AI Issue 5 2017

80 Acquisition International - May 2017 Adrian Ashton has several national reputations and international awards for supporting enterprises of all types across a range of issues and themes, the latest being the Leading Advisor of the Year – UK award. We invited him to talk about his work as a freelance and his thoughts in winning this impressive accolade. s a freelancer, I offer enterprise advice and support on a consultancy basis. I also consider myself very fortunate in how I can do this, having the political freedom to be able to explicitly lobby national policy and legislation, where I see that it may not be best aligned with the changing needs of the sectors and industries my clients trade and operate within. As a freelance consultant, I offer clients several areas of expertise and specialism which currently include: - Impact reporting and planning future services and growth; - Enterprise start-up and growth; - Governance and managing change; - Financial modelling and pursuing investment; and - Enterprise education. On being awarded Leading Advisor of the Year – UK accolade, it’s an incredible encouragement and validation of the approaches and impacts I try and use and create through my work with clients and others. I suspect my mum will also be pleased too. Being recognised as one of the UK’s leading advisors means my clients and other organisations can be assured that they’ve commissioned the right consultant! It will also hopefully enhance my existing brand and reputation further. Supporting clients I support a range of client organisations that include: universities, sector bodies, private firms, charities and social enterprises, co-operatives, national government departments, and funded enterprise support programmes. In seeking to be consistent with the values I try and manifest in my work, I tend to prefer to seek introductions to them or reply to direct invitations. Encouragingly, after 12 years of working hard, people are now starting to introduce me to their clients and contacts in relation to my own specialisms and expertise. In addition, I regularly reflect with clients on their experiences of how drawing upon my expertise has been of benefit to them. This had led to various comments and testimonials that include me being compared to a ‘babel fish’ (able to translate complex ideas and technical jargon into simple to understand terms and concepts); acting as a ‘human google’ (having a breadth and depth of knowledge on a range of subjects); clearly living out personal and professional values that people admire; having high ethical and professional standards, but also being Company: Adrian Ashton Name: Adrian Ashton Email: adrian.ashton2@ gmail.com Web: www.adrianashton.co.uk Address: Office, 6 White Hart Fold Todmorden OL14 7BD, UK Phone: +44 (0)7786 492313 An Awesome Advisor A 1705AI38 able to be pragmatic; and I also liked the response of one particular person: ‘you’re awesome!’. In terms of the important role that advisers more generally carry out, including myself, I would say that organisations usually tend to focus on systems and procedures as needing to be developed or reviewed. But having said this, I think it’s just as important (if not more so) for the people in an organisation to also be involved in supporting their change and adoption. The use of external advisers who can share objective perspectives and stories from elsewhere can be a very powerful way to ensure people are engaged and supportive of processes and changes being introduced. As a freelancer, I do not directly employ anyone, but do enjoy working with a close network of trusted associates. Through our collaborations, we are able to generate additional perspectives and access to resources of benefit to clients, as well as support each other’s ongoing personal CPD. In terms of my plans for 2017 and beyond, it’s worth highlighting that the impact of Brexit on the UK is still unclear, and I’m also going through some significant changes in my family relationships and circumstances this year as well. Both of these elements are creating significant uncertainty about the future for me both professionally and personally. However, as I’ve always sought to do over the last 12 years, I intent to continue to maintain the standards and approaches with clients I always have, and to involve them where appropriate in helping to shape the future support and services I offer them. Finally, I would like to point out that just as a good advisor can have a powerful transformative impact, I’m concerned that clients sometimes don’t always, or are confident in being able to, manage such support. As part of my own CPD framework, I’ve therefore developed a number of measures to try and ensure transparency and accountability (including being the only freelance consultant to annually and openly report on my impact every year for the last 12 years). I would also always encourage a client organisation to question all the advice they’re offered – regardless of whom it’s from. After all, it’s their organisation, not the advisors. An Awesome Advisor