What can we learn from wolves?!

Wolves can be surprising! Watch this 1.5 minute film about leadership and team-working to learn how wolves promote diversity, value community and have an intense focus on what they are doing.
 
Why wolves? During a gathering we facilitated earlier this year, the team at An Cosán identified with these very awe-inspiring animals to represent their organisational culture. Heydi Foster-Breslin, the CEO, reminded her colleagues in a follow up session a few days ago that: “it was all of you who conjured the wolf pack as a symbol of our community organisation. A shared vision which unites us during these challenging Covid-19 times. We continue to rise to the challenges every day and together we will have the resilience to see this through.”

What does a wolf pack culture looks like? Click here to see the 1 page summary about the culture of An Cosán; here if you’d like to learn more about organisational culture; and here if you’d like a tool to assess your organisational culture. Below is a picture of the team at An Cosán.

An Cosan - May 2020.jpg

An Cosán? Based in Dublin, and working with some of the most vulnerable communities there, An Cosán is a not for profit that offers a range of courses to support people to develop their capacities and experience a sense of empowerment in their lives and community. They give a voice to many people who would otherwise struggle to be heard. We’re delighted to be running a series of online sessions with the team. Click here to read about how we work online.
 
Could the crisis lead to a ‘loss of female talent’. In a very recent article in Harvard Business Review, Colleen Ammerman explains about the risks of the covid-19 crisis in terms of organisations ‘losing female talent’. To avoid ‘losing hard-won ground on gender inclusion’ she reasons that organisations need to: (a) pay extra attention to the ‘motherhood penalty’; (b) ‘pare down pressure’; (c) ‘run virtual meetings equitably’; (d) ‘keep digital spaces inclusive’. To join a webinar on June 9th at 12pm (UK time) about this, sign up here.
 
Hot off the press! The newest member of our team, Nicola (Baker), Director of Partnerships, has just written a guide to researching grant giving trusts and foundations. Click here to read this. And here to read a paper by Rupert Cadbury, one of our Advisors, about challenges facing family Trusts and Foundations.  
 
Malala Yousafzai quote: ‘we realise the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.’

Have a great week!

Rosie, Lorna and Ian