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Lucy Gower- A lesson in leadership and effective work environments

Lucy Gower is a leadership, innovation expert and the founder and director of Lucidity, where she helps leaders and teams in charities and purpose-driven organisations build confidence, creativity, and collaboration to achieve meaningful impact. She is also the bestselling author of The Innovation Workout and How to Have Confidence at Work and co-hosts the Quiet Leadership Revolution podcast. Katie spoke to Lucy to find out more about how charity leaders can protect their time and wellbeing whilst maintaining impact and growth.

Most of what Lucy shared with me during our chat I already knew – most of us do. But knowing something, and actually implementing it are two very different things. It sometimes takes sitting down and contemplating your working environment, and how you’re feeling, to understand the impact your own wellbeing may have on your capacity to make meaningful change for others.

We all know that we need to look after ourselves, to get outdoors, to take breaks. But all too often something ‘necessary’ comes up and holds us back from taking time off. As charity leaders, protecting your wellbeing sets a role model for others and so goes hand in hand with creating an environment where your team are also happy and inspired to work.

Burnout in the charity sector

People who work for charities are passionate about the work they’re doing. Lucy suggests the propensity for burnout in the charity sector is therefore higher – “when you care about the cause, it makes it harder to stop” or to take time for yourself. The potential impact of every hour of work is your motivation, rather than profit. As Lucy suggests, working too hard for too long leads to burnout:

“Feeling stress or overwhelm is not conducive with good thinking”.

So how can leaders of charities reduce their own propensity for burnout, to benefit their team and the people they support?

Lucy’s work revolves around facilitating this “good thinking”. She creates a space for leaders and their teams to consider their wellbeing and productivity. She doesn’t tell you what to change (because that’s different for everyone) but asks you to step back from the day-to-day and prioritise space to ask yourself what could be improved within your leadership. On a very basic level, if a leader is stressed, a little snappy or even burnt out, that energy “permeates through a team”. This is why these moments of reflection are so important.

Nurturing safe working environments

Lucy describes her work as helping leaders gain the confidence to think differently and take action in order to make more impact. “A big part of [it] is how leaders support their teams and make environments which are psychologically safe.”

Amy Edmundson coined the term psychological safety in her Ted Talk as “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes.”

In workplace settings, people often withhold these things for fear of coming across as less experienced or unconfident. But these vulnerabilities are what make your workplace more effective. Having the courage to ask questions and seek support when needed will make for stronger overall impact and productivity. No more sitting at your desk trying to do things alone!

It’s well worth having a watch of this Ted Talk to understand how productivity and being comfortable in your working environment intersect. Similarly, have a read of Google’s report ‘Rework- Understanding Team Effectiveness’ to see how this theory plays out in real collaborative settings.

Noticing burnout early

Burnout is typically described as the “a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion”.

Towards the end of our chat, Lucy and I had come up with (what we viewed as) a fairly accurate allegory for burnout:

When you have a slight cold, to head it off before it turns into something more, you might eat healthily, and get a good night’s sleep. You probably don’t need time off work, but you look after yourself anyway. If you keep going to work and don’t rest when you have a cold, the chances are you’re just going to get more ill. If it develops into a flu – that’s when you’re bedridden.

The same applies to burnout. The best thing to do is to notice the early signs and intervene to prevent it before it escalates. . This is what Lucy described as the point of intervention. This could include having to reread the same sentence or jumping from meeting to meeting and never having time to action things. We all have different signs, but they tend to follow similar themes of exhaustion, loss of concentration and of motivation.

Actionable ways to make a change

When you’re busy, you don’t have a second to look up and look around you to see the potential support available to you. So, what practical tips can Lucy offer for those feeling worried that they might be approaching burnout?

1. Slowing down can help you speed up

Slowing down can help you tackle feelings of burnout and help you make progress. In times of crisis, it’s easy to make quick-fire decisions, without taking a moment to consider other options. Have a listen to Lucy talk on ‘The Quiet Leadership Podcast‘ to understand the value of taking a pause.

2. “You can’t set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.”

This is about radical self-care – if you’re not operating at your best, you cannot help the people you’re here to support. Learn how to truly prioritise yourself to help others and being at your best will lead to greater impact. (How – maybe point to some resources re radical self care?)

3. Learn to say no

Being overwhelmed makes it harder to perform at your best. Setting clear boundaries in order to bring your A-game to what matters most will lead to more effective change.

4. “Ask for help”

Get a coach, get mentors, hire a Virtual Assistant and build your support network around you – and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

5. Read

Look for advice from others who you don’t know. There are so many books, podcasts and articles advising leaders on how to best support themselves and to create the best working environment for their team. Take the time to engage with this content and action interesting suggestions.

Read ‘Rest is Resistance’ by Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, to learn more about how to reclaim rest as a form of resistance against grind culture.

Or you could check out the Lucidity Network – Lucy’s learning and development community for charity leaders.

6. Be kind to yourself

Independent leaders struggle to admit they need to lean on others. It’s okay to need to find support in others. “None of us have all the skills, experience, knowledge and insight to do our best job on our own, we need people around us.” So be kind to yourself, and ease some of the pressure you place on you.

7. Outsource

Creating time for yourself is nurturing your wellbeing and your ability to make an impact. There are so many people offering different kinds of support that charities could be leaning on, and yes, they cost money, but they will lift the pressures and give you space to thrive. It can feel like you’re so busy, there isn’t time to look for support, tools, or ways to improve productivity. But it is there, if you decide to prioritise yourself.

Check out Lucidity, and find Lucy on LinkedIn.

Book a discovery call with us so we can share the workload.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that people who offer support to charities need to make their services as visible as possible. If that includes you, reach out to us and we will be happy to share your story.

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