Diagnosis
- Current-state workflow map
- Bottleneck diagnosis and operating brief
- One operating number and baseline
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Established agencies
Agency Workflow Reset
Fixed 12-week repair and transfer engagement for agencies
Move one critical workflow out of the founder’s head—and into the team.
I diagnose one founder-held workflow, rebuild it around one operating number and one owner, run it three times with the team, and transfer it.
- For
- Established agencies with a repeatable founder-held workflow
- Engagement
- 12 weeks
- Investment
- Fixed project · quoted after scope
- Outcome
- One critical workflow transferred to a team owner
After the initial period
Fixed 12 weeks. Then the internal owner takes over.
The starting point
Your agency still routes too many decisions, approvals, and rescues through the founder.
Agency Workflow Reset is a bounded operating reset: one workflow, one number, one owner, three live cycles, and a verified transfer.
- The same decisions keep returning to the founder.
- An SOP exists, but the real process still lives in someone’s head.
- Work waits for approvals that nobody else feels allowed to make.
- The founder is still the unofficial final QA step.
- Meetings produce discussion without a number or named owner.
- Delegation creates more cleanup, reminders, and rescue work.
What changes
One consequential workflow the team can run without turning the founder into the operating system.
TodayWith it running
Founder is the default owner
A named internal owner with a clear mandate
Instinct and scattered signals
One operating number the team can see
Decisions vary by person
Decision rules, thresholds, and rights
Reminders and rescue
Visible triggers, handoffs, and deadlines
Every exception escalates
Only defined risks return to the founder
An idealized SOP
A playbook written from three live cycles
The working flow
- Diagnose
- Repair
- Run cycle 1
- Run cycle 2
- Run cycle 3
- Transfer
What I own
One person responsible for making the work run.
I temporarily own the repair so the team can learn the workflow under real operating pressure.
- Map the current state and diagnose the actual bottleneck.
- Define the operating number, owner, and mandate.
- Repair roles, handoffs, decision rights, triggers, and escalation rules.
- Build the scorecard, working tools, and first version of the playbook.
- Facilitate three live cycles and turn failures into reusable rules.
- Train the internal owner and verify the transfer.
I am a temporary owner of the repair, not the permanent owner of the workflow. Your internal owner takes over before the engagement ends.
| Operating number | Owner | Decision rule | Escalates when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified close rate | Sales lead | Advance only when all fit criteria are met | Exception exceeds discount threshold |
| On-time kickoff | Client success lead | Assign owner before contract handoff | Capacity falls below agreed buffer |
| Delivery QA pass rate | Delivery lead | Rework before client review | Risk affects scope or client trust |
The actual work
What gets built and used.
These are working parts of the service—not a document dump at the end.
Rebuilt workflow
- Ownership and decision-rights map
- Working scorecard, tools, and templates
- Triggers, handoffs, deadlines, and escalation rules
Verified transfer
- Three completed operating cycles
- Failure and change log
- Final playbook, owner training, and transfer package
The plan
The exact 12-week transfer.
- 01
Weeks 1–2
Diagnose
Map the real workflow, quantify the bottleneck, and select the number.
- Observe the current process.
- Find the founder-held decisions and failure points.
- Name the internal owner and baseline.
- 02
Weeks 3–4
Repair
Rebuild the workflow around ownership, rules, and visible operating data.
- Define decision rights and escalation thresholds.
- Build the scorecard and working tools.
- Prepare the team to run the first cycle.
- 03
Weeks 5–6
Cycle one
Run the repaired workflow and expose what the first design missed.
- Facilitate the live cycle.
- Capture delays, ambiguity, and exceptions.
- Turn failures into the next set of rules.
- 04
Weeks 7–8
Cycle two
Reduce rescue work and move more decisions to the internal owner.
- Run the revised workflow.
- Test decision rights and handoffs.
- Update tools, thresholds, and playbook.
- 05
Weeks 9–10
Cycle three
Have the team run the system with Matt in the background.
- Shift facilitation to the owner.
- Verify the number and cadence.
- Resolve only the defined exceptions.
- 06
Weeks 11–12
Transfer
Complete the playbook, close open risks, and verify independent operation.
- Train the owner and team.
- Deliver the final transfer package.
- Agree on the post-engagement review cadence.
What happens next
For this offer, transfer is the point.
I temporarily own the repair so the internal owner can take over by week 12. If you need Matt to remain responsible for ongoing cross-company operations, that is a different engagement—not Agency Workflow Reset.
Relevant operating proof
Evidence for the kind of work—not a borrowed promise.
“There are not enough words to express my gratitude towards Matt. Matt is your right-hand man.”Emily Penrod · Founder, Moxxie Communications
In earlier agency operating work, close rate moved from 15% to 35% and average deal size increased 18%. Those are contextual receipts from a prior environment—not a promise for this engagement.
Your side of the table
What your team provides.
- Access to the people, data, tools, and real examples behind the workflow
- A weekly executive sponsor who can remove blockers
- An internal owner with enough authority to take over
- A team willing to run all three live cycles
- An honest view of the current process—not only the documented one
- A commitment to keep the agreed number, rules, and cadence after transfer
Good fit
- Your agency has a real team and a repeatable workflow worth transferring.
- One founder-held process is creating a visible revenue, delivery, or capacity constraint.
- The founder is ready to define decision rights instead of remaining the default approver.
- An internal owner can take authority before week 12.
- The team can run the workflow three times during the engagement.
Not a fit
- You are a solo operator without a team to receive the workflow.
- You want an open-ended fractional COO to run the whole company.
- You need an emergency turnaround across every department.
- No internal owner has the authority or time to take over.
- The workflow cannot run three times inside 12 weeks.
- You want documentation without changing ownership or decision rights.
Questions
Before you book.
Is this fractional COO work?
No. A fractional COO is usually broad and ongoing. This is a fixed 12-week intervention around one consequential workflow and a completed transfer.
Which workflows are a good fit?
The best candidates repeat frequently, affect a meaningful number, involve several handoffs, and still depend on the founder. Sales qualification, client onboarding, delivery QA, resourcing, and renewal workflows are common examples.
Will you run the workflow for us?
Temporarily. I facilitate the repair and early cycles, then deliberately move the work and decisions to the internal owner before the engagement ends.
Why only one workflow?
A narrow scope gives us enough repetitions to test the real system, fix what breaks, and verify transfer. A broad operating audit can name many issues without changing how any one process runs.
What if the first cycle fails?
That is useful evidence. We capture the failure, change the rule or tool, and test the repair in the next cycle instead of hiding it inside an idealized SOP.
What happens after week 12?
Your owner runs the workflow with the final scorecard, playbook, working tools, escalation rules, and review cadence. Any additional workflow is a separate project.
Ongoing advisory
Want ongoing judgment while your team runs the work?
Advisory is for decisions, prioritization, and accountability. If you want me inside the execution, start with one of the projects above.
Bring the workflow that still routes through you.
We’ll identify the operating number, confirm whether the workflow can run three times in 12 weeks, and see if there is an internal owner ready to receive it.
Book a 30-minute fit call Or email matt@mattlady.com