Sarah Mitchell, CEO of Cycling UK explains why charity leaders must look after themselves in order to be able to look after others.
________________________________________________________________


It’s been a challenging time within the charity sector, with daily headlines that assail us with news about crises and closures. Behind these headlines there are human stories of the people who are struggling to keep their organisations and cause afloat.

For charity leaders the sense of responsibility grows with the needs of those that rely on our essential services. The temptation in times like these is to stretch out our days and weeks into longer hours and throw everything we have at the latest crisis, but the statistics on burnout in our sector are sobering. Research from Charity Job Finder recently found that 70% of respondents reported experiencing frequent or constant stress and one quarter of charities cite staff burnout as cause of retention problems (PBE/NTU 2023).

Stress and burnout affect leaders across the sector in real and tangible ways. We aren't just managing challenging workloads; we also bear the responsibility for keeping services going and for the jobs and livelihoods of all our staff. Sometimes that responsibility can feel overwhelming. But when we gravitate towards overworking and struggle to look after ourselves, we also unconsciously cast this shadow across the whole of our organisations.

There is copious research to show that the attitudes and reactions of those of us at the top of an organisation get reflected back to us in the behaviours and attitudes of our colleagues through all departments. When we work long hours, skip holidays and log onto emails at weekends, we shouldn’t be surprised to see this creeping into the working habits of our colleagues. The stress and burnout we experience can easily percolate down through the organisation.

We are also less effective as leaders when we work longer hours. This may seem counterintuitive, but research reveals the reality: After 50 hours of work in a week our productivity slows significantly, so that 70 hours of work yields an output barely greater than 54 hours. This means working 70 hours of which 14 hours (two whole working days!) is largely wasted time.

When we fail to take breaks, to eat properly, to exercise, even to stay hydrated, there is clear evidence that we are less effective at work. In my first CEO role I found my working

days drifting into weekends and evenings. Without time away from work I could feel my judgment slipping, it was increasingly difficult to discern priorities, and I was more likely to get bogged down in less important details. After six months, I took a conscious decision to preserve my weekends for my life outside work, unless there was an emergency.

Without downtime at the end of busy weeks our judgment suffers, we all lose focus, we are less productive. If there was ever a time when charity leaders needed to be productive, focused and able to make sound decisions, it is now. We simply can’t afford - our organisations can’t afford - for us not to look after ourselves.

I completely accept this is hard. When I was working weekends, it felt as though the work I was doing was too urgent, too important to pause, just for a break, because I felt I owed it to the many people who relied on our charity. The prevailing philosophy of charities remains one of self-sacrifice, stemming from our sector’s roots. It feels difficult for us to prioritise ourselves, especially when the communities we work with may be struggling with life-and-death situations, with personal crises. Charity leaders are also often isolated, sitting as we do between our executives and our trustees, who may not recognise the need for us to look after our own welfare first. But if we don’t support ourselves first, we, and the charities we run, will not have the sustained ability to provide the support services that communities need in these times.

At times of crisis, it is more important than ever that we look after ourselves. Our judgment, our focus and our expertise are not replaceable, and the challenge we face is a marathon, not a sprint.

---