We are seasoned advisors, expert facilitators, trainers, and coaches. With a deep understanding of employee ownership and human dynamics, we integrate ownership into every facet of the employee journey and organizational life. As an employee-owned firm ourselves since our founding in 1995, we have assisted hundreds of ESOP, cooperative, and other shared-ownership companies to align leadership, strategy, and culture and cultivate flourishing, resilient businesses. We help clients strengthen the connection between employee awareness and effort, company performance, and the long-term rewards of shared ownership in both human and financial terms.
We start by listening. We aim to understand your company’s origins, how you have evolved, and where you want to take the company to support its long-term sustainability. As organization development experts, we work with you to see the whole picture and identify what you need to move you forward.
Employee-Owner Communication and Education
Our interactive sessions teach employees to think and act like owners, so they can understand the ESOP, how the business makes money and how that translates into stock value, and how to channel their efforts to strengthen company performance.
For new employee-owned companies, we help company leaders identify the best combination of “continuity themes” – what do we most want to preserve under employee ownership – together with “change themes” – what do we most want and need to change to become the best version of ourselves. Then, we advise leaders in planning how best to announce the news, understand how to leverage the performance potential of employee ownership, and planning and delivering the right levels of employee-owner education.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Ownership
Shared ownership and belonging go hand in hand. A true ownership culture is one where people of all backgrounds can feel welcomed, valued, respected, and heard. We integrate DEIO across your company, creating a culture where everyone can thrive and contribute to the company’s success.
Ownership Culture Committees
Effective culture committees play an important role in driving an ownership culture. We kickstart the process with defining their purpose and authority, member selection, training, charter refinement, goal setting, and action planning, then provide ongoing support through coaching, education, and retreat facilitation.
Culture Assessment and Planning
What does shared ownership mean for your culture? We assess what’s working and where leaders and employee-owners see opportunities for improvement. Together, we outline a collaborative plan to strengthen behaviors, structures, and processes that build a high-involvement culture.
Driving Innovation and Continuous Improvement
Employee-owners closest to the work often provide the best ideas for improvement and efficiency. We build employee-focused innovation systems that drive change through enhancing processes, creating effective structures, and strengthening skills in order to foster a creative, high-participation culture.
Succession Planning
We determine current and future leadership needs for critical roles, assess internal candidates, develop talent, and support successful leadership transitions at all levels.
Executive Assessment
We assess senior leaders' qualities, potential, strengths, and areas for improvement, and recommend development paths for success.
Senior Team Development
We build senior teams' skills, knowledge, and relationships to improve company performance and encourage collective responsibility.
Leadership Development
We customize leadership development programs for executives, managers, supervisors, and individual contributors to build leadership skills and a culture of shared ownership at all levels.
Leadership Coaching and Assessment
We coach individuals, groups, and teams, using assessments and goal-setting to build on strengths and accelerate development.
Governance and Board Development
The best governance systems ensure proper oversight to support accountability both to your company’s purpose and core values as well as to financial value creation on behalf of shareholders, in particular employee-owners. We clarify board, shareholder, and executive leadership roles, help establish committees, and provide ongoing governance support.
Strategic Planning
An effective planning process defines your company’s purpose and future direction, sets clear priorities, and motivates people to action. We engage employee-owners to tap into their ideas and insights. We guide leadership in envisioning the future, making decisions, and establishing a plan.
Organization Design
Structure supports strategy. Through thoughtful stakeholder engagement, insightful analysis, and creative design exercises, we help you to refine and reimagine your organizational structure.
Change Management
Change is necessary for implementing your strategy and thriving in today’s dynamic environment. We support the plan development, stakeholder engagement, communication, and training for adapting to the future.
Meeting Facilitation
Our interactive meeting facilitation supports learning, idea-generation, problem-solving, planning, conflict resolution, and decision-making. These meetings can be large or small, hybrid, virtual, or in-person.
