Back on the road to clients – and we love it!
Laptops at the ready. Shoes polished, all set to go. Since summer, the JGA team has finally been out visiting clients and (petrol challenges aside) we’re loving being back on the road.
Like many of the organisations we support with our transition, people and governance services, our Associates have embraced virtual working. As a business, we’re now ‘digital first’ when that’s best for our clients. We’ve honed our skills on Microsoft and Zoom.
But we cover a wide range of sectors and, for us, nothing beats the prospect of a face-to-face meeting. After travelling to a new town, industrial estate or city, our clients’ coffee and snacks have never tasted so good…
A ‘proper workout’
Midlands-based Associate Lisa Fryer has been travelling south and north, by road and rail, after a year of working almost exclusively from home.
Romsey, Uttoxeter, Warrington. ‘It’s felt like a proper workout!’ she admits. ‘Really invigorating. I’m enjoying those short conversations with people that build connections, as much as the more structured 'training' sessions we’ve held.
‘I had a fabulous factory tour with one client, where the best conversations were with employees who weren’t sought out as 'our top man/woman', but people who genuinely wanted to understand some details for themselves.’
Bristol-based JGA Associate Kathie Robb made it to Cotswolds client The Rooflight Company. ‘It was lovely to finally meet the people I've been working with virtually for the last year ‘in person’ and to have those off-the-cuff conversations that would never have happened on Zoom,’ she says. ‘I’m getting to know the client even better.’
Coffee to go
And what about JGA Founder and MD Jeremy Gadd? From Cornwall to Cheshire, Lincolnshire to Lancashire, Jeremy says he has appreciated ‘being welcomed into our clients’ workspaces again’.
‘We’re social animals,’ he adds. ‘It’s interesting to see how the ‘herds’ are reforming – and the impact on those who aren’t able to join yet.’ So what’s next? As these ‘herds’ settle, Jeremy predicts that people will expect face-to-face meetings to be more than a simple in-person alternative to meeting online.
‘They should bring a greater sense of community and belonging, of a shared experience,’ he explains. And the chance to enjoy someone else’s coffee and biscuits, of course.