Sacha Romanovitch on reshaping the culture at accountancy firm Grant Thornton

Sacha Romanovitch, the UK chief executive of Grant Thornton, settles into a comfy armchair and declares herself a fan of the view from the new Glasgow office the accountancy firm has only recently moved into.

She was in Scotland to meet staff and clients as well as expand more on her idea for the firm to move towards a shared enterprise model.

Ms Romanovitch’s plans, which include capping her own pay and making sure all 4,500 people in the business can share responsibility and rewards more equally, are already starting to take hold even though she has only officially been in her post since July.

She said: “The really great thing is hearing our people describing the conversations they are having with clients.

“It is still really important they can do all of the technical work but also they are able to lift their head up and think what is important to you in your business? If that is important how can we do that?

“The value I could bring to your business is introducing you to someone outside of Grant Thornton but who would be a really useful connection.”

Ms Romanovitch received 99 per cent backing for her ideas from the other partners at the firm and indicated the strategy to make everyone more engaged had been fermenting for several years.

She said: “What if we could create this environment where all of our people could share ideas for how we could grow as a business and create value for clients, where there was shared responsibility for making [ideas] happen and shared reward for doing it?”

She points out other companies have successfully followed this path highlighting Netherlands healthcare business Buurtzorg which has become number one in its market for employee and customer satisfaction as well as profit.

That came after it decided to give more responsibility for making care decisions to the nurses on the front line with the 12 staff it employs in its head office dwarfed by the 9,000 or so actually delivering care.

Ms Romanovitch said: “There is a very different model where you can create business and delivers much better for your clients and creates a better environment for your people. That is sort of my goal. It sounds ok doesn’t it?

“If you want to be really agile, innovative and harness everybody’s ideas then that hierarchical top-down [management structure] probably doesn’t serve you as well anymore.

“That is really the shift we are taking it through.”

Yet these are not woolly concepts designed to be ticked off on a colour coded check sheet. Indeed the firm has targeted a doubling of profits by the end of the decade.

Ms Romanovitch said: “For us it is about working where we can create value and identifying sectors where there is opportunity. When we talk about wanting to shape a vibrant economy we have seen spaces where we have been able to drive real job creation.

“It is really important we are not just relying on government to do that. Business has to take responsibility and do that to. Business can be a force for good in the economy. If we can make connections and help businesses to grow then our growth will come from that.”

For Ms Romanovitch she is very clear that the flexibility she is trying to build into the firm is a key part of its future success.

She describes it as “getting people to think outside in rather than inside out” and adds: “The whole idea that our strength will come if we are innovating for what the market and our clients need as opposed to innovating out from what you have already got to sell.

“It sounds obvious but there are big businesses which have got it wrong.

“The speed with which you can innovate and bring ideas to fruition ahead of the competition is what really matters now.

“I don’t see how businesses that don’t create a culture where people can really collaborate are going to be able to create value for clients in the future.”

As an example she points to the physical environment now in Glasgow where all the staff are together in one large open plan office.

There are a number of raised platforms and pods for more informal meetings which don’t need to be taken into one of the side rooms off the main space.

She said: “The working area in Glasgow is set up so work is not a place to come where you put your head down, it is a place you come to work with colleagues.

“The fact we are investing in new space is positive affirmation of us being here in Scotland and wanting to see it grow.”

There are also technology investments going on to make it easier to spot and share ideas across the firm’s locations in the UK as well as with offices around the world.

Culturally, Ms Romanovitch also emphasises “everyone’s right to be a human being and have a life”.

She hopes that fostering that kind of environment, where flexible working patterns and locations are encouraged, will help to improve diversity in the senior ranks of the firm over the long term.

While she describes working from home on a Friday as “not a big deal” she does admit to mentioning it a lot as it is not what people expect from the chief executive. She feels offering that positive leadership example can encourage other people to see it is acceptable to challenge a traditional corporate mindset.

She points out that: “Work life balance is something that happens over a life, not just a day.”