Business processes a bit complicated?

I can help you untangle them.

Inefficiency is expensive.

Chronic process pain can be hard to spot. Unnecessary complexity is its favourite place to hide. 

This can happen to any business or organisation. 

When you’re busy running your business, supporting your customers, growing, it can be hard to take a step back to see what the problem is or know where to start.

Tell-tale signs your business has chronic process pain.

Operating costs creep up year over year

You’re trying to grow, but it feels too hard, too risky. A sense of defeat has settled in the business

Systems don’t talk to each other, workarounds pop up everywhere, systems crash and bugs multiply

People aren’t sure who is responsible for what, meetings get longer, deadlines are missed

Work that should be automated is done manually, often with a spreadsheet

Nobody can remember why we do things this way, who set it up like that, what exactly it's for or who needs it. And, they're pretty sure it's a total waste of time

When the office “fount of all knowledge” goes on holiday everything breaks. Sometimes it even catches on fire…

No generic recommendations.

ETC specialises in solving operational business problems, big or small. 

How your business operates is unique to you, your market and your customers. I can help you streamline, integrate processes and systems, save money and we'll get you operationally ready to grow without unnecessary complexity. 

And I roll-up my sleeves to work with you to deliver realistic solutions that support your business today.

See the path forward.

My role is to help you see the path forward. 

We work together to figure out how we’ll get you there.

Step 1: Operational Health Check

An Operational Health Check is a process to find out how you're doing operationally as a business, locate process pain, and figure out a plan to remedy it. 


It’s always the first step to get a clear picture of what is going on in the business.


Tailored for you


An Operational Health Check can be tailored to be as short or as long as you need depending on the size of your business or the acuteness of your process pain.



What's involved in the Health Check?


I work with each team to understand what work they deliver, how they do it, what process pain they feel already today and why it's happening (e.g. too many steps, missing coordination or communication points, no formal process in place, process is too infrequent to remember how it works, no documentation). This on-the-ground user research is the foundation.


Part of the purpose of the exercise is to get me up-to-speed on the detail of how work gets done around the business. The other part is to get the teams to articulate how things work which naturally surfaces issues, process pain, and blockages as well as stimulates creative problem-solving.


From there, I workshop with the teams on process improvements across specific areas to figure out how to get rid of process pain and/or identify new or missing processes.

Step 2: Targeted Pain Relief

From the work done with the teams, I synthesize all the information into a strategic and tactical report which includes:





We make a plan, and get going


After delivering the Operational Health Check, we develop a roadmap together and identify resources across the business to do the work that’s prioritized: organizational change, learning and development, process change, and technological implementations. 


The plan will put in place any operational structures, processes, training and tools we need to get you ready to handle the growth you want.

Step 3: Maximize Your Investment and Skill-up

I will help your leaders and teams become more operationally savvy.



Guidance


If you want to take the report findings and roadmap to drive the transition with your own teams, I can support you from a distance mentoring key people as much or as little as you need. 



You can use me as an advisor, a sounding-board available for teams or individuals to access on a regular basis as they bump into problems or obstacles and need advice



Direct mentoring


I can also closely mentor and train specific people to fill skill gaps that other leaders might not have bandwidth or experience to support



My specialist area is any role focused on operational delivery, project management, change management, transitions and integrations, process analysis and workflow design, and general management. I can mentor individuals at every level of an organisation about how to approach problems, find solutions, and how to engage with people and build real working relationships that produce results. 



Embedded leadership


I know lots about delivering complicated, multi-faceted, global operational business transitions that require a mix of technology experience, change management, people management skills and project management.


If you need direct support to deliver your transition plan, I can be embedded within the organisation in a temporary leadership role, like an interim COO, or I can work in an interim role for the duration of a project or for just a piece of it such as in a Project Leader role.

Analytical. Pragmatic. Creative. 

Complexity untangler extraordinaire.

My professional life for the last 30 years has encompassed all aspects of Operations leadership from developing strategy to technical implementations, project management, workflow design, process improvement, business integrations and transformational change. 



I have a long track record of figuring out what needs to be done, building cross-functional teams and rallying people to deliver on task, on time and on budget, even if they are spread around the world. And I can do it in French too.



Do you want to cut costs and reduce business risk?



I help COOs and CEOs in medium-sized companies who need a safe pair of hands to scale, simplify, streamline or integrate their processes, systems, tools, and organisational structures with just the right amount of rigour and structure to meet today’s demands while anticipating tomorrow’s. 



I’ve blended all the skills, tools, techniques and knowledge gained from a long and varied career into a methodology that uses curiosity, active listening, and respect for the end users' ideas and experience. It's the quickest, most reliable way to reveal root issues, untangle complexity, and pinpoint lasting solutions to the problems you need to solve.



It’s all about connecting the dots between your business strategy and your operations, delivering an achievable plan for you to take forward.

Accumulated wisdom.

Although an unorthodox education for an analytical problem solver, a BA in journalism and an MA in English literature equipped me with finely tuned communication skills, empathy, and curiosity to get to the truth of an operational problem and articulate the path forward to all levels of an organisation. Many, many, many years of hands-on experience plus a certificate in Project Management from Key Consulting in Seattle filled in the technical details.


Want to know more? The rest is here on LinkedIn

Otherwise, get in touch

evetoomey@evetoomeyconsulting.com

Nice things people have said.

"Eve was critical to keeping our train running on-time and on-budget. She brought an operational excellence combined with pragmatism and deep experience. [...] Eve left [our business] in a very much better state as a result of her contributions and those benefits will continue to persist well past her tenure." 

Chief Executive Officer

"Eve brought endless wisdom and critical thinking to the many intiatives we worked on [...] Her curiosity and bias for action [...] allowed her to successfully tackle some of the most meaty business challenges. Eve's leadership crossed organizational boundaries [...] Eve was the one people wanted to work things through with." 

Vice President, Planning and Program Management

"It was clear from the outset that here was an individual that could spread calm and order where there was panic and chaos [...]. She is excellent at turning a more or less talented rabble into an efficient and effective team" 

Operations Director, Agency

"[I]nstrumental in many of the key projects, new processes and initiatives that moved the business, as well as the teams she worked with, forward. Her ability to maintain a sharp sense of humor in challenging moments while maintaining the highest levels of integrity and quality outputs, built strong and lasting relationships at all levels of the organization." 

Vice President, Product Management

"[Eve] sees the big picture and successfully manages towards that; her willingness and ability to understand the details ensures that the final solution/future state is operationally sustainable" 

Senior Director, Sales Operations

Great brands, great projects, 

great people to work with.

Great partners.