The same few things come up again and again in the businesses I work with. The strategy is agreed, but it is not reaching the decisions people make day to day. The business has grown and the way it is run has not evolved with it. The founder has a strong sense of where the business is going but not quite enough space to think clearly about how to get there.
The shape of the engagement depends on what is going on. There are two ways I work, and a third on request.
A standing session to work through what is in front of you, with written access in between for the decisions that need an honest read before they're made. You leave each month clear on what is stuck and what to decide next.
A monthly two-hour session for you, with an extra hour for each person you bring in. Three-month minimum, then rolling monthly. It suits any leader who wants a sounding board and is the one deciding.
I work alongside you and your team, in the detail and with fresh eyes. We test whether there is a plan that connects to your vision, then build the operating rhythm that delivers it, in a way you can see and repeat — the goals for the period and who owns them, the weekly leadership session, the forum where cross-functional decisions get made, and the measurement that tells you whether any of it is working.
Two days a week, never less. It runs in three twelve-week cycles and it is built to end. I chair the forums at the start. By the last cycle your own leadership is running them and I am not in the room. The work then moves to coaching and advisory oversight. It suits a CEO who wants the vision carried into the week.
The same work, front-loaded. A six-to-eight week engagement, embedded, ending with a single strategy document — eight parts, each building on the last, covering the full arc from why the business exists through to how it will measure whether it's working.
For a business that wants the whole picture set down before it commits to changing anything. Ask about it in our first conversation.
A full-time chief operating officer is a permanent decision. A search fee, a salary and its on-costs, a notice period, and a role that is difficult to unwind if the fit is wrong. Operate is a fixed monthly fee for a fixed term, and it ends with your own leadership running the structure it built.
Most businesses this size are not yet certain what the role should be. Building the operating structure first tells you whether the hire is needed at all, and what to hire for.
If the timing is right, get in touch.
Contact →