regional, regional and national
ictresources@icthub.org.uk
infrastructure of all types.
www.icthub.org.uk
• To develop a more relevant, more effective
and more accessible knowledge base
Volunteering Hub
about third sector performance.
|0845 305 6979
• To strengthen the two way relationship
helpline: 0800 028 3304
between funders and TSOs on
volunteeringhub@volunteeringengland.org
performance issues.
www.volunteeringengland.org.uk/aboutus/volunteeringhub
Through nine issues of Achieve More we’ve introduced you to some of the main Coping with a change
ways to improve your organisation. We hope you’ve been inspired to find out more in leader 10
and try out some of the ideas put forward. If you missed any issues, you can order
Case study: Small charity –
or download them from our website at www.performancehub.org.uk/achievemore
big changes 12
Good luck!
Does enjoyment matter? 15
Julie Pottinger, Communications Officer
March 2008
NEWS IN BRIEF
LOGO SERVICES
Social enterprise National Support Services
mark launched begin as Hubs end
A new ‘trading for people and planet’ logo is being piloted Nine new services to help infrastructure agencies better
to help social enterprises in south west England indicate to support frontline organisations will begin in April 2008 when
customers that buying from them will help achieve social the National Hubs close. Four of the workstreams will cover
outcomes. Applicants must provide externally verified performance topics:
evidence that they are delivering social impacts, through
approaches or tools such as social accounting, quality • Performance Management (led by Charities
standards or sector specific regulatory requirements. Evaluation Services)
• Marketing and Communications (led by the Media Trust)
www.rise-sw.co.uk/socialenterprise • Collaboration (led by bassac)
• Responding to Social Change (led by NCVO).
www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Publications/
archive_2008/mcmaster_supporting_excellence_arts.htm
CHANGE
Managing change in
third sector organisations
Every organisation will
need to deal with change
at one time or another. Julie
Pottinger explores some
“Every organisation
key principles to help you
steer your organisation
will need to deal
to a desired future.
with change at one
Reasons for change
time or another.”
The causes of change can come
from within or outside your
organisation. External causes of
change might include changes to
the law, new funding opportunities
or increased competition from
other organisations. To help you
identify potential causes before
they happen, you could use a tool
such as a PEST (Political, Economic,
Social, Technological) analysis.
What types of change could include staff at different levels of the organisation, as
can we manage? well as external stakeholders.
Changes may be planned or unplanned. Obviously, the Choose the right approach
sooner we recognise that they are happening or will need Culture is ‘the way things usually happen’ in an organisation
to happen, the earlier we can start managing the process. – the way people behave and interact with each other.
Managing change will be more successful if you choose
Changes can also be of very different scales, from tiny to an approach that fits with your culture. For example, an
massive, and happen at different speeds. This affects the approach in which senior managers make decisions without
timescales and resources you will need, and your decision much consultation may fit well if that’s how things usually
about who to involve and to what extent. happen, but is less likely to work if your organisational
culture is usually more democratic, involving staff at all levels
Change can affect different elements of your organisation in decision-making.
such as its purpose, its relationship with key stakeholders, its
ways of working or culture. Remember that changes in one Also, different approaches might be appropriate to different
area will usually mean changes in another. situations. For example, it may be difficult to involve a range
of stakeholders if change needs to happen rapidly.
What’s available?
There is a wide range of support available including
third sector infrastructure organisations and commercial
consultants. Local, regional, national and specialist
infrastructure organisations offer a variety of training
courses, and often have ‘development workers’ who can
“External help can
work closely with your organisation to address specific provide specific
issues. There is also a great variety of consultants, specialising
in everything from strategy, to governance and ICT. skills for a specific
period of time.”
Choosing the right support
Neither consultancy nor infrastructure support are regulated
fields – there is no independent assessment of quality or Once you know what you’re looking for, contact relevant
agreed minimum standards. So there are risks: choosing the infrastructure organisations – some of them maintain a
wrong support could be an expensive mistake that de- network of consultants. Ask other organisations in your
motivates everyone. field or local area if they can recommend anyone. If you’re
looking for performance support, the Performance Hub
In order to choose the right support, make sure you’re clear Support Finder is a good place to start at
about what you need. Do you need someone with specialist www.performancehub.org.uk/supportfinder
knowledge such as law or marketing or do you need to bring in
specific skills such as research, or mediation? How important is
it that the consultant has previous experience with third sector Managing the relationship
organisations or your particular area of work? Once you have found suitable support, prepare a clear brief
so that everyone understands and accepts the aims and the
Finally, be clear about your budget as the price of support process. Most development workers will give you a support
can vary widely. Many infrastructure organisations and some agreement to sign. With consultants, it’s helpful to agree a
consultants offer free services to third sector organisations. contract at the start of your relationship, setting out milestones
Consultants usually charge a daily rate, which could be and timescales so you can measure progress and contain costs.
anything from a few hundred pounds. If you are paying for external support, you won’t want any drift
or delay. Similarly, anyone providing you with support free of
charge won’t appreciate you wasting their time.
external support
“At the end, evaluate Learn more
the relationship and Performance Hub Support Finder
what it has delivered.” www.performancehub.org.uk/supportfinder
National Association for Voluntary and
Community Action (NAVCA)
A directory of infrastructure organisations, by
region www.navca.org.uk/liodir
List of third-sector-friendly trainers and consultants:
www.trainersandconsultantsdirect.org.uk
Professionals4Free
Signposting website for pro bono (free) support
www.professionals4free.org.uk
Communicate regularly with your consultant or development At the end, evaluate the relationship and what it has delivered.
worker throughout the project. This will help keep work on Development workers and consultants will welcome feedback
track and ensure everyone feels involved and valued. Any as it will help them fine tune their services.
problems will be more speedily resolved.
1. Preparing for
your new leader
The earlier you start to prepare for
a change in leadership, the easier it
becomes. It is now widely recognised
that succession planning and developing
and attracting talent are key to creating
a sustainable organisation. In a recent
Leadership Centre study, the average
length of service of a chief executive of a
medium-sized charity (over £100,000 and
under £5 million turnover) was estimated
as five years. Therefore, the time to
consider what your future leadership
requirements might look like is now!
Things to consider:
On mission?
Is your organisation suffering from mission drift? The period
before a new leader arrives is an ideal opportunity to reflect
on your organisation’s strategic direction. Is your strategy
clear and have you analysed the skills you need to drive this
programme of work forward? If not, is it time to step back
and review your strategy, or will you make this one of the
first tasks of the new leader?
Analysing the skill set means for them. Resistance to a new leader will ultimately
Different organisations need different skills from their make the trustees’ role much harder.
leaders at different times. Compile the role profile of your
new leader by analysing the skills and knowledge needed Crucial conversations
to fit the requirements of the post and the challenges your Take time to understand the background and values of
organisation faces. your new leader. Be open to discussing their new ideas and
methods and exploring any differences in your views. This
Seek and you shall find will set a positive tone for resolving differences with the new
Good selection processes ensure that appropriate candidates leader in the future.
‘self-select’ by proactively applying for the job. This means
you need to promote the post clearly, using media that
match your required skill set. Try ‘unusual suspects’ such as 3. Developing and supporting
networks and professional associations.
the new leader
The role of trustees in developing a new leader is never
2. Accepting the new leader over. Trustees are well placed to mentor and coach
the new leader and to use their specialist expertise to
into the organisation
help resolve particular problems. By developing today’s
As trustees, meeting the new chief executive early leaders and planning for your future leaders you will
on helps ensure a smoother transition period and help to secure your organisation’s long-term success.
builds better relationships. A structured, if simple,
induction programme is vital, including a period of
time for discussion and reflection on the leadership Learn more
role itself and how it works in your organisation.
Developing chair and chief executive relationships:
The induction could include: Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary
Organisations (ACEVO) www.acevo.org.uk
Knowledge transfer National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
The trustees are the custodians of the ethos, values and www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/askncvo/TrusteeGovernance
history of the organisation and have a responsibility to
transfer this to the new leader. This needs regular, not just Developing leaders and tools to assess
one-off, communication. This should include communications leadership capability:
between the outgoing chief executive and the board of Third Sector Leadership Centre
trustees, who then communicate with the incoming chief www.thirdsectorleadership.org.uk
executive.
Talent management and good human
Communicate, communicate, communicate resource practices:
Establish regular meetings with the new chief executive as Chartered Institute of Personnel Development
soon as possible, including social events. Ensure that staff also www.cipd.co.uk
have an opportunity to meet the leader early on and that Workforce Hub www.ukworforcehub.org.uk
they understand the reasons for your choice and what this
1
CASE STUDY
Noelette Hanley, Manager, dancing with a former trustee Photo: Ben Hodson
1
Small charity –
big changes
When a small community organisation “It was very motivating to take time out to do this.
began to expand, it had to make major It reassured us we were on target and gave us ideas
changes to safeguard its future. Diana Quay for moving forward.”
talks to the manager of Luton Irish Forum
about overcoming the challenges involved. The next stage was to recruit an external consultant to help
the manager, staff and trustees look at services and roles
LIF started in 1997 as an ad hoc support network for and consider potential development. The consultant held
Irish people living in Luton. Its board and volunteers preparatory meetings with the board and Noelette before
worked closely with each other, organising events to facilitating an ‘away day’ session for staff and trustees.
promote Irish culture and small-scale activities to address
community needs. It had little funding, no premises and “This really helped, as the changing role of
no full-time staff. By 2000 this was no longer the case and trustees and becoming familiar with the new role
from 2002 LIF began to expand rapidly due to a substantial of manager was a difficult key issue and is still
increase in Irish Government funding for voluntary something we’re trying to balance.”
organisations working with Irish communities abroad.
Recognising need
for change
By 2006 LIF had three full-time staff, a keen and sizeable
group of volunteers, healthy membership numbers and its
own community centre. But it didn’t have formal systems,
transparent financial processes or structured supervision.
Going about it
Noelette’s priorities on joining LIF were to oversee the
relocation of premises, and review policies and procedures.
She introduced professional accounting software and formal,
transparent financial procedures. Her next priority was
to review LIF’s performance by comparing it with other
agencies providing similar services. That included a trip
to an organisation in Leeds to study its development
and structure.
1
CASE STUDY
Getting buy-in
While all involved recognised the need for change, there was
some initial resistance. The trustees were so used to handling
day-to-day activities that stepping back and dealing with the
strategic view while leaving staff to run things was unfamiliar
territory for them.
Noelette credits extensive consultation for the successful 1 Set priorities and deal with the
outcome. A survey and consultation at both group and high-risk problems first.
individual levels meant staff and volunteers as well as
trustees were included in the decision-making. And that kind 2 Pace yourself. It’s easy to get carried
of consultation continues. away and think everything has to
change immediately. It doesn’t.
“I have an open-door policy. We also hold a
general meeting once a month.” 3 Involve staff, volunteers and other
stakeholders in your decision-making
and keep them fully informed.
Reaping the benefits
LIF now has a three-year business plan that sets clear goals 4 Learn how other organisations
and confirms its mission. It has trebled its user numbers deal with change.
and has greatly improved its partnerships with local black
and minority ethnic organisations. It has also increased its 5 Use external support. Help from a neutral
local profile through the local media and the local authority. source can resolve internal issues.
One challenge is that user demand for the centre means an
extension is now needed – and the welfare staff are working 6 Make use of local training opportunities.
at full capacity.
7 Try to get local media coverage for your
User feedback is excellent, with a regular postbag of successes; it can be very rewarding and
appreciative cards and letters, and the 55 volunteers who motivating for staff, volunteers and users.
assist the four full-time and two part-time members of staff
are highly motivated.
3
Whether they want to or not, all third sector
organisations have to deal with change.
Mar 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7199-1752-3
Price: £12