Understanding what it means to be EO
Kate Garnham, Head of Brand & Communications at BCS Consulting, tells how JGA helped the management consultancy bring its EO story to life.
Let’s get this started
“We first met with J Gadd Associates at an exploratory meeting early in 2019 to see how they could help us to bring employee ownership to life. We were incredibly impressed with their knowledge, experience and advice, recognising the value they could bring to our business.
We already had a very strong and vibrant culture in the firm and therefore our partners didn’t feel as though much had changed by becoming employee owned. That’s why our initial aim was to get a partner council up and running in order to make our partners feel like co-owners as quickly as possible. J Gadd Associates’ advice was to slow down, acknowledge where our partners were on the journey and identify any gaps in knowledge and understanding.
In hindsight we were being overly ambitious and we have been made to take a step back and start by looking in to what employee ownership means to us”
Feeling the buzz
“We began with a perception study – a series of hour-long, lunchtime and evening sessions that captured the thoughts of around 95% of our partners, getting them to really think about employee-ownership.
The Associates were hugely flexible and did a really good job of getting everyone to take part, starting great conversations that drew out people’s thoughts and feelings. I was impressed by our partners’ passion and the debates that took place in the sessions.
I noticed that partners came bouncing out of each session, energised by talking about employee-ownership. Associates certainly ignited conversations and started a buzz around the office.”
On the journey
“After the perception study, interest in employee- ownership has grown and we wanted to maintain the momentum and crack straight on with the next project to run workshops with the leadership team and a partner planning group to begin bringing the employee-ownership narrative to life.
The two groups met in sessions facilitated by J Gadd Associates which were cleverly designed so that they covered the same ground, resulting in the outputs almost mirroring each other. The sessions were both challenging and draining in equal measure but they gave us a good grounding to begin the next step, which was to bring the two groups together to sign- off on what co-ownership means for us and shaping the partner council.”
“J Gadd Associates played a key role in helping us to articulate what being a co-owner means, working with us to create a narrative that we can reference back to and build on in the future..”
KATE GARNHAM
Real value – and nice people!
“J Gadd Associates provided invaluable help in capturing what employee-ownership means to us. They have added real value at the same time as being very nice people. I am inspired by their passion for employee-ownership. They live and breathe it and passionately believe in the value it brings to a company.
The team have faced some challenges with us as a business because of the way we work but they have rolled with us and flexed their approach. We have learned a massive amount from them and I hope they have learned from us too!
It continues to be an interesting and valuable project and J Gadd Associates have certainly got us off to a great start on our employee-ownership journey.”
Summary
J Gadd Associates (JGA) began working with BCS Consulting early in 2019 to help the management consultancy, focused on financial services, to harness the true value of employee-ownership.
Starting with a series of perception studies to understand how the 200+workforce viewed employee-ownership, Associates from JGA have spent time with leaders and partners to shape how co-ownership can be brought to life through voice groups and a partner council. JGA tailored its reports and communication for the client, learning from and using BCS’s skill for simplifying internal messages.
About BCS Consulting
BCS Consulting is one of a handful of employee-owned management consultancies in the Financial Services sector. It is focused on delivering complex business change projects in banking and the financial markets. With offices in London and Peterborough, their consultants work with clients across Retail and Corporate Banking, Capital Markets, Insurance and Asset and Wealth Management.
