Is your leadership team built for the next stage of growth — or the last one?
Business owners, MDs, and chairs of UK businesses between 30 and 500 employees who sense the leadership team is a constraint on growth but lack a clear, objective diagnosis of where the gaps are.
Most growing businesses reach a point where the leadership team that got them here is no longer the team that will take them to the next level. The gaps are rarely obvious — they show up as slow decisions, unclear accountability, functional blind spots, and a creeping sense that the senior team is working harder but achieving less. Without an objective, structured assessment, owners and chairs are left guessing: is it the people, the structure, the roles, or the culture? The Leadership Readiness Audit gives you a definitive answer. In three to four weeks, a senior fractional director conducts a rigorous assessment across all C-suite functions, scoring your leadership capacity against the demands of your next growth stage and delivering a clear, prioritised action plan — so you can stop guessing and start acting.
A structured scoring of your leadership team across eight functional and behavioural dimensions, benchmarked against businesses at your stage and sector. Gives the board an objective, evidence-based picture of leadership strength and vulnerability — presented in a format that drives decision-making rather than defensive conversation.
A ranked summary of leadership gaps, ordered by commercial urgency and strategic risk. Each gap is mapped to its likely root cause: the wrong person in the role, a missing role entirely, or a structural / process issue. Lets you focus investment on what will move the needle.
A specific, tailored recommendation for the type and sequence of fractional director engagement most likely to address the highest-priority gaps. Where multiple directors are recommended, includes a view on phasing and whether a Transformation Directorate or Sector Programme approach would deliver better outcomes than individual engagements.
A practical, immediately actionable plan for the first 90 days — covering the structural, process, and people changes that can be made quickly to improve leadership effectiveness, regardless of whether a fractional director engagement follows. This ensures every client leaves the audit with concrete next steps they can begin today.
The senior fractional director conducts structured interviews with the CEO, MD, and key leadership team members. Reviews existing governance documents, board packs, org charts, and any available people data. Establishes baseline understanding of the business model, growth stage, strategy, and commercial pressures.
Systematic assessment of each C-suite function against a standard capability framework. Cross-leadership against strategic clarity, execution capability, functional expertise, decision quality, and cultural health. Cross-references findings with comparable businesses at the same growth stage.
Compilation of findings into the Leadership Readiness Scorecard and full written report. Includes a presentation session with the CEO/MD, board chair, or shareholders walking through the recommendations, and ensuring the recommendations are understood and owned before the engagement closes.
The Leadership Readiness Audit is a £3,500 fixed-price diagnostic that reviews the capability, alignment, and accountability of your entire senior leadership team. An experienced fractional MD or CEO conducts structured interviews with each member of the executive team, assesses gaps against the demands of the business strategy, and produces a prioritised action plan covering hiring, development, structural changes, and accountability mechanisms.
It is for founders, MDs, CEOs, and boards who suspect their leadership team is not firing on all cylinders but cannot pinpoint exactly why. Common triggers include flat performance despite a strong market, repeated missed forecasts, a recent funding round, an impending exit, or a change of CEO. The audit gives you an independent, evidence-based view of which leaders are right for the next stage, which need development, and which structural changes will unlock performance.
The engagement runs over three to four weeks. Week one covers a kick-off call and one-to-one interviews with each member of the executive team. Week two covers capability assessment, role-fit analysis, and team-dynamics review. Weeks three and four produce the written report with named recommendations and a formal presentation to the board or shareholders, with a clear roadmap for the next twelve months.
The audit is a fixed price of £3,500 plus VAT. This covers all interviews, analysis, the written report, and the board presentation. There are no additional fees, and the audit fee is credited against the first three months of any subsequent fractional director engagement, transformation directorate, or sector programme — so you only pay for the audit once, regardless of what you decide to do next.
Yes. All interviews are conducted under strict confidentiality and the final report can be commissioned by the MD, board chair, or shareholders depending on the situation. Individual leaders are given private feedback on their own assessment, while the board-level report focuses on team-wide capability gaps, structural recommendations, and accountability mechanisms rather than naming and shaming.
The audit identifies capability gaps, not individuals to fire. Where a senior role is identified as the wrong fit for the next stage, the recommendations cover whether the gap is best closed through development, role redefinition, fractional support, or eventual replacement. Leadership Services can provide fractional directors to fill gaps immediately while a permanent solution is put in place, giving the business continuity rather than disruption.
Your audit comes with a specific, tailored recommendation for the engagement that will deliver the greatest commercial impact. Most clients start with two weeks of receiving the report — with a director who already knows the business, the brief, and the priorities. There are no long-term contracts, no recruitment delays, and no commercial pressure once the audit completes.