Our Process

Four phases. Real clarity at every step.

We do not hand over a document and disappear. The process is collaborative, transparent about what we are doing and why, and designed to leave your team with something they understand well enough to run independently.

The Consulting Process

From first conversation to a programme your team owns.

Discovery

Typically one to two weeks

We start by understanding your team's current situation. This means conversations with founders, team leads, and — where possible — recent hires about their actual experience. We are listening for patterns: where do new people get stuck, what information is only in one person's head, where does the informal culture create confusion for people who did not grow up in it.

We also look at whatever you already have — existing onboarding documents, Notion wikis, Slack channels, job descriptions. The goal is to understand the gap between what exists and what is actually needed.

Discovery report summarising key findings
Gap analysis across five programme dimensions
Recommended scope and sequencing

Design

Typically two to three weeks

Based on the discovery findings, we design the programme elements that will make the most difference for your specific team. This is not a template we pull from a shelf — it is built around your roles, your tools, your culture, and your capacity constraints.

For onboarding, this means a day-by-day structure for the first thirty days, role-specific skill checklists, a buddy or mentor pairing system, and the check-in rhythm that makes all of it stick. For pulse surveys, this means a question set, a delivery mechanism, and a process for acting on results. We design all of these together so they form a coherent system rather than disconnected initiatives.

30-day onboarding programme document
Role-specific skill checklists
Peer mentoring pairing and conversation frameworks
Pulse survey question set and cadence

Pilot

One full onboarding cycle

We run the programme with the next real hire or cohort. This is not a simulation — it is the actual programme, with us observing and supporting in the background. We watch what happens when the plan meets reality: which parts of the thirty-day structure get skipped, which checklist items confuse people, where the mentor relationship needs more scaffolding.

The pilot is where we learn what the design phase could not anticipate. We collect feedback from the new hire, the buddy, and the team lead throughout the cycle.

Pilot observation notes
New hire and mentor feedback collection
Programme revision recommendations

Handover and Iteration

Ongoing, at your pace

After the pilot, we revise the programme based on what we learned and hand it over to your team in a format they can run themselves. This includes a facilitation guide for whoever is running onboarding, a maintenance checklist for keeping the programme current as roles evolve, and a template for the monthly learning lunch.

We offer optional quarterly check-ins for teams who want ongoing support as the programme matures, but the goal is always for your team to own the process completely. We should become less necessary over time, not more.

Revised and finalised programme documents
Facilitation and maintenance guide
Learning lunch template and topic bank
Optional quarterly review calls

Inside the Methodology

The thinking behind the tools and frameworks we use.

How we build the thirty-day structure

We map the first thirty days in three ten-day blocks. The first block focuses on orientation — understanding the company, meeting key people, and getting access to tools and systems. The second block focuses on contribution — completing a real piece of work, however small, that connects the new hire to the team's actual output. The third block focuses on integration — understanding how their role connects to other functions and beginning to operate with more independence.

Each block has a short check-in conversation between the new hire and their team lead. These are structured with specific questions, not open-ended chats, so the conversation produces useful information even if the team lead is not a natural coach.

How we design skill checklists

We start by interviewing the most experienced person in each role about what a competent person in that role actually does — not the job description, but the real work. Then we work backwards to identify what knowledge, tools, and skills someone needs to do that work well. We group these into four categories: must-know by end of week two, should-know by end of month one, good-to-know by end of month three, and role-growth items that apply after the basics are solid.

The checklist is a living document. We build a simple review process so it gets updated when the role changes or new tools are introduced.

How we structure peer mentoring

Pairing logic matters more than most people realise. We look at role similarity, communication style, and — in Malaysian teams — language comfort. We do not always pair the most senior person with the newest hire. Sometimes a mid-level team member who joined six months ago is a more useful guide than someone who has been there five years and can no longer remember what was confusing at the start.

Every mentoring pair gets a simple conversation guide: four questions to work through across the first four weeks. After that, the relationship continues informally, but the structured phase means it has already built a foundation.

See how the process would apply to your team.

Every engagement starts with a conversation about your specific situation. We will explain what we would focus on and what the process would look like for your team size and context.

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