phocus - Executive Consultants

Conflicting Ideas

How do you navigate complexity?

Everybody has a different perspective because they look at other parts of the system. There are no silos, just untapped data. Are you looking to See how you can mediate a way forward?

Changing Strategies

How much effort for your vision?

Strategy development is costly. It takes time from other activities and it requires parallel concentration from execution. Are you looking for a strategic Structure around your day-to-day?

Boxed Mindset

How do you push boundaries?

New ideas require outside input. If your project is feeling stale, sometimes a nudge can spark the Next Big Thing. Are you looking to Solve a break-through for your team?

Why Phocus?

What's in a name?

phocus is how we package our consulting services. phocus is a predefined unit of service, a cycle of See - Structure - Solve activities, in which only one carefully identified objective is understood, tested, and improved. We call that objective "phocus", the core of our offering.

Our team works with your organization to understand the objective and gather relevant data (See), map the trends and plan measurable actions (Structure), and then understand the gaps and find ways to adapt (Solve).

At the core of our philosophy lies phocus, a reminder of the "focus" needed to set your sights on something big and the "hocus pocus" needed to get there.

A general methodology for personalized needs
Based on engineering principles for testing data
Each cycle is time limited and kept short
Cycles can be repeated for more in-depth insights
Can be applied at multiple levels of your project
More phocus units can be run in parallel for efficiency

phocus Methodology

The phocus cycle represents our iterative and agile-based methodology for advisory services.

The ideal phocus cycle lasts between two or four weeks, and represents a complete delivery of See, Structure, and Solve activities, before carefully feeding data for the next cycle.

But the cycle is also a frame of reference that can be applied even at the highest level of the project, making it a great way to breakdown all the objectives in "phocus".

Each cycle starts with objective definition, cycle planning, and resource availability check.

Each cycle is serviced through a mix of phocus activities - surveys, workshops, focus groups, synthesis, foresighting, ideation, coaching, content development, etc.).

phocus is a Mental Model to keep complexity in check. Take a look at how we've used it in the past to solve different problems.

01.

Strategy Development

We worked with customers to review or define their long-term vision and execution methods.

In See, we reviewed previous strategies, identified market hypothesis, and facilitated workshops for a new vision.

In Structure, we rolled out company and market surveys, and did SWOT, PEST, MECE, STEEP, to structure the existing data.

In Solve, we delivered a cutting-edge strategy document, complete with talking points for executive and company-wide presentation.

02.

Market Positioning

We worked with customers to understand where to play in incumbent or niche markets.

In See, we looked at existing content, customers needs, and market trends, as well as identified the hypothesis for "where to play".

In Structure, we facilitated workshops for the team to get the insights on their VAP and ideal customer profile.

In Solve, we delivered a market positioning report, including portofolio reshape guidelines and talking points for marketing campaigns.

03.

Sales Enablement

We worked with customers to empower their Sales or channel partners.

In See, we facilited workshops with the Sales team or the channel partners to surface any existing drivers and inhibitors.

In Structure, we complemented the workshop outcomes with market trends, best practices and expert insights from customers.

In Solve, we planned with the Sales or channel partners the main action points alleviating the inhibitors identified.

04.

Portofolio Innovation

We worked with customers to add new business lines to their portfolio.

In See, we gathered facts & figures about current portfolio, and performed customer interviews to understand current strenghts and weaknesses.

In Structure, we facilitated workshops with the team to understand the low-hanging fruits for portfolio development, putting data into context.

In Solve, we recommended new services or products, taking into account customers, partners, market positioning, and organizational capabilities.

We're not your usual consultants.

You've probably worked with consultants before. If you were not so happy, we feel you.

Here are some of the ways in which our methodology mitigates the most usual complaints for "consulting".

Ivory Tower

Consultants are not grounded in your needs or context.

We sit down with you through meetings, calls, and workshops. phocus Methodology is applied on your specific needs and context.

Shooting in the Dark

Consultants change the objectives during the program.

Each 2-3 weeks phocus has a predefined objective towards which we direct our efforts. Faster results mean you are always in the loop.

Hot Potato

Consultants push outcome responsibility to you.

In the See phase of our phocus Methodology, we define together what you expect to Solve. Then, our team works with you towards that result.

Too many headaches

Consultants dump everything they have on your problem.

Insights are data tested in action. So we only give you information step-by-step in phocus, because we understand you have other things to attend to.

Invisible Man

You only see consultants during sales and project closure.

Our phocus methodology relies on the collective intelligence of your team. That means we need to be there, at all times, to catch what's important.

Not My Problem

Consultants have no incentive to actually help.

Every phocus cycle helps us as much as it helps you. We learn through what we do, expanding our understanding of problem-context-solutions.

How does it work?

Initial proposal with our phocus approach

We practice what we preach, and we don't work without phocus. Each time we start a project, we do a phocus cycle to come up with a proposal that suits your needs.

This is how you can expect the proposal process to look like:

See - We come up with a questionnaire about the type of engagement you imagined. We ask all sorts of questions, but don't worry - saying "I don't know" is part of the game. We actually need to identify what you don't know so we understand where and how we can help.
Structure - Our team takes all data points into consideration and develops a clear proposal for taking you from point A (where you are now) to B (where you want to be). We rely on our market experience and capabilities to pinpoint the necessary journey for your team, organization, or project.
Solve - We then ask you for a meeting, in which we go through our proposal, explain our assumptions and give space for feedback. We link the initial questionnaire from See to the projected outcomes we have put on the table.
phocus - If it makes sense, then great. We can start a new phocus for drafting the contract. If it doesn't make sense, but still find some benefits in working with us, we take the existing cycle and improve on to the next, with the See phase being ammended with your feedback.

Our main services

We have experience in all types of engagements, but we have crystalized the following services to be easier to mix and match.

Workshops

We facilitate.

Team / Partners
Online / Physical
Single day / Multiple days

Imagine a workshop mixed with training, best practices, and digital knowledge.

Each workshop is personalized for a specific phocus. Guests are guided by a facilitator to explore challenges, synergize them with best practices, and ideate around solutions.

Analysis

We synthesize.

Market / Customer Surveys
Customer Interviews
Data-driven insights

Sometimes you need a new idea, sometimes just to put things in perspective.

With a clear outside view, that also helps you identify what you don't know, we specialize in structuring any information you throw at us, making it into a coherent whole.

Content

We write.

Large format (reports, white papers, ...)
Small format (articles, use cases, ...)
Powerful & Engaging

It's about finding your voice and then echoing it into the world.

Getting your ideas on paper, in a fancyful way, wrapped in a story. That's what we promise. We specialize in executive content - written with leaders and managers in mind.

phocus on what matters

We facilitate results in complex digital environments.

If this is you, then you might need some phocus.