INSIGHTS: Q&A with Gillian Jones-Williams, Founder of Emerge

Gain insights on business growth in our series of bite size chats with Business Leaders, brought to you by The FD Consultant .

In this edition of Insights Q&A, we welcome Gillian Jones-Williams (She/her/hers) , MD of Emerge Development Consultancy Ltd

Founded by Gillian in 1995, Emerge trains, develops and re-energises individuals and teams across a range of organisations.

Learn about the key factors which have driven business growth to date, and how challenges can be turned into opportunities.

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Insights.

Hi Gillian, please tell us about your business.

I’m the Founder of Emerge. Emerge began life as a training company in 1995, however, we are now so much more than that.? Our mission is to create respectful cultures which enable authenticity, values, difference and celebrate individualism.

Over the last 30 we have built our business to partner with some of the biggest global organisations to develop their leaders, coach people to grow their careers, re-energise teams and implement major changes.?

In the last 10 years we have also focused strongly on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, allowing organisations to create psychologically safe cultures by both proactive and reactive programmes.?

We have worked on many high-profile anti-harassment programmes and inclusive leadership courses but also work extensively on understanding Neurodivergence, women’s development including maternity coaching and parental leave coaching.

What are key factors which have driven your growth to date?

Over the years we have survived 2 major recessions, Brexit, a global pandemic and many fast changes of government!? But we have thrived due to our ability to flex, predict what our clients will need in the future and to design new programmes and products.

We were traditionally a face-to-face training company but over the years we have refined our ability to deliver fantastic virtual programmes, short, blended learning courses and videos. We also created a business model early on which has helped us to maximise growth and minimize overheads by having a small, employed base of permanent staff and using associate trainers with specialist skills to deliver training.

we have thrived due to our ability to flex, predict what our clients will need in the future and to design new programmes and products.

However, we treat our associates as valued team members, which engenders loyalty and a far superior delivery to our clients as all of our facilitators really do feel part of Emerge. The majority of our business has come through referrals and networking with very little advertising and marketing.

What makes you so passionate about what you do?

We really do love our work with a passion – we can see that what we do makes a difference to individuals and organisations, and we want to do it in the most engaging and memorable way possible.?

After we designed our RISE Empowered Women’s Development programme this became even more apparent, we watched women become vulnerable, repair damage caused from the past, take control of their lives and feel empowered to maximise their potential.?

Often when we run the last workshop of the RISE programme and each woman recounts their successes it is hugely emotional as we hear the changes they have made, how they now have a ‘life by design’ and how they are reaching for goals that previously they would never have considered possible.

when we run the last workshop of the RISE programme and each woman recounts their successes it is hugely emotional as we hear the changes they have made

What do you view as your greatest achievement in this role to date?

There have been so many achievements that we have been proud of, many awards we have won, many hugely satisfied clients, but I think the RISE programme has really felt like one of the biggest achievements. It is a trademarked six-month programme and we run this globally for so many different organisations, which is amazing.

many of our staff have been with us for 20+ years

Another unique achievement is the fact that many of our staff have been with us for 20+ years – I think that speaks for itself as to the team ‘feel’ we have and how we value people. We are also hugely proud of our pool of facilitators and coaches who have been handpicked over the years to ensure that we have an ‘Emerge’ brand – whoever our clients meet will always be energised, creative, highly emotionally intelligent and able to handle whatever challenges are thrown at them.

What are the biggest challenges your business faces?

Our key challenges are always linked to the economy, when the economy shrinks, we will always feel the pinch, as, ironically, training is one of the first things to be cut.

Also, we have to be really careful about the spread of our clients, we have some major global clients who are huge but if something was to happen with one of those clients, if we did not have a range of other clients we would be decimated.?

Another of our biggest challenges, but often also opportunities, is when our contacts within a client move on somewhere else.? Often the new incoming contact will have their own known suppliers they may want to use, however the outgoing client may take us along to their new company!

we have to be really careful about the spread of our clients

What one piece of advice would you give to those who want to achieve or sustain high growth in their businesses?

Ensure you never become complacent.

Just because something helped to make you successful yesterday, it will not necessarily maintain your success.? So, you need to keep your antennae high to watch the market, notice what is happening, predict trends and act quickly.

you need to keep your antennae high to watch the market, notice what is happening, predict trends and act quickly.

To do this, you will need to have enough time to work ‘on’ your business rather than ‘in’ your business. That means being great at delegating and ensuring you have fantastic people around you that you can pass on tasks to, in order to free you up to become and remain strategic.

We hope you enjoyed Gillians’s Q&A and her insights on the key aspects of growing a thriving business.

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