When the business has to change
Ambrose and Bell is a consulting firm. We work out with you what the business should do, get the organisation behind it, and enable your team to deliver it.
The challenges we are brought in for
Growth has outrun the structure
Revenue is up, margins are flat, and every decision still waits for the same three people.
The transformation is slipping
A funded programme is late, over budget, or short of the benefits it promised.
The AI spend is not paying back
The business has paid for AI tools and pilots, but the processes around them have not changed, so the savings have not appeared.
The deal is not delivering
The business you bought is still run the way it was before the deal.
A founder or senior leader is stepping back
The client relationships and the big decisions sit with one person, and nobody else is ready to take them on.
The top team is pulling apart
Each director is pushing a different priority, so decisions stall at the top.
A key supplier contract no longer fits
The contract was written for a different business, and both sides now spend more time on disputes than on the work.
What we do
Consulting service
Operating Model Transformation
When a business has outgrown the way it is run. We find what is holding it back, design the fix with your leadership team and, where you want us to, put it in place.
View Operating Model Transformation →Strategy
- Operating Model TransformationWhen a business has outgrown the way it is run. We find what is holding it back, design the fix with your leadership team and, where you want us to, put it in place.
- Sourcing and Supplier PartnershipsWe help your team choose its suppliers and integrators, prepare the negotiation, and build a contract that holds up for both sides over its life.
Transformation
- Transformation Programme LeadershipAn independent assessment of a programme that is missing its dates or its benefits. We tell the board why and what to change and, where the brief calls for it, lead the programme through to delivery.
- AI and AutomationWhen AI and automation spend is not yet showing a return. We find out why, design how the business should run the work, and lead the programme on your side through to delivery.
Leadership
- Leadership Team EffectivenessAn assessment of the team that has to deliver, using Belbin team roles from peer feedback and a survey based on Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team. It shows whether the team agrees on the priority and where the strategy will expose gaps.
- Executive CoachingOne-to-one coaching for senior leaders taking on a bigger job, including a first board or trustee seat. Led by an EMCC Senior Practitioner with 350+ hours of coaching and mentoring experience.
We judge an engagement by whether your own team can carry the work on once we leave.
Three ways to work with us
Consulting
Six services, from operating model transformation to executive coaching. Each starts with a diagnostic, and the scope is agreed in writing.
View consulting →Interim leadership
CEO, MD, COO and executive team roles, full-time or fractional. Each runs to ninety-day milestones, and the exit is agreed in writing.
View interim →Board roles
Non-executive and trustee appointments where the seat carries real decisions.
View NED →Principal-led, with associates chosen for each brief
Our principal has run businesses as managing director and carried the profit and loss. Our associates have held senior roles in industry.
The people you meet in the first conversation are the people who do the work.
Our principal's career record
25+ years in consulting and leadership, 15+ with P&L. Five statutory directorships, three of them with full P&L accountability.
Results from the roles named. Clients are not named.
Pro bono for charities and social enterprises
We give senior consulting time, at no fee, to registered charities and social enterprises with income above £1 million. Each offer is five days of our effort, and asks one to two days of your people’s time. We take on one engagement at a time.
Latest insights
Articles on operating models, transformation and leadership.