Kudos Distribution

Two Years of Employee Ownership

It’s our Employee Ownership Anniversary 🥳  
Next week marks the start of Kudos Record’s third year as an Employee Owned Enterprise.

One of the key takeaways from our first two EO years is that the technicalities of the valuation and sale of the business to the Employee Ownership Trust was the simplest part of our transition. The real challenge – and the most rewarding – is using employee ownership to empower our team, establish clear responsibilities, and foster collaboration. These efforts are already leading to greater efficiency and better service levels for both our distributed labels and sales accounts.

Building a Strong Management Structure
Building a strong management structure has been our key focus. We are shifting from a very centralised owner/manager model to one where each member of the management team has specific, but collaborative responsibilities. We are all responsible and answerable to each other.

External Support and Guidance
Kate Mercer from Leaders Lab has been helping us develop this new structure. It has been so helpful having an outsider look at our company, identify areas where we are effective, highlight areas that require improvement, and help us construct a road map to a more efficient company that is less reliant on its founder. Kate now sits on our Trust Board as an independent trustee, providing invaluable guidance and support.

Cultivating a Strong Company Culture
Clearer responsibilities and collective review is also allowing us the space to take a wider view of our business, including developing and defining both our internal culture and our brand identity. We are not just making structural changes, but also cultivating a strong company ethos. The results of our work are already becoming evident. We have successfully paid out EO bonuses to our team for these first two years, and plan to continue through 2025; a very tangible reinforcement of the positive impact employee ownership has for co-owners.

Looking to the Future
As we look to the future, we remain committed to nurturing a collaborative and inclusive environment where every team member has a voice and a stake in our success, building an even more resilient and dynamic, customer focused company that is well-positioned to thrive in an ever-evolving and increasingly challenging industry.

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