Emma Haddad is Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, a homelessness charity. Previously, she spent nearly two decades in the civil service, primarily at the Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions, where she ran the UK asylum system, refugee resettlement programmes and parts of the benefit system.

Turn academic theory into real-world action. My PhD focused on why we get refugees and forced migration. I didn’t want to keep writing academic papers, so I joined the civil service to see the real world of migration. I chose the Home Office — they were surprised as no one usually asked to work there.

Don’t be fooled by sector differences. Leadership challenges are universal. The biggest difference from being a civil servant is not having the political layer above you, which I have found liberating. I can make decisions that make a difference quickly. Now I’m influencing politicians from the outside. But the similarities are striking — I’m still leading geographically dispersed teams delivering services to vulnerable people with complex lives.

Prevention trumps crisis management. Our biggest challenge in tackling homelessness is reorienting the system upstream to prevent people becoming homeless in the first place. Right now, we’re constantly picking up people who have already fallen through cracks that didn’t need to be there. We need to shift from crisis management to prevention.

When resources are scarce, creativity becomes essential. In government, I managed budgets in the billions. Now every penny counts, which constrains innovation. You have to be incredibly careful with forecasting and planning. There’s always a finite number of people you can help, but ultimately our purpose should be to end homelessness, not just keep helping more people.

Create the conditions for others to succeed. I’m immensely proud of what my teams accomplish in incredibly difficult circumstances. My approach is to create the environment where they can do their best work. When I look at the difference they make for people who have fallen through the system, it’s phenomenal how they help clients move forward despite limited resources.

Embrace new challenges as opportunities for growth. Fundraising has been a new experience coming from government, but I enjoy telling potential partners about our work. I have many ideas, though my team needs to guide me on what’s practical. Growing our fundraising gives us the scope for innovation despite tight margins.

Competition between charities undermines our shared mission. It’s frustrating that homelessness charities operate largely in isolation despite sharing the same goals. We talk about collaboration, but brand competition and fundraising concerns get in the way. In the disaster relief world, they’ve solved this with the Disasters Emergency Committee — one fundraising appeal that benefits multiple charities. Meanwhile, we’re all running competing winter TV adverts and politicians must get tired of hearing the same messages from different organisations.

Learn to distinguish between battles worth fighting and minor irritations.You can’t let every frustrating email or difficult colleague keep you awake at night. Choose your battles and where you put your energy. I’ve got better at this, but I still let things get to me.

Silence in the face of wrongdoing is complicity. Looking back, I regret not speaking out against unacceptable behaviour from certain politicians. Even as a senior civil servant, the power dynamics made it hard to challenge them. But staying silent only condoned the behaviour. You have to stick to what you know is right, to your morals and integrity.

Without hope, leadership withers. In this work, if you don’t hold onto hope, you would despair – and that’s pointless because then I can’t lead and inspire the teams. That doesn’t mean being unrealistic about challenges, but without hope, we can’t keep making a difference.

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Cause & Effect is a series from Hope, a charity branding agency, in which leading figures who have been involved in building and promoting good causes tell us what they’ve learned from their experiences. Interview by Michael Isaacs.