Caroline Taylor, the recently appointed Deputy Chief Executive of Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley, always knew what she wanted to be when she grew up… a sweet shop owner.
Here she tells us how the shy daughter of a coalman from North Wales ended up not measuring out quarters of cola cubes, but instead helping to lead Lancashire’s children’s hospice.
UPDATING my email signature to my new title of “Deputy Chief Executive” I had the same feeling that I’d been having since I learned I’d got the job – that mix of excitement, pride and a nagging little voice in my mind asking: “Me? Are you sure?”
But this isn’t going to be a story about imposter syndrome. The truth is that I have been working towards this role for many years. I am grateful for the amazing opportunity I’ve been given, and I plan to nail it.
My story is interesting, I suppose, because of the path of my career trajectory and the relatively short time it’s taken to rise from Comms and Marketing Manager (the role which brought me to Derian in 2018) to the charity’s number two.
But let me turn back the clock and tell you how it all began.
I started my career as a news reporter working on local papers in South West London, and later Blackburn, Lancashire.
What it lacks in pay and job security, journalism certainly makes up for in the skills you develop along the way: the ability to write, a knack for storytelling, respect for accuracy, calmness under pressure, and a pathological need to meet a deadline.
You also get to give people a voice. As someone who had struggled with terrible shyness growing up (I would blush even buying something from a shop), it felt wonderful to be able to give a platform to voices that would otherwise not be heard.
But after nine years as a journalist I decided that I wanted to start a family and needed job security. Enter phase two: my career as a comms professional.
My first comms role at a local authority ticked along nicely. The real baptism of fire came during my final two years in the role when the council was thrown into a national media storm that – at the time – seemed relentless and highly stressful. Looking back, it honed my crisis comms skills into one of my most valuable assets.
Eventually, however, I became jaded using my skills in a subject area that didn’t really interest me. Local politics just didn’t float my boat. After a tumultuous couple of years spent trying to keep my workplace out of the headlines, I decided to go to the charity sector for a nice rest.
Anyone who works for a charity will instantly know where this story is going… of course a rest is absolutely not what I got when I arrived at Derian House.
Many people assume that life at a charity is slow-paced and probably a bit twee.
The reality, however, is that you will never work so hard in your life. When you work for a charity, you most likely will really care about the job you’re doing. And that means giving 100% every single time. Charity burnout is real and something you need to watch out for.
But that’s a different blog. Back to my career progression. How did I go from Comms and Marketing Manager to Deputy CEO?
Well COVID presented the first real opportunity for me. When fundraising ground to a halt and we were all stuck in our living rooms unable to do sponsored walks or visit charity shops, there was only one horse left in town: storytelling.
We upped our social media presence and began direct mail campaigns – writing to people to ask them to donate to Derian House by telling them stories of our children and showing them the difference their donations made.
Fundraising stayed buoyant through the depths of COVID, and when the Head of Fundraising retired, I plucked up the courage to suggest to my boss that fundraising should come into my portfolio. I vividly remember sitting in the CEO’s office deciding whether or not I was brave enough to say it. I’m so glad I did.
If I’m honest, I don’t think the trustees were convinced at first. They agreed to let me have a go for 12 months and we’d see what happens.
What happened was that the Fundraising Manager and I worked really hard on the relationship between the comms and fundraising teams so that we were all pulling in the same direction. And we delivered a bumper year.
Our retail shops came into my remit, and then a new family engagement team also came to me. My responsibilities and portfolio continued to grow.
My next big break came with a change of leadership. Our new CEO created a small team of directors to help strategically guide the growth of the charity. I’d already been on the senior management team, but this was the next level and allowed me to develop my leadership skills in other areas across the hospice.
As the youngest and least experienced director, I felt that I had some catching up to do, and so when the opportunity came to study for a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) diploma in leadership and management came up, I eagerly signed up.
This was a real turning point for me.
As someone who had always believed they didn’t have the natural ability to be a leader, I learned that, in fact, my natural inclination towards empathy and emotional intelligence, were a huge benefit in leadership.
More than anything, the course taught me that the most important thing – more important than skill or experience – is confidence. That’s it. That’s the secret ingredient.
The key is finding that confidence. For me, it has to come from a place of knowledge and to know my subject inside out.
After passing the year-long course, I felt hungry for more. I wanted to use my new-found skills. And so when the opportunity to apply for the role as Deputy CEO at Derian came up, I jumped at it.
The Deputy CEO position is a learning role for me. Over the next 12-18 months I will grow the building blocks I need in knowledge, skills and experience to become a future CEO.
In the meantime, I want to make sure I do everything I can to make sure that I am supporting Karen, Derian’s CEO, in every way I can, and helping to drive positive change and growth.
Derian House has been fantastic for my career. I have been nurtured, invested in, believed in, and allowed to grow over the past seven-and-a-half years in a way I wouldn’t have even dreamed of when I first arrived back in 2018.
If I had to boil down my career advice to one point, it would be this: Find something that truly matters to you and find a way to apply your natural skills to it. As Bruce Springsteen said, “can’t start a fire without a spark”.
When you find yourself at a crossroads in your career, pick the most interesting option and work your socks off at it.
What else?
Be easy to work with. This is a hugely under-rated skill.
Get known for integrity. Do what you’ll say you will do and you’re already ahead of most people.
Show vulnerability. People feel safe to be themselves when they see their boss can be open about their weaknesses.
Try to have a little fun and don’t take yourself too seriously – life’s too short not to.
I think if you do this, it’s hard to go wrong.
