START WITH
WHAT'S HAPPENING.
You don't need to arrive with a consultancy brief or know exactly which service you need.
Usually something has changed. The business is growing. A client needs something new. Somebody important needs to move. A project needs delivering. Or something that used to work simply isn't working anymore.
Start with the situation. I can help work out what the real problem is, which specialists need to be involved and the practical route forward.
Difficult problem. Important project. Limited bandwidth. That's often the starting point.
FIND YOUR SITUATION.
These aren't service categories. They're the kinds of situations that usually lead to a conversation. If one sounds familiar, that's enough of a place to start.
WE'RE EXPANDING INTERNATIONALLY
Growth has moved faster than the infrastructure and now the practical international issues need solving.
FIND OUT MORE ↓WE'RE HIRING SOMEONE OVERSEAS
You've found the person you want. Now geography is becoming part of the hiring problem.
FIND OUT MORE ↓SOMEBODY NEEDS TO MOVE
The move matters enough that leaving the employee or HR team to coordinate everything isn't the right answer.
FIND OUT MORE ↓SOMETHING ISN'T WORKING
A process, supplier or service is technically functioning, but everyone involved knows it needs fixing.
FIND OUT MORE ↓WE HAVE A PROJECT TO DELIVER
The destination is clear, but somebody still needs to coordinate the work and actually get it over the line.
FIND OUT MORE ↓WE NEED EXPERIENCED CAPACITY
There is important work to do, but another permanent senior hire isn't necessarily what the business needs.
FIND OUT MORE ↓WE'RE EXPANDING INTERNATIONALLY.
International opportunities often arrive before the operating model is ready for them. The challenge is turning growth into something practical, compliant and sustainable.
BUSINESS TRAVEL HAS BECOME THE OPERATING MODEL
A founder or senior employee keeps travelling overseas to meet a client requirement. What started as occasional travel is becoming regular enough to raise questions around immigration, tax, permanent establishment, employment compliance and simple operational sustainability.
THE CLIENT NOW EXPECTS LOCAL COVERAGE
You've won the work, but the client now needs local hours, local presence or people physically in-market. The commercial opportunity has arrived before the infrastructure.
WE NEED SOMEBODY THERE BEFORE THE ENTITY IS READY
The business needs capability on the ground quickly and is considering EOR, temporary arrangements or other routes while a longer-term solution is developed.
OUR FIRST INTERNATIONAL HIRE HAS CREATED TEN NEW QUESTIONS
Payroll, employment, mobility, tax, benefits, local support and ownership suddenly cross several internal teams, with nobody holding the whole picture.
WE'RE HIRING SOMEONE OVERSEAS.
Sometimes the right person is not in the right country. Relocation and international employment can become part of the hiring strategy rather than something dealt with after the offer.
WE'VE FOUND THE PERSON. THEY LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE.
The candidate is right for the business, but immigration, relocation, family needs or the practical move are becoming obstacles to closing the hire.
THE FAMILY NEEDS CONFIDENCE BEFORE THE CANDIDATE CAN SAY YES
Housing, schools, a partner's needs and the reality of moving country can be just as important to a senior candidate as the employment package itself.
TALENT ACQUISITION WANTS TO RECRUIT INTERNATIONALLY
Opening the talent pool beyond one country is attractive, but recruiters need a credible answer when candidates ask what support is available if they have to move.
THE START DATE IS APPROACHING AND THE MOVE IS SLIPPING
The hire is agreed, but property, immigration, temporary accommodation or family arrangements are threatening the timetable.
SOMEBODY NEEDS TO MOVE.
Sometimes it is one important person. Sometimes it is a wider mobility requirement. Either way, the move needs to work for the business and for the person making it.
A KEY HIRE NEEDS PROPER RELOCATION SUPPORT
The move is too important to leave the employee or HR team coordinating property, tenancy, immigration, movers and family support themselves.
THE EMPLOYEE HAS ARRIVED BUT THEY AREN'T SETTLED
Housing, schools, banking, healthcare or practical issues are still consuming time and distracting somebody who should be concentrating on their new role.
THE PROVIDER IS DELIVERING, BUT HR IS STILL COORDINATING EVERYTHING
Multiple services exist, but the internal team is still chasing updates, joining suppliers together and dealing with problems that should not be sitting with them.
THIS MOVE NEEDS MORE CARE THAN THE STANDARD PROCESS
A founder, senior executive, VIP, family or sensitive move needs greater discretion, more hands-on management or a more flexible solution than the usual programme provides.
SOMETHING ISN'T WORKING.
Not every operational problem needs a transformation programme. Sometimes somebody experienced needs to get underneath the issue, work out what is really happening and fix it.
THE SUPPLIER SAYS EVERYTHING IS WITHIN SLA. THE CLIENT DISAGREES.
The dashboards look acceptable, but users are unhappy, the internal team is frustrated and the lived service experience tells a different story.
WE ARE PAYING FOR THE SERVICE AND STILL DOING HALF THE WORK
Outsourcing was meant to remove work from the internal team, but coordination, escalation and problem solving have gradually crept back inside the business.
WHAT WORKED AT 30 PEOPLE IS CHAOTIC AT 300
Growth has exposed manual workarounds, unclear ownership, duplicated effort and processes built around individual knowledge rather than a scalable operating model.
THE PROBLEM KEEPS MOVING BETWEEN TEAMS
HR, Finance, Operations, suppliers or regional teams each own one part of the issue, which means nobody is actually responsible for resolving the whole thing.
WE HAVE A PROJECT TO DELIVER.
The plan may already exist. The challenge is getting decisions, suppliers, workstreams and people moving in the same direction and delivering the outcome.
WE'RE OPENING SOMEWHERE NEW AND THE CLOCK IS ALREADY TICKING
An office, new market or operational launch has a real deadline, but too many dependencies sit across different teams and external advisers.
THIS PROJECT DOESN'T FIT NEATLY INTO ANY ONE FUNCTION
It touches People, Operations, Finance, suppliers and perhaps Legal, which means everybody contributes but nobody really owns it.
WE'RE MOVING WORK BETWEEN COUNTRIES
Offshoring, shared services or changing the operating model needs careful transition, clear ownership and practical delivery without disrupting employees or customers.
THE PROJECT HAS STALLED BETWEEN STRATEGY AND EXECUTION
Decisions have been made and presentations produced, but the actual work still needs turning into actions, owners, timelines and delivery.
WE NEED EXPERIENCED CAPACITY.
Sometimes the problem is not knowing what to do. It is finding somebody senior enough to take ownership without creating another permanent role.
THE FOUNDER OR COO HAS BECOME THE PROJECT MANAGER
An important workstream has landed with the leadership team because nobody else has the combination of authority, experience and bandwidth to drive it.
IT IS IMPORTANT, BUT IT DOESN'T JUSTIFY A PERMANENT SENIOR HIRE
The business needs experienced leadership for a defined period, particular project or specialist workstream rather than another long-term role.
WE HAVE SEVERAL EXPERTS BUT NOBODY IS MANAGING THE WHOLE THING
Lawyers, tax advisers, mobility providers, HR specialists and other experts may all be involved, but the client still needs somebody joining the work together.
WE NEED SOMEONE WHO CAN TAKE THIS OFF OUR DESK
Leadership knows the work matters. What it needs is ownership, practical judgement and somebody trusted to keep moving until the job is done.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Our CEO keeps flying to the US because we haven't worked out a better solution.
We've hired her. Now we need to get her and her family here.
Nobody knows whether he can just keep working from Spain.
The provider says everything is fine. The employee says it isn't.
We're opening in Germany in eight weeks. Who actually owns all of this?
This was supposed to be a six-week project and it is still on the COO's desk six months later.
TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENING.
You don't need a finished brief or a perfectly defined project. Start with the problem, what has changed and what needs to happen. We can work out the right route from there.