Through our work and research with charities, we have identified six characteristics that are essential to building a resilient charity, one of these is valuing your people and culture.
A positive and inclusive culture nurtures colleagues’ development and wellbeing, and fosters collaboration, all of which are vital to help your organisation adapt to external challenges and evolve to stay relevant.
How investing in your people builds resilience
A resilient organisation starts with its people. By creating an environment where colleagues feel heard, included, and empowered to contribute to your charity’s mission, you are equipping everyone to make more informed decisions, innovate, and secure sustainable success for the future.
Informed by our work with charities, these are some of the most important steps you can take to continually develop your people and culture.
1. Support more strategic leadership
Effective leadership is essential to build an organisational culture that aligns with your mission, operates efficiently, and promotes high-quality work.
One action fundamental to a charity’s long-term sustainability and impact is investing in a capable trustee board. Your board should be as representative as possible of your organisation’s work and the communities you serve.
It is also important you clearly define the role of your trustees, as well as those of other leaders in your organisation. Many charities, especially smaller ones, often struggle to make time for their board-level and executive leaders to think beyond day-to-day challenges. Highlighting the need for this strategic view and putting dedicated time in the diary for strategic planning and horizon scanning is crucial to maintain that bigger-picture focus.
Another option is to create a deputy CEO or Chief of Operations role. Our research highlights how delegating responsibilities to a deputy both increases organisational resilience and supports the CEO’s work-life balance. In addition, deputies can bridge the gap between the Executive team and colleagues across the organisation, ensuring a connection between your leaders and the wider team.
2. Empower leadership at all levels
Empowering team members at all levels to take ownership of their work and develop leadership skills, fosters resilience and accountability. A culture of leadership encourages collaboration, open feedback, and a readiness to respond to changes, which is essential in today’s rapidly changing environment.
Leaders within a charity should be supportive, transparent and adaptable. So, one practical way your senior managers can create an environment of growth is by sharing how they learn and develop through their work, with their teams and encouraging others to do the same.
3. Establish a shared purpose
Having a shared sense of purpose can help your colleagues stay motivated, work together, and make decisions that align with your organisation's goals.
Begin by articulating and regularly communicating your organisation's values and vision, ensuring they are in harmony with your mission. Involve your team members in this process to establish a shared sense of purpose and direction that guides all decisions and behaviours.
4. Foster inclusivity and collaboration
An inclusive culture brings new ideas and solutions and ensures that decision-making reflects a variety of backgrounds, life experiences and opinions.
You can demonstrate your organisation’s commitment to inclusivity through following equitable hiring practices, providing training around subconscious bias, collecting anonymous feedback through employee surveys and developing a safe environment in which issues and concerns can be raised and addressed.
5. Invest in employee development
A culture that promotes continuous learning can benefit both the individual and your organisation, as skilled employees are better positioned to deliver your social purpose. It also helps to attract and retain high-quality talent.
You can invest in professional growth of your team by offering tailored workshops, courses and even informal mentorship programs that address both organisational needs and individual career aspirations.
6. Promote health and wellbeing
Prioritising employee mental health and embedding support into organisational policies can help in easing the emotional exhaustion of working in social purpose organisations.
Your organisation can offer support through access to counselling services and creating a supportive, non-judgmental environment where team members feel comfortable discussing challenges. It is also vital that leaders model healthy boundaries and promote a balanced workload to prevent burnout.
7. Regularly review roles and responsibilities
Regularly reviewing roles and responsibilities enables you to reduce inefficiencies, identify gaps and keep the team focused on priorities.
So, periodically assess employee roles to ensure they are clearly defined and aligned with your charity’s goals. This can include conducting regular performance reviews, implementing role audits and aligning roles with evolving needs.
The heart of resilience
Your people are at the heart of your organisation’s resilience, shaping the values, systems and practices that make up your internal culture. By investing time and resources in your people, you are investing in and building a culture that will serve your mission better, boost recruitment and retention, strengthen your relationships with stakeholders and cultivate the ability to respond to changing external events and demands.
Building your charity’s resilience
This is one of a series of six articles that give charity leaders ideas on how to build the resilience of their organisations. Read the next article on ways to strengthen your charity's networks.