What are companies doing with regards to 'Leadership'

The company has a senior management team with a very open and honest attitude, and particularly that the Founding Partners live and breathe the values, and demonstrate them. It starts with the welcome induction from their founder. They do lots to support and engender a push towards innovation and being remarkable; tangible initiatives like the Tech Bench (an area that holds pioneering edge tech gadgets that aids our research and development) to intangible things as having a simply open door policy for advice. The company focus less on departments and instead on small ‘pods' of people who are committed to a project from start to completion. The small teams approach extends beyond client projects and into agency operations where responsibility is devolved down to the level of the people on the ground to make decisions they seem appropriate. Each quarter the senior management team host a compulsory attendance company gathering.

The company has weekly departmental meeting for staff to become empowered with the freedom of idea and knowledge share in the agency. Monthly open door sessions are held with HR on an informal basis and follow up meetings and progress reports are produced to that staff can see their opinion counts. The company believes an open culture promotes a feeling of freedom. A programme called AnalogFolk Labs gives all staff an opportunity to spend part of their time working on innovation projects of their own. In addition to being a big morale boost, they have found AnalogFolk Labs to be a great way to keep the mind sharp, not to mention produce a few incredible products along the way.

The Senior Management Team takes pride in demonstrating the company values through their own behaviour and leading by example. The 2014 Employee survey showed that communication of future Company plans by the Senior Management Team to all staff inspired people in the workforce to perform well. Their approach and the employee's confidence in the Senior Management Team gets the best from their people. They have an excellent approach to open and honest communication – no-one fears voicing an opinion or challenging ‘the norm'. All Senior Managers have an open door policy. Quarterly staff meetings are held to keep everyone abreast of both Company and Fairfax group information, company performance, financial figures and other relative industry news. They also have weekly underwriting meetings to share and discuss progress, business wins, etc.

Investment in people is paramount to the organisation and its success. Having a budget to spend on staff development is as important as a budget for IT, facilities, etc. The current annual Learning and Development budget is in the region of £300,000. As part of the performance review process a learning and development plan is designed for each member of staff for the forthcoming 12 months. These plans typically include skill development, technology, professional education and qualifications, coaching and mentoring, management development, overseas secondments. They also invest in the Emerging Talent Programme and in 2014 developed and introduced the Advent Graduate Programme, which offers an 18 months placement with a structured training and development timetable which encompasses secondment in each area of the business. Financial support is given to all employees studying for all relevant professional qualifications, which includes paid study leave and time for examinations. Requests are welcome from staff for any qualifications or external training courses that they feel would enhance their personal development and/or the business. The company pays for annual professional membership fees and training courses are regularly held and run by external providers for development of the Managers. At the beginning of each year the Senior Management team goes off site for a three day strategic business planning and objective setting seminar which ensures that business and personal development objectives are aligned to support the overall business objectives and goal.

Mark Brown, Managing Director, hosts quarterly improvement meetings with the objective of meeting the challenges consultants face on a day-to-day basis. Each representative canvases their colleagues for challenges and suggestions which are communicated at the meeting. Action points and minutes are distributed with timelines for suggestions that can be implemented. The quarterly Marketing forums allow consultants to feed back ideas they have about that aspect of the business. They also have a suggestions box. All suggestions are taken seriously and many of them have been implemented as a result.

Mark Brown, Managing Director, hosts quarterly improvement meetings with the objective of meeting the challenges consultants face on a day-to-day basis. Each representative canvases their colleagues for challenges and suggestions which are communicated at the meeting. Action points and minutes are distributed with timelines for suggestions that can be implemented. The quarterly Marketing forums allow consultants to feed back ideas they have about that aspect of the business. They also have a suggestions box. All suggestions are taken seriously and many of them have been implemented as a result.

The manner in which UKRD operates and are required to do so by the company's core values necessitate operating in a way that aligns their management style and how they manage with company's values.

Every year UKRD hold full day training events for every team across the company which focuses upon their core values and ambitions and in addition, at each location, business teams are also taken out of their environments for team building days whether it be survival training, sailing or a day at the races.

THCH's Leader (CEO) engages with all staff, he takes the time to get to know each and every one one of the staff. He meets new starters and personally takes them on an induction tour and then off to an informal lunch so that he can get to know the person. He has an open door policy and has been operating an “Afternoon Tea with the CEO” which is an opportunity for each and everyone of the staff to sit informally and speak to him. He has a presence and is always available to everyone to talk too. He delivers the customer care training so that all staff know what he and the organisation expects, in relation to the service that is provided to their residents. The CEO delivers Quarterly Briefings which updates staff on current legislation, gives praise and information on service delivery. He is passionate about Housing and the Community which filters through to staff making him an inspirational leader. He leads by example and encourages staff development. He see the organisation as a family and invited each and every one of his staff and their partners to celebrate his 50th birthday – the venue was packed which shows that staff want to engage with him. The staff away day team building activity is his personal idea and staff are encouraged to compete for prizes. Even members of staff that have passed away in service, have been remembered by having a plaque and rosebush in their memory. Some have had a park and a block of flats named after them.

THCH has a number of initiatives in place aiming to deliver health, wellbeing, educational attainment and community cohesion. Some of these include: Employment and Training - through their partnership work with local providers and support to groups such as The Rooted Forum and Employment First, a number of training and capacity building programmes have been delivered to residents throughout 2013/14. Those who attended the sessions received detailed help and assistance. Debt and Welfare Advice - THCH continued to work with agencies, such as St Peter's Community & Advice Centre in Bethnal Green, providing debt, welfare and financial advice. Health & Wellbeing - a number of groups using the company's centres provide regular weekly health and welling activities, such as Zumba, martial arts and football – through to equally as enjoyable, but less energetic activities such as bingo and coffee mornings where residents can meet and gain help, support and friendship from each other. THCH have also maintained a number of health and wellbeing outreach sessions providing advise ranging from the cancer awareness workshops through to hosting events by the Tower Hamlets Food Growing Network, a local network of community food growers in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets providing advice on not just growing your own, but eating a balance and healthy diet. THCH were also delighted to receive £50,000 Sport England funding for an Outdoor Gym at the Cameron Best Park in Bethnal Green, which was opened by Olympic Gold Medallist, James DeGale in November 2013.

Denis Nolan is an exceptional leader with an entrepreneurial vision. He is widely recognised as a pioneer of solving complex construction challenges. Denis has ensured that the Toureen culture is led by integrity and family principles. As well as being a ‘hands on' Managing Director, he often closely supports several projects and the team. Denis is a demanding perfectionist for health and safety and this has led not only to his team's well-being but several industry awards. A true philanthropist himself, he supports many UK Charities both within and outside the industry. He is very generous in spirit and giving and ensures there is an open door policy. He is always available, listens and genuinely cares. He knows the name of everyone of his employees and remembers and takes genuine interest in them as people. He sees his team's talents and skills and supports them to achieve their successes.

Supporting school breakfasts with donations, sponsoring local sports activities, apprenticeship schemes and Toureen ensure local people in all regions their sites are based in, have the chance to work on Toureen Projects. They also supported a community outreach activity for a local school they were working on. They built a 'skip garden' for the students so they were able to grow, nurture and harvest organic produce on the school grounds. They sank the skip into the ground and built a walkway around it using recycled materials.

TMW have an on-going programme of leadership development for the Management Board, comprising of up to 5 full off-site away day sessions over a period of 12 months, devised specifically to help create a more cohesive, empowered leadership team. Content typically covers everything from interactive sessions in the work environment, through to external team-building activities from treasure hunts to fact-finding exercises. Their Summer party last year was also heavily weighted on team building, as they had different groups working together creatively to produce the best photos during their ‘Instagram hunt'. The company also hosted a Pumpkin carving competition on Halloween, where each department had to work on carving a pumpkin together – and the quality of what was presented was outstanding!

TMW's founding partner and Group CEO, Richard Marshall, has an unusually honest and open style which makes people feel empowered and truly part of the business. There's a TV series called Back to the Shop Floor but in truth, Richard spends as much time on the shop floor as he does in Executive Board meetings! If, for example, a pitch opportunity comes in and it's all hands to the deck, Richard throws himself at it without any questions. This inspires respect from those around him and a desire to go the extra mile for him. He genuinely cares about people in the business and has a knack of knowing most of the detail of what's going on. He's also very intuitive, quickly spotting when things aren't quite right, either at the level of an individual or more broadly, in business matters. He's been described in an article in the trade press as 'one of the nicest people in the business' and most of TMW would agree with this.

All of the Directors, in both offices, sit in the open plan space with the wider team at The Test People. This allows for collaboration and communication and a closer relationship with employees. The Senior Management Team are prominent sources of expertise in the TTP Community and also the wider testing community. The SMT commitment to the values has also recently been illustrated by the agreement to include the company values in the new Talent Management framework, which will soon be launched. This will ensure that the values are prominent and reinforced by all of the company's managers to their teams during performance chats. The main way in which the SMT promote their values is to lead by example. At Director level, there is a strong commitment to creativity and ensuring TTP are at the forefront of new initiatives within Testing. Senior Management also empower their teams to work autonomously and find new solutions to complex technical and testing challenges.

All of the Directors, in both offices, sit in the open plan space with the wider team at The Test People. This allows for collaboration and communication and a closer relationship with employees. The Senior Management Team are prominent sources of expertise in the TTP Community and also the wider testing community. The SMT commitment to the values has also recently been illustrated by the agreement to include the company values in the new Talent Management framework, which will soon be launched. This will ensure that the values are prominent and reinforced by all of the company's managers to their teams during performance chats. The main way in which the SMT promote their values is to lead by example. At Director level, there is a strong commitment to creativity and ensuring TTP are at the forefront of new initiatives within Testing. Senior Management also empower their teams to work autonomously and find new solutions to complex technical and testing challenges.

In September 2014, The Marketing Practice took the whole company to the Bluestone National Park, Pembrokeshire, Wales for a superb 5* 2 day team build event; themed "The Purple Dragon Games". They had 4 house teams and created a magical, memorable 'Harry Potter' adventure, starting with a sorting hat event to decide their houses. The spirit of the theme ran ahead of the games, during the games and created stories and memories that will live long in staff's memories. Zip wire, tug-of-war, archery, a blind fold assault course, shelter building, ball hurling and forest battles are just a few of the activities during the days. Add to that a BBQ in a ravine and a fancy dress gala dinner where their favourite magical tunes played into the small hours, it is fair to say they had a fabulous time, learnt new things about each other and discovered new skills within themselves.

In September 2014, The Marketing Practice took the whole company to the Bluestone National Park, Pembrokeshire, Wales for a superb 5* 2 day team build event; themed "The Purple Dragon Games". They had 4 house teams and created a magical, memorable 'Harry Potter' adventure, starting with a sorting hat event to decide their houses. The spirit of the theme ran ahead of the games, during the games and created stories and memories that will live long in staff's memories. Zip wire, tug-of-war, archery, a blind fold assault course, shelter building, ball hurling and forest battles are just a few of the activities during the days. Add to that a BBQ in a ravine and a fancy dress gala dinner where their favourite magical tunes played into the small hours, it is fair to say they had a fabulous time, learnt new things about each other and discovered new skills within themselves.

Jenrick believe the term work life balance is an out dated expression, due to the fact that they now live in a world where they are constantly connected through their mobile, email and other electronic devices. As such, Jenrick believes that the expression ‘work/life integration' is a far more appropriate term to describe a modern working environment, simply because an individual's personal life and work commitments will constantly overlap. For this reason, they seek to enhance the wellbeing of employees by being flexible in their approach to working hours. For example, employees who are parents often need to adapt their working hours so they can attend school events such as morning assemblies, sports days and parents evenings. Jenrick are always accommodating when circumstances like this arise. They're not clock watchers and have built a strong culture of trust where it's more about getting the job done, rather than set working hours. They know that if people deal with their personal issues at the time, this will result in them being much more focussed and effective in their work.

Through schemes such as ‘Jenrick's Helping Hand' and the ‘Jenrick Charity Photo Calendar', the company donates in excess of £2,000 per year to charitable causes nominated by staff and the local community. The ‘Helping Hand' charity initiative is run each year and enables any member of staff to nominate a charitable cause that they would like Jenrick to donate £1,000 towards. Once all the nominations are received, an online voting system enables every individual member of the company to decide which cause they believe merits the award. For every additional pound given in personal staff donations Jenrick also doubles the amounts. Every year, The Jenrick Group create a ‘charity photo calendar competition' allowing candidates, clients and their own staff to enter in photos based on a theme. The competition is now in its sixth year and has already raised thousands of pounds to a large number of charitable causes. The final 12 winning photographs are featured in Jenrick's calendar and each winner receives £100 to donate to a charity of their choice. These schemes are so unique to Jenrick, and for a company of their size, it's quite remarkable how much money they have raised over the last few years, often raising awareness for lesser known charities. It would be very easy to 'follow the norm' and nominate a designated charity each year, however, because Jenrick's values are built around ‘People', having two schemes that allow individuals to nominate charities very close to their hearts adds far more meaning.