PM+M partner praises female leadership support as firm expands

A recently appointed partner at a North West-based chartered accountancy, business advisory and financial planning group has commended the leadership guidance she has received through a Lancashire County Council-backed programme for female business leaders.

Ceri Dixon joined PM+M, which is headquartered in Blackburn, in 2015. She was promoted to become the firm’s 12th partner in 2023, with a focus on overseeing the audit team. Following her appointment, Ceri felt she needed some specialist guidance to ensure she was able to fulfil her potential.

A fellow PM+M partner shared details of the second cohort of Two Zero’s Women Scaling Up programme, a tailored 12-month support initiative led by Lancashire County Council, and Ceri joined the programme in April, 2023.

Two Zero is Lancashire County Council’s scaleup support service, designed to help the leaders of Lancashire businesses, growing at 20 per cent year-on-year. Women Scaling Up is tailored to the unique needs of female business owners in Lancashire.

Ceri said: “Being part of the partnership team felt very daunting at first. It happened sooner in my career that I had expected, so I was keen to understand more about leadership in particular. I joined Women Scaling Up as I knew I needed some guidance to be a confident partner and also the best leader I can for my team.”

Women Scaling Up is led by Lancashire County Council and delivered by Role, a Lancashire business growth consultancy which also co-authored the Growing Women, Growing Lancashire report. 

The report, commissioned by Boost; Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub, analysed the barriers to women growing businesses in Lancashire and across the UK and made a number of recommendations, including for greater business support for female business leaders.

Women Scaling Up included tailored coaching and peer group sessions designed to build participants’ resilience and leadership skills, along with in-depth business acumen. Participants also received strategic support on business strategy planning, personality profiling as well as boardroom masterclasses on key aspects of scaleup.

During the programme, each participant was also assigned a coach to help explore their leadership skills. Ceri was matched with business coach Dr Claire Handby, a former director at KPMG, Ernst and Young as well as Deloitte. 

Claire worked with Ceri to devise helpful ideas about building relationships and understanding the importance of strengthening employee relationships as responsibilities expand when people climb the career ladder.

Ceri said: “Since I completed the programme, I feel like I’ve developed my understanding of leadership but also areas of business including strategy. I definitely now feel on a more level playing field working with the other partners in terms of my knowledge. I have even fed back ideas from the programme to the leadership team at PM+M which we are implementing across the firm.

“The programme also helped me to review how efficient I am and ask myself ‘is there a better way of doing things?’ which really emphasised the importance of stepping away. It helped me personally too. It’s important to reflect on your home life too and understand the importance of getting the right balance.”

In addition to PM+M’s head office in Blackburn, the firm has locations in Bury and Burnley, employing 165 people in total. Ceri is one of 12 partners and oversees the firm’s audit team of 28 staff.

Ten apprentices are due to join the firm in the next cohort in September, with two joining the audit team, plus two new graduates. The firm is also currently recruiting experienced hires across all levels of the audit team. 

Over the forthcoming months Ceri’s team is likely to grow to 34, and she said that she felt the programme had helped her to be in a strong position to lead this growth.

She said: “Going forward I would like to be trained as a leadership coach and be able to support other team members at PM+M as they progress through their careers. I don’t want to be detached from my team now that I am a partner, so I am continually finding ways to ensure I am still the best leader.”

County Councillor Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic development and growth, Lancashire County Council, said: “The Growing Women, Growing Lancashire report highlighted the challenges that women leading businesses face, both in Lancashire and nationally. It’s vital that we provide support to female leaders in the county to help them overcome these challenges and the Women Scaling Up programme is a direct response to the report.

“The programme was designed to help not only business owners, but also women working as part of a larger leadership team so it’s brilliant to see that the programme has supported Ceri in helping to oversee the firm’s expected growth over the coming months.”

The Women Scaling Up programme was two thirds funded by Lancashire County Council through Two Zero. Two Zero is a business support service for scaleup business leaders in Lancashire, its mission is to help Lancashire’s scaleup leaders learn, grow their business 20 per cent and create jobs.