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.

How do you keep culture sharp, standards high and people engaged as an agency grows?

Jessica Hargreaves Paczek is CEO of Pretty Green, the creative comms agency behind global fame-making campaigns. She leads a 70-person team and has helped build an agency that’s been named a Best Place to Work for four years in a row.


In this episode, Jess shares how she:

• Uses EOS to give everyone clear accountabilities, quarterly priorities and a strong sense of where they fit
• Treats people, purpose and performance as inseparable (rather than seeing culture as a side project)
• Has turned their values into behaviours, giving teams practical permission to take smart risks and give clearer feedback
• Invests heavily in team feedback, from CEO one-to-ones to internal focus groups that surface issues leadership might otherwise miss
• Brings talent, onboarding, retention and social impact close together through a heavily resourced people function
• Runs the ‘CanCanLion’ Awards, to recognise and reward outstanding ‘less ordinary’ and creative work

Jess offers a thoughtful look at what it takes to build a high-performing agency culture - more clarity, more listening, more repetition and a willingness to keep tightening the system as the business evolves.

How do you build an agency group that’s more than the sum of its parts?

Tina Judic is Co-Founder and Chairman of the independent agency network Tomorrow Group. She founded the search agency, Found, 17 years ago and has since built this into a group of five agencies.

In this episode, Tina shares how she:

• Stepped aside from running her own agency to lead at group level, overseeing and empowering MDs across the businesses
• Protects the distinct culture of each agency while aligning them to deliver greater group-wide impact
• Spun out the data team into a standalone business with its own brand - and learnt some hard lessons along the way
• Acquired agencies and learned why protecting rhythm and culture matters, deliberately keeping each one independent
• Created group-wide roles across AI, delivery and growth to connect the businesses and drive consistency
• Anchors impact around four core traits across the group - curiosity, drive, honesty and empathy

Tina candidly explains what it really takes to move from running one agency to leading a group of businesses that thrive together.