Building Community Within Our Community
March 4, 2026
Written by Bonnie Williams, CEO
Over the past year we’ve chosen to invest most of our training budget into one whole organisational development programme, with Shape My Future, rather than developing people in isolation. We wanted something that would bring us closer together as an organisation. As well as learning new skills this is allowing us to strengthen relationships across teams and create a shared approach to how we want to work, as well as developing a consistent leadership style.
We’re a dispersed organisation, with colleagues working across different countries, projects and partnerships, and many of us working remotely for large parts of the week. That flexibility enables us to be close to the communities we serve, but it also means that much of our interaction is online, which as we know doesn’t lend itself to genuine connection. So for us, developing connection needs to be intentional.
For me, that decision comes from two places. Firstly, focusing on wellbeing is the right thing to do. If I expect colleagues to give their energy, compassion and creativity to tackling homelessness, then I’ve got a responsibility to support their wellbeing and growth in return. Secondly, it makes practical sense- research shows that people who feel a strong sense of belonging at work are significantly more engaged and more likely to contribute fully. Given that our strap line is ‘From Homelessness to Belonging’ we’ve got to practice what we preach! Research has shown that belonging can increase performance by more than 50 percent and reduce turnover risk by half. I often refer to research statistics when talking about this work because I know that wellbeing can be seen as indulgent, especially in the charity sector, with tight budgets and limited unrestricted funding, but there’s so much research out there that shows that focusing on wellbeing is a strategically important approach.
In a remote organisation, with colleagues working in emotionally challenging roles, coupled with the challenges of modern working life, it’s so important to balance demand with wellbeing. The constant ping of emails, Teams notifications and back to back online meetings can create a frantic pace that squeezes out time for reflection and reduces conversations to transactions. So if we don’t intentionally create belonging, community and the culture we want, we’ll end up with one that emerges naturally from the pressure.
A core part of this programme has been developing a coaching style of leadership, which means shifting away from defaulting to directing or fixing and instead focusing on developing people over the long term. Over time this builds confidence and trust and creates psychological safety. Research into high performing teams consistently shows that psychological safety is one of the strongest predictors of effectiveness.
Colleagues always say they want more time together and particularly time with others from across the organisation. So as part of the development programme we’ve established Action Learning Groups to reflect this feedback and increase opportunities for internal problem solving through a coaching approach. But the impact goes beyond solving the immediate issue; it reduces isolation, strengthens cross organisational relationships and builds confidence.
Although a coaching approach takes more time, it allows space for strategic thinking, something that the pace of modern day work doesn’t often allow for. There’s rarely walking between meetings from one location to another, or debrief chats around the office kettle, let alone the weekly drinks after work which enabled camaraderie and space for reflection. So building this type of time in is already helping us to have a better balance from fast paced online meetings and back to back tasks to having time with colleagues where we can have the space and support that’s needed for problem solving, forward planning and strategic thinking.
We’re capturing the impact of the programme as it develops and I hope in time to be able to demonstrate the outcomes for colleagues, their teams, the organisation and everyone we work with. Here’s hoping!
