When the ground shifts
Leaders can have systems and processes in which everyone feels supported, but the external environment is out of their control. Managing huge changes to the ways in which a charity can work, as well as taking care of themselves, is an issue that has taken on new significant for leaders in recent months for a variety of reasons.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit charities and the people they work with particularly hard. Charities have sought to continue and sometimes expand services and support for communities in real need, at the same time as fundraising income has plummeted and the future of organisations has become suddenly uncertain. Many charities providing services have needed to adapt at speed to respond to the disproportionate impact of the virus on certain groups. Disabled people have experienced particular challenges as a result of the pandemic, with Inclusion London finding that 60% of over 300 disabled people surveyed had struggled to access basic necessities like food and medicine1. Research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that the crisis hit the incomes of the poorest households the most2, and Black Asian and Minoritised Ethnic (BAME) communities experienced disproportionately high coronavirus infection and mortality rates3. Although the pandemic has been challenging for everyone in some way, it has not affected everyone equally.
High levels of home working have blurred the boundaries between personal and professional lives, and leaders’ control over their authenticity and personality has been disrupted. The reliable touchpoints for organisations to check in with their people – such as face-to-face working – have disappeared. This has meant that mental health has quickly been impacted. The Office for National Statistics found that the number of adults with depression doubled during the crisis to 19.2%4; the charity Mind found that nearly two-thirds (60%) of people reported that their mental health had worsened during the pandemic5. For many leaders it has been challenging to give time and support to staff when their organisation might face closure and their own support needs are not being met.
During the coronavirus pandemic leaders have felt particularly intense pressure to have all the answers for staff and boards, while also dealing with the complications of caring responsibilities, anxiety about illness, and the general anxieties about the pandemic we have all felt. They describe a sense of loss for the organisation they had built and cared for, which has been destabilised by something out of their control. This gives rise to feelings of shame that they could not cope with the collision of personal and professional, and put the organisation first. Due to outdated notions of leadership, when personal lives are on display, many associate this with weakness as a leader.
For user-led organisations this tension is particularly intense, as many are experiencing the same needs for support as their beneficiaries. CEOs who are also users of services may feel that by leading the cause or campaign, they give up a right to a personal voice to share needs and experiences which is replaced by an overwhelming responsibility to get that support right for others. In particularly niche areas this can leave leaders without the support they need, which may only be accessible through one charity’s work. When the ground shifts and communities are left behind or ignored, it is particularly challenging for CEOs with lived experience of their organisations’ causes to separate the personal and professional.
The sector has seen a marked shift in conversations about ‘race’ and racism. The murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 mobilised widespread protests from the Black Lives Matter movement and highlighted racism across the world. For Black people this time has been extremely painful, and is another wakeup call for white leaders to the racism that exists in society, and which the sector reflects. Many Black leaders have recognised that organisations they have supported and whose reputations they have protected for years have perpetrated racism. Black staff and leaders have felt a need to protect organisations from reputational damage in the name of social good. Others have been reporting for years but have never been heard. Calls for ring-fenced funding to resource targeted services from BAME-led charities during coronavirus have been widely supported, although it is unclear whether it has happened in practice. There is new momentum for charities to move from talk to meaningful action, and to address the harm caused to Black people, and all racialised and minoritised people, within the sector. Despite the challenges of coronavirus and other priorities, it is essential that the presence of racism in the sector is no longer viewed as someone else’s problem and that all CEOs, chairs and trustees advance their work in this area to make the sector safer for everyone.
The ground has shifted on issues which have significant implications for the well-being of staff. Providing time and space to reflect on the enormity of these changes, and how they have worsened the situation for our organisations and people, is important. However, this project has made clear that these are not new issues; times of crisis have simply brought them into sharper focus. Issues of poor workforce mental health within charities existed before the crisis, and the sector has had a poor record on racism for decades.
As organisations rebuild, there is an opportunity to rethink how we make this sector safe for everyone by truly reassessing our priorities and the kind of sector we want to be.
- Inclusion London (2020) Abandoned, forgotten and ignored: The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on disabled people. Inclu-sion London, June. Available at: https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Abandoned-Forgotten-and-Ig-nored-Final-1.pdf [accessed 27 August 2020].
- Bourquin P, Delestre I, Joyce R, Rasul I and Waters T (2020) The effects of coronavirus on household finances and financial dis-tress. Institute for Fiscal Studies, June. Available at: https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14908 [accessed 27 August 2020].
- Butcher B and Massey J (2020) Why are more people from BAME backgrounds dying from coronavirus? British Broadcasting Corporation, 19 June. Available at: t [accessed 27 August 2020]
- Duncan P and Butler P (2020) Depression in British adults doubles during coronavirus crisis. The Guardian, 18 August. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/18/depression-in-british-adults-doubles-during-coronavirus-crisis [accessed 27 August 2020].
- Mind (2020) Nearly two thirds of people in England say that their mental health has got worse during lockdown, Mind announces as it reopens thirty-five charity shops across the country. Mind, 15 June. Available at: https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/nearly-two-thirds-of-people-in-england-say-that-their-mental-health-has-got-worse-during-lockdown-mind-announces-as-it-reopens-thirty-five-charity-shops-across-the-country/ [accessed 27 August].
