On the right path
Alan Paget, CEO of waste management software company Integrated Skills Limited, describes the positive impact made by J Gadd Associates on trust, time and transition into employee-ownership
Managing mindsets
“Integrated Skills Limited became employee-owned in February 2021 with a hybrid model of minority private shareholders and I wanted to assess how our team members were feeling. I did an internal presentation to the business but didn’t get many questions and I wanted to gauge what everyone was thinking about the change to employee-ownership (EO). I thought it would be good to get in an external consultant to find our baseline so we could identify what activities we would need to initiate to raise the profile of EO and address any concerns.”
“Associates Jeremy Gadd and Lisa Fryer did a focused piece of work to help us to take the first step in the transition to EO. They helped us to explore what EO means for our team members and for Integrated Skills Limited, holding team meetings – discovery sessions – to ask a series of questions. It was about managing mindsets into an EO focus.”
Relevant experience
“I first met Jeremy briefly in autumn 2020 at the book launch for The Employee Ownership Manual by Robert Postlethwaite, which Jeremy had contributed to. I bought the book and we used Postlethwaites solicitors to make the legal changes to our business model. Once I had decided we needed external help to support us through EO transition, I approached a few consultants and Jeremy had the most relevant experience of working with SMEs on similar projects. We had many discussions about Integrated Skills Limited and our motivation and he explained his personal history.”
“Jeremy outlined in his proposal a number of areas we could look at and what I really liked was that the proposal wasn’t too academic and brought with it real-life experience. We engaged J Gadd Associates to run a series of perception studies – or discovery sessions, as we called them – to develop understanding of EO with both the executive group and all team members.”
Change of attitude
“Jeremy and Lisa first facilitated a discovery session with the executive group, looking at what it means for us being private shareholders and part of an EO business. We explored our aspirations for Integrated Skills Limited and for long-term succession planning. It was very much a long-term strategic view. Jeremy and Lisa were insightful and helped us to develop an activity planner of what we should be doing to meet our aspirations and also to create an “owner narrative” as we transition to EO. The discovery sessions were repeated anonymously with all team members and, afterwards, we got a report from Jeremy that highlighted themes and quotes. The report was very well done and professional. We shared the findings at our annual company day and had a discussion, which showed there had been a change of attitude towards EO brought about by Jeremy.”
“J Gadd Associates have shortened the transition stage for us by narrowing our focus. I could have spent hours trying to understand what everyone in the team was expecting from employee-ownership and still not got it right. They sped up the whole process and saved us a lot of time.”
Alan Paget, CEO, Integrated Skills Limited
“We shared the findings at our annual company day and had a discussion, which showed there had been a change of attitude towards EO brought about by Jeremy.”
Alan Paget, CEO, Integrated Skills Limited
On the right path
“Jeremy and Lisa were enthusiastic and professional. They have shortened the transition stage for us by doing the discovery sessions and narrowing our focus to identify the actions required to get us through. I could have spent hours in meetings trying to understand what everyone in the team was expecting from EO and I might still not have got it right. Having someone independent and having anonymous sessions with team members meant that I could trust that it was right. I know I’m not going down the wrong path. They sped up the whole process and saved us a lot of time. If something happened in the future and I needed advice or intervention, J Gadd Associates would be my first port of call.”
Summary
J Gadd Associates began working with Integrated Skills Limited in August 2021 as part of its transition to employee-ownership. Associates supported business leaders and team members to develop their understanding of EO through a series of perception studies and helped the business to focus on what was required to embed the EO model.
About Integrated Skills Limited
Integrated Skills Limited specialises in the provision of software solutions and consultancy services for the waste management, meter reading and parcel/post sectors. It was founded in 1993 and currently has 24 team members in the UK, Channel Islands and Germany serving clients in the UK and internationally. It moved to a hybrid employee-ownership model in February 2021.
