| | By Mick James
The issues of
succession and growth
are two of the most
vexed that the smaller
consultancy firm can
face. In good times, it
seems as if there are no
limits to the rate at
which a consultancy firm
can pile on the pounds.
But how long before the
infrastructure begins to
burst at the seams, or
the carefully nurtured
culture disappears in a
sea of new faces and
changing priorities?
Similar problems
surround succession. How
many consultancy firms
simply evaporate when
the founders leave,
taking with them, if not
the body, then the mind
and spirit of the
enterprise? On the other
hand, how many others
are stifled by the
founders’ inability to
“let go” and open up the
firm to new ideas and
innovation? And of
course these two issues
are linked, and if a
consultancy is to
successfully move
through various cycles
of growth, it will
require different
leadership styles at
each stage.
Consultancies are
notorious for dispensing
sound management advice
while not taking it
themselves. So it was
refreshing to find a
consultancy that’s
really biting the bullet
and preparing itself for | |
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| | its next phase of growth
by making change at the
very top.
Symbia has been with
us for some time now,
and under founders Jim
Humphris and Peter
Jenkins it has carved a
respectable niche for
itself in performance
management-led
consultancy. Now the two
leaders—currently
occupying the roles of
chairman and MD
respectively—have
decided to step back and
let a new leader take
the helm.
“The analogy we use
is that we’ve designed
the ship, we’ve built
the ship, carried out
the sea trials and the
performance tuning,”
says Humphris “now, with
a full crew on board, we
are ready to explore the
wider oceans.”
Since founding the
consultancy ten years
ago, Humphris and
Jenkins have pursued a
steady growth path in
terms of numbers while
putting in place the
building blocks of a
consultancy that is, as
Humphris puts it: “ready
to tackle the next phase
of growth”.
Symbia’s roots lie in
the Balanced Scorecard
but always tailored to
clients requirements and
tempered with other
approaches. With
performance management
at the “sharp end” of
the consultancy Symbia
has steadily backed this
up with the | |
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| | expertise—whether in
articulating strategy,
redesigning processes,
or tackling procurement
or project management
issues—needed to deliver
that message. More
recently the company has
added customer
relationship management
and IT solutions
capabilities to its
quiver:
“It all fits into
what we are trying to
achieve, that
performance management
objective,” says
Humphris. This approach
has taken Symbia from an
initial focus on
financial services to a
rich portfolio of public
sector clients—including
both civil and local
government as well as
major projects for the
Ministry of Defence—and
a strong presence in the
cluster of companies now
involved in the London
Underground. This has
enabled the company to
grow organically into a
tightly-knit unit of
around 40 professionals
working on projects at
any one time.
“We’re not a ‘hire
and fire’ company,” says
Humphris. “We’ve taken
on only the people we
wanted to take on, and
we’ve lost very few
staff over the years.”
This highlights one
of most challenging
aspects of Symbia’s
succession task: “It’s
got to be a huge
cultural fit or it won’t
work,” says Humphris. | |
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| | “But we’ve briefed the
team and they will be
involved in our
selection process. Since
the start we’ve made a
principle of offering
share options to the
team so they also have a
long term interest in
our success.”
Humphris believes
that the growth target
for Symbia over the next
two to three years of 30
per cent CAGR is
ambitious but
achievable, just on the
basis of the robustness
of the existing business
and the strong accounts
it has already won.
The person to take
this on will, says
Humphris “almost
certainly” come from a
consultancy background.
“They’ll be at the
point in their career
where they want to take
on a leadership role,
and keen to get away
from the bureaucracy or
partner in-fighting of
the larger
consultancies.” He says.
“They may have toyed
with setting up on their
own, but here we’re
offering a very solid,
ready-made entity. It’s
a heaven-sent
opportunity for someone
with the ability to
lead, and you don’t get
many of those.”
As well as its major
strength in consultancy,
Symbia also works in
training and interim
management, and Humphris
sees these as areas that
could also grow, to | |
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| | provide a balance and
diversity in the firm’s
offerings to match a
balanced portfolio of
clients. The firm has
also taken a pro-active
role in developing a
network of associates,
sub-contractors and
business partners that
enable it to tackle very
large projects:
“That’s been an
important part of our
business model, to
continue to use
associates and business
partners to maintain our
agility and quickly move
from project to
project,” he says.
As for the founders,
Humphris says that while
they are relinquishing
day-to-day operational
management of the
business they will
maintain a strong
interest in the firm for
“as long as it makes
sense to do so”, and
continue to have
strategic input and
maintain long-standing
client relationships.
Other than that, they’re
concentrating on finding
the right person and
letting him or her get
on with it:
“The last thing we
want to do is breathe
down their necks,” says
Humphris. “We’re going
to stand back and let
the MD run the
business.”
Related link:
Applications invited
for the post of Managing
Director @ Symbia | |
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