Tom Ward is our longest-serving Pilotlighter in Scotland, joining us in 2008. Here he tells his story about why he came to Pilotlight in the first place and why, after all this time, he’s still committed to the work we do.
Being involved in the third sector has been an important part of my life since university. When I joined Pilotlight, I’d come to a point in my career where I was looking for a way to use the skills I’d acquired in business to help create real and long-lasting impact for charities. I’d spent most of my career building a large international business, with various roles from finance and operations to corporate strategy, and was ready to give some of those skills back, taking my charity work to a new level.
So Pilotlight sounded like the ideal fit.
The process coaches charities to think and act more strategically, with the aim of increasing effectiveness and sustainability. The challenge to me when I joined was to accept that progress may seem initially slow. However, as anyone who has done any form of coaching knows, this is the essence of the coaching model. You can’t just identify and solve problems by the end of a two-hour meeting and expect them to be implemented straight away. You have to bring all the people in the room with you, as you look at the issues from all angles, before you can even start to suggest an appropriate course of action. Unless the charity feels you’ve engaged with who they are and understand what they do, they won’t accept your analysis.
On a professional level, I’ve found being a Pilotlighter entirely more useful than I initially expected. I’m currently a non-executive director of several businesses and charities, and I have learnt the art of persuading someone to do something, rather than just telling them or directing them, through working with Pilotlight. And I’ve had to learn this through working with a team of three other professionals all from different business backgrounds, just to add to the challenge! It’s a tremendous learning experience, and it has vastly improved my ability to mindfully listen to and work with others to achieve a positive result.
Pilotlight’s overall record of successful engagements with charities is very impressive. In every single project I’ve worked on, the charity has gained something long-lasting from the process and has been pleased it engaged, often viewing the experience as one of the best things it has ever done. There have been several times I’ve worked with a charity which has opened my eyes to a new side of life, and I think in a way, helped make me a more rounded individual. A charity I worked with which particularly stands out is Pasda, a charity that provides support to carers of adults with autism. Only after working with this charity I discovered a good acquaintance of mine was caring for an adult with autism. My experience with Pilotlight helped me relate to that person better, and I have found this is a theme common across all of the charities I’ve worked with through the process.
For me, Pilotlight has been a perfect fit, and a truly win-win experience. I am about to embark on my ninth project, and I am looking forward to many more to come. I would recommend it to others in a heartbeat – for the chance to create real impact, and for what you take back from the process.
