How do you build a culture that people believe in – and behave differently because of?
Alex Willcocks is Founder and Managing Director of Engage, a 60-person digital agency. He’s grown the business over the past 18 years with a relentless focus on people, culture and performance. More recently, he transitioned the business to employee ownership.
In this episode, Alex shares how he:
- Created three values that are deliberately impossible to copy into any other business
- Uses those values as an anchor for performance and to shape how people think and act
- Built a detailed competency framework where behaviours map directly back to each value at every level
- Reframes performance improvement plans as a way to support people back to their best, not manage them out
- Introduced employee representatives on the board to improve decisions and remove a “them and us” dynamic
- Runs the “Elympics” to drive energy, wellbeing and connection – while raising money for local charities
Alex shows what it looks like when culture is consistent over time, and how clarity, ownership and shared standards compound into real performance.
