Kim Shutler, CEO of the Cellar Trust gives some reasons as to why charity and voluntary sector leaders should not be underestimated
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I recently heard a Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) leader who delivers an incredible, impactful, integrated service with the NHS share a story of a clinician telling her he was surprised that she wasn't ‘a hippy dancing around, crystal healing.’

Whilst there is nothing wrong with crystal healing… and such views are rare these days (and almost all of the time I feel very much valued and respected by my colleagues in statutory services) I've also been reflecting on some meetings I've been in recently. I'm there as a VCSE Lead but it is often clear that, for many, my leadership is pigeon-holed as a singular area of limited contribution.

So here are some reasons why people outside our sector should never underestimate the skills and experience of VCSE Leaders (especially those who have a history that includes leading small organisations.)

1) We are masters of making the money stretch. We mix complex, changing cocktails of funding. There are no bail outs. And in very small organisations we are the Finance Director too.

2) We know how to set up and run services. We do it over-night and are very agile. There isn't someone else to do it. No business analysts, project managers etc. Less so these days, but I've done it several times over so I understand the detail. NHS underspend? Ah those were the days! Can you recruit, refurbish a building and open in a couple of months? Done.

After our big fire we relocated and mobilised all our services from Day one, same with Covid... no messing! We have learnt to work this way because often our funding depends on it and always because we want things to be better for people. It's just what we do.

3) A bit of income generation thrown in? Albeit pretty unsuccessfully, in my time I've learnt the art of running a charity shop, cafe, woodwork shop and selling organic veg. Have many non-VCSE Leaders had to spend time researching the price of cheese and learning about the legal requirements for kitchen extraction fans whilst simultaneously setting up a mental health crisis service?! Thought not!

4) We are the Director of Estates! Landlords, Capital developments, Health & safety, Business continuity, Managing multiple contractors, IT and more!

Since I started I've had to sell property, let property, manage recovery from a major fire and we are currently in the middle of a £3m Capital build. I've also had the joy of coming in to the roof having blown off, gone in in the middle of the night in my pjs to stuff tissue in the windows to stop the alarm going off and painted a building so it could open in time. The joy is endless I tell you.

5) We are the HR Director. No luxury of paying our staff what they deserve and it means we have to work very hard to create great workplaces on a shoestring. I could write a book on managing complex HR issues. HR Policies & Procedures, writing/delivering training, Managing TUPE, Pensions

6) Marketing/Fundraising Director? Yep! For years I ran the organisation’s social media: building our profile, reputation and brand. Again, not as much any more, but I can still write a decent comms plan and I know how to write bids and tenders because I've done it (and brought in a lot of funding as a result.)

7) We are influencers... Whether it's driving a hard bargain, negotiating funding, building partnerships, influencing policy and strategy, working with politicians or advocating for our communities... survival and impact depends on it. And lots of us influence on behalf of our sector - not just for our own organisation... and have spent many years operating strategically on Boards so we are pretty well versed in parts of the public sector too.

8) We are used to and very good at managing risk. The myth of the soft, fluffy low-level activity is wearing a bit thin now. Many of us deliver multiple specialist, high risk, complex services with incredibly high skilled teams. And we do it well.

9) We are innovators. In this sector you cannot afford to stagnate. Agility and adaptability are essential to meet the changing needs of people and communities but also frankly the funding climate means that funders are always asking for something new (this isn't ideal obviously.)

Some VCSE leaders have dedicated their careers to working in the sector. They have extraordinary deep wisdom and experience. Others like me had big career changes. I worked the first half of my career in the public sector so unsurprising 10 years in comms and organisational development in higher education and a MSc before my 10 yrs as a CEO means I have a bit more to bring to the table from that chapter too.

Am I good at all this stuff? Of course not! I'm not great at a lot of it! As a VCSE leader have I done this on my own? No! Even when were tiny I had a brilliant team and lots of help from generous leaders and mentors. But the point is... I've had to roll up my sleeves and learn how to do it... Thank goodness I now have great expert professionals doing lots of these things who are 100% better at it than me. Are VCSE leaders universally great? No! Are we better than leaders in other sectors? No! In fact, recruiting and retaining amazing leaders in the VCSE is, I think, perhaps the greatest risk to our sector. Probably because not many people want to do all of this stuff for the salaries they earn (despite the strange occasional narrative about CEOs being highly paid.) But low pay does not mean low skill and experience.

So if you don’t work in the VCSE or understand our super powers, my message is this… underestimate us and you miss out on what we can bring to the party and especially at a time like this, that would be very unwise indeed.

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