Subscribers | Charities Management magazine | No. 145 Summer 2022 | Page 1
The magazine for charity managers and trustees

Thinking afresh the Agile way

The charity sector has been in a state of flux for years and over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, charities faced a new set of challenges. According to a recent survey by the Charity Commission, over 90% of surveyed charities in England and Wales experienced some negative impact from the pandemic. Due to months of uncertainty, charities - regardless of their size - are up against challenging times including loss of income, increased need for service delivery, decreased staff morale and volunteer shortages.

As they emerge from the pandemic, charities need to also navigate ongoing technological, regulatory, operational, economic and environmental changes taking place while staying true to their values and making a social impact. If they want to survive and future-proof their operations, charities need to transform to face a changing world.

Being Agile benefits charities

Agile is about proactively thinking afresh, not referring to existing strategies and practices, so as to deliver better outcomes. The concept of Agile has been around for a while but quite often charities dismiss it as just another buzzword of the corporate world that doesn’t have a place in the charity sector seeing it as associated with commercial operations and developing a customer-centric approach.

Charities wouldn’t necessarily consider that they have customers but they do have people who get value from the work they do, so Agile can help charities give their internal and external audiences the best possible value in the most efficient way.

Embracing an Agile mindset and way of working means that charities can focus on looking at processes from a fresh perspective, incorporating a lean way of thinking to help better utilise resources. This is possible because Agile can help organisations and teams to have greater visibility and transparency over everything that is happening across different departments, break down silos and identify areas of improvement.

Agile can help bring people and processes together to create a much more cross-functional structure and empower charities to let go of old practices, create shared purpose and give teams the focus to make better decisions.

Mindset is important

Most charities are proactively look for ways to improve their work but there’s no denying that they’re also facing a pressing need to deal with a climate of austerity and rising demand for their services.

This means that they can often get bogged down by issues which they may feel are out of their hands which in turn can block fresh ways of looking at how they think and operate. Fear of doing things differently is one of the most common blockers for embracing Agile. But let’s face it, change is the new norm which mean that the environment organisations operate in will change regardless of their ability to change along with it.

Due to their often risk-averse nature, charities can miss out on new opportunities and ways of doing things in an attempt to limit risks and often prefer tried and tested methods. A common misconception about Agile is that it encourages a culture of failing fast and learning from it, which can put off charities which feel that failure is not an option.

However, that’s not what Agile is all about. Growth happens when risk is taken and agile ensures that you’re always taking a calculated risk, with a clear strategy and a well-formed execution plan.

It’s true that not all innovation will work but it’s easier to move on and find something that does work when your entire culture and operation is set up in a way that allows it to welcome change and overcome any challenges to be able to thrive. An Agile mindset balances the fear of the unknown with the trust in your organisation’s ability to perform efficiently.

It may be tempting to stick to the “this is how we have always done it” mindset, especially if your charity has been riding a fairly stable wave without any major concerns for the future. But the truth is that every single charity, regardless of its size, popularity or area it operates in, is susceptible to being left behind.

Working collaboratively, thinking creatively, and looking afresh at relationships and resources give you an opportunity to make things better for your people and those who benefit from your offering.

Start at the top

One of the fastest and most efficient ways for a charity to go Agile is to ensure that senior leadership embraces the mindset and invests into making it part of the fabric of the entire organisation.

That’s because in order for Agile to deliver results, it needs to be embedded into the culture and that can only happen when it is driven from the very top and encouraged right across the organisation.

One of the main reasons that it can be hard to introduce Agile lower down in the charity is that when areas of improvement are identified, people can become resistant and nervous because they will see it as a threat to their role whereas when leaders initiate the change, they can reassure staff and ensure they feel engaged in the process.

Given the transparency and freedom which characterise an Agile organisation, leaders must shape a new multi-faceted culture transformation based on trust. It’s about letting go of personal objectives and ego and focusing on delivering the best possible value. Change starts at the very top;

By building a foundation of trust you can motivate your people to work without fear, without judgment and without the risk of being chastised for making mistakes. Because they know that you as a leader have made it clear that making mistakes is OK, as long as it’s seen as a learning experience.

They also know that you are with them, and you are collectively working together and going in the same direction. Once you have made this cultural shift, you can build teams which are truly diverse, empowered and connected and can work as swiftly as possible to deliver greater value without losing track of their purpose.

This way of working frees up leaders to take a step back to look at the bigger picture and focus on strategy which ensure that the charity is fulfilling its mission. This type of ‘servant’ leadership also ensures that leaders are more open to hearing where the problems are, recognise unmet needs and finding ways to appropriately support their people.

Transform your teams

As well as enabling teams to work to the best of their capacity, Agile can have a massive impact on staff wellbeing by allowing people to work at a predictable and sustainable pace. When it comes to managing projects, Agile is based on three distinct sides of a triangle: Scope, Quality and Time: the Agile Triangle.

If scope changes, then so must time and quality. You cannot increase scope and expect the same level of quality in a fixed period. Agile teams feel empowered to negotiate scope to an appropriate level so that it based on their own capabilities and not based on promises made outside the team. Moving at a sustained pace also means that members of the team are more likely to sustain energy and focus.

On top one of that, Agile’s main principle is for teams to regularly reflecting on how they are working together as a team, rather than individually. This helps each member of the team to feel empowered because they can see their work making a real difference within the team encouraging collaborative working and boosting morale.

Eyes on the end goal

On a more practical level, when it comes to deciding which areas should be tackled first within the charity, it’s all about keeping an open mind. Identifying where some of the problems are can be a great starting point but you need to be open to accepting that these may be completely different to the areas you thought needed to be addressed.

The great thing about Agile is that it encourages your take the time on the front end to estimate the return on your investment so you can determine whether it’s worth focusing on a specific area.

Agile may seem daunting but when applied holistically across an organisation, it can empower you to develop the culture, teams and system that will allow your charity to tackle achievable tasks which contribute to your mission without the fear of losing direction or sight of the end goal. When organisations choose to embrace Agile, they are embracing continuous evolvement, making this one of the best ways to work in a culture of continuous improvement.

This can be a gamechanger for charities which are looking to thrive in a fast-paced environment. It's time for the charity sector to let go of past practices, stop trying to fix old models and look to a new Agile future.

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