CONSULTING
Close the gap between vision and reality
Honest reading of where you are. Clear thinking about where you're headed. Real momentum for your evolution.
Starting points vary. A founder with a fresh concept to bring to market. A growing business protecting its ethos as it scales. A values-led organisation whose culture hasn't kept pace with its ambitions. A new CEO with a new vision to realise. A merger or acquisition that brings two distinct cultures into the same room. A heritage brand that must evolve without losing its centre.
Whatever the moment, there's usually a gap between what your organisation says it stands for and how it truly operates. Most culture challenges are rooted not in poor communication or the wrong values statements, but in something deeper: the unwritten rules, inherited patterns, and structural conditions that shape how people actually behave when no one's watching.
We bring a systems view of culture and change to every engagement, working with a small number of clients at a time to ensure the depth of attention this work deserves.
Who we work with
We work with purpose-led, impact-focused organisations, future-positive leaders and the founders of values-led, scaling brands and businesses.
Many of our clients are doing their strategic thinking without a Chief Strategy Officer or in-house equivalent. Working across functions and siloed, they are leaders who believe in people and invest in culture as a performance enabler. They understand the critical role it plays in strategic execution, sustainable transformation, meaningful work, and in delivering positive outcomes for people and the planet.
Our clients want expert guidance, inspiration, and practical, hands-on support that makes a tangible difference to results and how people experience their organisation as a place to work.
What brings people to Guillemot?
The presenting challenges vary. The underlying opportunity never does.
"Our strategy is right, but it's not translating into how people and teams work day to day."
"We don't have the culture we need to achieve our business ambition."
"Our brand promises something externally that we don't yet live internally."
"We've been 'transforming' for so long, people have stopped believing it will ever land."
"Our Employee Value Proposition doesn't match the organisation we're becoming."
"We're growing fast, and need to evolve without losing the distinctive culture that got us this far."
We've been helping clients with challenges like these for decades. The work is always about the same thing: helping culture and strategy pull in the same direction so the whole organisation can thrive and perform at its best. If you're not sure where to begin, book a free, 1-hour 'First Sounding' conversation to help you find out.
Our Services
The scope of this work depends on your ambition, your goals, and what your situation demands. Sometimes that's a focused conversation or workshop. It can also be deep engagement, stakeholder listening, analysis, and a process to define what comes next.
1
DISCOVERY
Fathoming
Map the horizons, understand the currents, and explore the depths to identify opportunities.
Fathoming is how we read your organisation and its strategy, context, and culture (mindsets, behaviours, strengths, challenges, dynamics). Together, we explore what's emerging, and define what success will look like.
What you take away: a rich picture of your current and target organisational culture, and what it will take to close the gap.
Organicational Culture Diagnostics · Stakeholder Listening · Strategic Foresight · System Mapping · Leadership Alignment
2
STRATEGY
Charting the Course
Clarify and express who you're becoming, how you work, and the story that brings it all together.
Charting the Course is where culture comes alive as a strategic enabler. We involve people in creating a living compass for the organisation's brand culture that energises belonging, meaningful work, and positive change.
What you take away: a distinctive culture strategy that leaders, managers and teams can read and act on together.
Brand & Culture Strategy · Vision, Purpose, Values & Behaviours · Employee Value Proposition (EVP) · Strategic Narratives · Organisation Design Principles
3
EVOLUTION
Change in Motion
Animate your strategy and create the conditions for change to take hold at every level.
This is where strategy becomes lived reality. Change in Motion is where people take ownership, actions make an impact, and you close the gap between vision and reality on the ground.
What you take away: a culture that's evolving for the future with momentum building in every part of the business.
Culture Change · Employee Engagement · Operating Model Advisory · Executive Coaching & Offsites · People Experience Design
About our clients
Imagery from experiences with selected Guillemot Consulting clients is shown above.
Through Guillemot and senior roles at leading consultancies (Sparknow, now Hyphae, Interbrand, BrandCap, Yonder Consulting, Dragonfish), Guillemot's Founder, Steph Matthews, has deep experience working with clients across sectors and geographies.
Clients have included BGF, Blue Door Consulting, British Airways, British Council, Budgens, Coty, Environment Agency, Grant Thornton, Hays, International Alert, Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Janus Henderson, King & Wood Mallesons, Musgrave, Network Rail, Raspberry Pi, Rosewood Hotel Group, Royal Ballet School, SThree, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), THEUNSEEN, Tennis Wales, University of Cambridge, Waterloo Uncovered, and Welsh Athletics.