Positive Prison? Positive Futures... (PPPF) is a young and ambitious charity that draws on the user voice of people who are or have been subject to punishment, to improve the effectiveness of Scotland’s criminal justice system. It also engages with Scottish Government, parliament, local authorities and other third sector organisations, to bring about change and create a fairer society. It aims to reduce the harms caused by crime and support the re-integration of people with convictions, so that they are recognised as citizens.
Why Pilotlight?
PPPF experienced rapid growth in its first two years before engaging with Pilotlight, and found itself responding to many demanding opportunities. As Pete White, CEO said, they “quite consciously didn’t have a plan, but a direction”, however they knew this needed to change if they wanted to secure the future of the charity. They came to Pilotlight for support with three key things: sustainability, succession planning, and security.
What we did
Through careful listening, questioning and challenging, the team quickly uncovered key person dependency on Pete as a serious risk to the charity. They also identified the need to refine and clarify PPPF’s vision and purpose, in order to help them know when to say yes and when to say no to the many opportunities coming their way.
The Pilotlighter team supported the charity to develop a new organisational structure and recruit a deputy manager for Pete. They then looked to the vision and purpose, and helped to shape some solid social and business objectives to take the charity forward. The board was engaged in the process and the team worked effectively together to support PPPF.
Results
The result was a new organisational structure and a written strategy that PPPF can take forward and share externally. More importantly however, was the change in Pete who emerged as a new and stronger leader by the end of the process. As Pilotlighter Stuart McMaster of Alliance Trust commented:
“At the start of the project he was uncomfortable, stressed, and over-worked but by the end he’d become confident and in control of the charity’s future.”
By the end of the process PPPF had harnessed and focused its energy, and strengthened its structure to become more resilient. Pete’s words at the final meeting were,
“The way the charity moves forward will be different and entirely more effective. Our work with Pilotlight has been life-changing on both a personal and professional level”.