On the radio recently, I heard former Prime Minister Gordon Brown talking about his new book which explores a decline of civic life. His new research suggests that, across Western countries, only half of citizens belong to any civic organisation and only around a quarter are active in their community at least once a month. 

Brown describes a collective blind spot. He argues if a bridge collapsed or a bank failed, we would demand immediate action. Yet as the organisations and relationships holding communities together gradually weaken, it hasn’t generated the same urgency. The consequences though are significant: greater isolation, weaker social ties, declining trust and fewer opportunities for people to come together. The impact is profound on individuals, society and democracy.  

If we are serious about reversing that decline, we must invest in community organisations. But investing in organisations also means investing in the people who lead them. That requires us to think differently about what leadership development looks like and who it is for. 

Leadership does not always come with a leadership title 

I think, if we are honest, our sector still has a fairly conventional image of a leader: usually the chief executive of an established organisation, supported by a team and with at least some space to think strategically. 

That is not the reality for many of the people our volunteers work alongside through Cranfield Trust. Many chief executives are also the head of finance, the marketing lead and the person overseeing services. They write the strategy and fix the leak. Leadership is also exercised by the service manager holding an organisation together, the founder or volunteer coordinating activity in their spare time or the trustee who has stepped forward because somebody needed to. 

These people are getting on with what needs to be done and may not think of themselves as leaders at all. Yet choosing to step forward and play a part in a community organisation in 2026 is an act of leadership. If leadership development is designed only for those with the right title, the confidence to describe themselves as leaders or the time to join a formal programme, we risk overlooking some of the people whose leadership matters most. 

For those supporting the sector our ambition should not simply be to prepare a small number of people for senior roles. It should be to help people lead well from wherever they are and in doing so build the depth of skills that organisations need. 

Our Journey to Excellence research, drawing on five years of data from over 600 charities, identified leadership development and succession planning as areas where sustained investment is needed. Succession cannot be solved when a vacancy appears, instead to sustain organisations we must create opportunities for people to build their skills, confidence and experience much earlier. 

Leadership is abundant. Capacity is not. 

Every day at Cranfield Trust, our volunteers support extraordinary leadership across small charities and communities. In that work we see courage, empathy, determination and deep commitment. We see people who understand their communities, build trust and keep going in exceptionally difficult circumstances. 

The problem is not an absence of leadership qualities. It is that too many leaders are operating without access to support that would be taken for granted in other sectors. 

Money is an obvious barrier. Small charities and community groups rarely have meaningful learning and development budgets, and every pound spent internally can feel like a pound diverted from the frontline. That is a narrative we need to shift, but cost is not the only barrier. 

In our Right Support, Right Time research, charities told us that keeping support free was critical. But they also placed considerable value on shorter, practical support, mentoring and peer connection. What we observe through our work reinforces this: making leadership development free does not automatically make it accessible. Time matters just as much, as does the format. So too does the expectation, sometimes deeply embedded in our sector, that developing ourselves is not really what we are here to do. 

It is interesting how strongly funders value investment in leadership. Those responding to our research consistently highlighted leadership capacity and wellbeing as significant concerns. They understand that an overstretched or isolated leader creates risk for the whole organisation and do not see leadership development as money diverted from the mission but as key to sustaining it. 

Development designed around real lives 

I have benefited from structured leadership programmes and helped to devise them. They have an important place, but they cannot be the only model available. 

We need to stop expecting busy community leaders to reorganise their lives around leadership development. Instead, development should be designed around the realities of their lives and work. 

That means offering shorter interventions alongside longer programmes: access to an experienced person when a difficult decision must be made, learning through a live organisational challenge, mentoring over time or structured peer support that creates space to reflect.  

Our volunteers make all these forms of support possible at Cranfield Trust, and we intend to scale them to meet this moment. People have described our Peer to Peer Exchange as “a real lifeline” and “a safe, understanding space” with peers who “truly got it”. One mentee told us the support helped “clarify my thoughts” and strengthened “my confidence and ability to lead effectively”. 

Practical fundamentals are part of leadership 

It also means recognising that management fundamentals are part of leadership. Vision, values, confidence and self-awareness skills matter enormously, but so do strategy, governance, finance, risk and people management. 

Running an organisation well is not a distraction from leadership. It is a core part of being a good leader. Practical capability provides the foundation from which people can lead with confidence, clarity and purpose. 

Technology and AI can make knowledge easier to access, help us reach more people and connect leaders to support more quickly. We should embrace that opportunity. But information alone is not development. Technology cannot always understand an organisation’s history, recognise what is not being said or offer reassurance when someone faces a difficult decision. 

Those things require human judgement and connection. Crucially, our exceptional network of volunteers includes experienced leaders and specialists who want to share their time, judgement and expertise with the sector.  

Develop our leader support 

Over the coming months and with the support of our volunteers we will position a new leadership offer for small charity and community leaders, building on our services that already make a significant difference: mentoring, peer support, practical learning and access to expert advice. 

We are enormously grateful to the Garfield Weston Foundation for its generous support of this approach. This will help us bring these elements together into a coherent offer, reach more leaders and continue building our understanding of what works. 

There will be different ways in, and although pathways for support will be clear they won’t be linear, and it also won’t be not an exclusive club. Someone may first approach us with a practical problem, rather than a desire for “leadership development”. Support might be brief and focused or develop into a deeper relationship, shaped around the person, their organisation and the issue they are facing. 

Leaders are multipliers of impact. When they become more confident, capable and resilient, the benefit strengthens their teams, their organisations and, ultimately, the communities they serve. Supporting the people who hold communities together is not an optional extra. It is part of the essential infrastructure of society.