Replacing presence with trust
When Jason Suckley stepped into the role of CEO at Make-A-Wish UK ten years ago, he encountered an organisation that felt unexpectedly traditional for a charity built on creativity, imagination, and hope. Colleagues took lunch at the same time each day, retrieved their magazines in unison, and diligently signed in and out of a logbook. There was clearly a strong commitment to the mission and the organisation was secure and stable but the environment was predictable, structured, and rigid. It became clear to Jason that the charity needed a culture built on trust, autonomy, and genuine human connection - one that reflected the magic of the wishes it sought to grant.
Jason established a senior leadership team who deeply believed in trust as a foundational principle. Their philosophy aligns with our philosophy - that relationships, whether personal or professional, flourish when trust is given by default. Together, they began to imagine a culture shaped not by rules and hierarchy, but by autonomy, accountability, and adult-to-adult dialogue.
This thinking prompted a bold shift. Eight years ago - long before hybrid work was mainstream - the charity moved from a traditional office to a flexible hub in Reading. The space itself expressed the emerging culture: no allocated desks, no prescribed office hours, no requirement for anyone to be physically present. The point was not to remove structure, but to remove unnecessary constraints. The goal was simple: empower brilliant people to do brilliant work, wherever and however they worked best. And the space also includes inclusive and magical areas for children and families, as well as the employee team, so that time spent there is inspiring and meaningful.
The leadership team evolved but the approach remained. Jason also immersed himself in ideas from Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux, exploring self-managed teams and forms of holacracy. At one point, every new starter received the book as a way of signalling the organisation’s intent. Some elements were too extreme in practice, but the experimentation was valuable. Make-A-Wish UK learned that trust cannot stand alone. Trust needed to be accompanied by accountability and colleagues needed to be equipped to successfully manage autonomy. If anything engagement was too great, and without clear boundaries, people risked running too fast, taking on too much, and burning out. Coaching, reporting, and consistent behavioural frameworks became essential complements to autonomy.
Over the years, the charity refined its approach. Objective setting became a two way dialogue rather than top-down instruction. Reporting improved at all levels, enabling teams to spot underperformance early. An extended leadership team now holds full responsibility for the Operational Plan, allowing the senior leadership team to step back and empower leaders to lead. Monthly digital symposiums - self-organised and attended by almost the entire organisation - create connection, shared learning, and celebration. A quarterly in-person gathering provides personal connection and reinforces that sense of belonging, with activities ranging from wild team building to sitting down for a chat with the wish families the charity supports. In the early days, the hardest challenge was not the board, nor senior leadership, nor external stakeholders. It was internal resistance. Genuine autonomy can be uncomfortable. Some colleagues struggled with the idea that they were expected to make decisions rather than wait for instructions. Others embraced freedom and workstyle working but lacked the support structures to use it well. Learning how to hold autonomy and accountability in balance became one of the organisation’s most important developmental journeys.
Today, Make-A-Wish UK works in a way that feels aligned with its purpose: courageous, human, and guided always by the needs of the children it serves. The transformation is still ongoing, but the direction is clear - the work design is as magical, empowering, and hope-filled as the wishes it brings to life.
