A year since becoming an Employee Owned Trust, Belbin Ltd is celebrating continued growth, expanding its product portfolio, establishing new partnerships and growing its Cambridge-based team.
Belbin Ltd is the globally trusted tool for developing high performing teams. Founded in 1987 by Dr Meredith Belbin, the business operates in over one hundred countries, with the Belbin reports translated into more than twenty languages. Belbin had been a partnership for 35 years, but as members of the family were ready to step back, they identified that forming an Employee Owned Trust was the best way to secure its future.
The business become an Employee Owned Trust a year ago and is now reaping the advantages developing its portfolio, forming new partnerships and growing its Cambridge-based customer service team. Specifically they have developed new offerings to reflect the changing needs of businesses; appointed further global distributors and they continue to translate reports into additional languages. The business has also established new partnerships with the Institute of Leadership and Chartered Association of Business Schools.
Employee Owned Trust status is gaining traction in the UK as companies, which gives all employees a ‘significant and meaningful’ stake in a business, as both a financial stake and a say in how the business is run.
Managing Director, Jo Keeler said: "Making the move to become an EOT felt like a very natural progression for Belbin. Over the last 12 months the whole team has really pulled together to make it a reality. We’ve all learned a lot through the process as well. Having successfully navigated our first year as an EOT we are excited to be making plans to continue consolidating the benefits it has brought the company as a whole.”
Back in 2021, Jo Keeler took part in the national government-funded Help to Grow: Management programme delivered in Cambridge by the University of Leicester. Jo says as she took on more responsibility as Managing Director the programme gave her the confidence to secure the future of the business.
“Being Managing Director is hard work” she says ’The buck stops with me and I am responsible not only for the business success but also for people’s livelihoods. The Help to Grow programme gave me the opportunity to stop, and reflect on what our business needed to put in place for the future and this gave us the inspiration to transition to become an Employee Owned Trust.
Sometimes you need a structure to help you make sense of your business strategy and plans and the programme gave me a bedrock of good stuff to use. Two years on from doing the programme I am still using the action plan I developed as a result, for example identifying gaps in our team and brining in new skills we need. The materials, teaching and mentoring were good quality and the face-to-face case study workshops really brought the theory to life.”
Help to Grow: Management
Help to Grow is a national programme for leaders and managers in small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). It is a practical 12-week programme giving people the chance to work on, not just in, their business and it has helped hundreds to drive forward real business growth.
Participants have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills, become more strategic and innovative, to focus on business vision, purpose and values, to build a strong team, strengthen their operations and implement plans to make their business even more successful.
For businesses in the East of England, the programme is delivered by the School of Business at the University of Leicester with a blend of online webinars, peer-group coaching and face-to-face workshops held in Cambridge or Leicester. Participants also get 10 hours of free expert one-to-one mentoring from a business expert.
Registrations are now open for the next programme starting 19 January.
The programme is 90% funded by the government, with the remaining £750 funded by a bursary from the University of Leicester.
Details here: https://le.ac.uk/school-of-business/services-for-business/consultancy-services/help-to-grow-management-programme
Image: From left to right. Back row: Tracy Eke, Lisa Ward, Fenlan Miller, Jill Cooper, Gytha Lodge
[From left to right] Front row: Liv Lawrence, Stuart Kelly, Nicola Harrington, Jo Keeler
