Four steps, in this order, always.
Every engagement runs through the same four phases. The work inside each phase varies by service line. The sequence does not.
Diagnostic Call
A 45-minute working session. We pressure-test your current posture: compliance program, contract portfolio, leadership pressure points, and the pressure actually keeping you up at night. You leave with a written diagnostic whether or not we work together.
The diagnostic is not a discovery call disguised as a sales call. It is a real diagnostic. You bring three things: a short description of the firm, the situation that brought you to this conversation, and any context you can share under NDA. We bring more than two decades of pattern recognition, half of it from inside the seat you are sitting in.
We will tell you, on that call, whether the situation is the one we are equipped to handle, what is missing from your posture, and what an honest path forward looks like. If we cannot help, we will say so and refer you to someone who can.
You leave with
- Written diagnostic, three to five pages, within five business days
- Clear read on which practice area applies, and how urgently
- Prioritized list of posture fixes, ranked by urgency and effort
- Honest answer on whether you need us, someone else, or no one yet
What's not in scope
We do not pitch you on the call. We do not send a follow-up sequence. If the work is right for us, we propose. If it is not, we send a referral.
Strategy Plan
Within ten business days, you receive a written 90-day plan: what to fix, what to leave alone, what we will own and what stays with your team, and the milestones that mark progress.
The Strategy Plan is the document that organizes the engagement. It is written, dated, and version-controlled. It is not a slide deck. Decision-makers print it. Project managers run sprints against it. We update it monthly. At the end of the engagement we hand the latest version to you and you keep using it.
The plan covers four buckets, weighted to the engagement type: compliance posture (controls, policies, training, audit prep), contract and strategy work (portfolio, pursuits, teaming, vehicle access), executive cadence (coaching schedule, decision pressure points, succession), and operating support (turnaround, stabilization, stakeholder repair).
You leave with
- 90-day plan, written and dated, 15 to 25 pages
- Compliance posture summary with prioritized fixes
- Contract and strategy table: action / no-action per item, with rationale
- Executive cadence and coaching scope, where in play
- Operating-support roadmap with named milestones and owners
- Statement of work for the Execution Sprint that follows
What's not in scope
The Strategy Plan does not commit you to the Execution Sprint. Many clients implement the plan in-house. We are happy when that happens; the plan was the point.
Execution Sprint
We embed. Compliance buildout, strategic capture, coaching cadence, or turnaround operating support, whatever the plan called for. Weekly working sessions, daily access, full document and engagement transparency.
The Execution Sprint is where the work actually happens. We are not a vendor on retainer who shows up at the kickoff and disappears. We are in your Slack workspace. We are on the call when a stakeholder needs to hear the firm's voice. We work the way an in-house executive partner would, because for the duration of the engagement that is what we are.
Engagements range from 90 days (a single Sprint, a six-week compliance build, a triage and stabilization) to twelve-plus months (multi-area retainer with embedded advisory). Pricing, governance, and weekly cadence are set in the Strategy Plan so there are no surprises.
You leave with
- Weekly working sessions (60 to 90 minutes)
- Daily Slack / Teams response, business hours
- Shared document repository: controls, contract files, coaching notes, plans
- Monthly review with go-forward priorities
- Quarterly business review with metrics aligned to the engagement type
- Direct collaboration with your subject matter experts and decision-makers
What's not in scope
We do not do delivery work after a contract is won. We hand off to your operations team or recommend delivery partners. We stay in the compliance, strategy, coaching, and turnaround lanes.
Hand-back & Scale
Every engagement ends with a transition: your team operates the systems we built, with optional ongoing advisory. Wins compound. Pipeline self-sustains.
The Hand-back is a two-week transition phase. We document every workflow we ran. We train your compliance officer, your strategy lead, your operating team. We hand over the templates, the controls, the calendar of reviews. By the end, you can run the next ninety days without us, even though most clients choose to keep us on a light advisory retainer.
The objective is independence. We measure success by your firm's capacity to handle the next decision without our help, not by the length of the retainer.
You leave with
- Documented workflows for every function we ran
- Template library: policies, controls, training decks, review forms
- Calendar of reviews with renewal dates and triggers
- Training sessions for your in-house compliance, strategy, and operating leads
- Optional advisory retainer (light-touch, monthly or quarterly)
What's not in scope
We do not stay forever. If a client wants ongoing advisory work, that is a fresh engagement on its own scope. The Hand-back is final, and final means final.
Most consultants sell engagement length. We sell the shortest engagement that delivers the outcome. The process is designed to end.