Clearer Thinking – June 2024
Findings from our recent away days
There are a few reflections that I want to share with you from this period of radio silence however, and not all of them are positive… Because we had to disappoint a few organisations who contacted us without much of a lead time and couldn’t get their away day scheduled once they’d considered the availability of their team. This felt super frustrating for me as they really felt they needed our support, but time had simply run away from them.
On the brighter side, we have had some really happy clients who are using us for their away day for the second, third or even fourth time running! These clients have especially benefitted from the institutional knowledge that we have been able to build up about their organisation, and so it allows us to challenge them objectively but with a great deal of insight about them, their purpose and how they work. We are like extended members of the team and it shows in what we are able to get through in a day. With one client, after just one day together, the team left with draft objectives for the year ahead and a revised strategic framework!
“Facilitation made the conversation we had concise but productive. It allowed space for all voices around the table to be heard… Great to have had consistency through our strategic journey.”
Unfortunately, there is still a common theme around capacity. Even I get tired of saying (typing) it. Organisations that are still not asking for the right amount of money or asking for it in the right way, are having to accept less than it costs them to deliver much needed services, placing the workforce under an unsustainable amount of pressure. This affects how the team engages in the room, as they worry about the impact on them of suggesting new ideas and not having the time to implement them.
Following on from that, whilst being inspired by the ambition and commitment of our partners to address the needs that they’ve identified in their community, when we dig into what they need internally to achieve that, they are often overwhelmed by not knowing how to resource it. We are talking more and more about how to ask for back-office, overheads- type support and how to embed these into your costs, as no funder will fund your ask for a comms officer over another bid asking for the same costs for frontline services.
Many of you are struggling to recruit and retain high quality team members and few organisations are using interns, and this is a bigger issue for the sector. Understanding your costs right now is crucial to be able to factor in increases that will give your team a reason not to look elsewhere.
Don’t get caught out!
If you want to use us for your next away day, let me know now with just an idea of when you would like it to take place and, when the time comes – approx 3 months prior, we will contact you to get the date scheduled and coordinate all the comms with your team, so we make it happen, and you don’t have to break your stride.
End the Struggle
If you are struggling with your capacity and want to see an end to that struggle, find out the costs you should be using in your project applications and how to present them, let’s reverse the pressure on your team and on you, and improve your cashflow (and your mental wellbeing).
“It is great that you do such wonderful and complicated work for small organisations, like ours that really need it. For the first time in 23 years of my work, I understand where and how we must move so that our organisation and service becomes sustainable and safe.”