Advisory Retainer
A senior thinking partner on the people decisions that matter most. For CEOs and senior leaders who already have an HR function but need senior judgement above it.
What this is
Ongoing, confidential access to senior people advice. I am not embedded in your organisation and I do not hold a role. I am an external senior advisor on retainer, available for the conversations that the most consequential people decisions require.
Structured monthly working sessions. Ad hoc calls when something urgent comes up. A private channel for the questions that cannot be raised inside the organisation. A peer to think with, at the seniority level where peer thinking is hard to find.
Who this is for
CEOs and senior leaders who carry the hardest people decisions alone.
Common signals
- •CEOs of mid-market and growth-stage businesses with an existing HR function or CHRO.
- •Group CHROs who want a peer thinking partner outside their own organisation.
- •Family office principals running operating businesses, where the people questions are real but the internal team cannot always be the place to think them through.
- •Founders who have reached the point where their internal team is too close to the questions they most need to think about.
- •Senior leaders navigating a personal or organisational transition, where confidential senior input is valuable.
Why companies need this
Some people decisions cannot be made inside the organisation. Whether to keep or exit a senior leader. How to handle a leadership team that is no longer working. Succession planning for the CEO's own role. Confidential restructures that have not yet been announced. The questions that the CHRO cannot raise with the CEO, and the CEO cannot raise with the CHRO.
These conversations need a peer outside the system. Someone who has sat in those rooms before, who understands the politics, and who has no internal stake in the outcome. That is what an Advisory Retainer provides.
What you get
Engagements are designed around how the principal wants to use the time. A typical retainer includes:
- •A structured monthly working session, typically 90 minutes.
- •Ad hoc calls and message-based input between sessions, for urgent or in-the-moment thinking.
- •Confidential availability for the most sensitive people questions.
- •Senior peer input on succession, leadership team dynamics, organisational design, executive hiring, and board-level people topics.
- •Full access to TPS Intelligence, included for the duration of the retainer.
How engagements work
Engagements run as ongoing monthly retainers, with a minimum three-month initial commitment to allow the relationship to settle. Most retainers extend well beyond the initial period. The exact structure and time allocation is shaped in the discovery conversation.
Is this the right fit?
A 20-minute conversation will help us both understand what kind of thinking partner you actually need, and whether an Advisory Retainer is the right shape.
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