Agree who owns the work
The exact split belongs in the proposal. The following is a starting point for that discussion.
Business sponsor
Sets priorities, approves the scope, provides resources, and resolves decisions that the working team cannot make. Remains accountable for the business’s decisions.
Internal process owner
Coordinates day-to-day implementation, maintains the process documents, tracks issues, and follows up on actions with the people doing the work.
Advisor or consultant
Contributes the assessment, design, facilitation, training, or review agreed in scope. Availability, deliverables, and the extent of hands-on support should be explicit.
Team members
Test the proposed workflow, use the agreed process, raise practical issues, and contribute feedback. Their involvement helps reveal exceptions a document alone may miss.
Start small, learn, then expand
A pilot should be large enough to reveal real issues and small enough to manage.
- Select a workflow or team, and define the pilot’s scope and acceptance criteria.
- Prepare the process, supporting tools, training, and escalation route.
- Run the pilot and maintain an issue log with owners and next actions.
- Review adoption, exceptions, and results. Decide what needs to change before expansion.
- Hand over the final documents, open issues, review schedule, and responsibility for ongoing updates.
Make review meetings useful
A review should end with decisions and ownership, not just a status update.
- Before the meeting: update the action list and bring the evidence behind each status.
- During the meeting: compare progress with the plan, identify blockers, and make or escalate decisions.
- After the meeting: record the owner, due date, and definition of done for each action.
- When scope changes: document the impact on time, fees, resources, and deliverables before proceeding.
Build the capability to continue
Agree how the engagement ends as carefully as how it begins.
- Confirm that each deliverable has been reviewed against the agreed criteria.
- Identify who maintains each process, template, dashboard, and training record.
- Document unresolved issues and any further support that needs a separate agreement.
- Schedule an internal review to check whether the new practice is still being used.
