Transcript Northern Rock Third Sector Trends Study

Walking a tightrope?
Balancing organisational foresight,
enterprise, capability and impact
Tony Chapman
Social Audit Network Conference
Newcastle University Business School
4th April 2014
Third Sector Trends Study
 7 year study in NE and Cumbria to 2015 (also
in Yorkshire and Humber 2010-13).
 Big surveys in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
 Qualitative work with 50 TSOs 2010, 2012,
2015.
 Watching, listening, talking, taking part.
 Also studies for local authorities and the ILG
on public sector/third sector relationships
What we feel we know now
 Found out a lot about sector structure and
dynamics.
 Know much more about what makes TSOs tick.
 Getting a much better understanding of how
TSOs respond to change
 We think we know what a good organisation
looks like – but not altogether sure how they get
to be that way – or whether it protects them
from external forces.
When is an organisations getting it
right?
 Has the foresight to scan the horizon with its
mission clearly in mind.
 Sufficiently enterprising to assess the risks
associated with opportunities.
 Understands what its current and potential
level of capability is.
 Knows what the organisation is there to do
and can recognise the impact of what they do.
How do they get to be good?
 Good governance so that they can manage
their resources of money, people and ideas
 What helps them along the way: serendipity,
luck, values, determination.
 But each of these four things are no good
unless you know what to do with them and
know what difference they might make.
We’re getting a reputation for
hectoring the third sector
 We are advocates for what TSOs can achieve
for their beneficiaries, not for organisations as
such.
 But we’re sympathetic about the impact of
turbulence in the system: outsiders often call
the tune.
 We say that TSOs are independent and are
responsible for their own destiny – but that
doesn’t mean life is easy.
Turbulence
In addition to issues surrounding money...
 Other people’s strategic agendas for the third
sector
 Other people’s ideas about how TSOs should
develop and what they should do.
 Other people’s ideas on what makes TSOs
more efficient.
 Other people’s ideas about what impact they
want/hope TSOs can make & how to measure
it.
So what is good governance?
If a TSO is an autonomous entity which is
responsible for its own destiny, then...
Making good decisions involves striking a
balance between the organisation’s altruistic
mission to achieve social outcomes and its own
needs as an entity to be resilient, capable and
have sufficient assets (of people, ideas and
money) to do its work.
Knowing yourself:
how do TSOs find out what
impact they are having?
Being interested in Impact
 The best organisations know what they want
to achieve.
 They can make good judgements on how to
assess (but not always ‘measure’) their
achievements.
 They usually ask people to help them confirm
what they believe or hope to be true.
 They can take criticism (eventually!) process
the challenges and do something about it.
TSOs which put a ‘high
priority’ on the following
forms of impact
measurement
Collect feedback from
beneficiaries
Collect data on outcomes for
funders
Collect data on outputs for
funders
Organise participatory events
with beneficiaries
Conduct surveys with
beneficiaries
Conduct an organisational
social audit
Conduct a Social Return on
Investment (SROI) analysis
PublicCommunity
sector
Market
driven
driven
driven
Smaller TSOs practice and practice and practice and
that don’t
planning
planning
planning
employ staff
ethos
ethos
ethos
42.1
87.2
85.3
87.8
14.9
70.1
72.9
75.9
15.0
66.7
74.3
75.7
26.0
62.6
58.0
56.9
10.8
51.3
55.6
59.4
5.4
23.4
23.0
25.6
1.9
17.1
23.3
22.8
TSOs which do take
action on the following
forms of impact
measurement
Collect feedback from
beneficiaries
Collect data on outcomes for
funders
Collect data on outputs for
funders
Organise participatory events
with beneficiaries
Conduct surveys with
beneficiaries
Conduct an organisational
social audit
Conduct a Social Return on
Investment (SROI) analysis
Smaller TSOs
that don’t
employ staff
Community
driven
practice and
planning
ethos
Publicsector
driven
practice
and
planning
ethos
Market
driven
practice
and
planning
ethos
46.8
84.0
80.4
86.8
14.8
65.1
66.0
70.1
14.8
64.4
67.0
71.3
31.5
62.9
50.5
61.7
14.1
54.5
51.5
61.7
4.3
14.9
14.4
16.2
0.9
10.9
8.2
12.0
Theory and practice amongst TSOs
with a “market driven” practice and
planning ethos
How many
TSOs say this
is a high
priority
But how
many TSOs
actually do
this now?
Difference
Collect feedback from beneficiaries
87.8
86.8
-1.0
Collect data on outcomes for funders
75.9
70.1
-5.8
Collect data on outputs for funders
75.7
71.3
-4.4
Organise participatory events with
beneficiaries
56.9
61.7
4.8
Conduct surveys with beneficiaries
59.4
61.7
2.3
25.6
16.2
-9.4
22.8
12.0
-10.8
Conduct an organisational social
audit
Conduct a Social Return on
Investment (SROI) analysis for
particular projects
Who’s not standing back to reflect?
“We’re too busy for all of this”
“We’ll do it when we’re more secure”
“We need a quick fix that will impress
funders”
Focusing too much on money can be a
problem
• Shifts too much emphasis to organisational
needs, not organisational impact (we do
understand the pressure to keep staff in
place).
• Tendency to encourage ‘bottom line’ thinking
that doesn’t really work in the third sector
(success starts to be defined monetarily, not
socially – i.e. Ideas surrounding growth).
What can go wrong?
 Chase short-term opportunities that skew
mission (poor application of Foresight)
 Don’t know when not to do things (poor
application of Enterprise)
 Not fully aware of current or potential
capability
 Confused about who they serve and don’t
know what impact they have
Not everything that glitters is gold
Bringing home the bacon is a constant pressure,
but what if ‘success’ makes things worse?
 What if staff and volunteers don’t believe in it?
 What if there isn’t enough money to do it?
 What if it means working with people you don’t
get on with?
 What if you don’t really know how to do this?
 WHAT IF THE OBJECTIVE YOU’VE BEEN
FUNDED TO ACHIEVE CAN’T BE
DONE!!!
Getting it right?
Making good decisions when the
future is uncertain...





Resources are finite
Income fluctuation is inevitable
The policy environment wont stay still
Social needs and priorities will change
Competition may intensify
...so TSOs need to keep a steady head
STRONGER ORGANISATIONS
BEHAVE SOMETHING LIKE THIS
Think about periods
of growth as
“ephemeral” and
build reserves`
“Uncontrollable”
periods of decline
offset drawing
upon reserves
Perception of sustainable
organisational resource “its
natural or equilibrium
position in the medium
term” which is tied in with
mission and organisational
planning
New opportunities
successfully
exploited
“Asset base” Measured assessment of impact of resource decline:
plans devised to return to equilibrium or restructure
within realistic resource base
Summary of main ideas
The ‘best’ organisations invest in
learning about themselves – often
with help from the outside
(But this is not just about advertising
how good you are).
The ‘best’ organisations invest in staff
development because they know how
important capability is
(But it’s not about attending free
courses or grabbing capacity building
money because “it’s there”).
The ‘best’ organisations know when to
say no to an opportunity, and how to
say yes
(But it has to be a fair balance
between organisational needs and
social impact).
Other people can help, but can’t do it
for you
 Need to take several steps on the journey
before you ask for help (“stress testing”).
 Good organisations do audits because they
are good organisations (“self critical but
quietly confident too”)
 Don’t be fooled by promises of instant fixes –
it doesn’t work that way.
 Thinking always about impact first, and money
second requires real discipline.
Tony Chapman & Fred Robinson
Policy&Practice
St Chad’s College
Durham University
18 North Bailey
DURHAM DH1 3RH
[email protected]