'Charities and businesses need to work more effectively together'
The Growth Project is a personal development program that brings together charity and business leaders for shared learning and progression. During each nine-month course, participants exchange knowledge and ideas, learn how to run more effective organisations and develop their leadership skills.
In 2021, our CEO Taban had the opportunity to take part in The Growth Project, and in what has since blossomed into an incredible partnership between two likeminded organisations, she was paired with a leader from Clarksons shipping company.
Here, we chat to one of The Growth Project’s UK founders, Paul Freedman, about the idea behind the initiative – and why he enjoyed working with Taban and the Lotus Flower…
So Paul, what’s the ethos of The Growth Project?
“We're basically on a mission to blur the line in leadership between the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Our hope is that leaders from charities and businesses will learn how to work more effectively together to solve the problems that need fixing in the world. Governments haven't got any money, so we believe progress will only come from businesses engaging more with charities. But it's a two-way street, and charities need to get out of the mindset of turning up with a begging bowl, and think about what value they can offer businesses.”
Are you seeing more appetite from businesses to ‘do good’ in this way?
“Definitely. Thanks to Gen Z, businesses are incredibly interested in purpose and not just doing good for the sake of it. There's a very happy collision between the two worlds, and we sit in the middle trying to encourage that.
What does the program actually involve?
“The cohort each year is 24 leaders – made up of 12 charities and 12 businesses. They come together eight times in nine months for all-day workshops, and they really go on a journey together. We encourage the two leaders to really get to know each other and build a strong connection. But it's not a mentoring relationship, as that would imply there's an imbalance. People call it an emotional MBA, because it's about relationships and interaction. We get very personal, very quickly, and that really brings the group together early on.”
Co-founders of The Growth Project UK – Paul Freedman and Nicole Sorrell
You first started out in 2020, just as the pandemic was hitting…
“Yes, we had our very first in-person session the week before the first lockdown in March 2020. Everything then had to go online for three years. But the next cohort will be back to face-to-face sessions, which will be great.”
“When Taban speaks, you have to listen.”
Our Founder Taban took part in the project in 2021. What did you make of her?
“She was having a lot of health problems at the time, but she still joined the sessions from her hospital bed. When Taban speaks, you have to listen, and she inspired a lot of people that year. She was paired with Clarksons, and she and her partner Jemima really hit it off. The program is about the ripples that happen afterwards as much as anything else, and this has been an incredible example of that. When Clarksons finished setting up its charitable Foundation, the Lotus Flower was in the perfect place to receive funding. It’s a beautiful example of blurring those lines.”
What are your plans for the project in future?
“Our long-term goal is pretty ambitious, and we want to have 1,000 leaders a year on the program. We're at 24 at the moment, so that’s quite a big leap. But we believe we've got a scalable program, and there are lots of companies who could say, ‘Here are 12 leaders. Find a charity for us,’ and then we’d run the program for them in-house. Our ambition is to be the biggest alumni community for not-for-profits and businesses.”
Do businesses always sign up for the right reason?
“Thankfully there are a lot of companies who genuinely want to do this, but we do have to be wary of greenwashing. We're not interested in that. On the other hand, some companies want to do it because they recognise it's good for their business – and I think that's OK.”
There are clear benefits for charities taking part, but what do the business leaders get from it?
“It makes companies more attractive from a recruitment and retention point of view, and the leaders also become better leaders. They come out as more holistic, more value-based, and with more empathy and understanding of the world. It makes complete sense to do it, because businesses are part of a society, and a bigger world. In fact, the business leaders actually get more out of it than the charity leaders – we hear that time and time again. It’s transformational for them.”
Are there any criteria for signing up?
“Not many, but you do have to be open to learning. That's the most important thing. And you have to be prepared to commit your time. It also helps to be open and vulnerable, but that's not a prerequisite. We’ve seen tremendous results in three years, and people speak very highly of the program, because it really is unique. We love seeing what people go on and achieve in the world after the experience they have with us, and it fills my heart with joy.”