Private
Client
Partnerships

Complex challenges don’t fit neatly into a project scope. A Partnership doesn’t try to make them.

A Private Client Partnership means we work alongside you, stay close to the work, and remain as invested in the outcome as you are.

Some challenges don't need a project. They need a partner.

Not someone who arrives with a methodology and leaves with a report. Someone who stays close to the work, sees what is really happening from the inside, and remains genuinely invested in the outcome long after the formal engagement would normally have ended.

That is what a Private Client Partnership is. And it is a genuinely rare thing to find.

A Partnership means we stay. Not indefinitely, and not in your way, but present at the moments that matter, available when the situation calls for it, and committed to seeing the work through to the point where it holds.

In practice that means different things at different times. It might mean facilitating a critical session when the politics are delicate. Running a Sprint when a challenge needs fresh thinking fast. Being in the room when a sponsor needs a thinking partner rather than an answer. Capturing the energy of the work so it stays visible and alive across the organisation. Bringing in the right specialist when the moment calls for something beyond our own direct expertise. Asking the question nobody inside the system feels safe to ask.

It also means suggesting things. Noticing when we are not being used enough. Seeing the opportunity or the risk that is visible from where we stand but invisible from inside the system. That is not overstepping. That is what the relationship is for.

Every tool and every capability in the 91 Untold architecture is available to you as part of the Partnership.

Labs, Discovery, Sprints, Facilitation, Coaching, Training. Not as separate purchases but as what the work needs, when it needs it.

And in complexity, the work will change. The plan you started with will look different six months in, because that is the nature of complex systems. In a conventional engagement, every shift in direction means a new scope, a new proposal, a new conversation about budget. In a Partnership, the resource is already there, ready to flex as the work demands. That structural flexibility is not a luxury. It is precisely what complex work requires.

We only take on a small number of Partnerships each year.

That is not a marketing line. It is the honest consequence of what a Partnership actually requires. Deep involvement takes time, attention and genuine care. It cannot be spread across an unlimited number of clients without becoming something shallower, which would defeat the point entirely.

What that means in practice is that before a Partnership begins, we need to understand each other. What you are working on, what you have tried, what you are ready for, and whether the way we work is genuinely what the situation needs. That conversation goes both ways. We are not the right fit for every organisation, and not every organisation is ready for what a Partnership involves.

Partnerships often start with a Systemic Discovery process and if it is the right fit, it becomes one of the most valuable relationships your organisation will have. Not because we turn up with the right answers, but because we stay close enough and long enough to help you find them.

Who it is for:

Leaders of complex, significant initiatives who need more than periodic outside advice. Organisations that have tried the conventional approach and found it wanting. Teams that are ready to work in genuine partnership rather than simply commissioning a service.

If you are not sure whether a Partnership is what your situation calls for, the Systemic Change Map is a good place to find out.

Neil leads every Private Client Partnership personally. He brings over 25 years of experience in systemic innovation, change leadership and organisational complexity, alongside a team of specialists who come in as the work requires. His commitment to every Partnership is simple: to stay in it with you until the work takes root.

There are only a small number of Partnerships available each year. If you would like to explore whether this is the right fit for your organisation, the best place to start is a conversation.

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

Real people. Real organisations. Real change.

Senior leaders reflecting honestly on what it’s actually like to work with us.

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“I chose systemic innovation because the statistic that 70% of innovation fails was not one I wanted to be on the end of.”

Sam Catley

People Services and Innovation Director, EDF

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“I see it like my little toolbox. It’s something that’s stuck with me and has fundamentally changed how I approach challenges on a personal and business level.”

Sarah Harvey

Global Director Customer Success, Vertex Inc

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“Bringing Neil into my clients is something I don’t hesitate to do. He will come in and quickly understand the most complex and most critical issues for an organisation and very quickly navigate his way around with diplomacy and humour to help them reach their goals.”

Julia Days

Talent Acquisition Transformation Consultant and Strategy Advisor, RL100 UK 2026

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“We’ve now had 1,500 women go through our programme, and we’ve eliminated attrition from that population, which is extraordinary. We have stopped women leaving our organisation once we invest in them in that way.”

Rachel Higham

MD of IT, BT

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“When Neil tips up in an organisation, I think he’s tipping up as a colleague, as someone who wants to collaborate and who genuinely wants to leave a legacy.”

David Beales

People innovation Hub, EDF

The Systemic
Change Map

Map how change actually happens in your organisation.

Most leaders working in complex organisations know something isn’t quite working. The patterns underneath are often hard to see from the inside.

In around ten minutes, this free guided reflection helps you understand the conditions surrounding your challenge and how change actually happens in your organisation.

You won’t receive a score. You’ll receive a map.
A starting point for better thinking, better conversations and better decisions about what to do next.

Other ways we can help

Systemic Dialogue Labs

Most organisations already have the answers they need. They just haven’t asked the right people in the right way.

A Systemic Dialogue Lab brings together the voices closest to the challenge, at scale and in a structured way, and surfaces what the system already knows. Fast, rich, and often revelatory.

Systemic
Discovery

Most projects fail before they really start. Neither the problem nor the system has been properly understood, the right people aren’t aligned, and there’s no agility in the map the team need to follow.

Systemic Discovery reads the system early. It gives you the clarity, the alignment and the coalition you need before the real work begins.

Systemic Innovation Sprints

Once you understand the system, you need to move. A Sprint takes insights and turns them into ideas, prototypes and real-world testing with the people who will make or break them.

Focused, fast, and grounded in the reality of how your system actually works.

Systemic
Facilitation

Sometimes the problem isn’t the problem. It’s that the right people aren’t in the room, or they’re in the room but not really talking, or they’re talking but not hearing each other.

In complexity, where cause and effect aren’t always visible, Systemic Facilitation creates the conditions for alignment. It can also involve scenario testing, expanding beyond the known, and building the governance structures and sandboxes that give new ideas room to survive.

Innovation
Coaching

Leading innovation in a complex organisation is one of the lonelier jobs there is. The challenges are systemic, the politics are real, and most coaching doesn’t touch the half of it.

Innovation Coaching is thought partnership for leaders who need someone who genuinely understands the terrain, knows how complexity operates, and can help you bring people with you.

Private Client
Partnerships

Some challenges need more than a project. They need a thinking partner who rolls up their sleeves and stays close to the work, facilitating, coaching, building capability, nurturing change and doing whatever the moment requires.

We only take on a small number of these each year. Because when we partner with a client, we go all in.