Why GK

Politics matters. Our team helps the democratic process and the development of good policy by helping innovators and high growth businesses provide much needed feedback to government. Good policy and regulation create a better landscape for business, government and society overall.

Moreover, every leader and business is operating in a political, policy and regulatory context – understanding and shaping this world builds and secures investor value, and mitigates reputational and commercial risk.

We encourage employees to bring the best of themselves to work at GK Strategy, to recognise and celebrate differences and to be respectful and curious. We hire the best people with a passion for politics and an appetite for fun.

At GK we are committed to a culture of equality, diversity, and inclusion. We want to be a great place to work and want everyone to be seen, heard, valued, and empowered to succeed. We work together to build a more equal workplace and world for all, and we are proud to attract great people to share in our success.

If you are interested in joining our team, we’d love to hear from you.

Account Manager/Senior Account Manager

Date Added: 02 August 2021

Closing Date: 27 August 2021

Job Title: Account Manager/Senior Account Manager

Location: Westminster, London

We are recruiting an Account Manager or Senior Account Manager to join our award-winning strategic communications team. We are seeking someone with excellent research, writing, analytical and account management skills, capable of rapidly getting to grips with the key short to long term dynamics in a sector and in relation to a client’s products, services and strategic objectives. Candidates should be adept at building and delivering long-term relationships and external communications plans.

We are looking for someone with a strong track record in public affairs, government relations and media relations, ideally with a background in politics and consultancy.

Job purpose

• Managing the delivery of public affairs and strategic communications programmes for clients across a range of sectors including health, education, financial services, and the built environment

Key skills / competencies

• Excellent verbal communication skills
• Excellent organisation and time management
• Ability to build good political, media and commercial relationships and networks
• Ability work autonomously and independently
• Experience managing diverse team of consultants and multiple client accounts
• Track record in driving new business
• Skilled in senior account management and interface with senior in-house teams
• Application of creativity and the use of initiative/problem solving

Main duties and responsibilities

• Being a GK ambassador embodying the GK Values of Excellence, Initiative and Respect
• Responsibility for creation and delivery of public affairs and communications strategies
• Cultivation and maintenance of positive client relationships
• Leading feedback meetings alongside senior colleagues on project delivery
• Brought in to contribute to external new business pitches with potential clients
• Managing client delivery teams and providing training support to the team
• Providing support to client teams in developing a rigorous evidence base for change for communications clients
• Providing a senior role in the delivery of GK research projects for corporate clients, including project management
• Building relationships with relevant political, regulatory and media stakeholders
• Building relationships with overseas affiliates
• Line management of junior colleagues

Application details

Please send your CV and cover email to: scott@gkstrategy.com

Interviews will be arranged on application. Please note that we reserve the right to appoint an exceptional candidate before the closing date. You will only be contacted if you are selected to come in for an interview.

The GK team share their thoughts on how private equity can unlock the commercial value of Political, Policy and Regulatory diligence.

Download the report here: How private equity can unlock the commercial value of PDD

POLITICAL LITERACY MAKES BUSINESS SENSE

Robin Grainger, Co-Founder & CEO, GK Strategy talks political literacy with the brilliant Rebecca Deegan & I Have a Voice https://www.ihaveavoice.org.uk/political-literacy-makes-business-sense

March 2021

You will be hard pressed to find a business or organisation that is not impacted by the decisions of politicians and regulators. They determine tax rates; employee protections; regulation in relation to capital, competition and consumers; trade tariffs and manage global supply chains; which sectors receive subsides; and the level of investment in supporting infrastructure or R&D. I could go on. The point is – politics is central to how organisations function and to the role they play in the economy and society.

But while COVID and Brexit have made these linkages clearer, we see a big gap between ‘political knowledge’ and ‘political literacy’. Most businesses and investors know what current policies are (political knowledge) but often don’t understand why and how policy might change, the role they can play in informing those changes, and the potential impact of those changes (political literacy).

Public affairs professionals help organisations improve their political knowledge, but mostly, we help them understand political risk, and navigate Parliament and its processes, to minimise risk and create a supportive policy landscape. We are able to do this most effectively, and to the benefit of businesses and the government, when there is an existing understanding of these interlinkages.

Improving understanding of how politics works will enable business leaders to better identify and analyse relevant political risks. In doing so, they will be able to factor the potential to maximise upsides, as well as the need to minimise and mitigate negative risks, into their business strategy and plans.

This also benefits the government

Business leaders who understand political risk often share their expertise and experience with policymakers to ensure that policy developments have the desired effect and that unintended consequences are minimised. This is a good thing. In the same way that charities such as Shelter understand how to prevent and reduce homelessness, businesses have the data and insight to know what their consumers (the public) want and what protections are needed to ensure markets work effectively. Therefore, business and government often work together to come up with solutions to policy dilemmas.

We have also seen this in relation to climate change, where investors, companies, governments, regulators, ratings agencies and business forums have worked closely together to introduce a mix of voluntary and mandatory tools, regulations, reporting requirements and best practice guidelines to drive investment and business practices to address climate change and create a greener economy.

This example demonstrates that not only do businesses provide products that seek to align economic goals with societal and environmental goals, but they also help to inform and in some cases drive policy developments in the public interest. On the flip side, this means the sector is inextricably linked to political decisions and understanding how these decisions are made is beneficial to business leaders.

There are many examples of this level of interaction and interdependence between business and government. Leaders in these businesses stand to benefit greatly from knowing how decisions are made in Parliament, both so they can feed into those processes and so they can keep on top of what those decisions mean for their operations. Being politically literate makes business sense.

Political literacy

Political literacy does not mean pushing one political party’s agenda over another. In fact, as public affairs professionals it often is crucial that we remain party-neutral. Instead, we help clients to navigate the UK’s democratic and parliamentary processes. For example, the role of Select Committee inquiries in developing policy recommendations and All-Party Parliamentary Groups’ ability to build consensus and awareness.

These are skills that would benefit all business leaders, and let’s face it, all members of society as ultimately these decisions impact them, either as consumers or citizens. That’sAt GK Strategy we’re supporting I have a voice – a social enterprise that delivers political education to young people up and down the country.

Our profession is uniquely placed to share its experience with anyone who wants to understand how politics works. We work across political parties and political issues. We understand the need to find workable policy solutions. We know that building cross-party support is often much more productive than being divisive. Spreading this foundational level of knowledge will serve our industry, our clients, our stakeholders and our society.

For too long, too many public affairs professionals have been happy to give the impression that the world of politics and regulation is a world that only people in the Westminster bubble of politics, media, think tanks, trade associations, and consultancies can really understand.

It’s time for this to change.

Politics is complex but not unintelligible. It’s the responsibility of our profession – and indeed educators – to communicate that and make politics a more navigable territory for everybody.

GK Adviser and former chairman of the FCA, John Griffith-Jones shares his thoughts of the three key challenges for the financial services sector.

Download the report here: The good, the bad and the ugly

GK is delighted to have appointed Scott Dodsworth as a Director. He joins the senior management team and senior advisers, to strengthen the Agency’s integrated strategic communications and specialist political due diligence team.

Scott will work alongside other senior advisors such as former ministers David Laws, Phil Hope and Alistair Burt to support clients, as well as contributing to the Agency’s new business and growth efforts. The hire follows significant new client wins across the Agency’s health and education portfolios, and wider public affairs services.

Scott brings over 15 years’ experience of agency and in-house public affairs and government relations having worked in senior roles at defence firm BAE Systems plc and global communications agency, Hill + Knowlton Strategies.

Company Founder and CEO, Robin Grainger, said:

“We are pleased to welcome Scott to GK as the Agency grows and strengthens its work in political advisory and strategic communications. Scott brings great experience and respected counsel and will complement our wide-ranging capabilities.

 “Our award-winning approach combines the rigour and discipline of our political risk and due diligence practice, with media and strategic communications expertise. Scott is a great addition to our senior team.”

Scott Dodsworth, Director, said:

 “I am excited to join GK, a firm with great energy and strong respected reputation in strategic advisory and political analysis. I look forward to working with a range of clients across sectors on their relationships and reputation with government and society.”

By Jenni Hollis, Head of Client Services, GK Strategy

Ever walked into a meeting room or networking event and felt different to those around you? Ever been mistaken for a waitress, when you’re actually the campaign manager? The latter happened to me in a previous role, and I’ve heard plenty of similar tales over the years. All excruciating, all exposing a burning need for change.

While heaps of improvements have been made, diversity in politics, political parties and political professions remains far too low. To make matters worse, many young people feel increasingly alienated by a political world that they don’t understand, and by people that simply don’t look or sound like them.

More needs to be done to improve diversity within our industry and UK politics more generally. That’s why, here at GK Strategy, we are thrilled to become the founding partner for I have a voice.  

Run by the brilliant Rebecca Deegan, I have a voice is a social enterprise aiming to empower diverse young people to engage with politics.

Through its Youth Ambassador programme, I have a voice has already engaged a vibrant and diverse pool of young people, who are now more enthusiastic about the PR and political communications profession.

Nearly all of I have a voice’s ambassadors are female and around 40% are from BAME backgrounds. They are all from non-fee paying schools, based in different areas of the country. I was so happy and impressed to hear about their current advocacy campaigns on disability rights, fast fashion and diversifying the curriculum.

Rebecca is already engaging with schools across the country to grow her network of ambassadors. She’s also seeking to facilitate work experience programmes, so that these diverse candidates gain exposure to, and have a route into, the sector.

GK Strategy will take part in I have a voice’s work experience programme, and our team will contribute to the schools’ outreach. We will also provide pro-bono media and branding support to raise the profile of this fantastic initiative.

We encourage other agencies and organisations in our sector to get involved too. In return for support from businesses, I have a voice will promote work experience and internship opportunities to their network and give your staff the opportunity to engage with the stars of the future.  

You’ll also get to contribute to one of the biggest challenges our industry faces: how can we give the best advice without the broadest set of perspectives in the room?

Shaking up our industry to ensure diversity, and therefore the best possible political advice, is no mean feat. There are no silver bullets – and senior hires alone won’t solve the problem. It will take time to recruit and train more diverse, entry-level candidates, and for them to become the leading consultants and managing directors of tomorrow.

Rebecca’s initiative is one of the vital first steps in this mammoth task, and GK Strategy is delighted to be standing by her and supporting her as I have a voice’s founding partner.