Chief of Staff
Scouts have never been so important in helping young people prepare for the future, developing the skills they need to succeed in a changing world. Each week almost half a million young people enjoy fun, friendship and outdoor adventure as part of the Scouts. They develop a sense of optimism and strong values as well as the leadership and teamworking skills that are more valuable today than ever.
We were looking for the Scouts’ very first Chief of Staff for the Operations and Transformation directorate which numbers around 150 members of the team. The directorate supports Scouts locally with everything from recruiting adult volunteers to managing safeguarding concerns and from delivering tools and resources to enable the local delivery of a really engaging and impactful programme for young people, to dealing with complaints to get the best resolution possible.
The role was a highly strategic and facilitative one, and pivotal to monitoring and reporting on a range of strategic and operational activities ensuring that the conditions for success are created and maintained in pursuit of delivering the organisation’s objectives.
We sought candidates with focus and attention to detail, with the ability to think laterally and on their feet while showing empathy, and to lead by example, inspiring their team and managing performance effectively. As part of our search we mapped out national youth charities of comparable scale and complexity, and reached out to our extensive network of candidates with relevant strategic experience as well carrying out a fresh search for candidates with comparable experience but from different sectors. Because of the possibility to work flexibly from remote locations, we were able to carry out a truly inclusive search across the country, which enabled us to present a rich and diverse longlist.
Appointed to the role was Philippa Ward, who had been the Head of Organisational Development at FareShare for over three years where she had been responsible for change management, culture and internal excellence, taking the charity operations through the pandemic and supporting huge growth of frontline services. With previous experiences as Interim COO at the Winch and Director at Global Action Plant, Philippa brought experience of leading on change internally and cross-organisationally, in fast changing and complex environments.
Philippa is also a trustee of the Orchard Project where she is sitting on their Finance Committee, and is professional life coach, which means she understands how to build trust within a team, bring authentic presence, and to listen and reflect back what’s important to people.