&now was created from a simple but powerful truth
For client‑service businesses, people are the product – your key asset. They’re what clients buy, trust and return for, but…
…as your business grows and evolves, keeping people aligned, inspired, confident and performing at their best becomes one of the hardest leadership challenges
.
Across our careers, we’ve led, scaled and reshaped many different types of client‑facing businesses.
We’ve seen the moment when it becomes harder to hold the people side together…
- The culture stretches
- New people join with different expectations
- Informal ways of working stop working
- Leaders try to carry the whole load
- Initiatives designed to help, don’t always stick
We add bandwidth and expertise to leadership teams who know what people outcomes are needed but don’t always have the time, headspace or specialist capability to identify and drive people development initiatives alone.
We build the capability, confidence and momentum that ensure your vision plays out consistently and successfully across your business.
Because when strategy becomes behaviour, everything moves forward
About us
We are not typical people development partners
We get client‑service businesses. We’ve run many.
And we know that great client service doesn’t happen by accident; it happens when your people have clarity, structure, support and development that genuinely meets your vision.
We believe responsibility for people development should sit with the leadership team.
But we also know how hard that is when you’re juggling so many other pressures.
Why we are different
We become an extension of your senior team. We bring the experience and expertise to help you deliver this critical leadership responsibility with confidence
We design bespoke solutions that create the right behaviours. No off‑the‑shelf quick fixes. Everything is tailored to your strategy, your culture and your people
We focus on long‑term impact. To change how people work, you need to address environment, processes, behaviours and skills – and embed them properly
We bring independence and an honest perspective. We challenge constructively, offer a fresh point of view and help you clarify what’s really happening and what needs to be done
This is how we help ensure your people are the clear client asset – strengthening the behaviours, skills, processes and culture needed for brilliant, consistent client delivery
Who are we?
Elaine Kent-Smith
Over 30 years leading and scaling client‑facing businesses, including co‑founding Incite and shaping culture and strategy across different business types
Charlotte Kenyon
Over 25 years in people‑focused roles, leading HR and culture across fast‑growing agencies and supporting leadership teams through expansion, integration and change
Whether your business is scaling, consolidating momentum or redefining its next chapter, we’d love to help you bring people with you
Do get in touch
elaine@andnowpartners.co.uk
charlotte@andnowpartners.co.uk
What we do
We make sure your strategy becomes how your people actually work.
You already know where you want the business to go. Our role is to now help you make it real through your people – turning intent into clarity, structure and everyday skills and behaviours.
1 : Creating Plans
- Facilitating 360° strategy‑sessions
- Independently assessing people‑related needs and gaps
- Defining required structure, roles, skills and expectations – setting the standard
- Codifying “how we work” frameworks that scale and can be taught
2 : Implementing initiatives
- Leadership and management capability building
- Culture, values and behaviour frameworks
- Coaching, feedback and performance systems
- Skills training, including critical thinking, storytelling and excellence in client delivery
- Practical processes that support consistency and quality
If you would like to discuss a people development initiative, from role definition or appraisal processes to ways of working codification or skills training, do get in touch
hello@andnowpartners.co.uk
How we work
We act as an extension to your leadership team
- A trusted sounding board
- Constructive challenge that pushes thinking further
- Equal appreciation of strategy and day‑to‑day delivery
- Practical solutions focused on ongoing outcomes
Our three purposeful phases mean we will make a difference
Discover
We listen, observe, challenge to understand your strategy, culture, people and issues so we can design solutions that are genuinely fit for purpose
Design
We set clear expectations and create practical processes and bespoke development initiatives — all tailored to your business, not generic templates or courses
Embed
We deliver, coach and support your teams to ensure the initiatives stick. We stay involved long enough to build confidence, capability and momentum
We find businesses typically call us when they are frustrated by one or more of the following
- The evolution or growth is somehow outpacing how the business operates – We help reset informal ways of working to be replicable but still relevant, or refresh how culture shows up if that’s starting to feel somewhat stretched
- They are finding that new hires have a different perspective on how to service clients or even that clients are now demanding a higher level of service or quality – We help to upskill people or evolve how they work
- Increased business complexity means they find it ever harder to see the full picture or find time to personally create and push through development initiatives – We can bring healthy challenge and a different perspective, often gathering independent feedback from clients or employees
If these feel like issues you are facing, do get in touch. We’d love to chat and see if we can help.
hello@andnowpartners.co.uk
News and Views
1 Why client-service businesses should stop thinking about their people
To read, click here https://andnowpartners.co.uk/buildingcapability/
