Services

What I solve.

See below for situations I get called into most, plus M&A operational work which is less dealing and more op readiness. If your problems are not here, it's still worth asking. And if I'm not the right person, I'll say so.

Key services
  • Fractional COO, GM or MD leadership
  • Executive or Non-Executive Directorship
  • Strategic Portfolio Leadership
  • Programme, Project & Change Management
  • Strategy & Performance Execution
  • Strategy & OKR creation or redefinition
  • Operating model & organisational redesign
  • Company, people and location restructuring
  • Process & Automation review
  • Customer Operations setup and leadership
  • New vertical or start-up leadership
  • Due Diligence & Integration
  • Executive Advisory & Coaching
Common problem statements

Outgrowing your current operating model

You know this when

  • Headcount is growing faster than output
  • Every quarter feels like firefighting
  • Nobody can say cleanly who owns what
  • The exec team is the escalation path for everything

What I do

  • Map the operating model as it actually runs, not as the org chart claims
  • Redesign ownership and structure
  • Establish new cadence and operating rhythm
  • Propose an organisational and location target state, and prioritise gaps for hiring, relocation or repurposing
  • Establish or refine strategic plan and OKRs

What good looks like

A business that runs on a rhythm instead of heroics. Ownership is obvious. Accountability is installed. Business now scales and growth stops requiring proportional headcount.

Process drag, and the automation you keep meaning to start

You know this when

  • Manual workarounds have quietly become the process
  • You've discussed AI for a year and shipped nothing
  • Volume growth lands straight on headcount
  • Work is backlogged, handle times are slow or service levels are missed

What I do

  • Analyse pain points and sources of customer dissatisfaction
  • Inventory the work before the tooling
  • Close automation and workflow capability gaps
  • Build the pipeline; prioritise by impact vs effort
  • Separate what should be automated from what should simply stop
  • Set measures to prove work has actually been removed and benefits realised

What good looks like

Work removed, measurably. Tooling proposed or added. A standing pipeline of low-no-code work, distinct and separate from the product roadmap, and always with a next candidate in waiting.

A function or team that's underperforming

You know this when

  • Good people, poor results
  • Numbers get missed
  • Leaders are firefighting rather than delivering outcomes
  • Reporting is of problems, not solutions

What I do

  • Get in with the team, rather than above it, implementing best practice
  • Diagnose whether it is structure, capability, tooling or leadership
  • Fix what is actually broken, rather than restructuring on instinct
  • Rebuild reporting to outcomes, simplifying to what is most important, and ensure every issue has a solution not just proposed but in flight
  • Establish a RACI and coach the relevant leadership team towards true accountability

What good looks like

The team knows its numbers and hits them. A clear execution plan is in place to close residual gaps in performance. A leadership layer now holds itself to account, without you in the room.

No operational leader, or a CEO carrying it alone

You know this when

  • Vision is clear and the strategy is set, but execution keeps slipping
  • The CEO has become also COO, by default
  • You need inward-facing senior leadership that comes with credibility, without the cost of a permanent C-level
  • The board, founders or investors ask operational questions that nobody clearly owns

What I do

  • Step in as fractional Chief Operations or Chief of Staff
  • Own the operating rhythm, performance reporting and exec cadence
  • Act as an operational partner the CEO can be straight with
  • Prepare and front operational updates to board, owners and investors
  • Build a working permanent structure, to hand over

What good looks like

Owner and founders remain strategic. The CEO gets their week back. The board gets straight answers. Execution stops depending on ill-equipped individuals, and poor execution or low-value priorities stop completely.

Featured

Pre-deal operational due diligence

The business reports share their data but don't tell you what the operation actually is, what it will take to integrate, or which dependencies likely sit in a few people's heads. I look at the operational functions the way an operator does, before you sign.

Before the deal

Operational reality against the stated position. Integration cost and complexity. Licence, location and people dependencies. A risk register highlighting risk to be inherited.

After the deal

Integration of company and brand cultures, operating models and licences. Turning a signed deal into a working, performing operation across brand, licence and location. Target state org design and a full ops gap analysis, including quick wins.

Where this usually goes

Three steps, in this order.

Most businesses want step three. It doesn't hold without the first two.

1

An operating model that's consistent and reliable

Predictable delivery, clear ownership, heavily automated where automation genuinely fits.

2

Better offering, resourcing and tooling

Strengthen what the operation runs on once it's stable enough to improve rather than just survive.

3

Experience and innovation on top

The layer that earns positive customer sentiment, added once the foundation can carry it.

What I won't do

There's no special sauce here, and no attempt to be everything. Knowing where I stop is part of what you're buying. Where the work needs someone else, I'll point you at people I'd use myself.

  • People and HR consultancy. I've led HR functions and can drive restructuring, but talent acquisition or head-hunting is not an available service.
  • Corporate finance and deal-making. I'll gladly assess the operation behind a deal, and even help with integration, but I won't originate or negotiate a partnership.
  • Take on more than I can hold. I'll only agree to the time I can give my all to.
  • Run it entirely from afar. Fractional means fewer days, not less presence.
  • Promise what I'm not. If I'm the wrong person for it, you'll hear that on the first call.
Sound like what you need?

Tell me what you're facing and how much of me you think you need, and I'll come back with what an initial engagement would look like.

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