How I came to tear Fund

As I was saying in last week's post...

“Ten minutes later I got an email from a Christian friend of mine asking if I knew of anyone who would be interested in being the Finance Director at Tear Fund.”

Something life changing

So I felt that the Lord was listening. But it was a very different salary grade, based in London, working for a charity: none of which ticked my boxes. Except one. The one that read: ‘I want to do be doing something useful – something that’s life changing for me and others'. So I thought I really can’t ignore this but I don’t really want to do it. I thought I was probably being nudged in that direction but I really wasn’t switched on to it. So I pretty much kept it to myself. I didn’t ask any of my friends their view and I didn’t ask any of my friends for prayer.

Be yourself

But then I spoke a little to a friend just before my initial interview and he came up with the wisest words I have ever heard. I’d said to him that I wasn’t suitable for it; too extrovert, too commercial, too sceptical of charities and that it didn’t suit my personality. He just said “Be yourself. Whatever you do at the interview just be true to yourself. If you are right for the role you’ll get it and they will know what they are getting. If you’re not right that’s fine.

Blown away

So I went along for an open chat the executive team and was totally blown away. It was just amazing - the most transformational half hour of my life. One of the team said to me “I want to change the face of charities and I think you’re the person to do that with me”. Wow!

I finally got the phone call one evening officially offering me the post and asking if I wanted a few days to consider it. Consider it? No – I accepted right then and there! How life can change.

Ali

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On a Mission

Radical change

So the other day a friend asks me: ‘Are you a missionary now then?” I nearly died. But I get the point. Being part of Tear Fund is radically different to anything I have done before in the professional field. Quite a few friends and colleagues are asking me why I made such a life change and I do want people to understand why I took the leap.

Why Tear Fund?

I joined Tear Fund because they have fantastic values and I just have to be part of that vision. No I’m not a missionary but yes, I am on a mission. A mission to transform Tear Fund Finance, I.T and Craft to a point where we are best in class. I want us to be the best because I know there’s room for people to be even more fulfilled than they ever have been are and more motivated than ever before.

Long term hunger

Long term I have a hunger to see the corporate world to become more involved in Third World issues. To that end I see myself as being a link between Tear Fund and the corporate sector. I’m not sure yet how I am going to do it but that’s my mission. Watch this space.#

Next week

But before I go here’s a preview of next week’s blog about ‘How I came to Tear Fund’:

“I was working for the FD Centre for 7 years and absolutely loving it but feeling that, for some reason I was working very hard for someone else’s agenda. It came to a point where I had to decide if I wanted to become a shareholder in a purely corporate vision or share in a humanitarian vision. Then, when we were on holiday I prayed with Pete, my husband, about my career because I was just thinking that it might be time for something new. Ten minutes later I got an email from a Christian friend of mine asking if I knew of anyone who would be interested in being the Finance Director at Tear Fund. I thought you have got to be joking!”

Ali

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Faith Versus Religion

Freedom of expression

Yes okay, I did blog on about my faith a bit over the last week or two, so I thought I’d kick off this week by assuring you that I’m not religious – at all!

Even back at the FD Centre, where I had such a great time with such great people, I was always pretty open about the fact I have a faith. So they know I’m the same old Alison, it’s just that I can express myself more openly in Tear Fund because of its own Christian ethos.

I’m not sure that everybody knows I have got a faith, I’m not frightened to hide it and I’m not ashamed of it, so I am quite happy to talk as much as I want about it. I was quite surprised when two people I had interviewed and taken on board at the FD Centre, subsequently mentioned that they also had a faith. I couldn’t understand why that hadn’t told me at the interview stage, what’s there to be ashamed of? But I appreciate that mixing work and faith can be difficult for some, especially some employers.

Am I a religious nutcase? Nutcase - Yes. Religious – No, and if you want to talk about the difference between being religious and being faithful – post me!


Ali

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Tear Fund: Day One

The warmest welcome

Let me tell you about the first time I walked into Tear Fund to start work there.

The few weeks before I started at Tear Fund was a very, very relaxed period of my life, the most relaxed I’ve had in I don’t know how long. But it meant I had a bit too long to worry about starting there. You know what it’s like, starting anywhere is always a bit nerve wracking and I’m no different.

So anyway I finally walked through the door, having had my nails done, having had my hair done, feeling quite good, and I walked in through the door – a bit early inevitably and the maintenance man looked up and said “Hello Alison, I’m Andrew welcome to Tear Fund”. I thought ‘Wow, this is amazing, how come he knows who I am?’ I was blown away and felt like a million dollars, but I just smiled politely. Then he showed me to my new home where it said: ‘Alison Hopkinson, Finance Director, Tear Fund’. Fantastic.

Maintenance warriors

The Maintenance team are very important at Tear Fund as it turns out. They are the prayer warriors! He showed me up to my office and there was a bunch of flowers on the desk. My team had bought me a bunch and one of the guys was there saying welcome. So I just felt really, really important, really loved and it was great. Then a little while later I found myself making a speech - Tune in next week for that!

Ali

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Knuckling Down at Tear Fund

Did you read this book yet? C’mon guys, keep up!

Break even

What did I take from this book? Well, I am do'er and I know that I am likely to go in to my new job and be guilty of cracking the whip to get things done. But this time I’m stepping back to get a lot of listening done over the first thirty days and then really think about what I am doing, what I am saying and how to make a really positive impact at Tear Fund.

The book talks about ‘break even’, which is the moment when you are costing the company (because you’re not adding any value), suddenly flips as you hit the point where you’re adding value to that company. Understanding the terrain, the people and the culture is the first objective. You need to find out where people’s strengths lie. Who needs encouraging, who needs promoting. Identifying who are the real assets in the organisation. Then it’s all about aligning your group and the teams you look after, with the strategy of the organisation.

Aligning people and strategy

So understand the strategy of the company then look at the people, the systems, the processes and make sure they are in-line to deliver the corporate strategy. It’s great advice and really interesting stuff. I loved reading it. What it’s made me think about doing on day one and two of my new job, is to sit down with proper pre-determined questions for each of my key team players. So I’m asking stuff like: “How is your team aligned to meet the strategy of the organisation? What’s your biggest challenge? What are your plans to meet that challenge?” And: “If you were me, what five things would you concentrate on?”

Loving it!

Ali

Ps: And here's some real food for thought

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Big News

First 90 Days

My last blog post turned into a rave about ‘Have a Little Faith’, an amazing book I’d read on holiday. Well, just to clear the book shelves I’m having another rave this week about one more holiday book that knocked my socks off. The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins. This book came into my hands with such perfect timing as I was just weeks away from: Big News - taking up a new post as Finance Director at Tear Fund! About which more later – lots more in fact once I’ve settled in a bit.

Work out your strategy

But for now back to that brilliant, brilliant book. I took lots of business books on holiday; I took the Harvard business review books, three books on managing yourself, leadership and managing staff. But this book is all about how to really make an impact in the first 90 days of your new job. It is all about making sure you don’t get knee deep in the detail from day one, but you step back and you think about the strategy and you think about what impact you want to make. You think about what differences you want to make. You plan for what your annual objective is and then you break it down into more measurable actions.

So listen, here’s my plan. Well actually why don’t you order this book (No, I’m not on commission), read it, and then come back next week and I’ll tell you how my first day or two went at Tear Fund as I began to implement my own 90 day action plan.


Ali

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Heroes Throw Down The Gauntlet

Shock of the new

I was chatting the other day with a business friend about Help for Heroes, a charity that’s just come from out of nowhere to becoming one of the most effective in the U.K. Years back, when I was working for Dell Computers, we came in and knocked the socks off IBM and Compaq because they’d just stuck to the ground on which they’d originally built their businesses - Main Frame Computers. Then Dell came along. We were nimble, we moved fast and we knocked the socks off them – taking the rug from under their feet in terms of the PC market.

Wake up call?

I wonder how the old established charities are reacting to the Help for Heroes model. It may be that there’s a certain amount of outdated practice in the charitable sector just like there was in IBM and Compaq. That would mean that those established charities may no longer be the best in class. I think there’s a lot to be said for having people with corporate experience coming into charities and removing any layers of dust that may have settled there. But I’m aware of the debate around whether corporate culture and charitable organisations can push and pull on a two handed saw to good effect.

Heaven on earth?

At the end of the day any organisation has to be able to tell the world what its end goal is. Charities might well be able to demonstrate what they are doing and why they are doing it, but the fact that they’re working on a seemingly never-ending task with limited funds may, understandably have caused them to lose sight of their original goal. But I was pretty taken with Tear Fund’s five year strategy when I looked through it recently. I guess any charity’s ultimate goal would, bizarrely, be to close itself down due to the fact that they’re just not needed any more – job done so to speak. Now doesn't that sound like heaven on earth.

 Ali

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Are You Small (business) Minded?

There is a small business mindset that prevents the most promising companies from reaching even a fraction of their potential. I’m reminded of those fabulous Bonsai trees which live out their lives in a tiny pot. Beautifully perfect, yes, but they could be so much bigger!

Part of that mindset holds that Finance Directors are a requirement only for really big companies. But actually, any company that is looking to grow will benefit from partnering with an FD and also enjoying the reduction of risk that they bring with them to a small business.

Turn over a new leaf

I’ve just been working with a company that had a very modest half million turnover. We transformed that into five million through putting in place the systems that would help them to grow. It meant that they didn't reach that blockage which small companies often reach if they started out as a sole trader on their own. Typically many small family businesses whose owner is more than happy pulling in a 50k salary and with a pension sorted are those that get stuck. Their accountant is doing a great job monitoring their progress and ensuring they are on an even keel but the company runs aground and stops moving forward. Stops growing.

Get growing!

But if a business wants to grow; it needs to think again. It needs to think out of the pot! Because it’s at that point, where they are stuck at the one to two million turnover level that they need to say to themselves: ‘Let’s get some expert financial help on board and start moving forward again - now”.

That’s where a commercially minded part time Financial Director will come alongside them and take them through the growth steps in a smooth, planned way. Effectively re-planting them in the great outdoors where they have the room, vision and strategy to reach their full potential.

So how does a part time Financial Director do that? Stay tuned!

Ali

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