Our clients
Our core expertise lies in supporting SMEs across a broad range of sectors and our reputation is based on achieving successful outcomes for the companies we work with.
We invest a lot of time in developing deep, long-term relationships with our clients and many come back time and time again—wanting our help to navigate the next stage of their organisational journey. Last year 66% of our business came from previous clients.
That’s a figure we’re happy to shout about.
Client: Supported the transfer of leadership at a professional services company.
What we did:
- Worked with the team of directors on succession planning, ensuring a smooth transition and a planned build of skills and experience for the new generation of directors.
- Helped the directors identify a range of growth strategies and develop plans for moving forward on the most viable.
Client: Challenged a research institute to simplify their strategy.
What we did:
- Provided a strategy masterclass for the top team to help reduce their strategic priorities to a manageable number.
- Reviewed their functional strategies to make sure they aligned with the corporate strategy.
Client: Future-proofed aspects of governance at a students’ union.
What we did:
- Undertook a review of the policies governing sabbatical officers and made recommendations to the Board. All recommendations were accepted.
Client: Galvanised a team to move from talk into action at an oil & gas support services company.
What we did:
- Worked with the company to review and refresh their sales strategy.
- Facilitated workshops to prepare for an organisational restructure and to advise on key considerations ahead of a corporate acquisition. The restructure took place quickly and smoothly and a successful acquisition was completed the following year.
Client: Provided insight and evidence to a textile manufacturing company so they could restructure, prepare for growth and increase efficiency.
What we did:
- Conducted a review of the organisational structure to identify gaps, overlaps and inefficiencies. Analysed back office processes to determine priorities for the roll out of additional ERP functionality.
- Worked with the Managing Director to develop and communicate the new structure; used interviews and diagnostic tools to support development conversations and succession planning activities.
Client: Helped to identify an underlying issue at a digital & design agency.
What we did:
- Initially called in to advise on changing the organisational structure to be more flexible and capable of supporting a fast rate of growth, our consultants quickly realised that the key issues faced by the organisation lay elsewhere. We were able to provide a range of recommendations covering structure, culture and behaviours, staff development and the use of IT, that provided the clarity the agency needed.
- A return visit after 12 months indicated that the company had made some major leaps forward. Behaviours, especially around accountability and the use of IT to manage projects and costs, had changed significantly. Greater visibility of those metrics had given better control to decision-makers.
Client: Developed a bespoke leadership development programme for a manufacturer of commercial catering equipment.
What we did:
- Developed a tailored programme to address three key issues – the need for greater business agility and pace, improved teamwork, and a performance-focused culture. The programme consisted of several elements: individual leader development via coaching based around personality and emotional intelligence diagnostics; an assessment of senior leadership team effectiveness at the start and end of the programme; and a series of critical thinking workshops designed to work on real-time business issues with the support of professional facilitators.
Client: Providing simple and sustainable leadership tools to an IT company in a turnaround situation.
What we did:
- The company had recently transferred into employee ownership in a bid to secure its future. There was so little cash available that our work with them was supported by the local economic development agency.
- Despite being employee-owners, many staff had little faith in the company’s ability to survive and they were entrenched in behaviours that were unhelpful and not client-focused.
- We worked with the leadership team to develop a better understanding of their USP and to develop a simple strategy tool that was easy to keep ‘live’. We introduced them to a simple framework for being clear about the behaviours they expected from staff—and the higher standards of behaviour they would hold themselves to as leaders—and a further easy-to-use tool to provide a framework for holding regular one-to-one conversations.
- When we called in to say hello 18 months later, business was good, they had many more clients and they were still using all the tools we introduced.
