Stage 03 of 03 · Retainer
Fractional Strategy & Execution Advisor
“We need discipline, not another report.”
- Timeline
- 3-month minimum
- Investment
- $4,500–$9,500 per month
The problem
Why this engagement exists.
The design is not the problem. Holding it is. Someone wrote the operating rhythm down and it held while things were calm — then a hard quarter arrived, the review got shortened to save time, the decision log stopped being updated, and the structure reverted to whatever the loudest calendar allowed. Nothing failed loudly. It simply stopped being true, and the first anyone hears of it is when a decision has to be reconstructed from memory.
The outcome
What you end up with.
What you hold at the end. Not what Gerode does — what you can use the week after it closes, without us in the room.
- 01
A cadence that holds when the quarter gets difficult
- 02
A decision log that survives a leadership change
- 03
Dependencies and risks reviewed on a schedule, not after they surface
The method
How it runs.
In this order, because the later steps are worth less without the earlier ones. No week numbers: the engagement has a duration, and a schedule is set with you rather than published in advance.
The standing operating review
Weekly or biweekly, run to the same standard in the quarters that are going badly as in the ones that are going well. That is the whole point of the retainer.
The monthly executive session
One session with the sponsor on the decisions the operating review escalated. Status belongs in the review; this is for the things the review could not settle.
Maintaining the decision log
What was decided, on what assumption, and what would have to change for it to be reopened. Appended to, never overwritten — a decision log you can edit is a summary.
Risk and dependency review
Reviewed on the schedule rather than at the point something surfaces, which is the point at which the review is no longer worth much.
Preparation support
Selected memo support and leadership preparation for the moments where the argument has to survive a room that did not help build it.
Deliverables, timeline, investment
What you receive, and what it costs.
Deliverables
- Monthly executive working session
- Weekly or biweekly operating review
- Decision-log maintenance
- Risk and dependency review
- Selected memo support
- Leadership preparation
Every item on that list is a document or a standing session you keep. None of it requires Gerode to interpret it later.
Terms
- Timeline
- 3-month minimum
- Investment
- $4,500–$9,500 per month
- Scope sets where in the range it lands. The range is the published range, not an opening position.
- Billing
- Billed monthly, in advance.
What we need from you
What this needs from you.
The engagement does not work without these, and saying so now is cheaper than discovering it in week one.
- A standing slot in the leadership calendar
- One internal owner for the decision log
- Willingness to change the cadence when the review says it is not working
What this is not
Explicitly excluded.
Listed because a scope that has not been bounded is a scope that gets renegotiated later, and because knowing what a firm declines tells you more than knowing what it sells.
- Implementation labour — Gerode designs the operating system; your team runs it.
- Legal, tax, accounting, or insurance advice.
- Classified analysis, or any work requiring access to controlled information.
- Software development.
- Unlimited revision rounds.
Proof
What there is instead of a case study.
There is no case study on this page. Gerode has not closed a paid engagement, and inventing one — or implying one with a logo wall — would be the first thing this firm tells you not to do. What exists instead is the method, published in full, and the record of the principal in the organizations where the method was built.
“Because of his discipline and detailed notes on how to streamline processes, we have been able to implement changes for our current team that have remained for almost 3 years. He created an atmosphere of proficiency that outlasted his time with us.”
“A fair and forward-thinking leader who sees anything to the end. The organizations he was part of have sustained thanks to his contributions — and he set the example for youth in Salisbury.”
These are professional references about the principal, given in other organizations. They are not client testimonials about this engagement, and they are not evidence that it produces a result. The method on the FREE GRID™ page is published in full so you can judge it directly rather than take a reference’s word for it.
Next step
What happens if you get in touch.
- Send one paragraph describing what is slipping. Not a brief — a paragraph.
- Expect a reply within 48 hours, which is the published expectation and the one to hold him to.
- A short call to decide which of the three stages fits, whether it is this one, another one, or none of them.
- If there is a fit, a written scope naming the people, the questions, and the date the work lands.