Leading with Compassion in Difficult Times

Connecting with purpose and staying resilient during these times is essential, especially by acting with compassion as the world around us disintegrates.

— Ioana Sirca Belintan

This conversation is part of the YCompassion Leadership Programme Reflective Series, featuring reflections from programme participants and peers on practicing compassionate, human-centred leadership in the social impact sector.

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What drew you to explore compassion practices?

It's a really tough time for civil society and the social impact sector, with multiple crises such as war, climate change, economic inequality, the dismantling of USAID in the US, and tens of thousands of job losses. In the UK, many charities are shutting down due to a lack of funding, foundations are closing application rounds because of excessive demand, and philanthropy is generally too slow to respond.

Connecting with your purpose and staying resilient during these times is essential, especially by acting with compassion as the world around you disintegrates. For me, whose role is closely linked to people, operations, and organisational culture, it has also been vital to explore compassionate practices personally, both for my own well-being and for my work team

What compassionate tool do you wish more people knew about and used?

This is hard, but most, if not all, of them! 

Focusing on tending the fire, anchoring in purpose, and rediscovering or re-anchoring in one's values; befriending triggers - the link between self-compassion and being able to identify and tend to one's needs and set boundaries in the workplace. 

A particularly significant concept for me was radical acceptance and how to use it to move forward when you are feeling stuck.

Is there a moment when a compassionate response made a tangible difference within your work?

We were in heavy contingency planning mode earlier in the year; people were scared, confused, and stressed. Navigating the situation compassionately through 1:1 conversations with peers made a difference in how people were coping with uncertainty.

From your perspective, why is compassion vital for the future of our sector?

I simply don't think we can continue doing the work we do without compassion. It's the essential practice, value, and way of being and acting that sustains us.

Systemic change is challenging and slow; it can be exhausting, disheartening, and demotivating, especially as you confront the same unjust structures and power dynamics within your own organisations and workplaces that you also seek to change in the wider world through the very existence of the social impact sector.

What resources would you recommend to a friend or colleague who is interested in compassionate approaches?

Definitely the tools and resources shared as part of the YCompassion Leadership Programme.

What ideas are you interested in exploring that bring compassionate ways of working into practice?

I’m mainly considering skill shares and team building for my organisation to share what I've learned, then gradually introducing more compassionate practices into the organisational culture. This could include weekly or monthly rituals during team meetings, and changing how supervisors and leaders receive and give feedback.

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About Ioana

Ioana is passionate about nurturing people, systems and processes in ways that enable people to bring as much of their whole selves into the workplace as possible. Currently a People and Operations Manager at People Powered - a global participatory democracy organisation - she combines expertise in organisational development, people and culture and workplace organising to support the internal workings of the organisation.

She was in the first cohort of the YCompassion Leadership Programme - and we've been lucky to have her support the facilitation of the Leadership Labs in the second cohort.

This conversation reflects Ioana's personal views and not those of any organisation she has worked for or currently works for. 

Curious about radical acceptance? Start with this blog from Pyschology Today.