Insights from the Annual Interview | Article

At WIG’s Annual Interview, our yearly gathering for the UK’s most senior leaders, key players from government, civil society and business reflected on how the sectors can work together to address society’s most complex problems.

Simon Case, Cabinet Secretary; Amanda Blanc, Group CEO of Aviva; and Dame Clare Moriarty, CEO of Citizens Advice were interviewed by BBC News’s Dharshini David and discussed how current issues such as evolving geopolitical landscape, the cost-of-living crisis, the pandemic, and broader leadership challenges have merged into a state of ‘perma-crisis’ causing cross-sector effects. Throughout the discussion, shared strategies for leading effectively while navigating these challenges emerged.

In response, our team have curated a selection of upcoming events and programmes that will enable our members to collaborate across sectors to address these issues together.

Look Outwards in Difficult Times

During difficult times, looking outwards and collaborating with like-minded organisations can have a multiplier effect on desired outcomes.

In 2022, the cost-of-living crisis emerged to be one of the year’s defining challenges – and 2023 offers no immediate let-up. An increasing number of individuals who already faced low levels of resilience from the challenges of the pandemic are now unable to make ends meet after exhausting all available means of assistance. Organisations across sectors are seeing the impact of this crisis at an organisational level in the form of higher demand for programmes which offer support and concerns over employee wellbeing.

As a recession hits and budgets tighten, organisations may be tempted to focus inwards and prioritise immediate challenges in the moment instead of future-focused. However, collaborative approaches with like-minded organisations would have the greater impact. Since no one organisation has all the answers, finding different expertise and perspectives can bring outcomes greater than the sum of its parts. Keeping the vision of collaboration even through challenging times is vital.

WIG members are invited to attend an upcoming panel discussion covering this topic on 22 March. The event, Navigating the Cost-of-Living Crisis: Cross-sector Approaches to Support Citizens and Consumers, is put on in partnership with the UK Regulators Networks. Our speakers will discuss how organisations across the sectors are supporting citizens and consumers to face these challenges and identify collaborative opportunities to build on this work while growing the wider economy.

Think Long Term

Organisations across sectors are facing a shortage of skilled workers, both because of workers leaving the workforce earlier than expected to cope with health conditions and caring responsibilities, and a lack of people with the needed skills. This shortage has left organisations in all sectors in a position where they need to respond to this gap and the reasons for it.

Alongside addressing the factors that have tempted people out of the workforce, organisations must also take a long-term view of developing skilled workers who meet future needs. Creating these skills pipelines requires consistent and stable participation from across the sectors – looking longer term beyond political cycles or the instinct to focus on short-term survival.

Building skills and retaining talented staff requires investment in developing people and creating inclusive environments. WIG offers organisations options to develop their workforce both through encouraging mentoring relationships through WIG’s Mentor Match programme. Our annual Diversity & Inclusion Conference on 30 March gives fresh perspectives, inspiring solutions and practical tools to build and maintain an inclusive and diverse workforce.

Keep Calm and Accept Uncertainty

Leaders have faced extraordinary challenges through recent years which has highlighted the value of calmness in leadership. When facing challenges such as cost pressure or rapid reform, the temptation can be to jump from addressing one immediate crisis to another. However, leaders will benefit from remaining calm and keeping their vision on the long-term goals.

The WIG Leadership Programmes are based on our leadership development framework which underpins our approach to leadership and learning. Our fundamental aim is to encourage and enable the mindsets, behaviours and actions that leaders need in order to successfully navigate the complexities of the 21st century leadership landscape. Participants will complete their WIG programme with fresh insights, clarity of focus, a revitalised sense of purpose and the tools and frameworks for leadership success.

Practice Collaboration

During the pandemic, we saw an unprecedented level of collaboration across the sectors to address a generational crisis. Now as we move into ‘perma-crisis’, the foot must not be lifted off the accelerator for collaboration. Rather than let the enthusiasm fade, collaboration from the pandemic needs to act as a model on how we can tackle the challenges we face now and the challenges that are yet to emerge in the future.

To that end, WIG, in partnership with the Blavatnik School of Government, is in the process of creating a ‘Collaboration Playbook’. Using an academic underpinning, along with real world case studies, the playbook will be a tool that can be utilised by leaders across the sectors to define how to best go about effective collaboration in a real-world scenario. It will act as guide to help upskill your teams and help inform when (and when not) to collaborate, and how to ensure that collaboration deliver results.

To learn more about the Collaboration Playbook, or if you would like to be involved in the creation of this crucial document email Tom Sapsted, Director of External Engagement on [email protected].

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