Growth is stretching
the operation
You are expanding, but the way the business works is becoming a constraint. I help develop the operating model, management capability and systems needed to handle more business profitably.
Paul Littlejohn / Senior transformation adviser
Every leader needs a wingman.
I help owners and CEOs improve performance and build the operating capability to grow profitably.
Senior advice and implementation leadership. Former COO, management consultant and RAF fighter pilot.
Selected commercial evidence
From my operating and transformation work.
USD 6.11M
Annual costs removed through an 18-month programme
dnata Airline Services
40%
Uplift in profit per sale
Meeting Point UAE
USD 30M
Revenue opportunity made accessible
Tourism365
How I can help
When the business
needs to change.
Growth is stretching
Performance needs
to improve
Margins, service or productivity are falling short. I establish what is driving the performance and lead changes that improve how the operation works.
Technology changes
the work
A technology investment needs to produce a business improvement. I help define that improvement and lead changes to workflows, responsibilities and management, bringing in the specialist expertise required.
My view on transformation
The plan is
a benchmark.
A transformation needs a clear business purpose and a plan. The judgement continues as you put it into practice.
As the work proceeds, people discover constraints and possibilities the original analysis could not fully show. Leaders have to judge what to preserve, what to change and what to commit next.
On dnata’s Libra programme, the operation had to work at two in the morning, when the senior managers were at home. We worked through the authority, training and handovers each role needed, and adapted the design as the operation and our customers showed us what it required.
That is the judgement I bring alongside you: clear about the result we are pursuing, exacting about the work and ready to change course when the evidence requires it.
Selected work
What this has meant
in business.
Design and implementation / dnata Airline Services
A new operating model
that worked
through the night.
USD 6.11M
Annual costs removed
18-month programme
I helped design the transformation at PA Consulting, then joined dnata to programme-manage its implementation across a 15,000-person organisation.
The work made new roles, authority, training and departmental handovers function in the operation. We adapted the implementation as customer requirements and operating constraints became clear.
The programme removed USD 6.11 million in annual costs while protecting the operation’s ability to do its work.
Read the case studyTransformation leadership / Tourism365
A commercial opportunity
the business could
finally reach.
USD 30M
Revenue opportunity
made accessible
At Tourism365, I supported the blueprint and led a transformation covering product digitisation, client and partner connectivity, and the operating model behind delivery.
The work replaced manual operations and opened access to a USD 30 million revenue opportunity the business had previously been unable to reach.
Commercial access depended on the business’s ability to offer and deliver its products. Technology and operating change had to support the same purpose.
Read the case studyJudgement in practice / Leadership readiness
Assessing readiness
for operating responsibility.
An international business needed an independent view of internal candidates’ readiness for senior operating responsibility. I designed and led the assessment, working with a senior HR specialist.
The client received evidence-based reports on readiness, strengths and the support needed. The appointment and development decisions remained with the client.
Read the case studyAn advisory example / Seasonal relaunch
Secure forward bookings
before restarting.
For a seasonal relaunch, I recommended enabling paid forward bookings before restarting the full operation. Booking, payment and sales capabilities would allow the owner to build demand before committing the operating cost base.
The aim was to give the owner evidence of demand and money coming in before carrying the full cost of reopening. This case describes the advice; it does not claim a realised financial result.
Read the advisory exampleMilitary aviation. Consulting. Business leadership.
US Marine Corps exchange tour.
Paul
Littlejohn.
Consulting design. Transformation delivery. Operating responsibility.
I have helped design major operating changes, managed their implementation and held senior responsibility for running complex businesses.
At PA Consulting, I helped develop the transformation of dnata Airline Services, then joined dnata to manage its 18-month implementation across a 15,000-person organisation. I later led Customer Services and Airside Operations at Dubai International, including airside responsibility on a USD 250 million budget.
Before joining Meeting Point, I helped design the four pillars of its blueprint. I went on to become COO of the UAE and Oman business and Global Head of Operations across 17 countries. More recently, my work at Tourism365 combined blueprint support with a transformation covering technology, the operating model, processes and management development.
That business experience follows sixteen years as an RAF fighter pilot and senior officer, including an exchange with the US Marine Corps as an F/A-18 instructor and department head. It shaped how I prepare, lead, use expertise and examine performance.
View my professional backgroundWorking with Paul
Senior advice.
Delivery leadership.
You work directly with me.
A commission can establish the direction and operating design, lead a defined transformation, or provide continuing senior judgement as your team delivers.
I clarify what success requires, bring the necessary expertise together and progress the work to a high standard. We agree my responsibility and authority, the resources needed and how we will judge progress.
Where the direction is already clear, we can begin with implementation. Where it needs defining, a paid piece of design work should give you a useful decision and a workable route forward.
From the forthcoming book
Staying Ahead
of the Jet.
“Most people treat confidence and uncertainty as opposites, so they either wait for a certainty that never arrives or they manufacture one so that they can feel entitled to act. I learned to do neither.”
My forthcoming book examines how we keep acting deliberately as circumstances change. It challenges the idea that more effort, information or a better process will supply the judgement each decision needs. That thinking runs through how I lead business change.
Read the manuscript excerptA conversation with Paul
What does your business
need to do differently?
Tell me what you want to achieve and what is making it difficult. We can discuss the change required and where I could help.
Talk to Paul [email protected]