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Work with me

Two ways to work together.

Start with the decision in front of you. The underlying question stays the same: what behaviour is the system currently designed to produce, and what has to change for the organisation to remain able to act?

01 · Modes of collaboration

Different situations. Different forms of work.

1

Sparring

Every two to four weeks · in person or remote · for as long as it is useful

Challenge critical decisions

Confidential thinking partnership for owners, CEOs and board members carrying decisions that cannot be delegated — examining both the judgement and the system in which that judgement has to operate. Where the system turns out to be the constraint, the work extends into decision rights, governance and the conditions around the role.

Relevant when: the decision is yours, and everyone around you is affected by it.

2

Fractional Executive

Two to three days a week · six to eighteen months · ends with the handover

Lead transformation from within

Temporary executive leadership with a mandate to redesign the system from inside the organisation — with a defined scope, a defined end, and enduring capability left behind.

Relevant when: an external adviser cannot carry the authority the situation requires.

Fractional means divided time, undivided accountability. The point is not to keep a role occupied, but to rebuild the system.

02 · How a mandate runs

Four phases. The same four in every mandate.

1 · Diagnosis

I follow the real decision paths and find where responsibility, information and decisions break down.

A precise map of where the system fails, and what that costs you.

2 · Redesign

Decision rights, roles, governance and consequences are rebuilt with the managers who will run them.

An operating model the organisation defends instead of working around.

3 · Implementation

I stay hands-on and resolve the conflicts that only surface once the new logic bites.

A structure visible in daily work, not in a folder.

4 · Review and handover

The structure is tested under pressure, and the capabilities move to the people who hold them from here.

Named owners, and a leadership team that has practised the new structure.

A later return, to check whether the structure still holds, is agreed separately after the mandate ends.

The diagnosis is the first phase of a mandate. It is not a separate offer and not unpaid groundwork for a proposal.

03 · Shared principles

What holds across both.

  • The format follows the problem. Which mode fits is a conclusion of the first conversation, not a precondition for having it.
  • The work begins with the organisation you actually have. Not with a reference model, a benchmark or a brochure.
  • Recommendations must translate into system design. An insight that changes no structure changes no behaviour.
  • The goal is capability without permanent dependence. A mandate is complete when the system no longer needs me.

04 · Whether this fits

Not every situation needs me.

The question is not the size of the company. It is whether the constraint is structural — and whether you are in a position to change the structure.

It usually fits when

  • You are responsible for the whole. Not for one function inside it.
  • More than one unit, site or country has to work together before anything actually happens.
  • The decision cannot be delegated — and everyone who could advise on it is affected by the answer.
  • You are accountable beyond the next reporting cycle. Ownership, succession, or a mandate that outlives the current plan.
  • Decision rights are open to change, not only processes.

It does not fit when

  • What is wanted is motivation, cultural cosmetics or a change of language.
  • The organisation needs capacity rather than a different structure. Then it needs people, not me.
  • The conclusion has already been reached and only requires external confirmation.
  • Decision rights are not negotiable. Everything else can still be improved — and the pattern will return.

05 · Methods

Instruments, not products.

Diagnosis, stress tests and structural design are methods used inside a mandate. They are chosen once the situation is understood — which is why they are not offered as separate products.

One named engagement exists within Sparring: Built to Lead — confidential sparring combined with a structured diagnosis of the system around the leader.

  • Organisational diagnosis
  • Systems stress test
  • Governance & decision-rights design
  • Role architecture
  • Operating rhythm & steering cadence
See the full engagement architecture

Next step

Start with the organisation you actually have.

Bring the situation rather than a brief. The right form follows from it — if any does.

Start a conversation

Read the thinking first