147. How to smash silos, with Joe Jenkins

Fundraising Bright Spots

One of the biggest sources of stress for people working in charities is conflict between teams. Many find that however committed they are, and however hard they work, the default structure and culture often hamper genuine cooperation and progress toward a common goal. Given how difficult this problem can be, Rob was thrilled to talk to Joe Jenkins, who has given more thought and energy to solving it than anyone he has interviewed. Joe shares what happened when he worked for Friends of the Earth over a decade ago, when the leadership team did certain things to reduce silo-thinking and nurture conditions for success. Joe explains it was this effort, especially in terms of structure, culture and a shared vision, that enabled the charity to later create the hugely successful and award-winning Bee Campaign. If you’d like ideas and encouragement for how to build a co-operative, empowered and effective culture, we hope this episode will help. Let us know what you think! And thank you for supporting our show, for instance by sharing it! We are both on Linked In, and on X / twitter we are @MrJoeJenkins and @woods_rob.