{"id":31,"date":"2020-07-09T10:44:53","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T10:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-353908-1371027.cloudwaysapps.com\/?page_id=31"},"modified":"2020-09-10T09:42:50","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T09:42:50","slug":"who-do-i-work-with","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/services\/who-do-i-work-with\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Do I Work With?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who do I work with?<\/h1>\n<\/div>
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Although I\u2019ve worked extensively in large corporates and the public sector, my real professional focus over the last decade has been mid-sized organisations.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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> Privately Owned Businesses<\/a>
\n> Family Business<\/a>
\n> Professional Services<\/a>
\n> Not For Profit<\/a>
\n> Scaling<\/a>
\n> Turnaround<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Privately Owned Businesses.<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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My typical client is a medium-sized, privately owned business which is large and complex enough to have a professional senior management team and employs between a hundred and a few thousand people, though some are smaller. I\u2019ve been involved with sectors as diverse as contract catering, renewable energy, property management and IT. Some businesses are still led by the founder while others have been sold on or are backed by private equity.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Talk to me today about support for privately owned businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Family Business.<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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I got involved with family businesses almost by accident when someone referred a family business client to me. The combination of business and family dynamics is rather irresistible to a psychologist. I was trained by a family business organisation to understand more about governance issues. I have been involved in succession planning, developing the next generation and in supporting non-family managers within the senior team.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t badge myself as a family business adviser. I find that my clients are always interested to know what would happen in a business like theirs if it was not a family business and that broader perspective is useful.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Talk to me today about support for family businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Professional Services.<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Professional services firms are a different beast in terms of privately owned businesses. Firstly, the most senior and experienced people are not necessarily interested in leading the business and secondly partnerships can be difficult spaces to navigate. I understand the difficult balance between winning work, delivering work and managing staff. I\u2019ve worked with senior and aspiring lawyers and accountants on issues around balancing their workload, developing confidence in their judgement when they can\u2019t rely on having the right answer and having influence in a partnership. I\u2019ve also assessed candidates for partnership and other senior roles.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Talk to me today about support for professional services.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Not For Profit.<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Not all the organisations I work with are businesses, though many of them have to operate in a commercial environment. I recognise that delivering results is not something that\u2019s always measured in purely financial terms. I\u2019ve worked with the leadership team of Bristol Zoo, for example, and understand the tensions such organisations face between having a mission (in the case scientific and educational) and needing to raise sufficient money by being a visitor attraction. I have also worked with the leaders of several housing associations.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Talk to me today about support for not for profit organisations.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Scaling Businesses.<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Growing a business at scale is a real leadership challenge. You need to develop your leadership capability to meet the growing demands of the business. This is particularly challenging for those high tech, high growth businesses that spin out of a university incubator hub who may have very little leadership experience to draw on. I worked with one rapidly scaling business where the amazing leadership team were all 23.<\/p>\n

We look at who they are as leaders, and how they might allocate leadership responsibility between them; for example, how do they set strategy, how do they make decisions, who is the public face of the business? Gaining clarity on these issues early on can prevent a lot of aggravation later. We can also look at blind spots in their thinking and who they might need to support them.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happy to talk to businesses on eligible Innovate UK programmes and to scaling business who want to work with me directly.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Talk to me today about support for scaling businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Contact Me<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Turnaround.<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Rescuing a business can be seen as the ultimate leadership challenge. It\u2019s a high pressure, high stakes situation which calls for exemplary leadership skills and resilience. Along with critical financial, legal and commercial considerations, there can be highly sensitive people issues to handle. People\u2019s livelihoods, reputations and possibly family homes are on the line.<\/p>\n

Directors may feel (but not acknowledge) an intense sense of shame and humiliation, which can make them defensive. Post-Covid, directors may be able to legitimately say that it wasn\u2019t their fault, but that may mean that shame is replaced by anger and helplessness. There is always a lot of emotion swirling in the system. I believe that there is an important role for business psychology to play in turnaround situations. I am proud to be the first business psychologist to become an associate member of the Institute for Turnaround (the professional body for turnaround specialists). I have advised turnaround firms on leadership and on their engagement with clients and worked with the institute itself on CPD and developing the next generation of turnaround professionals.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Talk to me today about support for turnarounds.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Contact Me<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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\u201c<\/span><\/span>Caroline provided fantastic material which prompted some great<\/span><\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/span>discussions and insight into the thinking behind succession<\/span><\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/span>planning for family businesses. Caroline is very professional in<\/span><\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/span>delivery and also fun at the same time.<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>

George Bryan<\/strong>, Family Business Consultant and Director of Drayton Manor Theme Park <\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
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“I recently completed a number of sessions with Caroline as part of the Innovate UK Business West programme. Caroline is a great listener and knows exactly how to encourage me to push myself to perform to the best of my abilities. She provided me with new ways of looking at situations, including breaking down what I thought were ‘impossible’ tasks into easier to manage tasks. I’ve noticed myself develop further just over these past few months, and I know it was down to her helpful encouragement and positive outlook.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>

Emma Harcourt<\/strong>, Quality Manager, Open Bionics<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
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“I received six coaching sessions from Caroline as part of an Innovate UK scheme and they were an extremely beneficial experience. Caroline is very good at encouraging reflection and getting you to put yourself in the shoes of others. She was very good at listening to real-life, practical issues I was facing, and asking the right questions to shed light on the situation<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>and let me come up with a solution.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>

Jonathan Raines<\/strong>, Mechanical Engineer, Open Bionics <\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
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\u201c<\/span><\/span>Caroline provides tremendous insight into the psychology of business transformation and turnaround. I have found her leadership analysis based on the framework of the Primary Colours Model particularly helpful whenever I am introduced to lead a management team through a transformation challenge.<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>

Ian Parker<\/strong>, Independent Interim Director and Turnaround Specialist <\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
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“Caroline brings insightful experience to the work with family business clients\u202f”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>

John Tucker<\/strong>, Family Business Consultant and Director, International Centre for Families in Business<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
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“Succession planning is critical in a family business. Caroline\u00a0<\/span><\/span>was<\/span><\/span>\u00a0very important in preparing my son and daughter\u00a0<\/span><\/span>as they took over the business<\/span><\/span>.\u202f<\/span><\/span>She<\/span><\/span>\u00a0has helped us to better understand the dynamics between us as a family and between the family and non-family\u00a0<\/span><\/span>directors<\/span><\/span>.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>

Geoffrey Harrison<\/strong>, Chairman, Harrison Catering Services<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
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“The bespoke workshops Caroline ran for us made us really think about our interaction with clients and how to work more collaboratively\u202fto bring about a lasting solution for them.\u202fCaroline introduced models and theory which got the team thinking and talking about how we work as a team and how to best support our clients.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>

David Stone<\/strong>, MD, Prompt<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
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“As a firm we\u2019ve used Caroline\u2019s services for years, so we\u2019re aware of and confident of the quality of her work. I don\u2019t hesitate to refer her to my clients when they have a need for some leadership assessment, they are looking at acquisitions and want to assess the people and cultural fit, or there\u2019s a tricky leadership issue to sort out. \u202fCaroline is pragmatic and brings her expertise and experience to any situation in an understandable and useable way with thorough assessments and suitable recommendations.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>

Andy Killick<\/strong>, Corporate Finance Partner, PKF-Francis Clark <\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>
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