Avalon 2023

We endeavour to make our site content rich - useful and sometimes opinionated. Please spend some time exploring the site.

If you are exploring joining us:

please have a look at the careers pages and take the leap - book a chat with [email protected]

If you can't find what you are seeking:

please contact us at [email protected]

Thank you for spending some time with us at Avalon 2023.  Popcorn, planes, and a good chat. It was a terrific, if tiring, three days. The most common question we were asked was "What do you do?" 

Our business supports the better delivery of public services, by the public and private sectors and often at the juncture of the two.

Simply it is "to get the job done". With honesty, clarity, persistence, and energy. 

Commercial acumen, negotiation, contract, program and project management, change and training are core capabilities - in any domain. To name a few: Australian Passports, Visa programs, ERP PMO, catering in Afghanistan, security services in Iraq, missile defence, vaccine recovery, shipbuilding and combat management systems, legislative compliance, workplace health and safety, behavioural change, infrastructure, logistics, warehousing, housing and aged care. IT and communications to infrastructure, workforce design to hazardous area compliance.  

Our speciality is solving public sector problems, dealing with the urgent and the important, quickly. We can leverage technologists - yours and ours - through good leadership, planning and execution.  You don't need to be big with the biggest team or the biggest technology to make a difference. You can use building blocks and popcorn. 

Whether you want help with your job, or you want a job, we invite you to give us a chance. We are different. 

Case Studies

Where "we got the job done"

Learn More

Opinions and Insights into commercial acumen and better delivery

Too many consulting companies choose to only have the opinion of their client. We are not one of them. 

Learn More

Learning, development, and Kiah Academy

Making a difference - uplift your team with your training or ours.

 

Learn More

Thinking about a change

We are always looking - and it's different. What we are looking for, advice on applying - and some thoughts on transition.

Learn More

Featured Projects

Six ways Defence needs to lift its act

Six ways Defence needs to lift its act

As published in The Mandarin on February 20, 2023 by John Glenn I fear the Defence Strategic Review, now in the hands of the prime…

Read More
Strategic partnering with government? Snowball’s chance.

Strategic partnering with government? Snowball’s chance.

Talking about building strategic partnering relationships is the flavour of the month, especially in Defence where there always seems to be a search for a…

Read More
Consulting controversies – valued or valueless?

Consulting controversies – valued or valueless?

Know what you need, pay for what you get. Thirty minutes of insight into how to better engage support, what value you should be expecting,…

Read More
Deal making isn’t a dirty word

Deal making isn’t a dirty word

Some years ago I did a Harvard program called “strategic deal-making for business”. I followed on with a master’s unit in strategy at Edinburgh Business…

Read More
Programs aren’t projects – three things to note

Programs aren’t projects – three things to note

We are seeing a plethora of “Program Offices” being established – if you haven’t got a “Program” you’re not in the game. But a Program…

Read More
Flash to Bang: Increasing the speed of idea to impact

Flash to Bang: Increasing the speed of idea to impact

With over 50 Defence Reviews in the last 50 years, have they achieved a fundamentally better outcome or simply fiddled with the alignment of the…

Read More
One tip for … Shared services. Pay attention to business.

One tip for … Shared services. Pay attention to business.

It’s a seductive plan – one organisation delivers common services to a number of organisations. Reduces overhead and duplication, increases knowledge and expertise. Not a…

Read More
Seven steps to successful sourcing

Seven steps to successful sourcing

The last decade saw the rise of major outsourcing efforts with varying degrees of success. The outsourcing arena is changing. Smaller, more selective arrangements, tailored…

Read More
The ultimate power in negotiation

The ultimate power in negotiation

We all have these reactions while negotiating with another party. The feeling of being out of control Feeling like the other party is berating you…

Read More
How to get better value from consultants

How to get better value from consultants

Change the Equation Give me 30 minutes to reshape your perspective on how to engage consultants Register for a FREE online Insights Session SECURE YOUR…

Read More
Introducing integrative development

Introducing integrative development

Much of the western world’s thinking, strategy development, management and problem solving is based on exhaustive analysis — the search for evidence to formulate the…

Read More
Contract negotiation for the public sector – how to get a better outcome

Contract negotiation for the public sector – how to get a better outcome

In 2017, the federal government executed $47bn of new contracts. Negotiating a 1% reduction would have saved $470m, almost half a billion dollars. One per…

Read More
One tip for … Dealing with difficult people

One tip for … Dealing with difficult people

From time to time we come across difficult people – particularly when we are seeking to negotiate an agreement, whether it be commercial or simply…

Read More
Another way to writing complex options paper

Another way to writing complex options paper

There’s a typical process for writing business case and options papers – usually we’re hoping for a consensus that most people agree with. What if…

Read More
WEBINAR: Strategic Contract Management

WEBINAR: Strategic Contract Management

In this masterclass webinar we will look at the third dimension: how to manage a contract strategically. Join us for this FREE webinar on 25th…

Read More
Be more commercial they said – really?

Be more commercial they said – really?

The public sector is about spending money to deliver a social good. There is nothing commercial in that, and they shouldn’t try.

Read More