(c) Successful Coaching Ltd
nna Day Co-MD of CEO Copilot- Founder Successful Coaching
Helping brilliant charities achieve social and internal change through consulting, workforce training, coaching, therapy, away days and strategies. Solving sticky societal problems on modest resources.
Economically harsh times, deeper competition for funding, relentless community challenges and our staff are worn out, volunteers exhausted, stretched and at breaking point. How do you build your way out of a crisis? Explored by Anna Day FRSA, Founder of Successful Coaching and multiple times CEO, currently consulting with a range of UK and international charities.
2024 Successful Coaching Ltd (c)
Hi Everyone,
In this special edition we are focusing on "Surviving Turbulent Times as a Social Leader". Go grab a cup of coffee or your favourite beverage and have a read. Let us know your ideas or thoughts in the comments! We've decided to do a less regular but very in depth article/newsletter.
I have many hats, as a chief executive coach, a wellbeing practitioner and charity strategist. I like to think of it as part prediction and part trend spotting, helping people to make plans for the future which explore future trends, prepare for the worst, anticipate how to maximise the best from any situation and try to turn it around. As a coach and therapist I often help leaders unpick and put themselves and their teams back together, but also work on much more complex workforce projects, anticipating future needs and delivering and designing interventions to move communities and societies along a trajectory that helps social progress.
For me, I see that our communities are still in a period of disaster recovery. Covid set a series of new norms from which we haven't quite yet recovered yet. Our children are not okay- record absence levels, mental health problems and social exclusion happened to them at a time when they should have been developing key social skills and milestones. The quick return to education without rehabilitation meant that instead of those children being given an opportunity to make up for missed milestones, Government instead focused on educational attainment catch up, forgetting that our children are largely, not okay. Many children were affected in different ways, in turn their parents have been affected too and there is no doubt that your workforce makes up the adults supporting these children who are not okay (yet, there is hope).
Economic conditions as a result of both a period of low economic activity in some sectors has caused global rapid inflation which in turn has pushed even developed nations to food hunger that in the past was only the problems of developing or at war countries. Now, even countries who are at war are no longer kept safe with guaranteed passage of aid, food and medicine, and aid convoys are under threat, withdrawal of aid has become increasingly weaponised.
Natural weather hazards and the increase of these due to global warming, together with irresponsible Governments who seem to fail to accept responsibility or action for climate change means that one disaster now seems to flow into the next. What once drew publically sympathy for its uniqueness has become common place, with disasters and global media punctuating our daily lives with images of suffering around the world. We have become attuned to suffering.
Infrastructure and housing is continually a problem- strained NHS services, education, basic housing. With average competition for each rental home now exceeding 30-40 tenants, renting a property has become a race and often being won by AirBNB.
War and the threat of war continues to impact the lives of people living across the UK, whether that is refugees seeking safe harbour here who the Government want to deport to Rwanda to be exposed to human rights abuses, or those who have lived here permanently who have family and social connections impacted by war. The lack of response from Government is deafening, the lack of aid spells out the enormity of the scale of lack of empathy in Government. Schemes like Ukrainian community hosting are not replicated for anyone else fleeing from war. Anyone would think it is antisemitism right?
With thanks to 'Organizing Theories for Disasters into a Complex Adaptive System Framework, (Burger, A, Kennedy, W.G., Crooks, A 2021,
Sitting underneath all this is a community and a society that is both mobilised and immobile. We have so many people doing incredible things across the country, but so many more who are immobilised by fear of what to do with what is unfolding around us. To move forward it is going to take alot of bravery, thought leadership and unity.
With a general election on the UK's doorstep, we have also got a period where MP's are more motivated with their own constituencies then usual to secure their next election victory. It feels like an odd time to have an election, when our Government needs to progress laws and social change more then ever. We are still waiting for important bills to be passed that will unlikely be passed by this Government now.
So how do you navigate all this? In your workforce? Your Communities?
The answer is hope.
People need to feel that they can play a role in making things better. But they need your help and direction.
We need community infrastructure to organise the support our communities need to get through this. Beyond financial resources, people can be quickly mobilised around issues if they are a)asked and b)given clear roles and responsibilities and supported to lead on them.
Many people feel in a 'stupor', dazed and confused by what action they can take on an individual level. Without guidance, individuals respond to crisis with "Wallace [70] called the dominant individual reaction a disaster syndrome, in which those affected were described as “shock”, “dazed”, “stupor”, “apathy”, “stunned” and “numbed” as a result of cognitive dysfunction that arose from disruption of their culture and routine behaviors."https://www.mdpi.com/2413-8851/5/3/61#sec2dot3-urbansci-05-00061
Therefore for us to lead our communities to safety, they need nurturing and containing leadership. One that can hold the threats of the future with a sense of urgency to take action. Denial is not an option. We cannot deny things are going to get worse, food insecurity on whole new levels is on the way.
Models of understanding where individuals are
"Tyhurst [172] found that approximately 75% of individuals displayed symptoms of a stunned and bewildered lack of awareness or restricted field of attention, while 10-25% were confused, paralyzed, hysterical, or screaming, and 12–25% were cool and collected. Panic was also found to be an unlikely response to disasters [71], but rather manifested only under specific conditions [118]. To explain some of the variation, Glass [173] proposed individual psychological states at each stage: pre-impact (denial, adopts fatalistic concept, apathy, and training), warning (overactivity and flight), recoil (underactivity, apathy, disaster syndrome, or fatigue), and post-impact (grief, understanding of personal loss, anger, or resentment). In the post-impact stage, scapegoating was found to rise from a complex mix of frustration, fear, guilt, and latent hostility [174]." (https://www.mdpi.com/2413-8851/5/3/61#sec2dot3-urbansci-05-00061)
One of the most complex meshes we need to get our head around now, is we are probably in the post impact stage as a society following Covid, whilst some of us are in warning, living disaster still, and some of use are already in pre-impact of the disasters we are in and facing, especially those more ecologically aware. Taking communities with us means understanding what they need from us as leaders at each stage, and to recognise that peoples' individual cognition will impact their ability to give, or move through the stages.
To get through to the new normal, we're going to have to adapt to change
Our communities are facing unprecedented job loss through the AI era, and this is going to massively change the way that they can economically respond to disaster. To build resilience, communities need to move beyond monetary wellbeing which we may not have much of in the future to financial assets.
I know someone who runs an entire factory singlehandedly, which is the size of two football fields. Once a factory that could operate on some 1000 staff, the only role this person now has is maintaining the robots in working order. These changes wiped out much of manufacturing careers in this country, and it is now coming for ordinary jobs. This is going to create unprecedented change that is going to feel that the industrial revolution, and the invention of computing combined. Our communities need to be supported to work through these changes, and how they might create livelihood without the same finances to do so.
Is AI a done deal to take all our jobs or am I just exaggerating?
Here is a video of a robot dog herding dogs in New Zealand:
Autonomous surgeons:
Here are 7 sectors 'at immininent risk' in the UK: (Source)
Transportation and material moving (nearly 12 million jobs)
Sales and sales-related roles (3.8 million jobs)
Production (2.8 million jobs)
Office and administrative support (14.4 million jobs)
Food preparation and service (4.4 million jobs)
Business and financial operations (700,000 jobs)
Other, which includes:Art, design, entertainment, sports, and media (14,000 jobs)Building, grounds cleaning, and maintenance (3.8 million jobs)Legal occupations (414,000 jobs)Personal care and service operations (179,000 jobs)Protective service operations (91,000 jobs)
As leaders, this means your role is not only going to be implementing AI but considering how you can support communities impacted by these job losses, and considering what new roles will need to be created to mitigate this. Our children are being prepared for jobs that will not exist and we have an education system unfit to prepare children for the future of work, let alone our adult populations.
Can't I do just nothing and sit still?
You can, but your job will get taken by someone using AI. You will no doubt look so inefficient by comparison you will stop being resourced, and this will precipitate your downfall. If you want to stay on top, it is best to look for solutions that facilitate engaging communities in the type of ways that mean they get the best results from the change.
How do I keep myself together in all this?
Organising and leading social change and leading organisations can be tough in this climate. The very real fallout from managing redundancy processes, risk, shrinking or even scaling operations to meet need will pose mental and physical pressures.
We have these top ten tried and tested tips for keeping it together:
Focus on the impact of your activities, rather then the activities themselves. Try and keep your eye on how you can make the most difference with your funding, not keep the most people. Unfortunately the two are very different priorities
Feel emotions- its okay to feel the highs and lows, don't keep suppressing those emotions. It's human to have a good old cry if you need one. Even in front of staff. Show them its okay to feel emotions.
Get support- your emotional wellbeing is critical. People like me do therapeutic business coaching. Get this. It's the best investment for staying together when the world is around you going to poop, having someone to help you navigate complex emotions and develop coping strategies is critical.
Meditate- not only does it help you navigate a stream of emotions, but makes you better able to cope too. Start off by cool apps like @Headspace and Calm and get ruddy good at it by popping into a course run by people like the Oxford Centre for Meditation. I once met their director on a train to London and I am reminded that he said don't meditate it you are very depressed, because it makes things worse. Go on a special meditation and mental health course if that's you.
Eat. You are no good to anyone off balance, burned out and off sick, or eating crap. Eat nutritious food. We like Graham Allcott's book 'Work Fuel', which covers how to eat nutritiously whilst running around furious trying to get to meetings, on the train etc.
When things turn really challenging and you are in a full panic mode, box breathing will regulate you from a panicked state: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJJazKtH_9I
Make savvy leadership decisions:If you don't have enough funding for the next six months, choose to half your team and go for 12 months over running full team six months. ALWAYS keep the people bringing in the funding. Operations can shift up and down but if you have no money to run, you have no organisation.
Survey the landscapeAs a leader your role is not to be in crisis mode all the time but to be strategic and map the direction of your organisation. You cannot do this if you are constantly firefighting. As tempting as it can be to constantly firefight, you need to consider looking for the reasons for the fires not just fanning the flames. Good leadership anticipates problems and prevents them, rather then constantly acts responsively.
Get proper support and a plan in place.Successful Coaching Ltd has welcomed in its latest tranch of CEO coaches who are all ready to help you perform to your best. We've got public health, international development, charity, and environmental and even sport executive leaders. We've also got mental health coaches and peak performance coaches on the team. We work with you to maximise your budgets and can come up with solutions for even the tiniest of budgets, or point you to the right people!