Articles by Ruth Knight

Following a 25 year career in health and community services, Dr Ruth Knight now works with the Australian Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at QUT as a lecturer and researcher specialising in the fields of managing social sector organisations and social enterprise.

She has been researching and teaching about leadership and recently published a Discussion Paper that provides an overview of the theory and practical implications of Systems Leadership for philanthropic and nonprofit organisations.

Leadership

What Are Your Leadership Anchors?

Many people are talking about the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world we are living in right now. The pandemic, natural disasters, financial and funding insecurities over the past few years are just a few factors destabilising many people and organisations. The consequences include significant levels of poor mental health, constant change and overwhelm. Unfortunately stress and overwhelm kills creativity and innovation, which is exactly what we need to counter the effects of a VUCA environment.

Ruth Knight

Aug 9, 2022 7 mins

Strategy & Risk

Unlocking the Power of Strategic Thinking and Planning

How do you think and plan strategically to address complex missions while balancing resource and workforce constraints? It’s an important question for the non-profit, philanthropy and social enterprise sector. Being strategic appears to be critical if organisations wish to be sustainable and improve employee and client outcomes, yet many non-profit leaders and staff frequently say that they can’t find the time to think or plan strategically. Clever organisations are overcoming this problem by instilling strategic thinking within their organisational culture.

Ruth Knight

Nov 11, 2019 4 mins