schneider + partners
+ 44 (0)20 7586 0110
We are a creative management consultancy - a hybrid. Building on Eric Schneider's roots as both a 'creative' and a management consultant, we have worked with over 200 creative and project based organisations, helping them - and the teams and individuals within them - to improve their performance and effectiveness.
we specialise in working with creative organisations
Issues we help with
We bring our extensive experience to bear on a broad range of issues. Some that we have recently helped address include:
We listen, research, analyse and think strategically, like management consultants
We work holistically and creatively, like designers
We are culturally attuned to working with creatives
We are visually literate and design aware
We are innovation orientated
We advise on the management of both organisations and their creative assets
We are consumer and stakeholder experience driven
Our focus is on delivering solutions and results
We strive to bring an energising, creative and positively challenging approach
We bring various unique perspectives in terms of ways creative organisations can more effectively organise and structure
CASE
STUDIES
PAPERS
HOW
WE WORK
Ultimately we know that we succeed by helping our clients achieve improved performance and results.
We will therefore only encourage you to undertake a project with us if we feel confident that we can add real value, ideally - where improved financial performance is the key issue - when we both believe that a minimum six to ten fold return on our consultancy fees may be possible.
Often we deliver much, much more.
“I used to have sympathy with the view that management consultants simply borrow your watch to tell you the time, only to walk off with it. My experience with Schneider + Partners has been very different. Eric borrowed my watch, told me why it was running slightly out, then gave it back - pointing out that with a bit of cleaning it would be worth more than I had thought possible. Schneider + partners gavem my consultancy the kind of invaluable independent perspective that I hope we give to our clients"
Robert Smith, Jog Limited
Who should consider us?
All kinds of creatives, including:
- advertising + marketing agencies
- architects + interior designers
- arts organisations
- designers - from product to graphics
- engineers
- fashion professionals
- IT, software, internet / web designers
- media organisations: film, TV, video, radio
- museums and galleries
- musicians
- performing and visual arts
- photographers
- publishers + journals
- theatres
branding
business planning
design management
honing creatives + creative teams
improving performance
managing for growth
marketing / new business development
merger management
morale / team re-invigoration
“With hindsight we should have appointed Schneider + Partners ten years earlier in our development cycle … Eric delivered insight, knowledge, financial acumen and, most important, intellectual challenge to the business planning process. The initial benefits are a practice reinvigorated, recharged and most importantly ambitious to face a new decade of challenge”
Mark Hobson, Maber Architects.
organisational / structure design
product-service development
roles + responsibilities
senior team + individual development
strategy + sub-strategy development
succession planning
team building
total experience management
vision / goal development
How we work
We can act in differing roles and offer a variety of services to best suit your organisation and the issues in question. These range from focused consultancy assignments to broad based organisational evaluations / strategic reviews, and from coaching individuals and teams to working in a non-executive type role: e.g.,
When to consider us
Often we are called in when a significant challenge is being faced, but we can also make a major contribution when things are going well. Examples of when you should consider us include: when you are …
- doing well, but know you could be doing even better
- moving from one stage of development to the next
- suffering from a contentious issues that would be assisted by an independent overview
- in need of a challenging, robust, yet empathetic set of new perspectives
- underperforming - qualitatively or quantitively - compared to your own standards or your competitors
- planning for succession
- with a new management team
- appointing senior individuals to new roles
- feeling stale, in a rut, in need of re-energisation / rejuvenation
- wanting to understand what your clients, staff, or others with whom you work think about you
- seeking to regain a competitive or creative edge
- wanting to really hone and develop a unique consumer experience
- seeking the creative but challenging input of a non-executive type advisor
- looking to more effectively organise your people and/or activities
- wanting to generate new perspectives and constructively shake things up
- reviewing your next steps / future vision
- needing a catalyst or support to help you develop a coherent set of strategies and sub-strategies
- seeking a structure that will more clearly reflect how you actually work
Benefits
As creative management consultants with extensive experience of working with a broad range of creative organisations and individuals, we bring a number of benefits, including:
CONSULTANCY
Much of our work as consultants is strategic. Most involves an evaluation of the current situation, identifying and agreeing future objectives, developing strategies and tactics for achieving these, and working with a client to help manage the desired change.
RESEARCH
We also undertake research, usually of a qualitative nature, and have extensive experience of carrying out staff and consumer insight surveys as well as research into competitors and market opportunities.
COACHING + MENTORING
We work with individuals and teams to help them achieve their own - and the organisation's - full potential.
WORKSHOPS + AWAY DAYS
Both as part of our consultancy assignments and as standalone exercises we run workshops tailored to your needs, covering areas from sub-strategy development and innovation to managing the consumer .
NON-EXECUTIVE /TRUSTED ADVISOR TYPE ROLE
Often our role is akin to that of a non-executive director - providing a creative contribution to the board by providing independent oversight and constructive challenge to the executive directors.
“Eric Schneider acted like a 'Non-Executive Director' to us during his involvement with our Business Review and his insights and advice have advanced our business thinking significantly. The external review with Clients has been extremely well received by them and highlighted some key areas to improve on. Eric has provided a well needed independent review of our business from top to bottom and it has been very enjoyable working with him. I would have no hesitation in recommending him ...".
Ian Craig, Evolve Consulting Engineers
“Eric is the only businessman I have met who is also both a genuinely skilled and observant “creative” and an effective and gritty strategic consultant, able intelligently and articulately to evaluate the needs and objectives of others on their own terms, rather than simply by reference to himself … What I like about Eric is that he is prepared to get to the nuts & bolts; he can bring real rigour to the table. He can also be relied on to take a step back from time to time and try to lift one’s head up to the horizon that lies ahead”
Chris Agace, Chalk Hill.
“I just thought you might like to know that Strides has got a new word doing the rounds: "Being Schneidered." It made me laugh. I want to become a word someday … Your presence has "unstuck" us and pushed us forward, for which I am extremely grateful. Thank you and well done. I hope you enjoyed the process, others certainly did.”
Elizabeth Kavanagh, Head of HR, Stride Treglown