With Spring here, Counterculture takes a fresh look at how we are supporting the organisations that you care for, and how our team can lend a guiding hand for the difficult future ahead. We spoke to Ciara Eastell OBE, who works for Counterculture’s Business and Strategic Planning department. She joins us as a Senior Leader working within the cultural, HE and social enterprise sectors. As the founding Chief Executive of Libraries Unlimited, a mutual with a turnover of 9 million and over 350 staff, she has unique experience in providing strategic leadership during times of radical change. She now works with senior leaders and CEOs at times of transition and change.
We asked Ciara for her top 5 tips for senior leaders steering their organisations through change and transition:
- Seek out trusted peers you can connect with on a regular basis – sharing what you’re all going through in a safe and trusted place can reduce the sense of isolation and loneliness that can strike at a time of internal challenge.
- Focus on internal communications – you can never do too much communication at a time of change.
- Ask your trustees for what you need for them during this time of change. Many still don’t fully appreciate how much their support and input is needed to help steer the organisation through a time of stress and strain.
- Clarify your priorities and delegate well – you can’t do everything and may well feel like you’re constantly firefighting. It can all feel a little out of control but taking time to clarify the absolute essentials will help you to use your energy effectively. A coach or trusted peer can help you do this.
- Look after yourself – it can be all too tempting to fall into a pattern of working constantly and to be thinking of nothing other than the organisation but it’s crucial that you take time for yourself, to recuperate mentally and physically and to ensure you can still take a strategic approach to your organisation’s future.
If you are a Senior Leader in cultural and social enterprise sectors, it’s vital to keep in mind a strong future plan that you can all work towards even if the day-to-day realities of running an arts or charitable organisation are increasingly harder. Ciara explains further;
‘It’s incredibly tough leading arts organisations at this hugely challenging time. Having trusted advice and a confidential sounding board to work through different options for your organisation and to have a safe space for considering your own leadership response is important and valuable for Directors and CEOs.’
You are not alone – charities across the sector are also facing rising costs and limited resources. With funding getting drastically reduced or even pulled, arts organisations are facing difficult choices. At Counterculture, every year we await the release of Arts Council funding news and are poised to help our clients with alternate funding solutions if they are affected by government cuts. We help our clients to be reactive and inventive in creating focused solutions so that they can continue to deliver programmes even as demand, costs and access fluctuate wildly.
Here at Counterculture, we know that it takes both passion and support to fuel a successful organisation within the cultural and social enterprise sectors. We’ve built the Counterculture team carefully, in order to ensure that our Partners and Associates have a breadth of real life experience which underpins their specialist knowledge. If you need some reassurance for your organisation, please contact us and we will find the best placed team members for your needs.