In this blog, Hazel, who is doing a research project with Spectra, writes about:
- What she’s found out about what leadership looks like for learning disabled and neurodivergent people
- The skills people often want from a “Boss”
- Good examples of thinking about leadership in different ways
- What Spectra has done and what we want to try next
Words by Hazel Sealeaf
Featured image by Kate Green
The Boss. It makes me picture corny inspirational posters from the 2010s, or maybe fleets of suits marching into The Apprentice season 427. But it’s a word I’m warming to. For those of us interested in radical leadership and governance (and Spectra certainly is – Read up on our Geeking Out On Governance project, if you haven’t!), terms can be quite gummy, elastic things that we shy away from. We like nuance, we like relationships and networks of roles, and we like finding new words to describe things without old baggage.
But, Spectra also works with learning disabled and neurodivergent (LDND) folks, so clarity and brevity are also needed. Everyone involved needs to know what the aims of the work are and what’s expected of them.
Spectra wants to be a company that’s run for, with and by learning disabled and neurodivergent (LDND) people. That includes the person, or people, at the very top. To imagine this together, we need to have conversations about the job of running a company. Not just the skills and qualities of being a good leader, but the daily tasks and responsibilities of being an artistic director, or CEO, or executive director.
In other words – what it takes to be a boss.
In the latest round of research, I’ve been learning about what it takes to become the boss of an arts organisation, and what needs to happen for a person with a learning disability to fill that top position.
I’ve learned the sector has become pretty good at nurturing leaders with learning disabilities. Lots of companies run their projects in ways that develop leadership skills and qualities – like confidence, active listening, supporting others, and creative thinking. Leadership courses are pretty great at this too, and at giving some technical knowledge in things like facilitation, directing, marketing, coaching and leadership styles.
There’s also lots of really important work happening to re-imagine what leadership means and should look like. Ideas like relational leadership and co-leadership challenge the tradition of “the boss” – one person with power and control, who needs relentless stamina, resources and skills to keep the ship afloat. In this way of thinking, an organisation led by people with learning disabilities doesn’t need just one boss. The boss can be, and maybe needs to be, a group of people with different strengths, but all with the confidence to speak up and take charge in a way that’s right for them, and to step back when that’s right for them too. Which sounds like a pretty fantastic goal.
Maybe because of this, the sector has spent less time focusing on giving people with learning disabilities the technical skills they need to be a boss right now. We think it’s possible to do both. We think we can challenge the idea of one person at the top, while still training people in the skills they need to get closer to it.
As part of this research, I looked at current job descriptions of top-level positions advertised on ArtsJobs right now. I wanted to understand what areas of responsibility the role actually involves. Although everyone used slightly different words and terms, there were 9 things almost every company wanted their boss to know how to do:
● Business planning
● Project planning
● Fundraising
● Looking after money
● Finding audiences
● Making a good team
● Working with partners
● Building a reputation
● Reporting
It’s a daunting list. Most leadership programmes help develop 2 or 3 of these skill areas at a time. And that makes sense, too, because most people take a really long time to get all the skills they need to be a boss. But if a new boss is the goal, we need to think long-term about how we develop all, or most, of these areas.
We have a few hints! Our research last year – “Where are the Managers?” – gave lots of insight into what LDND people need to thrive at work, and lots of the same things will apply during a traineeship. And the ongoing work in Geeking Out On Governance is helping lay the groundwork. Having accessible policies and meetings are really essential skills that we’re going to need to apply to things like business plans and funding applications with our potential future-bosses.
The rest of it, though, we’re still figuring out. I’ve spoken to people with learning disabilities who’ve done leadership training about what they learned and how it went. I talked with organisations about how they built their curriculum, and how they changed and adapted it to meet different needs. And soon, Spectra will start to co-design a leadership role within the team for a learning disabled manager, alongside their Steering Group.
What do you think it might look like?
What do you think it takes to be a boss?
Access to Work
One of the biggest hurdles to think about is resources. In the short term, running projects – let alone a company – in an accessible way is more expensive. If your model involves a paid support worker, that’s potentially two sets of paychecks, equipment, training and induction, insurance and other things that need paying for. Same again if your boss has a co-leader or job-share partner.
This is a bit scary. Like for most of the disability arts sector, the Access to Work scheme has been integral to this work. Every single LDND leader I’ve interviewed uses Access to Work to make their job more accessible. It’s funded all sorts of things, from new equipment to interpreters, job coaches and support workers. It’s really hard to imagine a boss with a learning disability without Access to Work. Unfortunately, the future of the scheme looks very uncertain. I’d encourage anyone who cares about equity and leadership in the arts to check out the work of the Access to Work Collective and Decode, who are fighting to keep the scheme running.