From Nine Partners to One Team
Have you ever watched nine elite consulting firms dismantle a transformation program? I have it, and it's not good.
Two years into a critical finance transformation at a major restaurant chain, ego battles between partners threatened to derail a multi-million dollar investment. These powerhouses needed to start collaborating, and quickly.
The Challenge
I've spent years watching transformation programs fail. It's not always the technology that kills them, it's the human dynamics.
This case was straightforward. Nine top consulting firms each protected their piece of the puzzle. Partners used the client as a messenger because they wouldn't talk directly. Weekly status meetings devolved into scripted performances where real risks went unmentioned.
With six months until go-live, we had to transform these competitors into partners.
The Emerging Issues
Let me show you what significant dysfunction looks like.
In a crucial meeting, two senior partners from competing firms discover they spent the past month not communicating final deliverables and hand-offs. That's hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted because two elite firms wouldn't share their project plans.
That was just the beginning.
Pervasive Ambiguity
What's the most expensive word in consulting? "Assume."
Partners assumed others would manage integration points, key decisions, and escalation paths.
What happens when nine firms make assumptions? Disorder.
Misaligned Priorities
Every partner claimed they were "committed to the program's success." I've learned to watch what people do, not what they say.
What were they doing? Each firm was optimizing their own piece of the puzzle, unaware of how their decisions impacted others. They missed critical handoffs. They discovered dependencies too late. The July go-live date looked impossible.
Untapped Collective Intelligence
What killed me was that these were brilliant people. They were world-class experts from top firms.
Their collective genius was wasted because they couldn't, or wouldn't, work together.
I've seen this pattern before. When you put multiple elite firms together, ego and competition often overshadow collaboration. I've seen what happens when you break down those barriers.
My mission was clear
Have you ever tried getting nine alpha dogs to get along?
My job was not just to facilitate a conversation, but to transform how these organizations worked together. The program was entering its final, high-pressure phase, and we needed more than another project status meeting.
I'd done this before. My mission was to tap into that truth and create something impactful. Behind the polished presentations and corporate politics, these were humans trying to do good work.
Most people managing elite consulting firms make a fundamental mistake. They focus on contracts instead of relationships.
I've seen organizations waste millions on top talent, only to watch that investment disappear because they couldn't get the firms to cooperate.
This wasn't just about hosting another meeting. It was about creating a crucial moment that would save or sink a transformation. Here's what we had to solve.
Accelerate Collaboration
What's harder than herding cats? Getting senior partners from competing firms to share their real challenges. I needed to dismantle barriers built over decades of competition.
Mitigate Hidden Risks
What's the biggest risk in transformation programs? It's not in status reports but the hidden issues between partners. I needed to create a space for these to surface.
Forge Alignment
Everyone had their own version of "the plan." I needed to get nine different reality distortion fields to converge into one truth. Not easy with each firm's reputation and revenue on the line.
Establish Crystal-Clear Roles
Picture nine world-class chefs in one kitchen, each with their own recipe for success. Someone needed to define who was making what and get everyone to adhere to the menu.
Facilitation Principles
I've learned that great facilitation comes from asking the right questions rather than having all the answers. These principles guide my approach.
Lead from behind
The best facilitators are like great sheepdogs, they guide the flock without being seen. When dealing with senior partners, your ego cannot be in the game.
Master expectations
I've seen too many offsites fail because people walked in with different expectations. Your job is to ensure everyone's on the same page.
Break the expert trap
The more you know about something, the harder it is to teach it. You have to deliberately forget your expertise to help others understand.
Dance with reality
What’s the biggest myth about facilitation? That you can plan everything. Reality laughs at your agenda. The best facilitators are improvisers.
The Approach
I've sat through enough mind-numbing status meetings to know that PowerPoint doesn't solve people problems.
When dealing with nine powerful firms and six months until go-live, you need something different that forces leaders to confront reality, commit to solutions, and take responsibility for their part in the mess.
Diagnose Before Prescribing
Have you ever noticed how doctors don't write prescriptions before examining the patient? Yet in business, we go straight to solutions.
I needed the unvarnished truth. Through confidential interviews, I discovered what partners wouldn't say in status meetings. The actual fears, barriers, and conflicts.
These weren't just data points. They were the foundation for everything that followed.
1.
Architect the Conversation
Here's what most facilitators get wrong: they design workshops. I design conversations.
Consider your best conversations. They flow naturally, build momentum, and lead to unexpected insights. That's what I needed to create—but with nine competing firms and millions on the line.
Every moment mattered. We engineered significant ones, from the CFO's opening (carefully crafted to shake partners out of their comfort zones) to the final commitments (designed to make backing out impossible).
2.
Facilitate for Action, Not Just Discussion
Most offsites are nothing more than expensive meetings.
Meaningful change emerges from three key elements.
Structured techniques for honest communication
Methods that drive decisions, not just discussion
Tools that transform conversation into commitment
The real work starts when senior partners can no longer hide behind corporate speak.
3.
Solidify and Synthesize
Most facilitators write reports. I create action blueprints.
I deliver action guides, engineered to bridge the gap between high-level vision and ground-level execution. Every whiteboard sketch, breakthrough moment, and commitment gets converted into something practical.
The key question I always ask is “could someone outside the room understand what to do next?”
4.
Measure and Reinforce
Here's an uncomfortable truth about transformation. What gets measured changes.
I've seen too many initiatives chase satisfaction scores while missing real change. That's why I focus on behavioral metrics.
Are partners meeting without the client as referee?
Are decisions getting made faster?
Are risks being surfaced earlier?
These are the key measures.
5.
A Blueprint for Success
How do you spot real transformation? Watch what happens after everyone departs.
We saw immediate changes. Partners who had avoided each other for months began scheduling working sessions.
But three weeks later, the real test came.
Role Clarity & Aligned Expectation
Rules don't change behavior. Public commitments do. Transformation happens when you combine three elements:
Crystal clear expectations (no room for interpretation)
Public commitments (back out when eight other firms are observing)
Peer accountability (stronger than client pressure)
The magic is watching partners hold each other accountable without involving clients.
Timeline Accountability
Have you ever noticed how deadlines feel optional until they are your own?
I've watched something fascinating happen when nine elite firms publicly commit to shared milestones. Suddenly, "we'll try our best" transforms into "we'll make it work."
Why? Now everyone knows who owns what, and who's depending on them. It's surprising how peer pressure can accomplish what project plans cannot.
Strategic Risk Mitigation
What terrifies me about transformation programs is not the visible risks, but the unexamined assumptions.
I've learned a simple truth over years of facilitation. The biggest risks hide in the spaces between firms. Those handoff points where everyone thinks someone else has it handled.
That's where programs fail.
We did something different. We made it safe and rewarding to expose assumptions, question the unquestionable, and raise your hand and say, "I don't think this will work."
Unified Leadership Front
What's the real measure of leadership alignment? It's not what happens in the room, but when challenges arise.
Two weeks after our offsite, a major technical issue threatened the timeline. In the past, this would have triggered a blame game. Instead, I saw partners pool resources, share accountability, and solve the problem collaboratively.
That's when I knew we'd succeeded. Not because everything was perfect, but because these former competitors were now acting as one team.
The transformation wasn't just on paper. It changed how they worked, communicated, and solved problems together.
That's enduring change.
Additional Work
We cut financial disputes from 90 days to minutes. Here's how.
As Director of User Experience, I led a team tasked with reimagining the dispute resolution process for the US’s largest credit union. This initiative would become the cornerstone project for their new Digital Labs organization, an experimental arm designed to accelerate its digital transformation with an increased emphasis on speed, security, and member impact.
Let's Build What Comes Next.
If you're facing a complex business challenge or want to transform your customer experience from a cost center into a competitive advantage, I can help. Let's start a conversation.