Key competencies
Below are the qualities an ideal CEO would have. We recognise that many excellent candidates will not have all of them – so if you have most, we encourage you to apply. The first six are particularly important. We anticipate that shortlisted candidates will have a minimum of five years of demonstrable achievement in CEO or senior management roles.
- An inspiring leader with a track record of motivating teams to achieve transformational outcomes, who will infuse the organisation with a fiery belief in the urgent importance of its mission and a soaring ambition to bring about social change on a massive scale.
- A collaborative, self-aware leader who acts on the values of participation, brings a deep kindness and empathy to their working relationships, is aware of power dynamics and enables people to be heard, valued and involved.
- A strategic thinker with a profound commitment to social justice who has the courage and sure-footedness to conceive and develop bold new routes for catalysing change, especially multi-sector coalition-building.
- A superb networker able to build influence at the highest levels and become a fluent and credible champion for the practice of public participation, either by bringing pre-existing expertise, or by having the ability to build their knowledge regarding this brief.
- An effective fundraiser, able to instigate and develop new funding relationships with statutory, charitable, individual and/or corporate donors, and coach others to fundraise.
- A strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, both internally and for outward-facing activity.
- A genuine listener who believes in collective wisdom and is able to co-create, receive feedback and learn from people both within the organisation and externally, at every level from neighbourhoods to national institutions.
- An incisive analyst who is experienced in navigating rapidly changing political and technological contexts, able to utilise the opportunities in such change as well as mitigate the threats.
- A good facilitator and decision maker able to lead participatory discussions about future organisational priorities which crystallise these into simple, committing conclusions about what to preserve/change/grow/cease, and what ideas to develop.
- An experienced manager of staff teams, boards and organisational processes, able to build a cohesive organisation by nurturing warm professional relationships and knowing both when to offer help and when to ask for it, and by having good judgement about when to devolve leadership and when to lead from the front.
- Strong financial management experience, including planning, budgeting and monitoring.
- A familiarity with capturing and analysing data to demonstrate and grow impact.