The Scott Partnership: Peer Networks Case Study

Kath Darlington is the founder and CEO at  The Scott Partnership Ltd, a global B2B marketing and PR business based in Holmes Chapel.

In 2021 Kath attended the Peer Networks programme, a national, fully funded programme for SME owners and leaders who want to grow and develop their organisations. Delivered locally by Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, we create diverse groups of individuals to collaboratively work through common business issues.

Kath shares her experience of taking part in the Peer Networks programme:

"As a woman-led business, The Scott Partnership punches above its weight in terms of our board profile (67% female) and outperforms the industry in terms of benchmarked performance. This is why our customers – global leaders in science and technology – choose to work with us above any other companies in the world.  

We have been so busy during 2020 and 2021 supporting the scientific companies in our client portfolio, that when I was ‘tapped’ to join the Peer Networks cohort, I thought ‘what can these guys do for us?’

It turns out a lot!  The administrative organisation of the Peer Networks was good, the cohort consisted of a wide range of Cheshire-based businesses, represented by founders, employees and aspiring leaders and we all found that the requirement to spend time outside of our business, and listen to and share experiences with each other through the process was a more-than-valuable use of our time.   The group was ably chaired by Mark Bailey-Smith, and we found that after one or two sessions, the entire group gelled and found the benefits of time-out and time-on the business, working with each other to address challenges and opportunities we all faced.   

Cynically I could have argued that because we are busy, we did not have enough time to participate in the Peer Networks, but with the benefit of hindsight I can honestly say that we all enjoyed the time working together enormously, and will miss the camaraderie and shared regularity of a touch-stone with other like-minded leaders.   I would strongly recommend to anyone to participate, there is much to gain.”

Find out more about  Peer Networks here

Find out more about The Scott Partnership and their group of companies here