Sustaining and Growing a Network for Good

After five years as an independent management consultant, I’m fully at peace working on my own. I also recognise the value of interacting with like-minded colleagues and it was with this in mind that I applied to become a member of Consultants for Good (CfG) earlier this year. CfG is a light touch network of consultants working with not-for-profits. I joined because I was craving a little fellowship, and I wanted to be more intentional about my own learning and development.

I had heard from colleagues at B3sixty about CfG and I was curious. The CfG 2025 Conference was being held in York, and this was a good way of getting to know more about the network and meet other like-minded consultants. As someone who has to travel down to London regularly, the choice of York suited me well. It also went down well with colleagues from Scotland – where there is a thriving CfG community.

About 30 of us gathered at Bedern Hall under the banner “Dare to be Different.” Everyone had their own interpretation of what that meant. For me it spoke to the specificity of working in the third sector – the challenges our clients face, the limited room they have for manoeuvre and how we as resource people can provide the best possible service for them.

Patrick Andrews (The Barefoot Lawyer) started the day with thoughts on the challenges and transformations society is facing, highlighting changing needs, the climate crisis, and political instability. He emphasised the shift in organisational responses from traditional command structures to more inclusive and agile approaches. We all acknowledged the difficulties for a diverse third sector seeking to address emerging needs while the state’s limitations are ever more apparent.

As a group, we reflected on the paradox of the charity sector – on the one hand responding to new societal challenges while simultaneously struggling to innovate and embrace change. We recognised the fundamental challenge of keeping the show on the road but also understood that charities are complex systems that combine trustees, executives, donors, volunteers and members, beneficiaries or users. When these interact to good effect – magic happens but when it doesn’t, the braking effect limits capacity and impedes systems.

As consultants, we understood that clients often entrust us with privileged access that makes us agents of change. We have a responsibility to be reflexive, collaborative and encourage creativity and innovation. We also have to understand our clients' needs and start from there as we walk with them.

The conference provided an opportunity to consider CfG’s 2023 -2025 strategy and what new might be needed. The strategy is the network’s first as a Community Interest Company and it led CfG out of COVID with stronger governance and member engagement. It emphasises learning while promoting and growing the network. The membership has increased, and the events and networking programme has expanded, thanks in part to an administrative function.

Given the unpredictable context, there is some debate about whether and how the network should engage on behalf of members and clients as a collective. It was also recognised that growth has brought welcome diversity – which in turn has brought new challenges in meeting the needs of all while strengthening the brand – all on a largely voluntary basis.

We finished the day with a session led by Jannine Barron, who encouraged us to view our own practice as consultants, through an ecological frame. This highlighted the need for us to empathise, draw on intuition and connect with others to grow our own businesses. It was my introduction to biomimicry, and it certainly planted a seed. I came away happy that I had joined CfG. The day had delivered conversations with people covering similar terrain as well as a sense of connection I was looking for. It hadn’t occurred to me that composting and learning and development were essentially the same thing but now I know.