Services
Strategic clarity when it matters the most
Cut through organisational complexity with precision. Make decisions that transform challenges into opportunities.
I support you to identify the choices available, establish criteria to clarify the trade-offs and provide a structured, transparent basis for making decisions.
I tailor these methods to your context, whether you are a large corporate aligning strategic priorities across business units, or a smaller organisation making critical investment choices. The outcome is decisions that are well-reasoned, transparent, understood by your stakeholders and defensible.
My services
Prioritisation
Choose the initiatives that matter most and deliver them.
Alignment: an agreed list of priorities everyone supports.
Impact: confidence you’re putting resources where they matter most.
Clarity: reduced overwhelm, focused execution.
NZTA needed to better understand the value different programmes provided against transport outcomes. I helped NZTA design a requisite process, facilitated the workshops to determine the criteria, prepared for and facilitated the evaluation of investment choices and interpreted and helped NZTA understand the results. The insights gained have enabled investment planning to inform strategic decisions on future investments.
A large government department needed to prioritise its strategic HR transformation initiatives to determine which should proceed and in what order. Collaborating with the project team I designed the process and helped them present the initiatives so that senior leaders could evaluate the choices, understand the trade-offs and advise their ELT.
The advice enabled the ELT to commission an initial set of changes, outsource support for others, and sequence future changes to implement when resources became available. The criteria used also provided considerable value to managers throughout the organisation as a basis for making day-to-day HR decisions.
A large government department needed to upgrade its payroll system that supports payment of billions each year in salaries and allowances. Working with the project team, we created a portfolio of change packages for evaluation to inform the Detailed Business Case to Ministers outlining the investment needs over the next decade.
The results enabled active participation by diverse stakeholders including employee representatives, to gain alignment on what mattered most and would deliver the best value for money to the taxpayer. The Business Case was successful in seeking the funding required.
Facing a big decision? Book a free 30-min scoping call.
Options
When the choice really matters, get a defensible, best value for money decision.
Clarity: the value, risk and trade‑offs for each option.
Confidence: a well‑reasoned preferred choice.
Alignment: decision‑makers and experts on the same page.
The Ministry of Defence needed to determine the preferred capability to replace the SH-2I Seasprite Naval Helicopters at the end of their life. I supported the Defence team through both the Indicative and Detailed Business Case processes with options evaluation.
The process designed provided wide input from stakeholders involved in different aspects of the capability, its acquisition and through life support. Structured workshops enabled senior stakeholders to evaluate the advice and understand the trade-offs. Clarity from the process informed business cases and enabled the Ministry to obtain Government approval for the $2B+ investment in the MH-60R Seahawk helicopters which will replace the Seasprites.
Defence helicopter announced
Faced with the need to replace the New Zealand Defence Force’s air transport fleet, the Ministry of Defence sought assistance in the options analysis for the business case. A decision support process, based on Decision Conferencing supported by Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, was conducted to efficiently evaluate more than 30 different fleet mix options. The engagement involved process design, criteria development, helping the Ministry define and describe options and evaluation of the choices available. The outcomes of this work informed the business case which ultimately led to the purchase of 5 C-130J Hercules aircraft for NZ$1.5B.
View press release
Image credit: C-130J - New Zealand Defence Force
Faced with the decision of where best to locate the future Plant Health and Environment Laboratory, MPI sought specialist support in location decision making. I tailored an approach that allowed direct comparison of lots of different combinations and permutations of sites and site use across the country to help stakeholders and senior MPI decision makers understand the tradeoffs. The result has provided confidence for MPI in making the decision to locate its future facility in Mt Albert.
View on MPI website
Image credit: Jasmax
I put together and led a tailor made consortium of experts to meet MBIE’s need to provide the Minister of Space with options for a New Zealand national space mission to launch sovereign satellite capability. Working for New Zealand Space Agency, the consortium also included Te Pūnaha Ātea - Space Institute and a specialist business case writer from Tregaskis Brown.
Read more on RadioNZ website
Image credit: Te Pūnaha Ātea- Space Institute, University of Auckland
If you’re dealing with a similar problem. Book a 30‑minute scoping call.
What's Next
Next steps on your journey from 'good to great'
United Machinists is an IS:9001 Accredited CNC machine shop providing precision machined components for aerospace, electronics, automative, medical and marine applications. Here is what Sarah Ramsay, the co-owner and CEO, had to say.
"My husband Alex and I work full-time in our precision component manufacturing business, United Machinists. We spend 99% of our time at work in operations mode and sometimes it feels like 100% of our time at home (much to our 9 year old son's chagrin) talking about visions and plans for the business!
Right now we're at a crossroads where we need to decide on whether to push ahead on international expansion plans and to what magnitude - with a significant investment across our team, buildings, operating systems and new machinery capabilities required.
It's an exciting time and we have ALL the ideas, however getting time and the right structure to sit down and lock in alignment on our strategy and clarity on priorities can be difficult for any executive team - let alone husband and wife!
Edward facilitated a 2 day decision making workshop with Alex and I. I'll admit, the first day was challenging and painful, pulling out of our brains the pros, cons and whys on every single idea on the table. But absolutely necessary and I have no doubt we simply wouldn't have put ourselves through that level of rigour had it not been for Edward.
Day two it really came together and we were blown away with the 'homework' Edward did overnight to pull our seemingly fragmented ideas and priorities from the day before, into a really clear decision making matrix that we could use for future. We're also really thrilled with the refresh of our Purpose and Values statements, after 5 years and with a new push in sight we felt it was time to review these and Edward was able to encapsulate our feedback into refreshed statements that fit with our tone of voice, culture and aspirations.
The workshop not only helped us with our immediate decisions, but has provided a framework for future - which we are now excited to share with our wider team."
Image credit: Sarah and Alex – United Machinists
Clive Phillips partners with biopharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers to create patient-centered solutions for rare diseases. Clive recently completed the Tour de MMN 2025 in France.
"Working with Edward enabled me to reflect on my work and consolidate my thoughts about the future direction of my business into concrete actions. Edward put me in the position of having to really think about what I was trying to achieve and the value I could bring to customers.
Like any worthwhile strategic planning exercise I was forced to test my assumptions and challenge my thinking in a way that was sometimes unnerving but absolutely invaluable. I would never have achieve the amount of progress I did without Edward guiding me along the way and asking the hard questions.”
Image credit: Clive Phillips, Making the Most of Now
If you’re dealing with a similar problem. Book a 30‑minute scoping call.
Strategy Development
Turning ambition into a practical pathway to success.
Having created a successful strategy to 2020, I was asked back to help a major NGO and its Board develop its strategy for 2020-2030. We first got clear on the strategic challenges facing the organisation and its future. From there workshops developed the cascade of purpose, vision, mission and strategic objectives, engaging with the organisation to gain input and feedback. The organisation continues to use this strategy as it enters the second half of the decade.
If you’re dealing with a similar problem. Book a 30‑minute scoping call.
Work directly with an experienced consultant
Unlike large consulting firms, you get unfiltered expertise. No junior teams, no bureaucracy. Just clear, rigorous strategic guidance.