We are thinking about all the organisations we work with… and the difficult decisions that are having to be made.  How do you tell your vulnerable clients that they can’t come to the groups that are their lifelines?  How do you explain the situation without scaring people so much that they can’t cope?

What I am seeing is a huge increase in collaboration and many new volunteers coming forwards (both within my own community, and in the organisations we support).  But, then I’m also seeing empty supermarket shelves and no delivery slots.  It’s showing up the ‘helpers’ but also the individualism in our society.

The potential repercussions are (as you all know) enormous.  Some businesses and organisations will not be able to keep going.  But others will thrive.  I’ve been reflecting on the factors that will increase an organisation’s resilience at this time.  I think these boil down to:

• Flexibility
• A culture of creative thinking and trying new things
• The ability to make decisions quickly
• Decisive and strong leaders
• Really good understanding of your clients and their needs
• Committed and skilled staff and volunteers
• The level of overheads and fixed costs you have

For us at Clarity, we have some things in our favour.  We are used to working flexibly and to working from home.  We have the on-line capability to deliver our services and very few overheads, and we’re used to thinking creatively.  But it is still a time of huge uncertainty, as many client organisations cannot (rightly) prioritise work with us over support for clients, and we can’t do any face-to-face consultation or facilitation.

If we can help with thinking things through, providing a sounding board for any small organisations who may have limited places to seek support then do get in touch.  We can offer an hour’s free (on-line) support to non-profit organisations in the South West.