Tom Mitchell, one of the founders of Change Right, a new Bramble Hub partner, exudes passion for his business. And ‘passion’ is a word he uses regularly. Tom is a regular guy, hailing from Billericay in Essex, which means he speaks plainly and unguardedly. His co-founders, Joe Kipling and Michael Hughes, he says, will be the ones that approve this article for publication!

Change Right are specialists in workplace transformation, although Tom stresses that their services go far beyond this focus. “We work end-to-end, gathering requirements, working on a company’s ways of working, culture, processes and systems - not just the physical building. We begin each project by asking a series of critical questions, to really understand how a client works and operates, only by understanding this can we achieve successful and lasting transformation.”

“Rather than being two separate activities, we see design and change as part of the same process, and this is why we’ve developed an agile method for combining the two. Our approach is based on the Change Right playbook, an adaptive, flexible set of guiding questions that get us to the root of the transformation and allow us to work outside of traditional, rigid methodologies.”

Tom worked for many years for one of the Big Four consultancies, specialising in transformational change. One day, he says, he looked at his CV, and was unhappy with what it said about him. “I’d worked for companies in tobacco, alcohol, fossil fuels, … I decided to make a switch into areas that felt more ethical, where I felt I was making a difference to society.”

As he began to question the future direction of his career Tom was placed on a project within a large public sector department, delivering an organisation-wide IT transformation. “I fell in love with it. People were so passionate about what they were doing and I quickly realised that this was the arena I wanted to specialise in. I decided to move more permanently into the defence and security sector.” While his new project quickly ignited a new-found passion for his work, it also caused him to question his relationship with his employer. “I wasn’t happy with the way they treated people – either their staff or their clients.”

Tom’s thoughts about his previous employer echo widely-held viewpoints about the large consultancies. “The focus should be on delivering excellence to a client, but instead, they’d often put junior staff on projects while charging a high day-rate and using the project to boost their consultants’ CVs. I call it the consultant carousel – bring in smart people and take them out after six to nine months, just at the point when they can really start to add value. That approach might improve a consultant’s CV and maximise their billing potential, but it also damages client projects, and adds significant delivery risk.”

Feeling that the customer was not at the forefront or the priority, Tom resigned in 2019 and became a freelance contractor, securing a role on a project in another large public sector organisation. Becoming known for delivering excellent work, he was invited to bid on a project, and so found himself needing to put his business ideas into practice. He brought on Joe and Michael – consultants Tom had worked with before, that shared his passion, ethics and had extensive experience in the public sector (specifically in policing); and so Change Right was born.

Their vision for Change Right was to create a great place to work: somewhere that people felt valued, supported and able to deliver their best work to the client. This is an approach neglected by many of the more traditional consulting organisations. “How do we ensure that every person that works with…” – he stresses with, and not for – “…us is passionate about what they do? When we’re recruiting, we use a person’s CV as a guide, but it’s meeting the person that matters: getting to know what makes them tick and what is important to them. We work with great consultants, not just experts in their field, but also some of the nicest people in the industry. Working with consultants who bring passion and personality to a project makes such a difference to our clients. Creating a place where people are happy and want to work with us means that we reduce turnover and improve continuity of service. We avoid the consulting carousel, and the end result is a happier client."

Where is Change Right now? “Fast forward two and a half years, and we have a team of 16 people actively working on projects. And I’m pleased to say that I’m one of the ones with the least experience!” One of Change Right’s goals is to provide experienced people at an affordable cost. “We have minimal overheads. We didn’t have an office even before Covid.”

Tom also talks a lot about the importance of mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. He believes that this is at the core of what Change Right does. “We care about the people we work with and we want both our clients and our people to be happy and healthy. It’s not a ‘nice to have’; it’s essential to running a good business. We’re passionate about breaking down the stigma associated with mental health and keen to get people talking. We offer our clients (and our consultants) access to free mental health first aid training and mental health awareness. We also support leadership development through access to our team of coaches.”

Change Right currently has a team leading a huge transformation programme, for a client that Tom cannot name for security reasons. “It’s amazing. We’re a two year-old firm leading a complex and truly transformational programme of a type that has never been done before. We’ve demonstrated our worth and have had successive renewals due to our experience, work ethic, passion and affordability, despite being a minnow in the market.”

Change Right’s services can purchased from Bramble Hub via government frameworks. See their partner page for more information.