EO Community Catalyst Event: November 2025
Our First EO Community Catalyst Event
November 2025
In November 2025, we hosted the first Employee Ownership Community Catalyst event, bringing together 40+ employee-owners, employee-trustees, independant trustees and EO leaders from across the North West at Campfield in Manchester. From the moment people arrived the tone was exactly what we'd hoped for: relaxed, open, and centred on sharing real experiences rather than polished soundbites.
We created the EO Community Catalyst event series because employee ownership works best when businesses stay connected. The EO community has played a big role in our own journeys so far, and we wanted to build a space where North West EO businesses could meet other who understand the reality of it - from the everyday wins to the parts that take more work.
A panel built around honest EO conversations
The morning opened with a anel hosted by Fran Spence from Still We Grow, designed to get straight to the topics EO businesses genuinely want to talk about. The discussion brought together leaders and employee-owners from different organisations, each with their own approach to employee ownership and their own learning curve so far.
Rather than focusing on the theory, the panel explored what EO looks like day to day - including how businesses build trust and transparency, how they bring people into decision-making, and what happens when expectations don't always match reality. Culture came up throughout, but in a practical sense: how you maintain it, how you protect it as a business grows, and how you keep it consistent across teams.
It was also a reminder that there's no single model that works for everyone. Different EO businesses structure things differently, communicate differently, and involve their people in different ways - but hearing those perspectives side by side helped show what's possible, and what others have learned along the way.
Turning ideas into action through a breakout workshop
After the panelm we moved into a workshop session ket by Matt Wilden from Still We Grow, giving everyone the change to take ideas from a discussionino something more concrete. Each group worked through the same question:
What initiative or project could employees (not leaders) take ownership of in the next six months that would have the biggest impact on strengthening employee ownership in the business?
This question worked well because it brought the focus back to action. Groups were encouraged to think about what those ideas would look like in reality, including how to measure progress, how to keep momentim going, and how the outcomes could be reviewed and shared.
That part of the session sparked some of the most valuable conversations of the day. People compare notes on what engagement looks like in different workplaces, what kinds of projects employees are most likely to get behind, and what trustee teams and leadership groups can do to support employee led projects.
Time to connect with other EO businesses
Alongside the sessons themselves, we uilt in time for peopel to meet and speak properly. For a lot of attendees, this was the first time they'd beetn in a room with so many other EO businesses from the region, and it showed in the conversation. People asked questions they wouldn't always raise in their own business, shared approaches that have worked for them, and made connections with others facing similar challenges.
It also reinforced what we wanted this event series to be: a growing North West EO network, shaped by the people in it, where businesses can learn from each other without it feeling formal or forced.
Thank you to everyone who joined us
A big thank you to everyone who came along, got involved, and shared their experience so openly. This first event set the tone for what Community Catalyst is about - honest EO conversation, practical takeaways, and a community that keeps growing through shared support.
Gill Sherwin, Best of British BeerI wanted to come to the event today because we've just had such a positive experience of employee ownership and I think loads more companies should do it. So, we really wanted to come and share our story and also meet other companies because we don't really know that many who have gone down the same path as us.