Listening, learning and looking ahead: my first 100 days at Macmillan

I am just over 100 days into my role as Chief People and Culture Officer at Macmillan Cancer Support and the time has flown by. I’ve spent much of that time listening to colleagues, volunteers, partners and people living with cancer and, whilst I still feel a bit ‘box fresh’, there is plenty that I have heard that resonates with challenges been felt more widely across the charity sector and beyond.

At this point I wanted to share three early reflections and the implications they will have for our approach to our future People & Culture plan.

In purpose-led organisations, people care deeply. That commitment is a huge strength. I have always held deep admiration for Macmillan, and have seen that commitment first-hand since joining. But it brings a challenge: when everything feels important, it’s hard to decide where to focus, and trying to do everything spreads time, energy and resources too thinly.

So, the first question I am grappling with (and it resonates with all of the mission-driven organisations I have worked for) is: is this the best use of what we have, and could we make a greater difference another way? This will inevitably force us to make difficult and tough choices and in some cases take bold steps into the unknown. Our strategy will be our guiding light but the challenge for us will be: how do we build the organisational capability and confidence to make those challenging decisions?

I have had the fortune of working for a broad range of well respected, amazing charities that deliver enormous benefit for people. They were all formed a long time ago, in three cases over a century. We know the world has changed a lot since then but today it is evolving even more rapidly. This means that the work we have done, the support we have provided and the impact we have made is both enormously valid and needs to evolve. Those two truths can co-exist and as we embark on transforming our organisations to meet the demands of tomorrow that doesn’t mean we are in any way diminishing the work we delivered yesterday.

Trusted organisations carry real responsibilities, and checks and safeguards matter. Macmillan has built trust and confidence over more than a century, but we also know that things are different now. People are finding information in new ways, including through AI. Experiences of health and care can vary depending on who you are and where you live. In order for the services of the future to equitably meet the needs of those that use them the voices of people with lived experience have never been more important to shape the services designed for them.

The big challenge for us in this space is that the volatility of the world we live in today and the pace of change we are experiencing means that we do not have a clear idea of what the future will hold or how we will need to respond. Which brings me to my second question: how do we build adaptive organisations that are change ready?

I believe our working world is made up of a series of relationships. The stronger and better developed they are, the more we enjoy our work, the more productive we are and the more we grow as people. Throughout my career I’ve seen those relationships at three levels: 

• Me: am I supported and set up to thrive?
• We: how well do we work together, within and across teams? What can I do differently to help colleagues be at their best?
• Us: how can I best support the wider organisation to achieve its goals? 

I am curious to explore how we would honestly assess ourselves against those three lenses and if we have the right balance across all three.

My biggest reflection is that we are not alone in exploring these challenges and questions and we will be looking externally to collaborate and exchange ideas on all of these aspects. If you are interested in some or all of the above, please reach out, we would love to hear from you.