How does a humanitarian aid worker
become an ‘exemplary field leader’?
Introduction
In his research paper, “Exploring the professional journeys of exemplary expatriate field leaders in the
aid sector”, Dr Scott Breslin presents the lives of 12 international aid workers, deemed by their peers to
be good examples of leaders working in INGOs in Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.
As these aid workers (expatriate staff) follow their career paths, Dr Breslin investigates which features of
their experience, personal attributes, competencies and skills contribute to making a positive difference
to their effectiveness and their wellbeing at work. Dr Breslin’s two research questions are reviewed in
this article:
 What can we glean about professional development from their collective stories?
 What can organisations do to facilitate the professional development of more exceptional field
leaders?
As a conclusion, recommendations on how changes in organisational practice could be improved are
given.
Key findings for NGO leaders
Dr Breslin presents eight key findings for consideration by those who have responsibility for NGO
expatriate staff. These findings may have a positive or negative impact on recruitment, successful
retention, staff wellbeing and effective performance.
1. Long-term passion and perseverance (which Dr Breslin defines using the word ‘grit’ but readers
beware, he does not mean a ‘macho’ approach to humanitarian work).
2. A combination of successful personal relationships, track record of getting desired programme
results, and grit as fundamental traits combined as an indicator of personal success.
3. Skills in managing relational conflicts and disappointments. (The lack of those skills, Dr Breslin’s
results show, contributes seriously to workplace stress.)
4. Recognition in recruitment that seven different career events, which will be further explored later
in the article, are significant in forming the professional identity of aid workers.
5. The need to be responsive to the varied entry points to the sector via a variety of career paths for
the international aid worker.
6. Overseas internships or short-term assignments develop candidates for roles in the sector, building
their skills and developing their work experience.
7. The negative impact that organisational constructs generate which mean reliance on translators,
short term contracts and rapid staff turnover hinder the participatory process of engaging with the
community.
8. In situ language learning whereby workers have learned local languages, primarily in the context in
which they will be used to build relationships.
Figure 1: Varied entry points to international aid sector careers
HR response to findings about formation of humanitarian workers’
professional identity
In his research Dr Breslin asks, “What do the professional journeys of expatriate international aid
workers reveal about how they grew to become exemplary field leaders?” He identifies seven distinct
career events1 that contribute to the professional identity of aid workers influencing the work that they
do. He calls these ‘identity formation landmarks’.
These include having a job in the sector, mastering jargon, experiencing success, being entrusted with
leadership responsibilities, being invited to ‘sit at the table’, earning sector specific credentials, and
experiencing inner satisfaction or ‘fit’.
Having a job (internship, volunteer, full-time or consultancy): anecdotally it is often heard that landing
an NGO job without any prior experience is impossible and that the initial gaining of experience without
prior experience is also impossible. As seen from the range of international aid sector career entry
points, one important factor in recruitment should be recognising prior experience and transferrable
skills from other sectors and additionally providing a range of valuable on-the-job experiences for
potential future recruits to access.
Being entrusted with leadership responsibility: organisations can build competence and confidence by
providing appropriate opportunities for staff to lead a team, take responsibility for a defined project or
encouraging them to take risks in experiencing new areas of responsibility.
1
Breslin, R.S. (2014) Exploring the professional journeys of exemplary expatriate field leaders in the international
aid sector, p 131. http://www.peopleinaid.org/resources/ExemplaryExpatFieldLeaders Accessed 17/05/2015
Being invited to sit at the table: NGOs can provide experiential learning opportunities in a variety of
ways. These include: embedding collegiate working patterns or subsidiarity rather than silo working;
consultative practices; ensuring managers are given responsibility for outcomes rather than tasks;
experimenting with role swap, providing secondments or shadowing opportunities and attendance at
conferences or stakeholder meetings which all build a sense of being valued.
Seeing the impact of their work or experiencing job success: a performance management process
which focuses on identifying and recognising achievement, identifying goals, and a staff member’s
responsibility being clearly highlighted within the achievement of those goals, connects aid workers to
the NGO’s mission and aims. This can be supported by a monitoring and evaluation process where staff
are encouraged to take ownership for results as well as developing an exit process which enables staff to
be affirmed, and where the manager responsible for that process provides guidance on career planning
in order to validate professional identity within the sector.
Mastering vocabulary and jargon: INGOs use specific vocabulary and the culture linked to that
vocabulary is a common thread throughout the sector. Appropriate induction or orientation processes
and improving internal and external communications for transparency, should lead to better
understanding and appropriate interaction amongst stakeholders using that vocabulary.
Earning a sector specific qualification or graduate degree: supporting access to further education
opportunities by funding or providing study leave builds professional competence and confidence. HR
departments and line managers need to be aware of trends in online learning platforms such as LINGOS,
international development or NGO management masters programmes and sector specific skills based
courses such as PMD Pro or the new Humanitarian Leadership Academy programme.
Experiencing inner pleasure or fit: being part of an NGO team brings workers close to communities of
crisis-affected people. By creating internship programmes, professional identity and confidence can be
developed for future aid workers and contribute to ensuring that they are a good fit for this sector. Dr
Breslin comments that a route to achieving professional success and gaining depth of experience
sometimes at the cost of “status, power or money … would require a high degree of self-awareness, selfconfidence, and self-discipline from staff and a high level of commitment from the INGO” (p 152).
Participant
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Landmark
Having a job
Mastering vocabulary
Being entrusted with leadership responsibility
Being invited to sit at the table
Experiencing job success
Earning a sector specific graduate degree
Experiencing inner pleasure or fit
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Figure 2: From Dr Breslin's research participants: identity formation landmarks
His primary question around leaders leads to a secondary question about the organisations they joined
and now work with: “How important did the research participants believe the learning cultures of their
own organisations were to their continuous professional development?” Interestingly, only three out of
the 12 study participants acknowledged the role of their current organisation as a factor in supporting
their continuous professional development (CPD).
Three recommendations for HR practitioners
1. Truly become a learning organisation
Dr Breslin quotes Catherine Russ (2010:14): “A professionalised humanitarian sector would at a
minimum … establish a baseline for humanitarian work that is accepted across the sector”. The
Humanitarian Leadership Academy launched in March 2015 and the Core Humanitarian Standard on
Quality and Accountability (CHS) Verification Framework launched in May are two steps towards
continued clarity in the establishment of a baseline for humanitarian work further encouraging NGOs to
become, or continue to grow as, ‘learning organisations’. Peter Senge2 describes a learning organisation
as one where “people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where
new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where
people are continually learning to see the whole together”.
The Start Leadership Behaviour Framework which informs chapter six of Dr Breslin’s paper on the
subject of organisational learning cultures, identifies self-awareness, motivation and influencing others
and critical judgement as key elements of behavioural competence required for effective humanitarian
leadership3. As NGOs adopt and embed people management practices, processes and procedures linked
to an understanding of what forms an aid worker’s professional identity, a future generation of
exemplary leaders could emerge.
While self-motivation is definitely a required trait, an organisational culture of actively supporting a
range of learning opportunities is likely to result in higher levels of performance individually and as an
organisation. Required results will be delivered where the HR function acts as an equal business partner
engaged in connecting:
The needs of beneficiaries
with organisational capacity and capability to deliver services to meet
those needs
investment in learning to ensure a level of excellence in the way services are
delivered
ensuring organisational structure and resources are adequate.
Engagement with the Leadership Academy and the adoption of a scorecard approach could both
strengthen an NGO’s capacity to be a learning organisation. A good example of this approach is
described in the Management Centre case study from strategy work carried out with Sightsavers, as
illustrated in their SIM4 card below.
2
Senge, P. (1990) http://infed.org/mobi/peter-senge-and-the-learning-organization/ Accessed 10/4/2015
Emmens, B. and Swords, S. (2010) Humanitarian Capacity Building Programme, Consortium of British
Humanitarian Agencies http://www.start-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Humanitarian-CapacityBuilding-Programme-%E2%80%93-Objective-1-Final-Report.pdf Accessed 10/4/2015
4
Sightsavers (2012) http://www.managementcentre.co.uk/knowledgebase/case-study-transforming-and-aligningorganisational-strategy-at-sightsavers-international and
http://www.managementcentre.co.uk/knowledgebase/an-introduction-to-strategy-maps-the-bsc-in-charities
Accessed 10/4/2015
3
Figure 3: Management Centre - Example of a balanced scorecard
2. Identify connections between research findings and adopting the CHS
As well as being informative for HR practitioners reviewing their HR processes, Dr Breslin’s key findings
support future implementation of the CHS.
INGO managers have already begun adopting the nine CHS commitments. By following the CHS
Guidance Notes and Indicators identifying the practices and processes which complement the CHS, cross
reference can be made to the paper on people management and organisational learning commitments
leading humanitarian NGO leaders and managers to improve quality, effectiveness and accountability
for the assistance they provide. Commitments seven and eight refer to the importance of organisational
learning and good people management.
Commitment 7: Communities and people affected by crisis can expect delivery of improved
assistance as organisations learn from experience and reflection.
Quality Criterion: Humanitarian actors continuously learn and improve.
Commitment 8: Communities and people affected by crisis receive the assistance they require
from competent and well-managed staff and volunteers.
Quality Criterion: Staff are supported to do their job effectively, and are treated fairly and
equitably.
3. Revise organisational processes that do not lead to community
engagement
Dr Breslin’s previous articles for People In Aid recommend that NGO policy makers consider the negative
effect on affected communities of high turnover (what he calls “fast churn”) and review the length of
staff contracts, adopt the practice of providing sufficient time, encourage in situ language learning and
focus on management training and support supervision to develop the skills of managing relational
conflict. Recruitment should be from a pool of talent which reflects all stages of life and organisations
should provide opportunities to gain real work experience such as through internship programmes and
appropriate learning and development programmes for CPD.
In conclusion
The mission, maturity and scale of any NGO will partly determine the capacity and capability to facilitate
the professional development of future exceptional field leaders. By following the collective stories of
the lives of 12 humanitarian aid workers, and applying findings from this and supporting research, NGOs
can adopt strategic HR practice appropriately to ensure conditions which support recruitment,
successful retention, staff wellbeing and effective performance.