Twenty-five years of earning good money at a senior level in blue-chip companies such as ICI, Shell and Nokia just wasn’t enough for Christine Lloyd, the executive director of people and organisational development at Cancer Research UK.

The glamour of travel, hotels and living abroad had lost its appeal and it was time to move on. “Money wasn’t so important any more and I was freer to make a move. Increasingly, I was becoming much more interested in how my skills could be used in a broader social context.”

That is not to say that moving to the not-for-profit sector was the easy option. Far from it. Much of Lloyd’s experience in the private sector focused on how to change the direction of an organisation, and she wanted to stay on familiar ground. “I was looking for a big company, a board position and a position of influence,” she says.

She achieved all that with her move to Cancer Research UK in 2005. As the executive director of people and organisational development, Lloyd prepares staff at the charity to deal with change.

Does it take someone from the private sector to do that? “My aim is to combine the best of both worlds. I bring focus. I ask people ‘where do you want to be and what do you want to achieve?’,” she says.

She also brings speed. “People in this organisation need to be encouraged to change. In the not-for-profit sector personal motivation is much stronger; it’s not about financial reward. There is a much stronger connection to the cause, and with about 95 per cent of the charity’s funds coming from the public, change is questioned more closely.”

Lloyd encourages staff to look at how they work to make sure that all their activities relate directly to patient care and beating cancer.

She is also involved in graduate placements and thinks that exchanges between the not-for-profit and private sectors would bring enormous benefits to both environments. “As a big charity we could bring more attention to these exchanges.”

It is clear that Lloyd loves working in her new environment. “There is huge commitment and a much greater range of differences and diversity. It is not a step down – it is a great challenge but you have to have your eyes open. I would recommend it to anybody.”

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