48 finance
Shared enterprise: the future of business?
The first female CEO of a leading professional services firm in the UK has taken her post this month. Sacha Romanovich, CEO of Grant Thornton, will be leading the firm to realise its Vision 2020 and be recognised as the ‘go to firm for growth‘. Romanovich has also been doing a lot of work behind the scenes since the announcement of her appointment in December
Information – ensuring our people know how the firm works.
Transparency – providing access to the decision-making process.
Trust – allowing our people to manage themselves.
Accountability – making our people responsible for their actions.
Another potential benefit of the shared enterprise model is in the area of talent attraction and retention. While remuneration will always be a key element in attracting talent, the evidence indicates that in the job market the values and culture of an organisation will have increasing importance in attracting and retaining the best people.
. .. our
culture as a firm is about ensuring each and every person‘s views are listened to and taken into account so, for us, shared enterprise is the logical next step in aligning our structure with our values
... We believe that shared enterprise is the best way for Grant Thornton to be more successful in the long term. Other businesses may feel this is an opportunity worth considering too
Stephen Mills
Grant Thornton has most recently announced that it is to become the first major accountancy firm to move to a shared enterprise model, outlining why it thinks that the collaborative structure is good for business. In an unprecedented move the partners overwhelmingly backed a proposal to move to a shared enterprise model.
So, why shared enterprise? Stephen Mills, partner at Grant Thornton, said: “For some time we have held the view that business needs to be restored to its place as a force for good in society. This idea underpins our approach to all the projects we work on, from corporate renewal programmes for major global businesses, restructuring some of the world‘s largest financial institutions, acting as the leading auditor in the public sector and, of course, in supporting the growth of our varied and diverse portfolio of clients in the mid-sized business sector.
“Internally, our culture as a firm is about ensuring each and every person‘s views are listened to and taken into account so, for us, shared enterprise is the logical next step in aligning our structure with our values. Our intention is to embed a culture of collaboration through sharing ideas, responsibility and rewards:
Shared ideas – creating the mechanisms for all our people to innovate and to contribute ideas that will help deliver our vision.
www.businessmag.co.uk Norman Armstrong
Shared responsibility – making all our people jointly responsible for delivery.
Shared rewards – opening up profits so everyone benefits from the results.
Norman Armstrong, partner at Grant Thornton, continued: “We believe that by involving all our people in shaping the development of our future plans, we can more confidently achieve our ambitious vision for growth and development as an organisation. Like many clichés, the oft-repeated maxim that people are an organisation‘s greatest asset has a strong kernel of truth. Shared enterprise takes this idea and rebuilds an organisation around it, putting people at its heart. In terms of staff engagement, the benefits are clear and measurable.“
Empowerment is an obvious consequence of operating as a shared enterprise and a clear benefit for an organisation‘s people. The flipside of this is responsibility, which is where the organisation as an entity reaps the benefit. Part of Grant Thornton‘s approach is to put elements in place to ensure that responsibility is shared more widely. These include:
Empowerment – a clear framework for what our people can and cannot do themselves.
Inclusion – involving our people in key decisions.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – JULY/AUGUST 2015
That‘s not to say there are not obstacles to navigate along the way, particularly for existing conventional businesses trying to make the move to a shared enterprise model. One of the immediate consequences is the creation of uncertainty; by its nature shared enterprise is a non-prescriptive process where collaboration is an integral element. This means that the outcomes are not entirely predictable. It may also be true that many of the benefits can potentially be reaped with effective management, and elements such as devolving responsibility and improving transparency are theoretically achievable within a conventional business model. However, Grant Thornton believes that the only way to ensure that the necessary values run through every fibre of an organisation is to create an organisational structure around them.
Mills concluded: “We believe that shared enterprise is the best way for Grant Thornton to be more successful in the long term. Other businesses may feel this is an opportunity worth considering too. As we undergo this considerable organisational change we will continue to learn from the experience and share our knowledge, incorporating our experiences with shared enterprise into the support and advice we provide to our clients on their own journeys of growth.“
Details: Stephen Mills 023-8038-1180
stephen.mills@
uk.gt.com www.grant-thornton.co.uk
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