When I look outside at the bare leafless fig tree in my garden this winter, I catch myself thinking about charities. Majority of charity CEOs and leaders I work with are standing tall, visibly carrying their vision and passion, but what feels palpable is how stretched and bare (in energy terms) they often are, particularly as we come to the end of yet another challenging year.
The motivation of making a difference and bringing about real change in the lives of individuals and families (providing shelter and fruits) is what keeps the tree aiming for the sky, even when the weather and the winds often feel harsh, ever changing and unpredictable. That said, passion and sheer willpower alone as a nutrient is hardly enough to keep the tree alive in such dire circumstances. Charity sustainability and impact rests on people (the tree’s roots and trunk), in a big way, and those people sadly and inevitably, just like their leaders are often stretched too!
Ensuring that their organisations can survive and thrive in what are rather high pressured funding and policy environments, and they are able to balance their duty of care and accountability towards their staff, volunteers and their governing boards is hardly a cake walk. As the multifacetedness and rising complexity of challenges that communities face juxtaposes against siloed, often sub-optimal and under-resourced statutory service infrastructure, charities are compelled to step in to bring some justice for the communities they serve, even if it means overstepping their remit at times.
The role of charity leadership in such a tumultuous world is to ground the organisation and nurture a work culture that feels ‘holding’, while continuing to look forward and making a difference.
If we want to sustain our impact, it is pivotal that three key elements, the three R’s are ‘held’:
- Restoration (holding people sensitively) : Prioritising one’s own well-being as a leader and ensuring that we are attuned to how our team is holding up emotionally. Happier people can sustain their efforts longer and make more impact than those who are treading water and are feeling constantly on the edge. Carrying on with the tree analogy, this would mean soaking in the warmth of the sunshine, and the water of the rain to revitalise and nourish the whole of the tree. This restorative journey cannot be a piecemeal effort rather should be embedded as a systemic approach to how we operate as charities.
- Resilience (holding with strength): The ability to stretch, bounce back and persevere till we achieve our goals and continue to look ahead and beyond. This often needs courage, determination and importantly a deep sense of ‘can-do’. We feel we can do things, even really hard things, if we work as a shared collective. Charity resilience is all about strengthening the organisational core and ethos ‘together’. Getting our pacing right and being willing to balance wider organisational ambition with individual dreams and capacity feels key. In tree terms, this would be all about strengthening the roots and the trunk and ensuring the branches (all different shapes and sizes) are linking back into a solid base.
- Reflexivity (holding oneself lightly): To be open to feedback, review and examine one’e beliefs, biases and assumptions and be able to adapt and change in what is a dynamic context. This might mean being able to accept and learn from what’s not working alongside what is working, and periodically examining how things are going. This allows us to innovate, take risks and step into unchartered territories for e.g. partnering or collaborating with other unconventional organisations. As someone once said, if you want to make a big change, step outside your comfort zone and go for the road less travelled. Tree trimming, thinning and forest clearing for instance can often promote tree growth by reducing competition for light, water and nutrients allowing forest health, increased biodiversity and creating open spaces.
I am an unabashed tree lover and it’s possible I have taken the tree analogy too far. But one thing I do know is that trees are some of the most inspiring and self-sustaining symbols in nature that survive different seasons, blossom and wither – offering beauty, nourishment and abode. My new year wish for charity friends and colleagues would be to lean into nature and find a positive inspiration to help us journey our organisations through 2026 in a meaningful way and as ‘holding a way as possible’, so we can continue to make a sustained impact in our communities.
Here’s to us ‘holding’ more as charities and co-creating sustainable and impactful futures, together!
