Case Study — Rebuilding Organizational Clarity
Case Study

Rebuilding Organizational Clarity at a 350-Employee CRO in 40 Days

The engagement began without a predefined problem to solve. Broad access was granted across teams, systems, and leadership to observe how decisions, information, and execution actually flowed—then translate findings into executive-ready clarity and immediate operational improvements.

Organization
Mid-Size Bioanalytical CRO (350 employees)
Sponsor
Chief Operating Officer
Scope
8 Departments • Commercial → Delivery
40-day embedded engagement
92-step workflow mapped + automated (VBA)
4.7× cascading failure pattern quantified
"30 in 30" trust-building sprint (8% of workforce)
2,000 contracts analyzed • Margins tightened ±15% → ±5%
8 zero-cost fixes • 3 redundant initiatives resolved

Rapid growth created systemic execution strain—leaders could sense friction, but couldn't see the root causes.

The organization faced unclear ownership across departments, redundant initiatives competing for the same resources, inconsistent handoffs between BD, PM, Ops, and Marketing, fragmented data systems, and merger-era documentation that never integrated into production workflows.

Leadership needed fast, accurate intelligence to understand how work actually moved through the organization—without guessing and without waiting for a long consulting cycle.

"Execution wasn't failing in one place. It was failing through accumulation—small handoff losses compounding until only symptoms were visible."

An open diagnostic: trust-building, system mapping, and executive synthesis—without a scoped hypothesis.

Instead of starting with a narrow project definition, the engagement started with visibility. Trust was built quickly, the end-to-end operational system was mapped, and issues with no clear owner were pulled forward. Findings were translated into implementation-ready decisions.

Trust Sprint
"30 in 30" meetings across entry, mid, and senior levels—mapped 8% of workforce to surface informal workflows and hidden workload.
System Mapping
Mapped intake-to-delivery across seven departments; documented a 92-step workflow and major visibility gaps.
Unowned Analyses
Investigated merger integration, CRM/LIMS inconsistencies, distribution list sprawl, and handoff quality variance.

Mapping accountability drift across the workflow lifecycle.

RACI Workflow Visualization showing accountability patterns across 5 workflow steps

RACI Workflow Visualization: Leveraged systematic process mapping to advise executive leadership on fundamental procedural gaps and accountability frictions across eight departments, quantifying a 4.7× failure amplification pattern that informed structural recommendations.

Multiple "small" failures were compounding into a measurable execution risk pattern.

The core issue was not effort or talent. It was how decisions, definitions, ownership, and information moved across boundaries. Where ownership was unclear or systems were fragmented, handoffs degraded and duplicated work emerged.

Amplification Pattern
A 4.7× cascading failure pattern: each handoff increased the likelihood of downstream rework and escalation.
Merger Residue
A 5-year-old merger remained unintegrated in production systems, creating divergence and data mismatches.
Signal Degradation
BD → PM → Ops handoffs varied in quality; inconsistent definitions and orphaned documentation drove friction.

Mapped the system, quantified risk, resolved high-leverage issues, and delivered executive-ready direction.

Mapped operations across eight departments, documenting the full client intake-to-delivery pathway
Documented a 92-step workflow and quantified a 4.7× cascading failure pattern across handoffs
Automated workflow visualization using VBA for real-time accountability tracking
Analyzed 2,000 contracts to formalize pricing governance—tightened margin variance from ±15% to ±5%
Built BI dashboard surfacing client-risk signals two days earlier than prior process
Consolidated 100+ commercial battle-deck slides into a coherent executive narrative and reusable assets
Identified and documented 150+ redundant distribution lists and associated communication loops
Uncovered single-point knowledge dependency impacting business intelligence continuity
Secured IT and CIO approval for enterprise-wide collaboration tools (375 employees)
Designed and ran a cross-department survey with 100% participation to align BD–Marketing signals
Delivered zero-cost operational improvements and resolved three redundant initiatives
Presented 8+ strategic recommendations with ownership pathways and risk notes directly to CEO and CCO

Materials designed for leadership decisions and fast adoption.

🧭
Workflow Visualizations
End-to-end map of how work actually moves (and where it breaks)
📌
Findings + Risk Notes
Department-level issues, visibility gaps, and execution failure drivers
⚙️
Implementation-Ready Fixes
Zero-budget improvements, ownership pathways, and near-term rollout steps
📊
BI Dashboard
Client-risk signals surfaced 2 days earlier than prior process
🤖
VBA Automation
Real-time workflow visualization and accountability tracking
📈
Pricing Governance
Margin variance reduced from ±15% to ±5% across 2,000 contracts

Organizational clarity restored—without forcing a new bureaucracy.

Mapped operations across departments; made execution risk visible and explainable
Built direct working relationships with CMO, CSO, CIO, CCO, and CEO within 40 days
Improved cross-functional alignment by translating fragmented signal into shared definitions and decision pathways
Provided zero-cost fixes and resolved 3 redundant initiatives to reduce friction and rework
Tightened pricing governance—margin variance reduced from ±15% to ±5% across 2,000 contracts
Surfaced client-risk signals 2 days earlier through new BI dashboard
Exposed legacy decisions embedded in workflows, knowledge dependencies, and inherited system fragmentation constraining execution

"Jacob came in to assess cross-functional workflows. Within two weeks, he was using our own data to surface risks and bring clarity to processes we hadn't examined closely. He built trust quickly and focused on internal realities—not external frameworks. I'd recommend him to companies growing quickly or needing analytical and operational support."

— Senior Director