Some checklists and articles on different aspects of managing voluntary organisations.
Anyone can produce a brilliant plan in good times. Big and bold visions, lots of new ideas and plans to expand, develop and boldly go… . It is different in hard times; ever increasing demand, downward income, austerity, increased competition and short term insecurity all make the going tough. Survival feels to be just about enough. Perhaps, the biggest challenge is retaining a sense of organisational and personal confidence.
The Italian political writer, Antonio Gramsci famously advocated for “Pessimism of the intellect – optimism of the will”. Pessimism of the intellect calls for tough and rational analysis of your current position and future prospects, questioning assumptions and challenging the status quo. Optimism of the will means having the confidence and courage to attempt difficult things and be willing to stand out. Probably not a bad maxim for running a voluntary organisation.
In tough times our organisations need to have a very clear sense of their purpose, what our values are and what we want to achieve in the short to medium term. The alternative is to bounce between reacting to events, occasional crisis management and chasing any funding pot that might keep things going. One experienced voluntary sector manager described her organisation’s approach ‘If we have any kind of strategy its ‘that something will turn up’, but, we can’t continue just drifting from issue to issue’.
Here are eight approaches that organisations can use to develop a useful strategy that makes the case for the organisation and gives a clear focus to help to steer through fast changing waters:
In the times that we operate in time spent working on our strategic future is not a luxury. Strategy is much more than producing a three year plan. It needs to involve people throughout the organisation and challenge our thinking. It has a key part to play in building our resilience.
Getting voluntary organisations to work together always seems like a good idea. The idea of sharing resources, not duplicating effort and pulling together does have a certain logic, but is often fraught with difficulties.
Increasingly, organisations are pushed into collaboration. Linking up with other is seen as a way of surviving as funding becomes tougher and organisations struggle to remain viable. Cooperating together is seen as a better option than competition. Funders and commissioners push for greater collaboration. The public sector says it is keen on ‘partnerships’ – described by one civil servant as “the temporary suspension of mutual hostility in order to get hold of funding”.
Some commissioners sometimes prefer to deal with bigger agencies and often claim that “there are too many organisations” and cling to a view that collaborating might stop duplication and lead to better value for money. It is odd that some commissioners complain of having too many organisations and at the same time talk about the need to have a choice of providers in the market.
In our new book, Collaborative Working, we look at what’s driving collaboration, describe the different models and options available, the blocks to be navigated and through case studies show how to make it work in the organisation’s short and longer term interest.
In researching the book we talked to a range of voluntary sector managers involved in successful and not so successful collaboration initiatives. We drew six key points:
Collaboration is unlikely to go away. It can be an opportunity to move to a different level, retain independence and remain viable.