Photo: Yan Krukau / PexelsAn outside pair of eyes, and something to do on Monday
Practical help for businesses and the people running them. You end each piece of work holding something you can act on, not a report.
- 01 / 04ListenWhere you are now.
- 02 / 04DiagnoseWhat is really in the way.
- 03 / 04PlanSteps you can take.
- 04 / 04ResultsMeasured together.
In a few words
- 01
Something to act on
Every piece of work ends with decisions and next steps, written down and short enough to be read.
- 02
A price, not a day rate
Agreed for the work, so thinking time is not a meter running.
- 03
Honest about fit
If this is not what you need, or you can do it yourselves, we will say so on the first call.
- 04
Plain words
No frameworks with invented names, and nothing you cannot repeat to your team.
What we do
- 01A second opinion
- One decision, looked at properly, before it is made rather than after.
- 02Working out what is wrong
- Time with your people and your numbers, and an honest account of what we find, including the parts nobody enjoys hearing.
- 03Planning
- Where the business is going, on a page or two short enough that people actually read it.
- 04Process and operations
- The daily work mapped, simplified, and the steps nobody can explain removed.
- 05Pricing and margins
- What each thing actually costs you to deliver, which is usually the most useful afternoon of the whole job.
- 06Coaching
- Regular sessions for owners and managers who have nobody to think out loud with.
- 07Training
- Practical sessions for teams, built around what they actually do, not a slide deck.
- 08Projects
- Brought in to run something specific and hand it back finished and documented.
- 09Getting started
- For new businesses: the decisions that are hard to undo later.
How an engagement runs
Short, defined, and finished with something you can act on.
- 01
A first call
What is going wrong, and whether we are the right people for it. Half an hour, no charge.
- 02
A written scope
What we will look at, who we need to talk to, how long it takes, what it costs and what you get at the end.
- 03
The work
Interviews with the people doing the job, a look at the numbers, and how things actually run rather than how the chart says they do.
- 04
Recommendations
What to do first, second and not at all — on one page, talked through with your team.
- 05
After
A check back a month later, because the value is in what actually changed.
The work
Sessions, workshops and the whiteboards they end on.
Photo: Thirdman / Pexels01 / 04
Photo: Pavel Danilyuk / Pexels02 / 04
Photo: Felicity Tai / Pexels03 / 04
Photo: Yan Krukau / Pexels04 / 04
Photo: Mikhail Nilov / PexelsAboutMost problems are already known inside the business
The people doing the work usually know what is wrong. What is missing is somebody with no stake in the last decision, time to look properly, and permission to say the obvious thing out loud.
So the work starts with listening to the people who are not usually asked, and ends with a small number of changes you can actually make, in an order that makes sense.
Questions clients ask
What do I get at the end?
Decisions, next steps and whatever tools the job needs — written plainly and short enough to be used.
How do you charge?
A price for the work, agreed before it starts. Not a day rate that rewards taking longer.
How long does it take?
Most work is weeks, not months. If it needs longer, we will say so at the start.
Will you need to talk to our staff?
Usually, and it works better when they know why. What individuals say stays with us; what we report is what we found.
Do you work with small businesses?
Yes. Much of this matters more when there are five of you than when there are five hundred.
What if we could do this ourselves?
Then we will tell you that on the first call, and how. It costs us a job and saves you a bill.
Stuck on something?
Half an hour on the phone is often enough to see it differently. That call is free.
Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm