Phase 1 · Discovery · Clarity Begins Here
Team Retention During Turnaround
A business in crisis can survive a cash shortage. It rarely survives losing the people it most needs to recover.
Team retention during turnaround is the structured approach to identifying, engaging, and retaining the key people the business most needs through a period of crisis and recovery — through honest communication, targeted retention arrangements, visible leadership, and the kind of genuine recognition of their contribution that distinguishes the businesses whose people stay from the ones whose talent departs at exactly the moment it is most needed.
The Pain We Solve
You may recognise yourself in one of these.
Three audience scenarios · because the same service produces a different transformation depending on where you are in the business journey.
Scenario 1
The distressed business discovering that its best people are the first to leave because they have the most options
The crisis has become visible to the team. The people with the most commercial value — and therefore the most alternative employment options — are the ones who leave first. The business is losing its best people at the moment of its greatest need.
Scenario 2
The business that has communicated poorly about the crisis and is losing people to rumour and uncertainty
Nobody has told the team what is happening. The rumours have filled the information vacuum. Key people are updating their CVs not because they know the situation is hopeless but because nobody has told them it is not. The retention conversation has never been had.
Scenario 3
The turnaround plan that depends on specific people and has no plan for what happens if those people leave
The recovery plan has been designed around the assumption that the key people will be there to execute it. The risk that one or more of them leave has never been assessed, mitigated, or planned for. When the first key departure happens, the turnaround plan is in jeopardy.
The Impact It Creates
The Moment You Will Feel the Difference.
Key people identified and targeted for retention before they make the decision to leave
Retention arrangements structured that give key people a reason to stay through the recovery
Team communication managed so uncertainty does not become the reason good people leave
Turnaround plan succession-planned for the key-person risk that every recovery carries
What You Receive
The Specific Deliverables.
Tangible outputs · documented, dated, and yours to keep.
- Key person identification — who must stay for the recovery to succeed
- Individual retention risk assessment for each key person
- Retention arrangement design — deferred compensation, equity, or recovery bonuses
- Internal communication plan — honest, managed, and designed to retain
- Knowledge capture — reducing the single-person dependency risk
- Succession plan for key roles if retention fails
The Outcome
Where You Will Be on the Other Side.
The key people the business needs to recover choose to stay — because the communication has been honest, the retention arrangements have been meaningful, and the leadership has demonstrated the genuine care that makes staying feel like the right decision.
Primary Focus
Retaining the key people a distressed business most needs to execute its recovery through targeted communication, retention arrangements, and genuine engagement.
KPI Measurement
- Key person retention rate during turnaround
- Retention arrangement effectiveness
- Internal communication satisfaction score
- Recovery plan continuity score despite departures
- Key person engagement score during crisis
Investment & ROI
Pricing Engineered Around the Value You Create.
Every engagement is sized against the value we believe we can create with you · the fee is always a fraction of the outcome. Four tiers · so the investment matches your stage of business.
Tier 1
Foundations
£5,000 – £15,000
Right for
Pre-startup, startup, and micro-business founders ready to build on evidence rather than instinct.
Typical Value Created
£50K – £500K avoided in misdirected launches and bad bets
Engagement
4 – 8 weeks
Target Return
5 – 10× ROI
within 12 – 18 months
Tier 2
Acceleration
£15,000 – £50,000
Right for
Growing SMEs and established small businesses ready to scale a working model into the next revenue band.
Typical Value Created
£250K – £2M of better-informed launch decisions and faster market traction
Engagement
8 – 16 weeks
Target Return
5 – 10× ROI
within 12 – 18 months
Tier 3
Transformation
£50,000 – £250,000
Right for
Medium enterprises and scale-stage businesses ready to commit to a multi-quarter, organisation-wide shift.
Typical Value Created
£1M – £25M in strategic pivots de-risked and new categories validated
Engagement
3 – 9 months
Target Return
5 – 10× ROI
within 12 – 18 months
Tier 4
Enterprise
£250,000 – £2M+
Right for
Large enterprises, global operators, and complex organisations ready for a multi-year strategic partnership.
Typical Value Created
£5M – £100M+ in optimised market entry, M&A diligence, and category positioning
Engagement
12 months and onward
Target Return
5 – 10× ROI
within 12 – 18 months
Why We Price This Way
Every engagement is sized around the value we believe we can create with you. The fee is always a fraction of the outcome · typically 10 – 20% of the expected first-year return.
This is how we make sure pricing aligns with results. The conversation is never “what does this cost?” · it is always “what is this worth to your business?” We answer that together in the first call, transparently, and decide the right tier from there.
If we cannot articulate a credible 5–10× return for your specific situation, we will tell you in the first call. That honesty is part of why our clients trust us with the work that matters most.
Why This Conversation Matters
“The best people always have choices. During a crisis, the business is competing with the security of a stable employer for the loyalty of the people who make the recovery possible. We help win that competition — through honesty, recognition, and the structures that make staying feel like the right bet.”
A 90-minute structured strategy session · produces a usable roadmap whether you engage further or not.
More in Phase 1