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By Katie Duckworth, May 14, 2012

I began coaching a new client this week, the Chief Executive of a youth charity, and it’s got me thinking about what makes for a great third sector leader.

Here are five qualities that, in my opinion, make a leader stand out from the crowd:

1. Agility – great leaders are able to adapt to circumstances, both internal and external; to grasp opportunities; to innovate; to give up the old when the ‘same old’ is no longer working

2. Inner confidence – it takes real self-belief to make the daily decisions (big and small) required of a leader, to rise to challenges, and to move away from fear-based responses

3. Being a passionate champion for the organisation they head up – for the people working in it and served by it, and by being a role model for behaviours and values

4. Vision – great leaders constantly ask the ‘what & why’ questions to get a clear vision of where their organisation is going, and inspire their teams to come with them

5. Authenticity – no-one wants a ‘command and control’ leader. Today’s leaders are real, not afraid to learn and grow themselves, or to own up to mistakes and areas for improvement

What do you think?

Coaching  builds great third sector leaders – both by nurturing emerging leaders, and by supporting existing ones. If you would like to find out how I can help you or your employees please contact me here or call 0208 772 7808 for a no-obligation chat.

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By Katie Duckworth, June 14, 2011

Wow! What a week. That was some marathon!

My Learning at Work week was absolutely buzzing as I coached dozens of committed and hard-working third sector staff in my marathon ‘speed coaching’ sessions.  It’s amazing what you can achieve in 25 – 40 minutes if both coach and client are focused – which I can tell you, we were.

Here’s some of the feedback I got from staff at The Back Up Trust and One World Action, just two of the organisations which took part.

“The session provided me with simple ideas and steps to having more confidence and self-belief.”

“It helped me be aware of the big picture of the current state of my life, to organise priorities and to focus in on actions and deadlines – thank you very much.”

“I brought a big issue that I wanted to change. I found it very useful to have it nailed down.”

And because all the best learning is two-way, I also learned a lot about the very smartest way to produce results in a short space of time.

I was very struck also by the similar issues which people needed help with. These are the top three issues affecting the people I coached:

1. How to be super confident in meetings and presentations

2. How to make get your career moving

3. Work/life balance & time management

From my on-going work with clients I know these are big issues for the sector – the clients I’m working with are already making breakthroughs in these areas. I’m available for one-to-one coaching for third sector staff and managers, and my newsletter, Stay sane in the charity sector will be covering these topics regularly.

I’ll definitely be doing a coaching marathon again, so sign up to my newsletter by using the form on the right, for news of future events and those tips on handling life in the third sector.