“
The Trustees were great and they got it – they’re everything Jeremy Gadd said they needed to be. They are a confident group and they coped well with the sudden change because we had started to bond when we did the training. It prepared us to work together as a group.
”
Jon Grantham
Energising newly-formed Trustee Boards
Jon Grantham, MD of employee-owned environmental consultancy LUC, explains how JGA’s support galvanised the effectiveness of its newly-formed Trustee Board.
Finding the right person
“In 2018, we had 34 employee shareholders – so we’ve always been employee-owned in that respect – but some of our shareholders were thinking about retirement. An Employee Ownership Trust emerged as our favoured option for the future and, in April 2019, we got ourselves in a position to transfer. I was appointed Managing Director at the same time and formally took over in September 2019. I knew a lot of my time through to January 2020 – when we planned to transfer – would be taken up by Trust matters. I was thrown into detail, ploughing through legal and tax stuff. In late September I went to an event where Jeremy Gadd was one of the speakers. I was interested in what he had to say but I was not sure whether he was the person I needed. I joined a breakout group about managing a transfer and met one of Jeremy’s Associates – and that led to me getting in touch to see if they could help.”
Insight and understanding
“Jeremy came to our offices in London and we fired questions at him. He showed an insight and understanding of Trustee Boards, based on his experience from being a Trustee for two employee-owned businesses.
At LUC, we had invited everyone to apply for a Trustee position and we appointed three employee Trustees to sit on our new Board alongside me as Managing Director, the Finance and Operations Director and a non-executive Chair. I was acutely aware that we were already open and transparent as a company; for me, the real thing that was going to be different was the change of management structure. All of a sudden, I was going to be running a very different organisation to the one I was leading and had been with for more than 30 years.
I needed to know about Trustees and their responsibilities – and Jeremy just seemed to understand that.”
LUC team on site at the University of Northampton
“
The new Trustee Board has started working very effectively in unexpectedly challenging circumstances. The training delivered by JGA has helped create a confident and informed group, who have responded to these challenges extremely well, and added clear value to our governance and decision making.
”
Sue Sharland - LUC Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees
Tumbling Bay: a new play, leisure and learning experience of international renown
Thoughtful training
“We asked Jeremy to deliver a bespoke day of training for our new Trustee Board and it was clear that he’d thought deeply about what we needed. The training was run by Jeremy and Associate Lisa, who has experience as a governance professional, and it was a good day. They were often telling us stuff we already knew, but not in a patronising way. For me, the best way to learn is when someone holds a mirror up to you, and that is what they were doing. Afterwards, we got a report of the day, which was helpful, and we had a couple of conversations about Jeremy observing a ghost Trustee meeting and giving us other support… but then the Coronavirus pandemic happened. Everything was different and we switched our emphasis from the company’s five-year strategy to just getting through it.”
Everything they needed to be
“I wrote in the draft Terms of Reference for the Trustee Board to meet three times a year, but we met three times in March 2020 – because of the circumstances – to make significant decisions really quickly. The Trustees were great and they got it – they’re everything Jeremy said they needed to be. They are a confident group and they coped well with the sudden change because we had started to bond when we did the training. It prepared us to work together as a group. We got J Gadd Associates involved late in our Trust process but they were precise, attentive and did what we asked them to do – and did it really well. Having to put the learning into practice so quickly demonstrated that it was a worthwhile investment.”
Summary
J Gadd Associates (JGA) began working with LUC in early 2020 when the company needed support with its new Trustee Board. Associates ran a bespoke “Creating an effective Trustee Board” workshop, speaking to each Trustee in advance to identify concerns and desired outcomes, and delivered a follow-up report with activity planner.
About LUC
LUC is an award-winning environmental consultancy providing planning, impact assessment, landscape design, ecology and geospatial services to a range of public and private sector clients. With more than 50 years’ experience and a team of 190 skilled professionals, it became fully employee-owned in January 2020.
