Station House Media Unit (shmu) is a needs-led organisation transforming the lives of individuals and their communities through active engagement in community media. Working predominantly in the seven regeneration areas of Aberdeen, the organisation supports residents in radio and video production, traditional and online publications, music production and digital inclusion. shmu also supports other disadvantaged communities with an employability and training arm, and a recently developed programme for offenders, both pre- and post-release.
shmu transformed John’s life: “Four years ago I was in a rehabilitation clinic to treat a 10-year battle with drug addiction. Every day was a struggle, my self-esteem was low, my confidence lacking, my family were giving up on me.”
John’s life changed after rehab; he met his wife, had a baby and started college. After hearing about shmu he signed up for radio training. “The training was fun and helped me with my confidence and team-building skills and to overcome my fears.”
He now presents two radio shows for shmu and has become a member of the shmu board of trustees: “Doing live shows at shmu helps me in so many areas including my reliability, punctuality, and independence. I can’t emphasise enough what shmu has done for me. It has become an integral part of my life.”
shmu’s chief executive Murray Dawson explains why they asked Pilotlight for help: “We were coming to the end of our previous five-year business plan and we were keen to look at how we could become more sustainable through a blend of grants, service level agreements and commercial activities.
“The Pilotlighters guided us through the process of redefining a new five-year strategic plan for the organisation, and the level of depth and quality in the plan wouldn’t have been possible without them.”
Having the Pilotlighters on board gave Murray and his team the impetus to progress actions previously identified, but which had never been implemented, such as changing the board from a local management committee to a broader skills-based executive board that focuses on overseeing strategic direction.
“That is now standard practice at our meetings,” he says. “As an added bonus, two of our Pilotlighters have joined the board which has changed the dynamic of the meetings for the better.”
The strategic plan outlines a new vision for shmu’s financial sustainability, which includes using its facilities proactively for income generation; with ideas including corporate team-building days using its TV and radio stations; and developing a commercial graphic design trading arm.
“The key to future success is marketing; we plan to make it clear on our website that although our focus is on our target beneficiaries, there is also an ethical commercial arm that supports the work we deliver,” says Murray.
The new business plan also contributed to shmu’s ability to secure a three-year funding agreement from the local authority.
shmu graduated from the process in November 2012 and Murray says, “I would thoroughly recommend working with Pilotlight to any other organisation: you need to be clear why you want to do it, be prepared to change and explore something new, and to dedicate time afterwards.”
Murray’s Pilotlighter team consisted of four corporate members: Scott Strachan, global head of internal audit at Aberdeen Asset Management PLC, and three others from HBOS, Brodies LLP and Aberdeen City Council.
Scott says shmu’s main issues were the fact that it was struggling with resources and a lack of strategic direction. “When your funding streams are tightening you need to look at alternative income streams including commercial activity. This can be balanced so as not to compromise the organisation’s ethos.”
At the end of the process, Scott was one of the two Pilotlighters to join shmu’s board: “shmu is doing some wonderful work. They have a lot of great ideas and an enthusiastic staff and volunteer base. It got under my skin and having worked with them for a year I wanted to see the strategic plan develop and be implemented.
“I would encourage business people to become Pilotlighters. You can give money to a charity and that’s great, but utilising business experience can be very powerful in assisting charities in developing strategy, operations and motivating staff.”