Framework
Four phases, each with a deliverable
Diagnosis, friction map, execution brief, and a cadence the team can keep after the engagement.
The method is deliberately small. Four phases. Each one ends in an artifact a leadership team can hold without me in the room. If a phase does not produce the artifact, it is not done.
1. Executive diagnosis
Interviews, a pass over the critical tools, and a read of where decisions stall. Deliverable: a picture of the current state in the company’s own language, not a maturity score.
2. Friction map
The leaks, ordered. Manual work that should not exist, systems that do not share a record, decisions with no owner. Deliverable: the ranked map described in the operational friction map.
3. Execution brief
A 90-day sequence. Impact, dependency, owner, metric, and a date to stop or continue. Deliverable: the brief, short enough to review in one sitting.
4. Cadence
The meeting, the board and the rule for adding work. Deliverable: a rhythm the internal team can run. The point of the phase is that the system stays when the advisor does not.
Fractional leadership, when it follows, sits on top of this. It does not replace it. Direction without the four artifacts is attendance. The artifacts without direction are a document. The useful engagement is both, in that order.