What are companies doing with regards to 'Leadership'

Their homes represent one in every 10 households in North Devon, a picturesque holiday destination masking the real levels of significant deprivation in the area. As a community landlord much of their social responsibility is delivered through their community development activities. This work focuses around young people with estate-based youth clubs acting as a platform for interventions aimed at increasing educational aspirations, building resilience and assisting in the transition from school to work. The company can proudly state that 100% of the young people within the project have found paid employment and/or college places when leaving school. Their work is well documented within the independent evaluation undertaken by St Mark & St John University (December 2014). Dr Cooper remarked “The developing young communities approach is clearly influenced at leadership level by NDH's commitment to ‘create communities where people want to live'.” Within the evaluation links are also made with their family work in the wider community where they tackle debt, fuel and food poverty and social exclusion. Partners recognise their commitment to their social responsibility, acknowledging they deliver evidenced impact and value for money.

North Devon Homes believe that “culture” and “business objectives” require equal investment to enable them to deliver their vision. They invest a great deal of their leadership time on getting the culture right and have developed “Team ndh” as their culture. Team ndh drives the values, leadership, training and is “the way they do things ”. The company overlay this with their business objectives. They use Great Game of Business principles to help them embed this approach, Principles are based on the belief that to achieve success every employee should: understand the numbers enough to know what business success looks like, be expected and enabled to act on their knowledge to improve performance and have a direct stake in the company's success and risk of failure.

Employee Connect Nationwide has a group of 1,000+ employees called Employee Connect. The virtual group influence business decisions by being consulted on ongoing issues including product design, service improvements, marketing and employee campaigns. The company creates bespoke employee apps to foster greater interaction. For the Annual Awards 2015, the event app had 96% of employee finalists logged in, 796 photos posted, 969 comments, 1,232 status updates, 4,274 likes and over 55,000 visits. The retail division comprises 9,000 employees across 700+ branches and sites. To connect those employees the company have created a Virtual Retail Expo, which enables people to have a better understanding of what other Retail teams do, key contacts, latest news and product information. Corporate cascade Nationwide's five year Corporate Plan is announced internally in April each year. Following a leadership conference for the top 800 leaders, the corporate plan is then cascaded through every division, department and team within the business over a 6 week period. So every one of our 17,000 employees receives a face to face presentation on our latest business strategy.

Employee Connect Nationwide has a group of 1,000+ employees called Employee Connect. The virtual group influence business decisions by being consulted on ongoing issues including product design, service improvements, marketing and employee campaigns. The company creates bespoke employee apps to foster greater interaction. For the Annual Awards 2015, the event app had 96% of employee finalists logged in, 796 photos posted, 969 comments, 1,232 status updates, 4,274 likes and over 55,000 visits. The retail division comprises 9,000 employees across 700+ branches and sites. To connect those employees the company have created a Virtual Retail Expo, which enables people to have a better understanding of what other Retail teams do, key contacts, latest news and product information. Corporate cascade Nationwide's five year Corporate Plan is announced internally in April each year. Following a leadership conference for the top 800 leaders, the corporate plan is then cascaded through every division, department and team within the business over a 6 week period. So every one of our 17,000 employees receives a face to face presentation on our latest business strategy.

The hours of work are 8:45 - 16:45 which enables them to miss a lot of rush hour traffic to get valuable time at home. They also provide hot drinks, cold drinks, biscuits, fruit, occasional lunches, salad dressings, and small things to offer a home from home environment. They have recently had a large office refurbishment which has enabled them to create an environment which allows people a better work environment. There are several areas for privacy, relaxing and thinking to encourage people time away from their desks.

The company communicates the organisation's Primary Purpose (Mission), Core Principles (Values) and Outrageous Ambition (Vision) to employees at inductions and display it on internal boards, and at training academies.

Every Friday morning they have an all agency meeting. It's an opportunity to share what's going on in the agency, welcome new joiners, allow teams to share the work they're doing for clients and a forum for parish notices. All accompanied by a free bacon / egg sandwich and a hot cup of tea! It's great for encouraging inter-department relationships and is just a great way to end the week. The last Thursday before payday is 'Thirsty Thursday' when a member of the management team chooses a venue and invites the agency out for a few drinks. It's timely because many people are short of funds and it's a good opportunity for people to socialise and unwind together. 'What's going on?' is an email summary contributed to by anyone in the team, a weekly snapshot of the culture, successes, people and news at the agency. Normally compiled by the CEO or another member of the management team it's sent to everyone at the end of the week so if you've been away or busy on a project you can keep in touch with all the goings on.

The values at mcgarrybowen are defined by the behaviour of the management team in all aspects of running the business. Those values are respect, honesty, openness and an inclusive, collaborative spirit. The team challenge themselves to fulfil these values every day in all dealings both with the broader team and their clients. They actively seek feedback on what they're doing as a company and listen. They empower their people to make decisions and encourage people to excel and grow.

Liquid's directors do not have separate offices; they work alongside staff in open plan offices, on the same banks of desks as managers, consultants, trainees and apprentices. They ensure that they are visible throughout the business, and as accessible and approachable as possible. The interview process for any new staff joining Liquid always includes at least one of Liquid's directors at some stage. All recruitment consultants who join the business will face a final interview with their managing directors. The board works hard to speak to potential new employees, to communicate their vision for the future of the business and to really promote the opportunities that are available. The directors hold whole company briefings in the office each month, bringing all staff together in one open space to hear about individual, team and companywide successes, competition winners and major developments. They also personally introduce any new starters who have joined the business and discuss targets and plans for the coming month. The directors developed the internal training programme and occasionally run their own training sessions.

Liquid's directors do not have separate offices; they work alongside staff in open plan offices, on the same banks of desks as managers, consultants, trainees and apprentices. They ensure that they are visible throughout the business, and as accessible and approachable as possible. The interview process for any new staff joining Liquid always includes at least one of Liquid's directors at some stage. All recruitment consultants who join the business will face a final interview with their managing directors. The board works hard to speak to potential new employees, to communicate their vision for the future of the business and to really promote the opportunities that are available. The directors hold whole company briefings in the office each month, bringing all staff together in one open space to hear about individual, team and companywide successes, competition winners and major developments. They also personally introduce any new starters who have joined the business and discuss targets and plans for the coming month. The directors developed the internal training programme and occasionally run their own training sessions.

Every month they bring the company together from up and down the country for a knowledge exchange to give different departments the opportunity to update the rest of the team on what's going on in their world. Apart from day-to-day team interactions, their "Dragon's Den" concept is a good example of how LHH works together as a team. Every year employees are put into cross-functional groups and asked to come up with an idea that will either help solve a problem for a client or make LHH a better place to work. The group is given time to work together on creating a ‘big idea' and how they would envisage executing their plan. At LHH UK's annual conference they are asked to present their idea to the Global Head of Strategy and four of their clients, who act as the "Dragon's". The room is set up like Dragon's Den and the Dragons have £15,000 to invest in the idea. The purpose of this initiative is to facilitate true innovation across the business whilst encouraging employees to build and sustain strong cross-functional working relationships.

Staff truly believe in making a difference for every person they help. Over 98% of people understand and believe in the LHH purpose (taken from 2015 engagement survey). All of their values are up on posters throughout the office and in every meeting room. All new employees are shown these core values and vision statements when they join the company and are often tested on them. Throughout the year, staff congratulate other employees using key values. It could be that they completed a difficult project with a smile on their face, or they showed initiative and made something happen - they are praised and congratulated at LHH and all link back to the company values. The company values are on tote bags and mugs around the office.

All managers receive external one to one coaching on a monthly basis. They can use this time to process any issue they wish, it is entirely confidential and for their own personal and professional development. The company have delivered a year long programme of world class speakers to work closely with their senior management team. In order to support their Financial Controller the company engaged a part time Finance Director to mentor her through a period of growth and planning. Their marketing executive has been put through a CIM Certificate funded by the company and supported with paid study days. The senior management team run their own diaries and know that the company place great value on their personal and family lives. They believe that to alleviate stress at senior level it is important that they are present at children's sports days, partner's hospital appointments, school plays and all those things that being present at hopefully give one a really great work-life balance. They do not expect a 9-5 culture, they expect a high performing team who delivers on the goals and objectives of their business and their happiness is key to that. The company treat them like grown-ups and they behave like them -it is a culture of mutual respect.

By not providing a covered smoking area anywhere on or near their site and offering a financial incentive of £100 after 6 months of being cigarette free and another £100 6 months later, the company believe they do as much as possible to deter their employees from smoking and the aim is to provide a positive and supportive environment to do this in. In a similar vein Kelly's Self Storage removed all their vending machines and replaced them with free, fresh fruit deliveries and equipped a full kitchen with ovens, hobs, pans, pots, knives, aprons, chopping boards - the works! - so that staff were able to prepare fresh food from scratch should they wish. Their staff offer each other their training abilities and support when undertaking any of their Charity events. From helping someone who hadn't been on a bike since they were 12 to undertake a 45 mile to running a marathon, their employees have buddied up and supported each other all the way. A sporting theme runs through most things they do at Kelly's so even their family fun days are full of (very competitive) volleyball games, extreme rounders, tugs of war and football bulldog. The company recently brought physios and masseurs in house for all of their staff. The company encourage an active, healthy lifestyle as part of their culture and it is self-perpetuating because they then attract people who are looking to or already pursue this type of lifestyle.

At Gerald Eve LLP they have a 'staff profit share' in place which rewards employees for their contribution over each financial year, the reward is driven by firm, team and individual performance to engage employees at all levels in contributing to the wider firm. This bonus rewards the employees' efforts across a range of skills and behaviours, not purely their financial contribution.

At Gerald Eve LLP they seek to enhance the wellbeing of their employees physically and emotionally, both inside and outside of work, and help them plan for their future. To aid their employees financial wellbeing the company run tailored financial education sessions by age group to assist them with each stage in their life - this financial education strategy has been nominated in two awards ceremonies this year for best Financial Education Strategy. In conjunction with the education strategy Gerald Eve LLP provide benefits that help their employees through life events such as moving home. They are one of few employers who provide an interest free Rental Deposit Loan to staff which can especially help graduates when moving to a new city. To enhance their employees physical welfare, employees have access to private medical insurance and wellness days so they can understand their key health metrics and seek advice on them. The company's private medical insurance provides incentives and assistance to stop smoking and to become healthier. The wellbeing of staff is of the upmost importance to the firm and their policies and practices are designed with this in mind. A bi-annual Firm Away day demonstrates this commitment by enabling all employees to meet each other, get to know each other outside of the office and build relationships, cementing the values and culture of the organisation that promotes and enhances our employees wellbeing.

Last year Gemini People spent a large portion of their profit on training their managers and hired an external business coach to work with managers on a 1-2-1 basis and in group sessions. The company now have a formal training programme for all of their managers which runs on a monthly basis. The training is spread out over 12 months and covers everything from learning about “emotional intelligence” through to “what does it mean to be a leader?” The training is being facilitated by the company's Head of Talent, the Directors and the CEO and they have also appointed an external training company. The company also decided to split the management team into two groups so that managers are working in small groups and getting lots of attention in these sessions. Gemini People have recently rolled out a new review process and have been running one to one sessions with each of the managers on how to implement this process with their teams. Gemini People believe that everyone is an individual and one size does not fit all so they are conscious about this when it comes to training.

With a nurturing ethos that supersedes any sense of hierarchy in the business, the senior management team at Gemini People are committed to leading the company through collaboration, fun, inspiration and integrity. They hold Friday wrap-up meetings for the whole company, where they publicly recognise the week's best efforts in the office. They are the first people in the office each morning and the last people to leave at night, they hold regular cross-team meetings, where they share client information and they also run a host of training courses to up-skill everyone in the company. They are always the first to be involved in Gemini CSR initiatives, they have an open door policy and are always there to talk to. The senior management team at Gemini People also lead by example and are the top performers in the business. They would never ask a team member to do something they wouldn't do themselves (even clean the kitchen on their team's day on the rota!) and they frequently use WhatsApp as a quick way to chat about any issues their team members have out of hours.

G Adventures has 25 community projects in the destinations their travellers visit. They have just committed to launching another 50 projects in the next five years. All 50 social enterprise projects – known collectively as G Adventures for Good projects - are under development by G Adventures and its non-profit organisation, Planeterra Foundation. Together they will invest more than CAD$5-million in social enterprises over the next five years. G Adventures is constantly evaluating potential new G Adventures; For Good projects and these are selected according to the biggest impact in terms of community benefit and traveller numbers. The projects are primarily located in communities where indigenous people, women and youth have been disadvantaged by a lack of access to education, jobs and income opportunities.

On Friday night at The Summit (G Adventures' London office) they host regular live news shows, with all news from G Adventures, both people in the London office and G Nation around the world. It is hosted by The Monarchy, four team members who are the ambassadors of culture at The Summit. It includes news updates, sporting events for the office, upcoming global events, birthdays and shout-outs for the team. The CoC is the Circle of Chat which happens afterwards, where drinks and chit chat are shared.