How Morrinson Wealth uses Winningtemp to support their people

Morrinson Wealth was founded in 2014 by Stanley Morrinson. The practice has grown from a team of three, to almost 100 people (with a mix of employed and self-employed team members). The practice’s headquarters are in London with an additional office in Reading, and they provide wealth advisory services to clients across the UK.

COO Nneka Orji joined Morrinson Wealth in 2019; one of her goals was to enhance the collaborative and inclusive culture within the practice. She understood the value of keeping a pulse on engagement and looked to engage an employee engagement platform that would support her in realising this goal. She introduced Winningtemp in the practice in the Autumn of 2019.

“People and Culture is one of the four areas that I look after. The practice has always taken this seriously, with regular feedback opportunities albeit more manual. With our growth, we had to find a more fit for purpose solution. I wanted a platform that would give us visibility so we can get a better pulse of the business and a sense of how everyone is really feeling.”

With the recent addition of an office outside of London, Nneka knew it was critical that the people working in Reading felt as part of the company as those in London. “What we see in London can be very different to what we see in Reading – there is one culture across the practice, but local offices can have different priorities and different concerns. Being able to understand the nuances between the offices and the cultures being developed there was crucial.”

Having used Winningtemp for almost a full year, Nneka is confident that the tool has assisted in numerous ways to establish the desired culture within the business.

From a top down approach, the platform has enhanced the management team’s ability to respond more directly across the practice.

We integrate Winningtemp in two main aspects of our approach. Firstly, the management team review the dashboards and insights monthly. As such we now have a deeper insight and understanding in terms of issues that we might need to address.

“For example, a recent point regarding learning and development was raised from someone in a specific area of the business. The insights from Winningtemp gave us the opportunity to discuss how we can support that individual.”

A second and substantial area in which the platform has supported leadership within the company is from the perspective of the line managers. This has been especially helpful when structuring one-to-ones, which had been in place but not fully embedded across the practice.

The line managers are now far more engaged and have much more content to direct their conversations in their one-to-ones with their team members. We encourage them to look through Winningtemp in advance of their one-to-one meetings to identify any trends or themes that might be coming through.

She shares that it has been especially useful during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“For instance, someone might divulge that working from home has been challenging for them. And rather than asking who has said that, it can be identified as a theme within this month’s one-to-ones.”

And while the pandemic conditions are far from ideal, using Winningtemp allows people to share how they are feeling at any given moment, from wherever they may be. “We’ve been able to see the parents who are struggling with working from home and parenting at the same time. We’ve received positive feedback saying that the practice has been supportive which has also been affirmative for us as a management team.”

An anonymous forum, Winningtemp offers an area in which all individuals can be honest.

In terms of creating an environment in which people feel comfortable to share ideas, this is vital. For Nneka, it provides a way into potentially sensitive conversations that might otherwise get left unsaid.

Some people feel less comfortable discussing specific points with their line manager. The forum allows them to raise those points anonymously. For example, someone may say they don’t feel as though they can share ideas and be creative in meetings with their line manager.

It gives me and the rest of the management team the opportunity to talk to the line manager about the problem and look for a way to solve it. It’s helped in terms of developing individuals but also in terms of developing the type of culture in which people do feel able to share ideas.

Using the tool, Nneka can see at any moment the overall pulse of the whole business as well as drilling down to how individual teams and people are feeling. It’s an important aspect for her that supports all areas.

“It helps in many ways. Meaningfulness, especially within the back-office, is one of the trends and insights that we look at often. Admin and paperwork are not always seen as the most meaningful tasks, however, it’s always important to understand why we might see a decline and interventions that might provide a reminder of the end goal that we’re working to for our clients. When they need a morale boost it’s useful to remind them that what they are doing is important.”

And while in general, the dashboard looks green and positive, there are occasions when Nneka knows uncomfortable comms may need to be issued that aren’t particularly upbeat – for example, during challenging economic environments when the management team has to make a difficult decision. Using the platform, she can monitor responses and act accordingly.

Whilst the response to the news might be disappointing, using Winningtemp gives us the opportunity to see the true impact it has whilst also providing us with important feedback from our teams. That gives us greater detail and the opportunity, if needed, to explain things further.

Nneka introduced Winningtemp because she wanted a platform that could support her in enhancing a collaborative and inclusive culture that empowers people to realise their aspirations. In under one year and in a challenging time that has seen the entire organisation working from home, the practice has made significant inroads towards this.