Attributes You Need to Lead Effectively in the Evolving Humanitarian and Development Sectors
The humanitarian and development sectors are changing and we as leaders need to understand how our roles are changing in order to make the most impact.
In this episode, we dive into the essential strategies leaders need to consider for enhancing equity, resilience, and accountability in global development organizations. With insights from Christine Sow, CEO of Humentum, listeners will learn practical approaches to overcoming bureaucratic bottlenecks and fostering a healthy organizational ecosystem. This discussion is particularly relevant for those struggling with operational inefficiencies and seeking to become better leaders for their teams.
In this episode you will:
- Gain actionable strategies for building an agile and resilient organization that can swiftly adapt to external and internal shocks without compromising core values.
- Learn how to cultivate a values-driven organizational culture, where principles guide everyday decisions and interactions.
- Discover effective ways to shift power dynamics within your organization, empowering teams and promoting equity at every level.
Tune in now to unlock the secrets of operational excellence and transformative leadership in the humanitarian and development sectors— and start revolutionizing your organization today!
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Full Transcript:
Torrey: On today's episode, learn practical insights on the changes happening in the humanitarian and development sectors and how you as a leader can adapt to those changes.
Hello, my aid worker friend, today I am sharing an interview with Humentum CEO, Christine
Sow. I would say that Humentum as an organization is a thought leader in the evolution of the humanitarian and development sectors. And today's episode, you will learn number one, the biggest challenge leaders face to localize and diversify the humanitarian and development sectors, number two, a best practice you as a leader can take when shifting power to your team,
and number three, the attributes needed to become the modern humanitarian and development leader.
Welcome, Christine Sow to the podcast, and can you introduce yourself and tell us what brought you to your current role?
Christine: Sure so, very happy to be here today, and I'm Christine Sow, I'm the CEO of Humentum, and I think, in talking about how I got here today, it's important to say that I actually started out my professional life as an epidemiologist working in HIV surveillance and HIV and AIDS programming in the early 90s, and have spent about 25 years doing global health work.
And so started out from a very technical perspective, and then got into program management and Country office management and regional project management, and then went to work for a couple of different funders, so UNICEF and USAID and worked very closely also with the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and much of that in West Africa.
I lived in Mali and a couple of years in Cote d'Ivoire for about 14 years total. And so really come at it from a very applied, practical approach. And people say, well, you know, how does epidemiology get you to what you're doing at Humentum today? And I will say Humentum, you know, we are very much all about operating models and the how of how global development organizations work.
And it's really because I spent years and years really wanting to deliver on mission and feeling passionate about it and running into bureaucracy that didn't work or, rules and regulations that didn't make any sense or, things that I knew my organization needed to be able to deliver on mission
and we just didn't have in terms of training or the right roles and that sort of thing. And so being at Humentum, like I wake up happy every day because I know that we are helping other organizations, whether they're local organizations, local NGOs or civil society organizations. Whether they're international, non governmental organizations or funders, we are really, like, our reason to exist is to help organizations work better together and to really overcome the bottlenecks and inconsistencies that keep them from delivering on mission.
So that's why I'm here today, and that's what I'm excited about.
Torrey: Wow, it sounds like you've had the full experience in terms of your career trajectory, and I bet you have some really good stories too.
Christine: Yes, and my motto is I am never bored and I try to live up to that.
Torrey: That's a great motto to have and it sounds like given the variety of the work that Humentum covers, the scope that you probably really are never bored but that's so wonderful to hear because the practical side is definitely something that I know people listening to this podcast really appreciate.
So I'm glad and hopefully we can get into some of that today. So yeah, if you can explain a little bit more about the work Humentum is specifically doing around DEI localization and especially in relation to your recent report which is called Cultivating a Healthy Global Development Ecosystem. So yeah, maybe you could just tell us a little bit about that.
What are some of the key takeaways for you?
Christine: Sure. So, Humentum really starts by recognizing that there are all sorts of really interesting, important conversations going on that are quite conceptual, big thinking, you know, the recognition that we need to change the way that global development works, that it's really built on the foundation of a very colonial approach that it has traditionally been a very kind of top down funding flow where ideas and strategy is set in
global North global minority settings and then imposed on those who are actually doing the work closest to the populations. And so we very much see that as a starting point. Where we work is what I would call the next level down, which is that having those big ideas is one thing but when folks start trying to put those into action when they try to operationalize them, they get stuck because it's one thing to have a great idea and it's another thing to actually try and make it work.
And so we work at the operating model level of things. And so we work with individual organizations and we help them work on their own operating models. And we also work at the ecosystem level. But again, very much from the operation side of things. So what are the practicalities about how funding flows?
Do we have the right partnerships and relationships in place? Do we have the right parameters and rules and tools and resources supporting all of that for it to work and all of this. We are really trying to make the sector, and the organization's working within the sector, to help them become more equitable, resilient and accountable.
And our belief is that by working on the how and really working towards equity, resilience and accountability that is going to help with shifting power. It's going to help move the work actually much closer to where the issues are that are being addressed. And all of it, you know, should should work better
and just from a very practical standpoint, taking out those bottlenecks also will just help organizations be more effective and efficient.
Torrey: That's great. And I will put a link to this report for those who'd like to look it over. I really like how it's a combination of graphics and it's something that you can scan through.
It's not super heavy duty report like so that's very nice. But I'm also curious for you what was one of the most surprising outcomes of this report?
Christine: Oh, gosh. I mean, I think it's, it's a positive surprise, which is that at this point, I think that I can go to just about any setting where people working in the sector are coming together. And if we ask the right questions, we're going to hear a really common set of pain points and priorities and agreement about what what they think should be happening and agreement in how they are having similar
roadblocks to being able to actually deliver what they think should be happening. And so, you know, we, we don't really hear, "Oh, here's this new thing that nobody's thought about" that is a big pain point that just nobody was talking about. In fact, whether we're talking to INGOs or civil society organizations or funders, they know what the pain points are.
Now they see them from different perspectives because they're all coming at them from their own positioning, but there's much more agreement in what isn't working, then I think there is disagreement. The challenge is then taking that sweet spot where we work is saying, Okay, we have agreement that these things aren't working.
How do we actually move towards transformation, that allow them to work? And I think the, the sectoral challenge that we have is those solutions can't be generated or applied just for one stakeholder. We have to recognize how they are interrelated and interdependent and codependent frequently, and have complex conversations and complex analysis, root, root cause analysis that shows how different parts of the, of the structure are hampering movement towards resolution of those obstacles.
Lots of things in common challenge of having a complex conversations, complex root cause analysis, so that we can come up with solutions that we can all be applying from our own positioning.
Torrey: Got it. And, and to say, in terms of the positioning of, let's say, leaders, like the supervisors, the leaders listening to this, what are some trends that you're observing amongst INGOs or UN as they seek to implement DEI initiatives and localization and some of these other initiatives that you're speaking of?
Christine: I think the biggest challenge for leaders is letting go of their current position. I mean, leaders, you know, have frequently, come up in the ranks, moved into these leadership positions in a more or less linear fashion. There's the way that this is the way things are done. This is the way things have always been done.
And I think what we're really trying to say is Yes, that's true. But now just take a step back and open up and work from a position of listening, work from position of absorbing these insights that we're able to bring forward because we talked to thousands and thousands of people about this. And It is letting go of power.
It's letting go of control to some extent to actually say, "Wow, okay, I'm in this leadership position because I know how to wield power and I've been successful in imposing control and, you know, having the right ideas and the right answers and now let me let go a little bit. I know things need to change.
Let me listen and let me be informed by these insights and by these very practical things that we're learning and then see how I can build that into my own leadership style and my own leadership journey and the leadership of how I lead my organization."
Torrey: That's so interesting because I work a lot with leaders in particular, teaching them how to use coaching as a way of leading, which is empowering those around you , to include their voices, to do things their own way.
So encouraging leaders to essentially take that step you're talking about. And, I find a few challenges with that. And one of them, like you're saying is kind of this perspective that the leader has a certain role. Like the leader needs to know all the answers. Also culturally in some places, the leader's role has been, even they see that their team looks at them for answers.
So it is like kind of trying to change that. mindset of how the role of the leader is changing and how can we encourage others to like you're saying, yeah, empower those around us and, seek solutions and realize that if we're going to be part of this change, this is going to require a mindset shift in terms of our own positions and, and way forward.
I don't know if you have any comments or thoughts on that?
Christine: Well, I do. I mean, I think that it is, I think it's so important for a leader to set the tone and to, you know, have maybe a few principles, a few ideas that, you are always going to be absolutely consistent on these things. But the leader doesn't have to be doing all the stuff.
And so it's Again, it's letting go. It's saying, okay, I'm going to set the tone. I'm going to set the vision. I'm going to call time out when I think that we're deviating from the mission or the vision. I would say in some ways like CEOs and leaders are uniquely poorly placed to actually be saying how the stuff needs to get done because we are removed from that we are level removed we don't see all of how things are working and and have have the insight into the details and the nuance and the dynamics of the day to day.
It's really setting the tone and setting the principles and saying this is important and I, I really actually should have started that with you're setting the values. You have values and you stick to the values and you are the role model for the values and sometimes that's really difficult. But you need to be, you are the person that people are looking at for the values.
You don't need to be the person that people are looking at for the "how to" of getting all those different pieces of the puzzle done.
Torrey: That's so true. Yeah. And I always give the examples of things like these, these leaders that a lot of people look up to and even in the humanitarian or development sector, like let's say a Nelson Mandela or somebody like that, who surround themselves
with the right people who know the answers rather than having the answers themselves. So yeah, I love that, that you, you added that. So what do you think are some of the you know, you're, you mentioned a few things, but what are maybe some of the other attributes that, let's say this modern humanitarian leader, that's, that's the way that I call this particular leadership,
is in line with, this healthy ecosystem as you speak of in your report?
Christine: , I just want to call out to start one of our core values at Humentum, which is we walk the talk. And that's really important for me because at Humentum, we are, you know, our mission is to work with other organizations to help them be more equitable, resilient, and accountable and really have strong operating systems, operating models, but... for me, that also means at Humentum, we have to be doing the things that we preach.
We have to be asking those same, if we're asking tough questions to external partners, we have to be asking those same tough questions internally. And we work really deliberately on that at Humentum. And it's not always easy. And I will say sometimes as a leader, I am faced with, a conundrum of, "wow, I have to walk the talk,
and frankly, it would just be easier not to have to completely walk the talk" but I do because that's our value and that's how we work. And so I have to think through what does that mean and I have to interrogate myself and have conversations with others about, all right, if we're going to walk the talk, what, how far does this go?
What makes the most sense? And again, as the leader, I have the final word, but I would never just make that decision by what I woke up this morning thinking was the right decision. I would do that on the basis of having conversations and consultation. And again, that's something that we've learned how to do much better over the last five years, I'd say, and we've had some things that don't work very well,
and have recognized that. And one of our equity principles at Humentum is to be humble and own your mistakes. And I think again, as a leader and to your question about what does it mean to be a leader in the humanitarian space, I think it is that balance between, um, vulnerability
and accountability and transparency and how you can recognize the challenges that you're dealing with and share that to the appropriate extent with those with whom you're working in your organization and maybe externally as well. And then you know, being transparent about the decisions that have been made, why they've been made, what your expectations are, and being accountable.
Well, this worked and this didn't, and this is what we've learned from it. And that I think is a really important piece, is you learn from everything you're doing, whether it's positive or it has a negative outcome. You have to learn from it, and you have to take that forward and do better the next time.
Torrey: That's, that's so great. And it's so wonderful to hear you as a leader setting an example to others, and I do think values are so underrated in terms of how powerful they can be, if you actually operationalize them, which it sounds like that's what you're doing, is like walking your talk.
And I don't know how many times, and maybe you've seen this too, Christine, in your career, where we tell the community to do something, like to eat better, and then we turn around in our nutrition meeting and eat doughnuts or something like that.
Christine: Well, Yeah, and I would say, I mean, we, again, we have been very deliberate at Humentum thinking about we consider ourselves to be a values led and values driven organization, what does that mean?
How do you get beyond having the list of values on a poster in the break room to actually having the values be what drives your organization? , I can tell you at Humentum, we now have a performance system for working with with our team, where the performance things that we check in on are our values.
How do we feel we're doing in the values? What's working? What's not? Is there something that you're struggling with? We have Quarterly learning around each value. And so, for example, one of our values is we ask the tough questions and we identified that of our five values that was the one that people had the hardest time with.
They're like not quite sure what this means. How do I actually live this? And so we've put together a whole learning track around that, around asking tough questions. We have internal discussions, we talk about it in all staff meetings and so that, you know, we, we try to keep all of the five values, things that we're constantly referring to and thinking about and using as reference points.
And I'll just add you know, when we recruit, we have screening interviews, like I think all organizations do, with the first tranche of possible candidates, and in that screening interview, we screen them on values. These are our values. What does this mean to you? How do you think you align with our core values?
We don't get into, " Oh, you had this job. And what did you learn from that?" We're saying, like, let's start with values as our starting point in our relationship. And we've really seen the payoff in employee satisfaction, we have 97 percent employee satisfaction for two 6 month periods running because I think people say, yeah, I'm in the right place.
And one of our values is we love what we do and we try and encourage that. And people do that. I do love working at Humentum, and I do, too.
Torrey: That's so wonderful. And I mean, I get that impression, too, just from the people that I've interacted with at Humentum, that there's this joy of being there. And, and it's so interesting to me how especially in the humanitarian and development sectors, where values are so important, they really should be the core of what we're doing.
And often times Organizations overlook hiring for values and then you end up with people who are clashing with, for example the values of a religious organization or something like that, which might come up on a donor visit and end up damaging the reputation of the organization. So it's just so interesting and that's wonderful to hear that you all take that so seriously.
What advice might you have to leaders or supervisors working for INGOs to be in line with where the humanitarian sector is headed?
Christine: Well, I think I would start with saying I don't think we know where the humanitarian sector is headed. I think that right now is a really uniquely just tumultuous moment in how the world is working.
And I think there are just so many questions on so many levels about, you know, what we can expect in the near future and certainly the farther future with the climate crisis. And so I think for us, what we really look at is how can organizations be agile? How do we build agile thinking and agile ways of working?
But again, I think that it's one thing to be an agile organization,
Torrey: Sorry, can you define
what agile means? Because I think it's used a lot, but people don't always understand that term. Yeah.
Christine: I think that's a great question. I think that agile and resilience are used in similar ways. For me, they mean similar, very related things, which is being prepared to experience external shocks.
Or internal shocks that you didn't necessarily see coming and being able to adjust your way of working without giving up your values and without giving up on your mission, but saying like, Oh, Swedish Sida has decided to stop funding INGOs what does that mean? I mean, that was a huge external shock just recently.
Those organizations need to adjust to that and how do you adjust in a constructive positive way, which may mean letting go coming back to this notion of letting go may mean letting go of some of the things that you've been really attached to and deciding what are the most important things of what you're working on and how do you keep them going forward?
And so I think to be, I don't know, Buddhist about, I mean, it's like letting go of the ego in this. It's saying, you know, we have to both be clear on our values, on our mission and what we're trying to get done. And then thinking about practically speaking, how are we getting it done? And how do we adjust if we have an external shock that comes up that we weren't expecting?
And so, you know, when we think about the future state of humanitarian right now, just there are so many huge fires burning out there and such a stretch to support all of it. And, again, I think we need to have new ways of working, new ways of partnering that moves towards acknowledging what each what each of us brings to the table and then working in a paradigm where, you know, we have quote on quote shifted power. It's not what the funder sitting in New York says it's let's all come to the table and see what the right answer is for the situation that we're trying to address and acknowledging that all the different actors need to be heard and need to be considered and respected in what they're contributing to it.
And I don't think we're there yet.
Torrey: Yeah, it's definitely a journey. But so great your contribution toward this vision. And so yeah on a lighter note, before we start to wrap up, I know you, like you mentioned, you have this really interesting career trajectory. So what is one of the craziest what was one of your most or most memorable moments that you've had as a leader in humanitarian development?
And what did you learn from it?
Christine: Oh my goodness. Yeah, they're just, I've had so many amazing experiences and oh, here's one. Well, this is something that happened to me last week. But I think it qualifies. Last week I was at a friend's party. And I had just flown in and I was tired and I came in and people were sitting around the table eating lunch and I sat down and I got introduced to the person I was sitting next to and I was like, oh, hi, da da da.
And we're having lunch and, and then I realized that this person is just an icon in my professional space, and I'm just sitting there having lunch with the person and I'm like this is so wonderful because we're sitting here just relating as human beings, and I, you know, 10 or 15 years ago would have been really worried.
Oh, what am I saying? Am I saying the right thing? How do I position myself to sound good? What question that I can ask this person? And in the end, We just had lunch together and it was lovely and I didn't feel any of that, pressure to perform or, and we could just be there as human beings.
And I think maybe when we think about shifting power, which is a big concept, it's really about how do we just show up at the same lunch table as human beings who recognize each other as equals and we just share a space together, whether that space is eating lunch or whether that space is trying to solve a big thorny problem.
We are coming to it as equal human beings. And so I think that's where I end up with that. Probably age or experience has a little bit to get me there, but yeah, that, that's what I would, that's what I would share.
Torrey: That's wonderful. I wonder if your jet lag had anything to do with it, too.
Christine: Possibly, possibly, but we were in a lovely setting and we had a lovely lunch, so it's all good.
Torrey: That's good, that's good. So yeah, anything else you'd like to share before we wrap up?
Christine: I just think, you know, it's important for us to not be stopped by saying, by the idea that, you know, Oh, our organization is too big to be values led, or of course we're going to have toxic situations and toxic people within our, organization because everybody has that.
And I think that we need to start with the idea of "what is the world we want to have and how do we get there"? And again, walking the talk, it's not always easy. You make mistakes. Some things work, some things don't. But, I think by staying true to the values and staying true to the vision, that becomes the reference point and it makes it easier to make some hard decisions when you're saying like, does this really work or not? And if it doesn't, it's like, okay, that's okay because we know where we're trying to go. And so let's stick with the things that we think are aligned with that. And so again, it's, it's coming back to this notion of letting go.
Torrey: That's beautiful. Yeah. So how can someone learn more about you and Humentum?
Christine: Well, we've got a website and we're going to have a new website soon, which is exciting. But I would say start with reading our reports. If you go to our website, you can see how to get in touch. I do a variety of, you know, I've done other podcast interviews if you're more interested in what I have to say.
But, I would just say everybody I work with is amazing. And so, you know, reach out to them. And what you will always find with Humentum and what we always strive for is again, taking those big ideas and then just trying to be brutally practical about how do we move this forward so that it actually, we see the change that we want to have.
And we've got lots of ways to engage. We've got training courses that people can sign up for, but also we have a lot of convenings and webinars and things. So please take part.
Torrey: All right, and I'll definitely include those links in the show notes so people can find them there and it was such a pleasure to speak with you.
I just think that just based on our short conversation that you just seem like an amazing leader and Humentum is really fortunate to have you.
Christine: Thank you. I feel very, very fortunate to be here. So it's easy to lead in a place that you love and a mission you believe in.
Torrey: All right. So there's so much to take away here, but in summary, here are some of the points that Christine mentioned.
Number one, the biggest challenge that you will face as a leader is in your changing role, that your role is no longer to have all the answers. Number two, one of the best practices that you can take to become a modern humanitarian and development leader is to empower your team and not tell them what to do.
And number three, the attributes of the modern humanitarian and development leader according to Christine, include walking your talk -that is living and hiring by your values of your organization and your own values, I would add as well. And also balancing between vulnerability and accountability, for example, by making transparent decisions as much as you can.
And also, being an agile leader, and she defined agile as being resilient while also accommodating change. So being able to live into our values while also adapting to our constantly changing environment. So how might these takeaways influence the way you see yourself as a leader and how would you like to evolve?
For more information on Humentum and Christine, you can find links to the latest reports in the show notes. Until next week, keep broadening your impact. Bye for now.