You don't hire a consultant just for advice. You hire us for lasting change. We believe real proof is not just the immediate win, but the sustainable transformation that remains long after we've gone.
This is the bottom line: clear, tangible outcomes delivered through our distinct approach. Browse some select case studies below, or contact us to discuss the approach for your organisation.
The TL;DR: IOR, a successful, fast-growing company, was facing a classic scaling problem: the ways of working that once brought success were now a liability. We partnered with them to establish the Foundation for scalable growth, moving their delivery maturity from ad hoc to a defined, consistent system. The result was a dramatic uplift in strategic alignment and predictability.
The Pressure Point
IOR's rapid success became a trap. The internal processes that had worked effectively when they were smaller were breaking down under the pressure of ambitious growth objectives, placing a constraint on their ability to pursue strategic goals.
Our Discovery highlighted several key factors:
No visibility. Work ‘went dark’ once it was requested, making delivery highly unpredictable. This led to a culture where urgency often determined priority.
Scaling risk. The entire technology ecosystem relied on the siloed knowledge of a few key individuals. This created a critical, unmanaged risk if those people ever left the business.
Ad hoc delivery. Teams lacked a shared, standard way of working. Our initial assessment placed their maturity between 'Ad Hoc' and 'Defined', depending on team.
Our Strategic Circuit Breaker
We didn't come in with a rigid playbook. As experienced senior leaders, we know that generic frameworks fail in unique ecosystems.
We started with a Discovery phase, then built a three-phase transformation strategy:
Foundation - establishing standard ways of working and governance, employing a minimum viable bureaucracy approach
Optimise - identifying and addressing lean waste with the ways of working
Enhance - creating new and innovative ways of delivering value to the organisation and its customers
Our focus was on establishing the Foundation: a stable base to solve the immediate issues of prioritisation and visibility. We tailored pragmatic contemporary practices from Lean and Agile specifically for IOR, avoiding a "textbook" approach.
Key elements we embedded in the initial Lighthouse Teams:
Lean Portfolio Management. We implemented a straightforward workflow to manage demand and delivery. This established clear expectations and aligned 33 initiatives directly with IOR's strategic goals.
Quarterly Planning Cadence. We established the structure and rhythm for their Quarterly Planning. This created predictability, aligning teams on commitments and expectations every three months, ensuring their strategy not only looked good on paper but also delivered in practice.
Radical Visibility. We created a physical Portfolio Wall and a regular Team of Teams forum. This gave leaders consolidated, continuous visibility into the status, progress, and dependencies across all initiatives.
Repeatable Delivery Patterns. We replaced the ad hoc chaos with repeatable, cross-functional Delivery Team Patterns.
The combination of these delivered predictability and visibility, supported by over 16 dedicated workshops, 14 support sessions for team leaders, and 1:1 coaching to embed the new practice.
The Proof: Measurable, Lasting Change
The Foundation phase successfully transformed IOR's system of work. To ensure they could sustain and continue to improve their ways of working, internal leaders were identified and coached to own and evolve IOR’s new ways of working. They now have the platform for consistent delivery and future organisational growth.
Area
Metric
Insight
Delivery Maturity Uplift
Overall maturity increased from between Ad Hoc/Defined to between Defined/Consistent.
The new, repeatable delivery patterns stuck, creating a reliable baseline.
Strategic Alignment
The largest sentiment uplift increased by 0.63 points.
Energy is now focused on strategic priorities, rather than noise.
Planning
Teams completed three Quarters of planning, with established delivery metrics.
Planning variability normalised, making delivery targets reliable.
Efficiency & Effectiveness
Sentiment about team ways of working increased by 0.54 points.
The introduction of structured ways of working directly validated the shift from chaos to clarity.
Decision Making
The ability to pivot is now strategic rather than reactive.
Data and delivery metrics now support IOR's superpower of quick decision-making.
Coming into IOR and leading this transformation from day one in partnership with Core State Consulting gave me a unique opportunity to help shape how we scale. Establishing the Foundation has been critical, it’s given us a stable platform for delivery, visibility across the business, and the right environment for our newly on-shored, in-house capability to succeed.
