Playbook & Resources
These aren't theoretical frameworks from a textbook. They're the tools I've used to turn around businesses in crisis, built from 12 years of getting my hands dirty in manufacturing, supply chain collapse, and everything in between.
Real turnaround work moves through four distinct phases: Clarity → Stability → Transformation → Innovation. Most businesses need the first two urgently. Some make it to the third. Very few reach the fourth, but that's where genuine competitive advantage lives.
Use what's relevant for where you are. Download what's useful. And if you need someone to help you apply it, get in touch.
Phase 1: Clarity
Honest diagnosis of where you really are.
Most leaders in crisis are working with incomplete or outdated information. They know something's wrong, but they're not sure how bad it is or where the real problems sit. This phase is about stripping away the comfortable narratives and looking at what the numbers, the culture, and the market are actually telling you.
Is Your Business in Trouble?
A straight-talking diagnostic to help you figure out what's actually happening in your business. Work through five critical areas: cash, people and culture, operations, stakeholders, and your own leadership capacity. Answer honestly, nobody else needs to see this. Then find out which of four scenarios you're in (green, amber, red, or black) and what to do about it. Takes 10-15 minutes. Could save you months of denial.
Financial Reality Check: The Numbers That Actually Matter
Coming soon. Beyond the P&L: the eight financial metrics that tell you if your business is genuinely viable or slowly dying. How to calculate them, what they mean, and what to do when they're showing red.
The First Conversation: Questions to Ask Before Calling for Help
Coming soon. What to prepare, what to expect, and how to have an honest conversation with yourself (or your board) about whether the business is fixable, who can fix it, and what it will actually cost.
Phase 2: Stability
Stopping the bleeding and buying time to think.
This is where most businesses in crisis actually are: haemorrhaging cash, losing key people, watching clients get nervous. Stability isn't about strategy yet: it's about making the hard calls that give you breathing room, securing immediate cash, locking in critical relationships, and stopping the worst outcomes from happening.
The Crisis Stabilisation Checklist
Coming soon. The first 30 days of emergency triage: what to secure, who to talk to, which decisions can't wait, and how to communicate when everything feels like it's falling apart.
Cash Flow Survival Guide
Coming soon. How to build a real cash flow forecast (not the version your accountant gives you), identify where cash is leaking, and buy yourself weeks instead of days. Includes template and worked examples.
The Difficult Conversations Script
Coming soon. What to say to: suppliers threatening to cut you off, HMRC demanding payment, the bank questioning your covenant breach, key customers getting nervous, and team members asking if their jobs are safe. Word-for-word frameworks for the conversations you're dreading.
Phase 3: Transformation
Rebuilding the operating model so it actually works.
Once you've stabilised the immediate crisis, this is where the real work begins: restructuring teams, fixing broken workflows, resetting culture, and creating a business that can deliver on its promises rather than constantly firefighting.
The 100-Day Transformation Playbook
Coming soon. The complete framework for rebuilding a business after crisis stabilisation.
You've stopped the bleeding. Now how do you actually fix what's broken? This playbook breaks down the 100-day transformation process: implementing financial controls that work, restructuring your leadership team, executing quick wins that build momentum, rebuilding culture, and handing back to permanent management.
The step-by-step guide to moving from "we're not going to die" to "this business actually functions properly."
Rebuild Your Team in 90 Days
Coming soon. A practical guide for rebuilding team capability and culture when everything's been stripped back.
Who stays, who goes, how to support the survivors, and how to rebuild trust and performance when morale is on the floor. The step-by-step framework I've used in multiple turnarounds.
Financial Systems That Actually Work
Coming soon. Post-crisis, most businesses discover their financial systems were inadequate all along. How to implement: proper cash flow forecasting, project-level P&L tracking, work-in-progress management, and the weekly financial rhythms that prevent you ending up here again.
Phase 4: Innovation
Strategic repositioning for long-term competitive advantage.
This phase is for businesses that have stabilised operations, secured cash flow, and rebuilt core capability. It's about designing what you build next: identifying what problems you're uniquely positioned to solve, creating defensible competitive advantage, and making long-term investments that compound over years.
Most turnaround consultants never get here because it requires a completely different skillset. But this is where genuine competitive advantage lives.
Strategic Repositioning Framework
Coming soon. The complete process for moving from "stable and profitable" to "differentiated and defensible."
How to facilitate leadership clarity (who are we and what should we build?), identify market opportunities aligned with your capabilities, design business models that create sustainable advantage, and build a roadmap for getting there.
Only relevant if you've already stabilised. If you're still in crisis, start with Phase 1.
Protectable Asset Building Guide
Coming soon. Competitive advantage comes from assets competitors can't easily copy: people, IP, strategic relationships, physical assets, acquisitions.
How to identify which assets create genuine advantage for your specific model, prioritise long-term investments, and build moats that protect profitability over years not quarters.
The Frontier Firm Operating Model
Coming soon. One approach to Phase 4 transformation: designing lean, senior teams augmented by AI and specialist networks.
How to structure for speed and agility, integrate technology strategically (not just operationally), and create the kind of operating leverage traditional competitors can't match. Includes worked examples and implementation roadmap.
Not Sure Where to Start?
If you're unsure which phase applies to your situation, start with Is Your Business in Trouble? (Phase 1). It'll give you an honest assessment of where you stand and what needs to happen next.
If you'd rather talk it through with someone who's been there, book a call: