JGA and Telos – Update on our merger and new EO services launch
It’s not every day you get to share good news about your business, so 24 November 2023 sticks in our mind. That was the day we announced JGA’s plans to merge with Telos Partners, due to complete early in 2025.
Some of the team that’s been shaping our merger and getting our new EO services offer ready for launch
The reaction from our networks was overwhelmingly positive. Two days later we were at the eoa conference 2023 together – and that was just the start.
What’s happened since then?
A lot – culminating in today’s launch of our new joint proposition for clients who are exploring or transitioning to employee ownership (EO) as part of their succession planning and those who are already employee-owned.
Want to know more? Read our update below.
Growing stronger together to serve our clients better
Stronger together: Telos’ Adam Campbell and JGA’s Jeremy Gadd
First, the last 12 months. They’ve been busy with our merger taking shape alongside ‘business as usual’. ‘It’s been an incredible learning journey,’ says JGA’s MD Jeremy Gadd.
‘Fundamentally JGA and Telos share the same values. Intuitively the client is our focus. We’re at our best doing interesting and rewarding work – and interesting and rewarding is what this year has been.’
Telos’s Managing Partner Adam Campbell agrees.
‘It’s been affirming. We share values and our commitment to supporting co-owned businesses throughout their employee ownership (EO) journey. Our approaches complement each other and we draw on our respective strengths.
‘The biggest challenge has been how to describe succinctly the breadth and depth of support we can provide to clients as they shape, transition, embed, energise and renew the elements of successful EO.’
Introducing our new employee ownership client offer
‘Our [new] joint proposition puts the client at the centre of what we do in a way that’s authentic to both Telos and JGA. It enables us to use our wealth of business experience to benefit clients by unlocking active, responsible ownership’
Alex Bloom, Partner at Telos Partners
Telos Partner Alex Bloom confirms that Telos and JGA’s experience of supporting others through change has influenced our own approach.
‘It’s also given us pause for thought as we use this opportunity to redefine how we best serve the needs of the employee ownership sector,’ he says.
‘Our joint proposition puts the client at the centre of what we do in a way that’s authentic to both Telos and JGA. It enables us to use our wealth of business experience to benefit clients by unlocking active, responsible ownership.
‘I’ve already seen our impact. The prospect of doing this at a greater scale is genuinely exciting.’
So here it is: our new joint proposition.
It’s for you if you’re thinking of becoming employee-owned as part of your succession planning – or are already employee-owned. Whatever your company’s size, sector, challenge or change, we hope you feel as excited as we do at the opportunity that lies ahead.
Unlocking benefit: How we support employee-owned businesses
Telos’s Alex Bloom at work with an employee-owned client this summer
We work with owners, leaders, boards, teams and representative bodies to unlock the benefits of being employee-owned.
In practice, this means that whatever your company’s size, sector or stage of EO, we work with you to deliver better business results through Great EO. Here’s how.
We…
understand the leadership, cultural, commercial and governance challenges of transitioning and realising EO’s benefits
can assess the health and strength of your EO using the EO Framework developed with the eoa
enable you to shape, transition, embed, energise, and renew (STEER) the elements of successful EO in your business and achieve sustainable success.
Adding value: What we do for employee-owned businesses
Jeremy (left) and Alex on their way to support an EO client
Successful employee ownership doesn’t just happen. It takes time, thought and energy to get ‘right’ and sustain its vitality in the longer term.
Working with you, our team can help by:
Establishing effective trust boards, leadership teams and representative bodies and voice groups
Bringing about improved engagement, stronger ownership cultures and developing your employee owners to deliver EO’s advantage
Improving your approach to strategy and innovation to build more resilient businesses
Delivering better results for all your stakeholders and your business
Enabling individuals to network and share best practice
Supporting Independent Trustee recruitment and career transitions of founders
Supporting effective leadership and succession within key roles
Realising potential: Why choose Telos and JGA for your employee-owned business?
Jeremy facilitating a session with a client business which has recently transitioned to EO
As the UK’s employee ownership sector has grown, so has the range of professional consultants out there. Commercially, businesses face a hard economic climate and budgets are tight. So why choose us?
First, our commitment to you.
We believe in employee ownership’s potential to create successful, sustainable organisations that generate and more fairly distribute wealth. We believe in the future and here for the long term.
Second, our people.
We bring knowledge, skill and a practical understanding of how to realise your business potential through EO. We draw on Telos’s 25 years of working with a wide range of organisations and JGA’s 10 years of supporting 100-plus transitions to EO.
Third, our approach. We listen, clarify, enable, support – we ‘work with’ rather than ‘do to’, creating bespoke solutions vs prescribed.
Finally, we are clear about the value we offer – delivering agreed outcomes and impact for a fixed fee.
Speaking your language: What our clients say about us
We may only just have started working together, but our teams have their own track record of success.
Clients describe us as straightforward, approachable and enjoyable to work with. They say we speak in a language they understand and are ‘honest about bumps in the road’. We’ve been called the ‘people’ people of EO.
Enlightening, energising and worthwhile are just three of the words they’ve used. Our clients gain personal/professional growth alongside business solutions – and the confidence to do something different in the years ahead.
The results we create for employee-owned businesses
Here’s the change we bring at a glance. We work with you and your business to:
Shape – assess and diagnose the status of your EO, define your desired destination and establish your roadmap for successful EO
Transition – implement your roadmap for successful EO, equipping and empowering your people and business through the process
Embed – take stock of progress and learning, identify enablers and blockers and ensure the foundations in place are built upon and strengthened
Energise – leverage your employee ownership as you aspire, plan and take your business to the next level
Renew – leverage your EO as you adapt to the business opportunities and challenges presented by a changing world and leadership succession
Next steps if you’re exploring employee ownership for your business or are already employee-owned
So if you’re exploring employee ownership as part of your succession planning – or are already on your employee ownership journey but feeling ‘stuck’– what should you do next?
Come and meet our team on JGA and Telos Partners’ Platinum Exhibitor stand and join our workshops at the eoa conference on 26-27 November 2024.
Find out more and book your tickets here
Don’t want to wait? Get in touch with us now to arrange a no obligation meeting with JGA and Telos Partners’ knowledgeable employee ownership team.