Creating space for leaders to emerge

BEAM’s MSD leadership clinics sparked Swisscontact to invest in the future by developing internal clinics targeting emerging leaders.

Leadership is an action, not a position

There’s been an MSD mentorship structure in place to support skill-building and growth of staff for several years at Swisscontact. Many of its architects participated in the BEAM MSD leadership clinics in early 2023, where a group of 40+ senior MSD leaders from across the industry put their heads together to tackle tough and persistent issues related to leadership within MSD programmes. 

This prompted  senior leaders at Swisscontact to look into what it would take to do something similar within our own organisation.

Catalysing change

There were examples of staff, past and present, in all six of the pathways to MSD leadership described in Where do MSD leaders come from? - from the 'growth chamber' effects of the Katalyst project, to 'unexpected roots and shoots' of MRM leaders growing into project managers, to 'movers and shakers' and 'global nomads' who shift countries to take up team leader positions, and 'loyal stalwarts' who drive change across an entire organisation. 

Swisscontact was inspired by this wide variety of paths that leaders take to master MSD to then find roles that align with their ambition. Broader conversations helped us recognise that implementers need to do more to create strong MSD leaders by focusing on intentional support and career planning; and that new opportunities must be created for project staff to grow, push themselves, and work on MSD projects in a variety of contexts.

Leading from the front

Enter Swisscontact’s own 'MSD leadership clinics' which formed part of the training and mentoring offered to high performing project team members. 

We ran pilot internal clinics in 2023, facilitated by senior Swisscontact MSD leaders. We asked internal MSD champions and country directors to encourage up-and-coming leaders, showing potential in both MSD and leadership, to apply to participate. Applicants were interviewed to understand what challenges they faced to become leaders. They were then organised into four groups, based on themes of common interests:

• Strategic external communication and influence: navigating consortium and donor relationships
• Sharpening practical skills in systems thinking
• Influencing partners to change behaviour
• Building coherent strategies with a strong culture of learning

The groups met five times over three months - with support from the clinic facilitator - to dive into individual cases, share insights and good practices, and adapt their leadership approach.

Rising to the occasion
 

"The practical applications and real-life examples shared during the clinics inspired me to implement new strategies within my professional sphere." (clinic participant)

Swisscontact’s key metric of success was whether participants shifted their approach to the MSD and leadership challenges they faced in their day-to-day project work.

This included: managing consortium dynamics; shifting mentalities towards MSD in the workplace; letting go of underperforming partners; and managing the tension between spend rate and implementation.

Specific changes we looked out for included:

• Use of analysis tools: considering different factors for who to partner with
• Influencing partners: communicating project benefits to government partners, who in turn accredit programmes
• Adaptive learning: actively testing assumptions within results chains as a team exercise

Sitting in the driver’s seat

The internal clinics had a very different dynamic to the external BEAM clinics. 

For one, they focused mainly on developing people, and less on capturing knowledge. This meant facilitators were able to step into more proactive roles, sharing experience and connecting people to resources.

Second, the horizontal relationship-building within the same organisation proved useful for seeing patterns and trends in how people perceive MSD (and leadership). Sharing tactics and experiences was more efficient because it took less time to explain the organisational context. 

Finally, the importance of integrating leadership programmes with existing management and HR structures was reinforced. 

Passing the baton

A second round of  MSD leadership clinics is planned for 2024. Some of the participants from the first will be deployed as facilitators – an extra leadership growth opportunity for these individuals. 

In parallel, Swisscontact will track what happens to the first cohort to better understand: if and how their practices change and have an impact on project delivery; if and how what they learnt about leadership is noticed and recognised; how many participants change roles or seek promotion; and what the retention and redeployment rate is.

Producing leaders not followers

The industry certainly needs more competent MSD leaders, and this is one way that Swisscontact is investing in the future.  

Join Fouzia Nasreen, leadership clinic facilitator and long-standing Swisscontact leader and advisor, at the BEAM Exchange webinar on April 18th, 2024: Where do MSD leaders come from? Building the next generation