Leadership coaching & op model change

Recruited to deputise for the founder and CEO with client deliveries and with the company’s evolving operating model, I built and managed a small high quality delivery team, and worked to develop a model that built on successful company efforts and learned from unsuccessful ones.

​One of the few employees with startup experience and management expertise, I gave freely and amply of my time to the management team and to functional experts looking for a sounding board. I loved this part of my job – helping people to make sound decisions, and supporting them in their growth.

​Awash with interesting opportunities, we needed focus, and so I built a process for channeling ideas through an executive decision forum, pushing initiatives to be structured and defined, and formally decided upon, before resources were devoted.

​All good work, and necessary, but growth was hard, and the team too large to win at either of the lynchpin tasks: improving product quality and saleability, and getting clients to say yes. Team size compounded the problem of focus – too many people, too many ideas. The business needed tight engineering management, directive senior vision, and a streamlined (smaller) team. The head of engineering and I left on the same day.