Client results

My clients value my discretion about their problems. What I'll show you, with their permission, is how I work, and what they say about it.

Strategic Facilitation

ADA Australia

“With Susanne we get an outcome, we move forward, we learn. We usually come away with a game plan, knowing where we're going and why we're going there.”
Geoff RoweChief Executive Officer, ADA Australia

State of play: ADA had been growing fast for several years, and the leadership team was so busy keeping up that there was little time to look ahead. The previous plan had run its course. In a growing organisation, it's easy for the structure and direction to take shape around the people already there, rather than around what the organisation needs next.
The way through: Susanne started with the management structure, then the strategy, asking why things were done the way they were. The plan became a working document that goes to the board three times a year with what's working and what isn't, and the board now wants to see how each activity links to outcomes. Between sessions she stays close enough to push and question, without getting into the weeds.
Result: ADA Australia. Fifteen engagements across four years, starting with a review of the management structure. Geoff has since put Susanne's name forward to other organisations.

OPAN

“We thought we had to fix the tension in the network. Susanne very quickly said no, you're going to have to work with it, and use it as a strength. That was the light bulb moment.”
Craig Gear OAMChief Executive Officer, OPAN

State of play: OPAN is a national network with a peak body and nine independent member organisations. Each member has its own board and its own community. Together they need one national voice with government. That pull between independence and cohesion comes with the model. As external pressure built, it started to show up inside the network as tension.
The way through: Susanne spoke with members one to one to understand where each was coming from before they came into the room. Once there, she put the outside picture in front of them, including the parts that were hard to hear. She framed independence and cohesion as a polarity: both needed, and the tension between them something to work with.
Result: OPAN. An initial eight engagements in thirteen months. The board launched a four-year strategic plan and implementation game plan, and members have put people forward for a network-led strategic working group to put it into practice.

Stakeholder Insights

OPAN

“Susanne scans the external environment and synthesises it down to what it means for you. And she tells you, gently, the hard truth about what's going on. I haven't seen that done so well before.”
Craig Gear OAMChief Executive Officer, OPAN

State of play: OPAN was about to set its direction for the next four years, just after new legislation changed the rules for its whole sector. Before deciding anything, the board wanted to know what government, the regulators, peer organisations and industry expected of it over the next decade. It wanted to hear that from them directly.
The way through: Susanne went outside first, to the people whose decisions would shape OPAN's next decade, and heard what they expected. Then she tested it with the people inside the network. She brought it all back to the board as one picture, and named the tensions that would stay with them, with the value on each side.
Result: OPAN. Eighteen stakeholder interviews, member CEO and National Reference Group sessions, synthesised for the board, with seven polarities identified across them. The board has since launched its four-year strategic plan.

NGO Board

“Susanne knows the system, the constraints, and where the opportunities are. The insight she gave our board from the stakeholder engagement has yielded huge results with several partners.”
Kay ToshachBoard Chair

State of play: A commissioning NGO had good relationships with its major partners, and the board wanted to know whether they were delivering enough. A national review had reported and a new Commonwealth performance framework was coming. The board wanted a candid, independent read on how its most important partners experienced the organisation, and what they wanted from it next.
The way through: Susanne sat down with selected partners, one organisation at a time, on the understanding that nothing would come back with their name on it. That let them speak plainly. She brought what she heard back to the board as a handful of decisions it could take.
Result: Seventeen senior partners and government officials across nine conversations, synthesised for the board ahead of its strategy day. The board has since stepped up its direct engagement with a specific group of partners.

Trusted Executive Advisor

“To replace Susanne I'd need five or six people with different types of expertise, and I'd still have to explain everything to all of them. I wouldn't even contemplate it.”
Paul AthertonFounder and Managing Director, That Wall Street Guy

State of play: He'd run large teams in high-stakes organisations before, but always with levers he didn't fully notice he was using: the budget to spend a problem away, the titles and pay that motivated people for him. Building his own business, none of that existed, and he was still accountable for the result.
The way through: Susanne worked with what was in front of him and what he was building towards, at the same time. When something went wrong, they went through it properly and came out with a flexible plan rather than a feeling.
Result: More than four years of continuous advisory work with the chief executive, through the rapid growth of the business. He says he wouldn't have built an organisation this size, or had the confidence to do it without those conversations.

“Looking back, my expectations were definitely met. One of the things I valued most was the way Susanne challenged me to think through situations from different angles. It wasn't always comfortable—but it was incredibly helpful.”
Elise CookChief Executive Officer

Find your way through.

If the complexity in your organisation isn't going anywhere, and you have less certainty than you'd like, that's ground Susanne has worked for thirty years.

Start with a conversation to find your team's way through.

Talk to Susanne