Managing a company through transition/Quiet survival as a success
By Molly Nicholson
We are facing profound challenges in the arts at the moment.
The precariousness of the sector demands us to be light-footed and ready to transition if circumstance change – which firstly not always possible as a company but also can be very challenging for the people in the organisations.
For us, it’s been a really strange year. In 2022, we applied to join the ACE National Portfolio. It was years of deep thinking, questioning, and jigsawing plans together, talking with partners and stakeholders, and reworking the reality into a plausible business plan that we were excited about and felt right. We were awarded our NPO. Amazing!
Unfortunately for us, because of unexpected changes we needed to make in the company, we had to make the difficult decision to turn down the grant and the possibility to deliver our carefully crafted plans.
The changes to the company were unknown, but certainly, we weren’t going to look like the company that had applied for the grant – and so we couldn’t consciously accept our award when we didn’t have the confidence that the new company could deliver the same things we’d applied for.
Despite knowing it was the right decision, the upheaval was great.
We went from about to begin the next chapter, one with exciting plans but also one with security for ourselves to plan our lives around. I had the next three years of my life planned out, and suddenly, all of this seemed completely uncertain – we were suddenly questioning if the company would continue and, if it did, what that might look like.
So a lot to process, but first, to decide whether we would transition the company into something new or not….
The first thing, we needed to consider was whether continuing (in whatever form it would be) would be the right thing to do Or whether closing the company would be more appropriate. It could have just been a good time and could be done; it didn’t need to continue.
And important point to make right of the bar here – we had the privilege of reserves to be able to do this thinking. It meant I could keep us in wages for a period of time to process, talk and generally give each other the care we needed while navigating through this
We did decide to continue working as a company – there was still work to do, which was being supported by our partners & funders, plus if it felt right.
So, practically, how did we do it?
Practical elements of our transition – none of this was linear, by the way, nor a checklist; these were just some of the things that were whirling around as we slowly stepped towards what next:
- Had conversations to access where we were at and why
- Took time to process – tried to not feel guilty about the time this took when we could be being ‘productive’.
- We had honest conversations as to whether we wanted to continue and why
- Consider whether to stop, and keep in mind that it is totally fine. Checking in that any decision to continue isn’t led by a fear of not look successful
- If the decision is to continue to define our new vision and mission. This includes carefully and caringly looking at what we want to take forward from our previous vision & mission, and make sure it intersects our new vision and mission well – this takes time
- Communicate to partners, stakeholders & funders as best as you can – don’t be afraid of this; just because you can’t necessary show practical progress does not mean you’re not progressing
This is a very ongoing process, but at this point, I wanted to reflect on what that meant for us.
Upon Reflection
Coming back to the precariousness of the sector, of course, there was a particular set of circumstances that led us to have to look at the future of the company in this way, but having spoken with many friends and peers, we’ve found that a lot of people are experiencing this need to re-evaluate and transition to something new – if you are – you are not alone.
So, if this is a prevailing experience at the moment, what needs to be done?
To funders, your partners & board members
We know there needs to be a systemic change within the funding landscape. Where this may not happen tomorrow, proactive measures need to be taken to support and retain those within the industry. All those stakeholders need to do their best in these circumstances to support and allow your survival.
What we are still learning…
For those navigating transition, to survive, there needs to be a removal of having something to show for the time and money
For this, we have to reject traditional success measures – which also means supporting those who find decoding the guilt of not being productive all the time (me 🙋🏼♀️) hard.
To do this for us, we downsized and put a pause on all projects until we knew what was next for us.
- Bigger is not always better, and being smaller and slower has been healthier. It looked like things such as not growing our website, not travelling & not delivering big projects.
- It’s meant we’ve been able to take the time to process and understand what our new organisation will look like in what is, in any case, a new climate of working with new needs.
I’ve definitely found it hard – not having projects to show for my time has been really tough.
But what I’ve found through this process is that quiet survival is also success
Just because I am not currently able to shout about the work I’m delivering – this does not mean that I am not doing things/that I won’t be able to do this in the future.
Even though people may be shouting about what they’re doing – you do not know the full context of their story.
Quiet survival, for me today, is healthy success!
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