Here today and here tomorrow
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SFM Consulting meets Hogarth’s incoming and outgoing CEOs.
In this interview, the first in a series of conversations with leaders of various SME businesses, Sarah Matthews of SFM Consulting talks to the present and future CEOs of a top ten City PR firm – The Hogarth Partnership – to find out how a radical management structure removes office politics, how their culture has helped them weather the storm of the recession and what tips they have for a new CEO coming in to replace a successful predecessor.
Hogarth was set up in 1997 by six ambitious men and women and was designed to be a City PR firm that concentrated on advising mid-sized, quoted companies and prestigious private businesses. What made it different was that, unlike other PR firms in the same sector which deployed large numbers of junior staff, Hogarth’s clients would be advised by very senior personnel throughout – the firm would eschew the notorious “bait and switch”, where clients would see someone senior at the pitch, never to see them again.
It was a proposition that worked. Hogarth advises businesses like the highly respected legal firm of Slaughter and May, Cookson which supplies parts to the steel industry, and Clarks’ shoes. In just over a decade, the firm has grown from one client (which remains a client today) to about 70, and revenues have grown from nothing to around £4 million.
Eleven years after inception, the founders sold Hogarth to the UK’s largest, privately owned marketing firm, The Engine Group, in order to benefit from Engine’s larger scale. Business continued much as before but in September 2009 John Olsen stepped down as CEO to focus on client and new business development responsibilities. Andrew Jaques, a partner since 2000, has taken over John’s role.
The day job in strategic financial PR and corporate reputation management
is enormously demanding and ferociously competitive. The day starts early with scrutiny of the daily and weekend papers and broadcast media to keep abreast of the market, and client demands are inherently unpredictable. One needs to be responsive to current, live issues but also think constantly about the longer term needs of one’s clients. The parallel challenge is to seek new clients, to maintain the growth that is the lifeblood of all firms. On top of the demands of servicing existing clients and the challenge of finding new clients, the CEO has to find time to manage and develop the business.
Hogarth’s radical collegiate management structure “prima inter pares” – first amongst equals – has some unique benefits and challenges. To find out more SFM interviewed John Olsen and Andrew Jaques.
John has just handed over the management reins to Andrew Jaques. Handing over whilst staying in the business is uncommon.
SFM: How has this radical structure worked for you?
JO: Running Hogarth with 5 equal directors is more difficult than running a business with a traditional, “command and control” hierarchical structure. It is more complex managing peers than subordinates, as each Director is a professional, with a strong point of view that they feel should be heard and it can make the process of decision-making lengthy and sometimes complicated. Sometimes it felt like trying to take control over a bunch of mates rather than giving instructions, even although your position gives you the “moral” authority to do so.
However the benefits have outweighed the challenges. Our business strength, and our track record of retaining clients for the long term comes from matching the skills, experience and personalities of individuals within the team to the needs of each client. The same team works on the pitch then goes on to service and build the business. Because our client business is dynamic we adapt the dedicated team to bring in relevant skills and expertise for particular projects, or as needs change, so the strongest group is always working for the client. During my time as CEO, I never felt that I had a monopoly on good ideas or the right answers. Like a lot of managers, I was learning on the job and having a team around me who were equally interested in the business’s success led to a very collaborative and supportive environment. This kept a 6-strong founding team together – and on good terms! – for 12 years which is I suspect pretty unprecedented in our industry where prima donnas are not uncommon.
Andrew Jaques, CEO HogarthSFM: But don’t you find that by matching skills to clients the workload may be unevenly split?
AJ: On occasion, when certain individuals are very, very busy, or we’ve been asked to pitch at short notice, but over the longer term we have found it evens out. I’m sure I’ll find that the workload increases as taking on the CEO role doesn’t mean that you can step away from the client work. However, some of the management role is about co-ordinating and directing the efforts of the wider team and that’s as much about discipline and focus as anything else.
SFM: Many companies with a traditional structure move individuals between teams for specific projects and development opportunities.
JO: When I first learned PR you worked for one Director all the time and so learned his ways, his approach, his skills, etc. Even when I worked with other teams within that agency, I just worked in the way I had been taught, as it was the only way I knew. Although I was exposed to other Directors, the inter-team rivalry that existed meant I believed the way my team worked was better than the rest – and that wasn’t always the case!
AJ: At Hogarth we don’t have staff assigned to specific Directors in individual “silo’s”. Staff are assigned to clients based on the skills, personality and value they add to that client. So they are exposed to lots of different Directors and it means that the staff are exposed to a multitude of approaches, skills and ways to win and grow business, making the job more fun and interesting for them and developing them into more rounded and experienced individuals faster than would be the case with the traditional structure.
SFM: Doesn’t that make staff appraisals and development difficult?
JO: Not at all. The CEO has always been responsible for the career process and career review of staff. We used to have a very formal approach but find that because communication is our business, the lengthy forms we used to have made the process awkward and restrictive. So now we have what you might call a structured, extended “dialogue” that takes as long as it takes. We are helped because the attitude at Hogarth is very positive and everyone wants to develop their skills.
AJ: On top of that, now that we are part of Engine, staff have the opportunity to learn more: for example they may be seconded to another Group company to pick up on skills outside of PR but that are part of communications generally. It’s hugely motivational as staff see and learn new skills, their horizons are broadened and they return re-energised.
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