As part of the diverse leadership for movement program, we included personal development budgets for participants to use to support their leadership journey. This was advocated by our sounding board members who argued that global majority individuals working in community organisations are less likely to take breaks, rest and prioritise their own needs. We wanted to use this to encourage this group to pause and reflect by checking in on their own wellbeing.
The personal development budges were £400 each and could be spent on a range of activities. We acknowledged that all activities will be unique to everyone and are to be agreed with their mentor. For example, it could cover:
We introduced the personal development budgets at the first two peer support sessions and encouraged participants to go away and think about what would be most useful for them.
In one of the peer support sessions, we focused on identifying power and navigating influence. Participants had the opportunity to do personal power mapping. We concluded the session by asking if we defined power through our collective values (community, kindness, support), what would it look like?
Participants said that there is a need to focus on building individual wellbeing as a structural part of organisations and programs and not as an afterthought. The response to this question was intriguing and reflected in our thinking behind the importance of funding personal development and wellbeing as a key part of community leadership.
Participants chose to spend their leadership developments on a range of activities including:
-
Wellbeing and leadership courses
-
Books and conferences
-
Community football project
-
Art classes
-
Walk leadership course
-
First aid qualification
-
Childcare fees to be able to participate
-
Swimming lessons - something the participant always wanted to do and as part of their work had arranged lessons for others to learn but never taken the time or space for themselves to do it too
-
Laptop - as their old laptop was stopping them from participating fully
-
Gym membership for wellbeing
In summary, doing community work can be exhausting. Often the work of building inclusivity and being the voice that represents their culture/ race falls on the shoulders of global majority individuals. This leads to burnout and a neglect of self-care in favour of being an advocate for their community. This is why wellbeing and selfcare should be at the centre of leadership development for grassroots community leaders.