A leadership team that's finally building, not just billing.

How Addition used TRN to shift from a stable business into a business with a plan in under 12 months

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HIGHLIGHTS

✓ 22 hours given back per consultant per week through TRN-prompted time process mapping
✓ 1–2 extra CVs delivered per consultant per day as a direct result
✓ 30 people across the group now operating with a shared 3-year vision for the first time
✓ 7–8 months to measurable, consistent improvement across the majority of the team
✓ 3 international businesses running alongside the core UK agency with the clarity to manage all of them

THE CHALLENGE

Simon Topps founded Addition over a decade ago. A predominantly tech-focused agency, the business had grown steadily - stable revenue, consistent workforce, a team trained and developed entirely in-house.

That stability was also the problem.

"Everyone has been trained by me that works here, from my business partner down. Consistently, they've been one voice for a long, long time."

Addition needed external perspective. Different trainers, different specialisms, different challenges to how they'd always done things. Simon had seen the value of networks before; he'd been a long-standing member of RDLC, but wanted to test what TRN could do differently.

THE TRN DIFFERENCE

Within the first few months, the change Simon noticed wasn't a single event. It was a shift in how his team operated day to day.

"People who historically might have come straight to me and said, how do I do X, Y and Z, they're trying to be a little bit more intelligent now. They might watch a video, do some training, read some documents. And then they're coming back to say: this is the problem, this is how I think I could fix it, but how would you do it. Between us, it becomes a little bit more collaborative."

The practical impact was measurable. After seeing a fellow TRN member share their time process mapping approach, Simon rolled it out across the whole business. The results were immediate: consultants identified where they were losing time, removed or automated the tasks that didn't need them, and freed up two hours per week each. The knock-on effect was direct - an extra one to two CVs per consultant per day, more BD calls, more client meetings.

"For me, that is a direct result of actually looking at what they're doing."

THE COMMERCIAL OUTCOME

The most significant change wasn't on the consultant floor. It was at the top.

Simon joined TRN's CEO peer groups and, for the first time, found himself in regular conversation with founders and directors running agencies at the scale Addition is heading toward. The effect was personal and practical.

"I feel like I'm a lot calmer than I maybe was even a year ago. That is a direct benefit of actually looking at some of the resources that are there, speaking to some people in my position, and really understanding that OK, there are different ways to manage different types of people."

The result of those conversations, and the accountability that came with them, was something Addition had never had before: a clear, written, shared three-year plan.

"For the first time, we're in a position where we've got a very clear plan over the next three years. Everyone is aware of it, everyone's in line with it. And the people out there can also hold me accountable for hitting the milestones we want to hit."

Thirty people across the UK agency, the US tech business, the special education recruitment operation, and the therapy centre now know where the business is going and why.

THE LEADERSHIP SHIFT

Simon is direct about what TRN gave him that the business couldn't generate internally: peers who are further along the road.

"When you're speaking to people that are in agencies that are what you aspire to be whether it's turnover, staff numbers, whatever and they're talking around things they're doing themselves, or tactics and techniques to improve their own days or manage their time or pass their knowledge down, that's been wildly beneficial for me."

The accountability built into TRN's structure, the peer groups, quarterly reviews, strategic advisors, gave Simon a framework that his previous network hadn't. Not more information, but more application.

"There's a lot of stuff that we've been sitting in meetings that I've been able to take away and implement for myself personally, or into the wider business. I've noticed the change in me and how I work and how I manage."