The 2018 Best Firms to Work For: Collaborative Solutions

Consulting Service Lines:  Strategy, Financial & HCM Consulting

This year marks the third consecutive year for Collaborative Solutions on the Best Firms to Work For list. The previous two years the firm settled in at No. 4; this year, the Reston, Va.-based firm has its best showing at No. 2. 

Being named a Best Firm to Work For is a great achievement for Collaborative Solutions, says CEO Carroll Ross. "For employees, this recognition enhances their sense of pride in the company, which results in increased fulfillment in their own work and contributions," he says. "The award acts as an overall morale booster and ignites a motivated and positive energy to bring to our clients and to our offices. It also results in lower attrition, which in turn results in a more stable project team for our customers."  

From a client perspective, he says, being named a Best Firm to Work For further confirms their decision to do work with Collaborative. "It shows our valued customers that not only do we provide the best-in-class consultants to help them innovate and transform, we also provide the happiest," he says. 

"We have received feedback that our family-like culture is tangible and ingrained in all that we do, which is appreciated and embraced by employees. These company characteristics, coupled with the exciting and challenging climate of Finance and HR transformation, continue to keep the morale of our employees high."

The firm also offers employees a variety of initiatives that build upon its unique company culture and strengthen its connection as "Collabies," our term for being part of the family, Ross says. Internally, Collaborative hosts an annual employee award ceremony, which recognizes the hard work, creativity, and collaborative spirit of the firm's top performers. 

"We truly see ourselves as a family and function as such. Our employees live at the forefront of every decision we make, and we not only value their talents, but also their spirit," Ross says. "It is important to us, a company that started small and has grown to more than 500 employees, to maintain this family-like culture, which is why we prioritize culture initiatives and employee programs that bring people together near and far. We believe it is this family-like culture that makes us unique and a top workplace."

Over the next twelve months, Ross says Collaborative Solutions will continue its focus on an accelerated expansion of European operations as well as the acquisition and integration of Theory of Mind Pty Ltd, a leading boutique consultancy in the Asia-Pacific region. "These focal points further prioritize maintaining and enhancing our special company culture," he says. "Even though we are growing at an aggressive rate, we know that it is this close-knit culture that is paramount to our success."

When you look at the remainder of this year and 2019, what excites you? 

Ross: "Collaborative Solutions is excited to have recently entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Theory of Mind Pty Ltd, the leading boutique consultancy in the Asia-Pacific region. The addition of Theory of Mind's capabilities and dominant presence in the Asia Pacific market will allow us to create a unique consultancy that is truly global in reach but with local presence in all primary geographies around the world. We believe the synergies created from this acquisition will create immediate benefits for both our joint customers and our employees."