Today we welcome Ed Mayo to his new role as Chief Executive of Pilotlight. Below, he shares an open memo to all staff.
Memo to all Pilotlight Staff:
Having worked over three decades in a succession of small but extraordinary non-profits, starting at Pilotlight today feels like coming home. And yes, that’s not simply because I will be at home, remote working!
It feels like coming home because what I have attempted in individual projects and partnerships is what Pilotlight does in a systematic way for small charities and social enterprises across the UK.
This is organisation development; a field that is not easy, is an art not a science but done well, can be genuinely transformative.
The more I learn about Pilotlight, the more impressed I am. I'm joining a team that has already achieved some extraordinary things. I hope you are proud of the way you have collaborated over the lockdown, because it has made such a difference.
In the Wirral, I have learned that the local Age UK charity – one of our charity partners - pivoted almost overnight from in-person services to an all-remote support, becoming a significant leader in the local coronavirus response. We have helped that response by supporting their leadership. Since the lockdown began, it has delivered 30,000 interventions and for its reach and responsiveness, has recently won extra support of over £600,000 locally.
It is a changing world, with new needs, new risks and new opportunities and we have a distinctive role in this. The claims of campaigns such as Black Lives Matter are ones we should be confident to stand alongside.
We all have our own stories of the lockdown and I look forward to hearing how you are as I make my way virtually through a busy and structured induction programme. I know it can be stretching and your creativity and your wellbeing matter to me.
So, I am completely accessible now, welcome your questions and comments, but the health warning is that I have a lot to learn. I’m not the expert on what Pilotlight does, you are, whether for all or for part.
As you would expect, internally, I will be working through the Leadership Team, with Bruce, Charlie and Mel. Thank you to Bruce, who has led the team so well over the last three months. I am delighted that you will become Pilotlight’s new Deputy Chief Executive.
Beyond this, I need to get to know our Pilotlighters, and our business and charity partners. At our best, we stand in their shoes and will understand the world as we emerge from lockdown, through their eyes. It is an old saying in the world of co-operatives that I come from – ‘members first’. Pilotlight is a community of purpose.
Thank you for welcoming me in – for bringing me home.