Leadership in Focus: Al Hatton
By Elisa Birnbaum
February 9, 2009
This month in our Leadership in Focus series, we feature Al Hatton, president and CEO of United Way of Canada - Centraide Canada. With years of experience in the nonprofit community, including as ED of the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations and as director of external relations at the YMCA, Al's insight into the sector and its challenges is both invaluable and profound.
CharityVillage: In your opinion, how will the current economic instability (and political uncertainty) impact the United Way network?
Al Hatton: Because of what's going on in the environment, we obviously have to spend more time than we probably would have under normal circumstances, especially at the senior level, on resource development. Our campaigns were going very well until probably mid-November, early December and then a number of large ones stalled. Especially in places like Toronto, where financial services are so critical, or out west with the oil and gas, or places where certain industries have had a real impact on the local community. Then there's the overall feeling of uncertainty, fear and caution. So, not surprisingly, we have to spend more time on that.
We've been going through a transformation to become a community impact organization rather than having fundraising as a mission. What do we do with the dollars that are generated? What is our value added, apart from protecting those resources and ensuring organizations we fund are well run and capable, etc.? That's still the important and ongoing work we do, but for a decade now we're recognizing and working on shifting our fundamental mission to what it is that we actually do with those dollars. What is the difference we make in communities, what is the impact of those resources? That's been shifting how we look at the world, in the sense that it's not just about how much money we can raise, it's not just about investing in solid organizations in the community, though of course, we keep doing that.
More importantly, if we're spending more money on poverty but rates are going up, if we're spending more money on food banks and security and drop-in centres and other organizations but, in fact, the problems are not receding and more and more people are being hurt by conditions in certain parts of the community and certain cities, we have to re-look at our model and how it's actually going to be strengthened and improved. So we've really been focusing on new partnerships and engaging the broader community. We're working on [these] partnerships to tackle problems in a different way. That's really our mission.
"You have to adapt to what is, not to what you hope it would be." |
|
And this current economic environment may allow us to advance in some communities, but in others it's going to force us to go back to the old model. There will be pressure to just raise more money and give it to those agencies who'll be dealing with the fallout - what I see as being more people unemployed, more pressure on services, more pressure on our traditional partners. We have to respond to that, but we also believe that the other work must continue and actually has to be enhanced. So that's going to put more pressure on us, more pressure on our volunteers, and it will make for some new challenges in terms of governance and all of that.
At the political level, I think it actually continues to reinforce that government is less and less critical to the success of more and more organizations. In terms of all levels of government - certainly the federal - the role they played a decade or two ago in support of the sector has fundamentally changed. A lot of programs have been decentralized to provinces, or the federal government got out of leadership in those areas. That has put increased pressure on the sector, and those trends continue. I think it's unfortunate, but it's the way it is and you have to adapt to what is, not to what you hope it would be.
CV: As a leader of an umbrella organization, do you face particular challenges in these more trying times? If so, what are they and how will you face them?
AH: I think one of the most fundamental challenges for an umbrella organization - and this economic/political situation exacerbates it - will be the increasing pressure to respond to local realities. At the same time, as we try to focus as a movement, we are trying to get United Ways to work much more collectively and to look at some of the work they do locally and how it can be enhanced by working together. That remains a challenge, and this environment only makes it more critical. My sense is that a challenge of all national umbrella organizations in the environment we're in is to engage local people and have them understand how critical it is to be working more collectively. You have to find where there is a common cause because we have a very diverse organization. People think that because we're large we are one monolithic big force that just moves forward and is able to do whatever it wants. Well, we have United Ways that raise $200,000 in local communities with no staff, for example, in parts of rural Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and other remote areas. Whereas, in Toronto, we raise approximately $109 million and have a significant number of staff.
Then we have regional differences. The movement in Québec is very responsive to what's going on there and very oriented to priorities both at the local and provincial level. And then you have the East concerned about what's going on in Atlantic Canada etc. - it's just very reflective of the county. We have all these diverse interests and people who want to be aligned with others who are similar to them and are facing some of the same challenges. So sometimes that means we have to organize by size, sometimes by region or sub-region. That remains a challenge.
The third big challenge is the long-term versus the short-term. [There is] pressure on us for short-term delivery, for impact at the local level, to get the money in, get money out, and get it to organizations and people most in need, and tackle issues most critical in communities. At the same time, how do we create long-term change that is sustainable and that delivers value and creates much more independence and capacity, both in organizations and communities? Those are not necessarily always compatible.
CV: Having been involved in the voluntary sector for many years, you must have a good perspective on its evolution over time. How do you feel it has changed over the years, if at all?
AH: I think organizations are more entrepreneurial, less dependent on government in general. Capacity issues have become much more important in the sector over the last few years. Fundraising has become a critical component of every organization's core operating philosophy, whereas 20 or 30 years ago, they did a bit on their own or would get money from government, have some activities, and depend on us and a couple of other sustainable methods of funding. That's really different now. Everybody is out fundraising, all the time. Also there's a lot more emphasis on outcome, not on process, what people are actually achieving. We demand it of organizations; they demand it of us. Government demands it. Private sector demands it. What's the value added? We didn't talk so much about that years ago.
CV: What is the biggest public policy issue affecting the effective fostering of philanthropy in our country?
AH: It's been hard for a number of years to try and get government funders to be less demanding in their accountability requirements. As the pendulum swings to accountability and the need to report and account for and provide value for money, the whole process has been overweighed. So it's very difficult to apply for a grant; it's difficult to report as you disburse the grant, and very difficult to report at the end of the grant and go through the auditing process. Auditing has gone way overboard, particularly at the federal level. Organizations with relatively small grants have had relatively costly audits done on them for no results, just to show everything is fine. The federal government did set up a blue ribbon panel that made many good recommendations, but that job isn't finished. If they could be implemented, it would go a long way.
CV: Are there certain traits that make great leaders?
AH: If there's one that to me is really important it's the ability to connect with people on a very human level and to inspire them. You've got to have energy, vision and the ability to network. But it's really the human factor, the ability, without a huge amount of ego, to bring people around to a common point of view and get them to act on it. I really do think a lot of nonprofit leaders have that in spades.
CV: What specific qualities help leaders succeed?
AH: Vision, honesty, integrity, competence, passion, clarity, humility, emotional stability, balance, openness and trust, but not blind trust. My sense is if you have a good number of those, you just might be a leader.
CV: Are organizations doing enough to foster future/young leaders?
AH: No, I don't think they're doing enough. It's a real gap in our sector and it's a worry. We do have this older profile - there are all these people in their 50s - but where are the younger people? Our problem is one of depth. The gap between the leader in her 50s and the younger person is fairly wide because there aren't that many levels. For young people, that means no obvious career path. "What's the next step?" they ask. "How do I get from here to there?"
CV: Is the sector as a whole doing enough for young leaders? If not, what could it be doing better?
AH: I don't think so. We have a number of activities going on with young people but I think that has to remain a focus. We're not yet sophisticated enough to tap into their way of looking at the world, their needs and values. We have to adapt to the way they're evolving, though that doesn't mean we sell our own values.
I think our leadership training and transformational leadership would resonate with young people, but I don't think we're very advanced in that. I'm part of a couple of processes, trying to put together something like a leadership institute or entity that fosters the new kind of leadership required for the future. It's not easy. A lot of the programs offered through universities are either expensive, not accessible, or structured around credits, which is important but isn't enough. And it's not the kind of thing that most of the leaders I'm engaged with have the time to focus on. We don't have enough mechanisms, processes, training programs, and forums where this kind of thing is really addressed. So that remains a challenge.
More about Al... |
First nonprofit job: Verdun Council of Community Agencies
Education: BA in psychology and philosophy from University of Western Ontario
Annual budget of the organization he oversees: Last year the United Way raised $483 million in Canada. Their national budget averages between $400 and $500 million.
Number of employees: 1,000 staff in the organization across country, and 200,000 volunteers.
|
|
|
CV: What practical advice on leadership would you offer others?
AH: Use your head and your heart. Trust your instincts. Be real, be yourself. Take a long-term view. Be very humble about the idea that a leader has all the answers. My experience has been that, in fact, what really works is one's ability to engage the people around them, to unlock what they have to offer and determine how they can help you. That's much more important than being a decisive know-it-all kind of leader. But it's much easier to say than to do. And be a good communicator; it's really important to keep communicating whatever it is you are trying to do as a leader.
CV: Which leaders inspire you?
AH: Some I could think of include: Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama and Stephen Lewis. People who make a difference, people who are in a very difficult situation and manage their way out of it. I read a lot of bios and I love stories of people who overcome challenges and succeed, that I find inspiring.
CV: Any resources/books on leadership you would recommend?
AH: I like John Kotter, who has written a number of books, particularly, Leading Change. I've been preoccupied for a number of years on organizational change in leadership and I find him to be a very thoughtful writer. He has an eight-step process that you go through and I've used it in a very informal way.
If one subscribes to the Harvard Business Review, there are often articles on leadership or organizational change. I find them very innovative and the writers are usually cutting edge and very thoughtful on a variety of topics related to organizational change and leadership.
And I recently read a book by Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management, called the Opposable Mind. He interviewed a number of leaders who take diametrically opposed problems or challenges and find a way to take the best of both of them instead of choosing a solution that will partially deal with those two entities. It's just a different way of looking at leadership.
Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance journalist, producer and communications consultant living in Toronto. She is also president of Elle Communications and can be reached at: info@ellecommunications.ca.
Next week:
The evolution of venture philanthropy
Click here to learn more about
upcoming cover stories.
