Client PackPeOPLE DeSIGN
GTM Playbook

People Design

From referrals and reactive growth to a repeatable engine — without losing what makes you you.

Prepared for
Emily Gole
Founder, People Design
Prepared by
Kate Pollard
FORK Collective
Date
May 2026

Emily — this pack is the working version of the GTM strategy we shaped together in your Discovery Session. It's designed to be a tool you actually use, not a deck that gets filed. Start with the Action Plan, dip into the deeper sections as needed, and let me know what's missing.

People Design
OverviewFoundationsMessagingSales MotionDemand EngineAction PlanResources

Section 01

Overview

People Design has already built a strong business — loyal clients, a capable team, strong retention, a clear point of view, and a brand that genuinely stands out in a category often filled with corporate jargon and reactive compliance work.

The next stage is about turning that strong foundation into a more repeatable and scalable growth engine.

This playbook is designed to help

  • Attract more of the right-fit clients
  • Create a more consistent and predictable pipeline
  • Sharpen positioning and messaging
  • Build awareness in the market
  • Create a more repeatable sales process
  • Reduce founder dependency over time
  • Build a business that supports both growth and lifestyle goals

A note on philosophy

This is not a 'grow at all costs' GTM strategy. It's designed to support sustainable, intentional growth — better-fit clients, stronger systems, and a clearer commercial focus.

Business Goals

Identified during the Discovery Session — next 3-7 years.

Commercial

  • Grow beyond $1M revenue sustainably
  • Increase predictable inbound opportunities
  • Improve quality of clients entering the pipeline
  • Increase average client value over time
  • Reduce reliance on referrals alone
  • Build a more repeatable acquisition model

Operational

  • Reduce founder dependency
  • Clarify team roles and ownership
  • Create a more structured sales and marketing process
  • Improve consistency across sales, marketing and delivery
  • Build scalable systems and processes

Lifestyle

  • Build a business that supports flexibility and freedom
  • Reduce operational overwhelm
  • Enable more strategic leadership work vs reactive delivery
  • Create a long-term succession pathway
  • Build an asset with long-term exit potential

What you'll walk away with

AreaWhat changed
Brand PositioningSharpened positioning statement, articulated brand personality (Refreshingly Real, Crystal Clear, Bloody Ambitious, Genuinely Optimistic) and a clear list of what People Design is — and is not — for.
Ideal ClientsTwo priority ICPs (Growing Professional Services + Revenue-Generating Startups/Scale-ups) with full buyer personas, pain points, triggers and objections.
Messaging FrameworkA reusable library of core messages — tagline, value propositions, mission, elevator pitch, bios — to use across website, proposals, sales calls and LinkedIn.
Sales MotionA simple seven-stage funnel, a 30-minute discovery framework with a 12-point qualifying scorecard, and a six-stage pipeline tracker.
Demand EngineFour content pillars mapped to the 4Bs framework, a LinkedIn cadence (Emily + People Design), a monthly newsletter + welcome series, a 12-month theme map, an events/partnerships strategy, and a referral partner plan.
Action PlanAn interactive 90-day rollout checklist split by 'This week' (foundations) and 'This quarter' (engine).

Part 01

GTM Foundations

Strong positioning + clear ideal client = a sharper, more repeatable growth engine. Everything downstream — messaging, content, sales — gets easier when this layer is dialled.

1.1 — Brand Positioning

Brand Summary

People Design is a progressive HR advisory helping ambitious businesses build workplaces where people perform at their best.

The business combines practical people expertise with commercial thinking to help growing businesses create strong teams, better leaders and healthier workplace cultures.

Unlike traditional HR firms, People Design does not operate from a place of bureaucracy, fear or compliance-first thinking.

  • Practical advice businesses can actually apply
  • Helping businesses grow sustainably
  • Supporting both people and performance
  • Creating workplaces where people thrive
  • Building modern, high-performing teams

“Business transforms when the people within it transform.”

Brand Personality

Refreshingly Real

Human. Approachable. Honest. Practical.

No jargon. No corporate theatre. No over-engineering.

Crystal Clear

Simple language creates confident action.

Clients leave conversations clearer, calmer and more confident.

Bloody Ambitious

Great workplaces create better businesses.

Commercially minded and outcome-focused, not just culture-for-culture's-sake.

Genuinely Optimistic

Brings energy, possibility and momentum.

Not toxic positivity — a genuine belief that workplaces can work better.

Positioning Statement

People Design helps ambitious businesses build workplaces where people perform at their best — without the bureaucracy, overwhelm or corporate fluff.

Key Positioning Themes

  • Strategic HR without corporate theatre
  • Humans and performance
  • Practical people advice for growing businesses
  • Smarts with heart
  • People systems that support growth
  • Helping founders build better workplaces
  • Clear advice. Better teams. Sustainable growth.

What You Are NOT

  • A traditional corporate HR consultancy
  • A compliance-only HR provider
  • A policy factory
  • Bureaucratic or over-engineered
  • Transactional 'box-ticking' HR
  • Generic leadership theory
  • Reactive firefighting without strategy

1.2 — Your Ideal Clients

Where you create the most value

One of the biggest opportunities for People Design is becoming far clearer on who the business is best built to serve.

Historically, growth has come through referrals and relationships — creating strong momentum, but also a broad mix of clients. The next stage is focusing energy on the clients where People Design creates the most value, delivers the strongest outcomes, and builds the most sustainable commercial model.

These aren't rigid boxes. They are strategic filters designed to help the team focus time, energy and marketing efforts more intentionally — across sales conversations, website messaging, content, partnerships, events, qualification, proposals and service design.

Priority 1 — Growing Professional ServicesPriority 2 — Revenue-Generating Startups / Scale-ups
Architects, interior designers, engineering firms, consultancies
15-100 employees (15-40 is the sweet spot)
Fast growing
Tech-forward startups and scale-ups
15-50 employees
Fast growing, revenue generating and post-funding
ICP 1Growing Professional Services Businesses

Growing Professional Services Businesses

Established professional services businesses experiencing growth and increasing people complexity. The founder or leadership team cares deeply about culture, team performance and building a sustainable business, but lacks the time, expertise or internal capability to build strong people systems. They want a trusted strategic partner who can bring clarity, structure and practical support.

Company Characteristics
  • 15-100 employees (15-40 is the sweet spot)
  • Founder-led or owner-operated
  • Growing steadily
  • No dedicated internal HR leader
  • Strong service reputation but increasing internal complexity
  • Team structure evolving quickly
  • Values-led leadership team
  • Wants a healthy, high-performing culture
  • Willing to invest in quality advice and support
  • Experiencing increasing people issues as they grow
  • Commercially minded but people-focused
Types of Companies
  • Architecture firms, interior design studios, engineering consultancies, advisory and legal firms, accounting practices, boutique consulting businesses, and other professional services agencies.
What they care about — Needs
  • Better people structure and clarity
  • Stronger leadership capability
  • Consistent ways of working
  • Better hiring decisions
  • Team accountability and performance
  • Reducing founder dependency
  • Strong workplace culture
  • Clear HR foundations
  • Confidence in people decisions
  • Strategic HR support without hiring internally
Goals (next 12-18 months)
  • Build a high-performing team
  • Improve employee engagement and retention
  • Build scalable people systems
  • Improve role clarity and accountability
  • Reduce internal friction
  • Create a healthier workplace culture
  • Build future leaders internally
  • Create a more sustainable operating rhythm
Success Metrics
  • Retention
  • Team engagement
  • Delivery quality
  • Reduced founder involvement in people issues
  • Better performance conversations
  • Faster onboarding and hiring
  • Improved leadership capability
  • Reduced team friction
What's getting in the way — Pain Points
  • Founder carrying too much operational load
  • Team members unclear on expectations
  • Avoidance of difficult conversations
  • People issues becoming reactive
  • Inconsistent management capability
  • Hiring mistakes creating delivery pressure
  • Burnout across leadership team
  • Performance issues lingering too long
  • Lack of structure as business grows
Challenges & Barriers
  • No clear people strategy
  • Limited internal HR capability
  • Leadership team stretched too thin
  • Fear of getting people decisions wrong
  • Difficulty balancing culture and performance
  • Time-poor founders constantly firefighting
  • Legacy behaviours and inconsistent standards
  • Business growth outpacing internal structure
What creates demand
  • Team growth creating complexity
  • A people issue escalating
  • Leadership capability gaps appearing
  • Increased staff turnover
  • Team burnout or disengagement
  • Founder overwhelmed by people issues
  • New strategy requiring better team structure
  • Preparing business for future growth or exit
  • Need for stronger onboarding and accountability
  • Internal promotions requiring leadership support
Objections
  • We're not big enough for this yet.
  • We can probably manage this ourselves.
  • Budget is tight right now.
  • It's not the top priority.
  • We only need help with one issue.
  • We already have someone handling HR.
Awareness Gaps
  • They associate HR with compliance only
  • They underestimate the cost of poor people systems
  • They don't realise how much founder time is being drained
  • They don't yet understand the commercial impact of people performance
  • They assume strategic HR is only for large corporates
  • They don't yet understand the value of proactive people strategy
Buyer Persona

Founder / CEO / Managing Director

While the business itself matters, the real buying decision almost always sits with a founder, CEO or business owner carrying the emotional and operational weight of the team.

This persona ensures sales conversations, content and proposals speak directly to the realities this buyer is experiencing.

Demographics
Age
35-55
Background
Mixed — professional, trade, business or experience-led
Tenure
Founder/owner 5-15 years
Buyer type
Decision maker
Responsibilities
  • Leads the business strategy
  • Oversees people, delivery and growth
  • Makes hiring decisions
  • Manages senior team performance
  • Handles difficult people issues reactively
  • Balances culture, clients and commercial performance
Needs
  • Trusted strategic sounding board
  • Clear people advice
  • Better leadership capability in the business
  • Stronger team performance
  • Better structure and accountability
  • Time back
  • Reduced operational overwhelm
  • Confidence in difficult conversations and decisions
Metrics they care about
  • Team performance
  • Retention
  • Client satisfaction
  • Revenue growth
  • Team engagement
  • Reduced founder dependency
  • Stronger leadership capability
  • Delivery consistency
Pain points
  • Carrying too much people responsibility
  • Team friction and misalignment
  • Avoiding difficult conversations
  • Inconsistent standards across managers
  • Team members underperforming
  • Hiring mistakes creating pressure
  • Founder burnout
  • Lack of operational structure
Challenges
  • Balancing business growth with team wellbeing
  • Letting go of operational control and reducing founder dependency
  • Managing underperformance and difficult conversations confidently
  • Building leadership capability and accountability across the team
  • Creating more structure and consistency without losing culture
Common objections
  • We can probably figure this out internally.
  • Now isn't the right time.
  • It's hard to justify the spend.
  • We just need help with recruitment.
  • We've had poor HR experiences before.
Buying triggers
  • Team growth creating complexity
  • Escalating people issues
  • Losing key staff
  • Burnout or culture concerns
  • Preparing for growth
  • Leadership capability gaps
  • Business evolution requiring stronger systems
What we offer
  • HR Lift Off diagnostic
  • Strategic people advisory
  • Leadership support and coaching
  • Role clarity and accountability frameworks
  • Performance and people systems
  • Team structure and operating rhythm design
  • Recruitment and onboarding guidance
  • Ongoing People Partner support
How we solve it
  • Bring clarity where things feel messy
  • Improve team accountability and performance
  • Build stronger leadership capability
  • Create scalable people foundations
  • Reduce operational people pressure
  • Support difficult people decisions with confidence
  • Build healthier, higher-performing workplaces
Partner Value Proposition

We help growing businesses build workplaces where people perform at their best. By combining strategic HR advice with practical implementation support, we help leaders create healthier teams, stronger performance and scalable people foundations — without the complexity or overwhelm.

ICP 2Revenue-Generating Startups / Scale-ups

Revenue-Generating Startups and Scale-ups

Fast-growing startups and scale-ups experiencing increasing people complexity as the business grows. The founder or leadership team is ambitious, commercially minded and moving quickly, but internal people systems, leadership capability and team structure are struggling to keep pace. They need a practical partner who can help create clarity, alignment and sustainable team growth.

Company Characteristics
  • 10-50 people
  • Founder-led, fast-growing
  • No dedicated people/talent function
  • Experiencing culture friction, burnout, unclear ways of working
  • Strong ambition and growth focus
  • Fast-moving and reactive
  • Typically tech-enabled
Types of Companies
  • SaaS businesses, healthtech and fintech startups, AI and emerging tech companies, eCommerce brands, post-seed and Series A scale-ups, and other modern service-based startups.
What they care about — Needs
  • HR foundations
  • Scaling without chaos
  • Better leadership capability
  • Stronger hiring decisions
  • Team structure and role clarity
  • Better performance conversations
  • Employee engagement and retention
  • Sustainable growth
  • Culture preservation while scaling
  • Reduced founder bottlenecks
Goals (next 12-18 months)
  • Build scalable people systems
  • Improve hiring quality
  • Build a stronger leadership layer
  • Create clearer accountability
  • Reduce founder dependency
  • Improve onboarding and retention
  • Create sustainable team performance
  • Prepare for next growth stage
Success Metrics
  • Retention
  • Hiring quality
  • Team engagement
  • Speed to productivity
  • Leadership capability
  • Reduced founder involvement in daily issues
  • Performance consistency
  • Growth execution
What's getting in the way — Pain Points
  • Growing faster than systems can support
  • Founder carrying too much people load
  • Team misalignment
  • Poor hiring decisions
  • Burnout and reactive workflows
  • Lack of leadership capability
  • Confusion around expectations and accountability
  • Internal friction slowing execution
Challenges & Barriers
  • No clear people foundations
  • Constant firefighting
  • Difficulty scaling culture intentionally
  • New managers unsupported
  • Founder exhausted by people decisions
  • Pressure from growth targets and investors
  • Difficulty balancing speed and structure
What creates demand
  • Rapid growth or funding
  • Increased hiring demand
  • Team friction affecting delivery
  • Wrong hires impacting performance
  • Founder burnout
  • New leadership promotions
  • Team disengagement
  • Internal communication breakdowns
  • Need to professionalise people operations
Objections
  • We're still too early stage.
  • We don't have the budget yet.
  • We just need recruiters.
  • We'll hire internal HR later.
  • We're moving too quickly for this right now.
Awareness Gaps
  • Underestimate the cost of reactive people decisions
  • Think HR only means compliance and policies
  • Don't yet understand the value of strong people foundations
  • Assume culture will 'just happen' naturally
  • Don't realise how much founder time is being drained
Buyer Persona

Founder / CEO / COO

Demographics
Age
28-45
Background
Mixed — startup, product, commercial or experience-led
Tenure
Founder 2-8 years
Buyer type
Decision maker
Responsibilities
  • Leads business growth and strategy
  • Oversees hiring and team growth
  • Manages investors or board expectations
  • Solves operational and people problems daily
  • Makes key leadership decisions
  • Balances growth, delivery and culture
Needs
  • Stronger team structure
  • Better people systems
  • Leadership support
  • Hiring confidence
  • Clear accountability
  • Reduced operational noise
  • Better onboarding and performance management
Metrics they care about
  • Team performance
  • Growth targets
  • Hiring success
  • Team engagement
  • Retention
  • Delivery performance
  • Speed to execution
Pain points
  • Team friction and burnout
  • Wrong hires slowing growth
  • Lack of structure and accountability
  • Founder overwhelmed by people issues
  • Team not operating consistently
  • Difficulty scaling culture intentionally
Challenges
  • Scaling the business without creating chaos internally
  • Building structure and accountability while moving quickly
  • Reducing founder dependency and operational bottlenecks
  • Hiring and onboarding the right people fast enough to support growth
  • Maintaining culture, alignment and performance during rapid change
Common objections
  • We'll deal with this later.
  • We're not ready for HR yet.
  • We need to focus on growth first.
  • We can figure this out internally.
Buying triggers
  • Team growth accelerating
  • Funding or expansion
  • Leadership capability gaps
  • Increased turnover
  • Internal friction affecting growth
  • Need for better people systems
What we offer
  • HR Lift Off diagnostic
  • Strategic people advisory
  • Leadership support and coaching
  • Role clarity and accountability frameworks
  • Performance and people systems
  • Team structure and operating rhythm design
  • Recruitment and onboarding guidance
  • Ongoing People Partner support
How we solve it
  • Create clearer accountability and structure
  • Build scalable people foundations
  • Improve leadership capability
  • Support difficult people decisions
  • Reduce founder dependency
  • Strengthen team performance and alignment
Partner Value Proposition

We help startups and scaleups build stronger teams that can grow sustainably. By combining practical people advice with strategic support, we help founders create healthier cultures, stronger leadership and scalable people systems that support long-term growth.

Who you are NOT for

Hospitality, retail, warehousing, and not-for-profits are deliberately lower priority. They tend to be transactional ('just help us be compliant'), lower budget, harder work for less impact, and pull the team into admin rather than strategic advisory. Over time, the goal is to graduate these out and replace them with clients from the priority segments.

Also not for box-tickers: businesses that see HR as a compliance exercise rather than a people investment. If they don't care about developing their team, they're not your people.

Part 02

Key Messaging Framework

Strong businesses often struggle to articulate clearly what makes them different. One of the biggest opportunities for People Design is creating greater consistency across how the business talks about itself — website, proposals, discovery calls, LinkedIn, events, referral conversations.

The goal is not to lose the warmth, optimism and humanity already present. The opportunity is strengthening the commercial clarity underneath that emotional brand layer.

Already feels

  • Human
  • Modern
  • Optimistic
  • Founder-friendly
  • Commercially minded
  • Non-corporate

Opportunity to strengthen

  • More specific about who People Design is for
  • More connected to founder and leadership pain points
  • Clearer on the business outcomes created
  • More repeatable across sales and marketing
  • Easier for the team to use consistently

Tone should always be

  • Clear
  • Human
  • Practical
  • Confident
  • Commercially grounded
  • Conversational

Key Messages

Use these consistently across website, proposals, decks, sales calls and LinkedIn. Hit copy to grab a clean block.

Main Tagline

A progressive HR advisory for ambitious businesses that want good growth.

Brand Positioning Statement

People Design is a progressive HR advisory that illuminates people and culture practices for ambitious business leaders, helping design workplaces where people do their best work.

Partner Value Proposition
People Design is the strategic people partner for ambitious businesses building modern, high-performing workplaces.

We help growing businesses strengthen team performance, build scalable people foundations, and support leaders through the messy middle of growth — without the corporate fluff, over-engineered frameworks or reactive HR advice.

By combining practical people expertise with commercial thinking, People Design helps businesses create healthier teams, stronger leadership and workplaces where people genuinely perform at their best.
The What
People Design partners with growing businesses navigating increasing people complexity as they scale. Often, these businesses have reached the point where growth is creating more pressure internally:

• Team friction
• Leadership gaps
• Founder overwhelm
• Hiring mistakes
• Unclear accountability
• Reactive people management
• Burnout and operational complexity

We help founders and leadership teams build healthier, higher-performing workplaces by improving: team performance, leadership capability, role clarity and accountability, hiring and onboarding, workplace culture, and people systems and operating rhythms.

Our work includes: HR Lift Off (a practical diagnostic and strategic roadmap), People Partner (embedded strategic HR advisory), Scaling with Confidence (people infrastructure and leadership support), and Leadership & Coaching Support.
What We Are NOT
Not corporate HR bureaucracy. Not reactive compliance-only HR. Not over-engineered frameworks. Not generic leadership theory. Not policy-first consulting. Not transactional box-ticking support.

People Design works alongside businesses to solve real problems and create practical change.
The How — and the 4Bs
Great companies are powered by the humans in them. When businesses intentionally design for their people — really design — they create workplaces where people and performance thrive. Better work. Better leadership. Better team performance. Better business outcomes.

The 4Bs framework sits at the centre of the approach: Be Safe (creating workplaces where people feel safe and supported), Belong (building connection and trust), Become (supporting growth and development), and Believe (creating purpose, clarity and alignment).

Together these foundations help people do their best work — by helping businesses diagnose what's really happening, create clarity in roles and expectations, build practical people systems that support growth, improve leadership capability and accountability, support difficult people decisions with confidence, create healthier cultures, and stay close enough to ensure change actually sticks.
The Mission

To help ambitious businesses build workplaces where people genuinely do their best work — creating better teams, better leadership and better business outcomes.

Our Why
People Design believes great businesses are powered by the humans in them. When people feel safe, connected, supported and clear on how they contribute, businesses perform better. Teams become stronger. Leadership improves. Culture becomes healthier. Growth becomes more sustainable. That is what creates good growth.

Businesses rarely struggle because of strategy alone. More often, growth becomes difficult when people systems, leadership capability and team performance can't keep pace. People Design exists to close that gap.
The Elevator Pitch
People Design is a progressive HR advisory helping ambitious businesses create workplaces where people do their best work.

We partner with founders and leadership teams to strengthen people performance, improve leadership capability, and create practical people systems that support sustainable growth.

Because when businesses design intentionally for their people, they create better work, better leadership, healthier cultures and stronger business outcomes.
Our Offerings
1. HR Lift Off — A practical people diagnostic that assesses current people practices, identifies gaps and creates a clear roadmap for growth. Includes business and people diagnostics, team and leadership assessment, review of current people systems, strategic recommendations, HR operating model guidance, and a clear action roadmap.

2. People Partner — Embedded strategic HR advisory support for growing businesses. Includes real-time people advisory, leadership support, performance and accountability frameworks, employee guidance and coaching, role clarity and team structure, recruitment and onboarding support, and strategic HR partnership.

3. Scaling with Confidence — Strategic support for businesses navigating growth, change and increasing people complexity. Includes organisational design, leadership capability development, team structure and operating rhythm design, performance frameworks, succession and growth planning, and team alignment support.
Unique Features
Strategic but practical · Founder-friendly approach · Human-first without losing commercial focus · Embedded partnership model · Clear, jargon-free communication · Commercially minded HR support · Focus on both people and performance · Designed for modern growing businesses
Key Phrases
Good growth · Humans and performance · Strategic HR without the corporate fluff · Practical people advisory · Better workplaces that perform · Smarts with heart · Helping founders navigate the messy middle of growth · Workplaces where people do their best work · HR that actually works in practice · Helping ambitious businesses build healthier, high-performing teams
Company Bio
People Design is a progressive HR advisory helping ambitious businesses build healthier, higher-performing workplaces and achieve good growth.

We partner with founders and leadership teams to strengthen people performance, improve leadership capability, and create scalable people systems that support sustainable growth.

By combining practical people expertise with commercial thinking, we help businesses create stronger teams, healthier cultures and workplaces where people genuinely do their best work.
Emily Bio
Emily Gole is the Founder of People Design, a strategic HR advisory helping growing businesses build healthier, higher-performing workplaces.

Emily works closely with founders and leadership teams to strengthen people performance, improve leadership capability, and create practical people systems that support sustainable growth.

Known for her clear, commercially grounded and refreshingly human style, Emily helps businesses navigate the messy middle of growth — balancing people, performance and culture without the corporate fluff or over-engineered HR advice.

Her approach combines strategic thinking with practical implementation support, helping leaders create workplaces where people genuinely perform at their best.

Part 03

Sales Motion

One of the clearest opportunities identified in the Discovery Session was the need for a more repeatable and structured sales process.

To date, growth has been driven through referrals, relationships and founder-led momentum. While this has created a strong business foundation, it also creates unpredictability and reliance on reactive follow-up.

The goal here isn't a complicated sales system. It's a simple, practical, repeatable sales motion that qualifies the right opportunities, moves deals forward consistently, improves conversion confidence, stops opportunities falling through the cracks, and creates a clearer client journey.

3.1 — Recommended Sales Funnel

  1. 01Awareness
  2. 02Initial enquiry or referral (Lead)
  3. 03Discovery call
  4. 04HR Lift Off
  5. 05Proposal
  6. 06People Partner retainer
  7. 07Expansion services

3.2 — Ideal Client Journey

Awareness

Founder realises people issues are creating friction.

Consideration

They begin searching for guidance, support or expertise.

Discovery

People Design creates clarity quickly and builds trust.

Diagnostic

HR Lift Off identifies gaps and opportunities.

Partnership

People Partner retainer supports implementation and growth.

Discovery Call Framework

The 30-minute discovery call quickly assesses fit between the business and People Design. It uncovers the key people and growth challenges, while making sure time isn't spent chasing opportunities that aren't a fit, won't convert, or sit outside where People Design creates the most impact.

Discovery Call Goals

  • Determine ICP fit
  • Understand urgency and pain points
  • Build trust and credibility
  • Identify commercial opportunity (i.e. do they have budget?)
  • Clarify next steps
Suggested Discovery Questions
BUSINESS & GROWTH
• Tell me a bit about the business and team today.
• What's changed over the last 12 months?
• What's prompting the conversation today? What changed recently?
• What's driving growth or pressure right now?

PEOPLE & LEADERSHIP
• What does HR look like right now? Who owns it day to day?
• What feels messy or frustrating currently?
• Where are the biggest people challenges showing up?
• What's taking more of your time than it should?
• What people issues keep resurfacing?

STRUCTURE & PERFORMANCE
• How clear are roles and expectations today?
• How confident are you in your current leadership capability?
• What's currently working well?
• What's not working?

HIRING & GROWTH
• How are you currently hiring?
• Have there been any hiring mistakes or challenges?
• What capability gaps exist today?

FUTURE STATE
• If we fast-forward 12 months, what would success look like?
• What would feel different if the people side of the business was working better?

LOGISTICS & NEXT STEPS
• Have you got a sense of budget you've earmarked for this?
• What's your decision-making process if we end up wanting to work together?
• Based on what you've told me, here's where I think we could help: [60-second playback of their situation and your value]. How does that sound?
• If it makes sense, the next step would be a XX-minute working session with me and the team (HR Lift Off). Would you like me to lock that in now?

Qualifying Scorecard

After every discovery call, take 90 seconds to score it. Stops you chasing leads that won't convert.

SignalScore (0-2)Notes
Size and stage match an ICP (10-50 people, founder-led, scaling)
A clear buying trigger is present (people issue, growth, etc.)
Decision maker is on the call or named
Budget is in range or open ($30K+ ACV signalled)
They believe in people development, not just compliance
Felt like a peer-to-peer conversation (not a sales pitch)
Total (out of 12)8+: pursue · 5-7: nurture · <5: politely decline.

Use this consistently after every discovery call to stop chasing leads that won't convert or aren't a good fit.

Red flags — politely decline

  • Compliance-only mindset
  • Purely transactional expectations
  • No willingness to invest in people
  • Founder unwilling to change or lead
  • Budget mismatch
  • Looking for 'quick fixes' only

Pipeline Tracker

A simple, repeatable pipeline tracker is more valuable than a CRM at the current volume. The accompanying spreadsheet 'People Design — Pipeline Tracker' is built for that — here's how it's structured and how you use it.

StageDefinitionExit criteria
1. LeadSomeone has expressed interest, been referred, or been identified by you as worth a chat.Discovery call booked.
2. Discovery booked15-30 min call confirmed in the calendar.Discovery call complete and scored.
3. QualifiedDiscovery scored 8+ out of 12 (qualified as ICP). HR Lift Off working session booked.HR Lift Off session held, scope agreed.
4. Proposal sentWritten proposal in their inbox.Decision received: yes, no, or not now.
5. WonProposal accepted. Engagement letter signed.Onboarding handover to delivery team.
6. Lost / Not nowClosed. Reason captured.Move to nurture if 'not now', otherwise close.

What lives in the tracker

  • Company name and decision-maker name
  • Source (referral, inbound, content, partner, event, outbound)
  • ICP segment (ICP 1 or 2)
  • Discovery call date and qualifying score
  • Stage and date entered stage
  • Estimated annual contract value
  • Next action and next action owner
  • Follow-up date
  • Proposal status
  • Notes column for anything that matters

Part 04

Demand Engine

Content should play a strategic role in the growth of People Design — not 'posting for the sake of posting', but building trust, reinforcing expertise, and helping ideal clients see themselves in the problems People Design solves.

The most effective content for People Design sits at the intersection of founder realities, team performance, leadership challenges, modern workplace conversations and practical people advice. The goal is content that starts conversations, builds credibility and keeps People Design top of mind with the right audiences.

4.1 — Content Pillars

Four pillars that map to ICP pain

Pillar 1·Be Safe
Foundations

The story we tell: Most growing businesses think they are doing HR. Most are not. Here is what proper foundations look like, why they matter, and how to build them without becoming a policy factory.

Why it works: Hits the 'people issue blown up' and 'no HR process' buying triggers. Relevant for both ICPs.

Topic ideas
  • The five HR foundations every 25-person business should have (and what happens when they don't).
  • What 'good' onboarding actually looks like (it's not a Notion doc).
  • Why your offer letter is doing more sales work than you think.
  • The HR documents you actually need before you scale (and the ones you can skip).
  • We audited 20 founder-led businesses. Here is the most common gap.
  • The compliance trap: doing the bare minimum is more expensive than doing it properly.
Pillar 2·Become
Manager Capability

The story we tell: Your managers are your culture. Most have never been taught how to manage. Here's what good management looks like in growing businesses — and how to build that capability across the layer.

Why it works: Hits a big founder pain point and the 'first leadership layer' trigger. Differentiated territory because most HR providers ignore it.

Topic ideas
  • Why your top performer is your worst new manager (and what to do about it).
  • The five conversations every manager should be running (and most aren't).
  • Feedback that actually changes behaviour.
  • How to delegate without becoming the bottleneck.
  • Manager capability is the highest-ROI investment your business is not making.
  • What to do when you've promoted someone and it isn't working.
Pillar 3·Believe + Belong
Generational Workplaces

The story we tell: The workplace is now four generations deep. Founders are managing teams that don't want what their founders wanted. Here's what that means — and what to do about it.

Why it works: Highly shareable thought-leadership angle. Founders are confused about it. Hits Believe (values) and Belong (connection) in the 4Bs.

Topic ideas
  • Five things founders get wrong about millennials in their team.
  • The 'always-on' generation is leaving your business. Here's why.
  • Belonging is the new retention metric.
  • What your Gen X managers think (and rarely say) about Gen Z direct reports.
  • Money is no longer the top motivator. Here's what is.
  • How to build a culture that works for four generations at once.
Pillar 4·Cross-cutting
The Founder Lens

The story we tell: Honest, lived stories from inside founder-led businesses. The hard people calls, the moments of doubt, the things that worked. Builds trust by showing you've been in the seat, not just consulted to it.

Why it works: Shows personality and warmth. The pillar Emily owns most. Builds the human-first brand promise into content form.

Topic ideas
  • The hardest people decision I made this year.
  • What I wish someone had told me before I hired my first manager.
  • I didn't start People Design because I love HR. Here's why I started it.
  • Five things I would say to my 31-year-old self.
  • The week I almost burned out, and what I changed.
  • What good clients look like (a love letter).

4.2 — LinkedIn Strategy

Primary awareness + trust channel

LinkedIn should become the primary awareness and trust-building channel for People Design. The opportunity isn't to become a high-volume content machine — it's to build a consistent presence that reinforces expertise, humanises the brand, creates familiarity over time, starts conversations, builds referral opportunities, and keeps People Design visible with ideal clients and partners.

Tone should always feel conversational, clear and commercially grounded — never overly corporate or forced.

Channel role

  • Trusted strategic advisors
  • Practical people experts
  • Commercially-minded HR partners
  • Human and approachable experts
  • Thoughtful voices on modern workplaces

Content formats

  • Founder reflections
  • Practical frameworks
  • Lessons learned
  • Team observations
  • What we're seeing insights
  • Myth-busting
  • Carousels
  • Polls
  • Event takeaways
  • Client stories

Cadence

  • Emily (personal)
    2 posts per week — Tue + Thu
    Pillars 2, 3, 4. Voice-led. Higher reach. · Owner: Emily, with Sarah's support on drafting
  • People Design (company page)
    2 posts per week — Wed + Fri
    Pillar 1 + reposts of Emily's · Owner: Sarah

4.3 — Email / Newsletter Strategy

Your highest-trust channel

You already have an audience that has signed up to hear from you. The newsletter is your highest-trust channel — the one that arrives in the inbox of someone who has actively opted in.

Purpose

  • Stay top of mind
  • Build trust over time
  • Nurture future clients
  • Reinforce expertise
  • Generate referral opportunities
  • Support webinar and event attendance

Cadence

Monthly · First Tuesday at 8am AEST

Length

350-500 words · 1-2 central insights · 1 invite

Suggested Structure

  1. 1.Founder note or observation
  2. 2.Practical insight or framework
  3. 3.Team/culture topic
  4. 4.Event or webinar CTA
  5. 5.Soft conversation CTA

12-month content theme map

MonthThemePillar
JuneThe 5 HR foundations every growing business should haveFoundations
JulyWhy your top performer is your worst new managerManager Capability
AugustThe Gen Z motivation gap (and what to do about it)Generational
SeptemberWhat due diligence actually looks at on the people sideFoundations
OctoberFive conversations every manager should be runningManager Capability
NovemberBelonging is the new retention metricGenerational
DecemberThe year in lessons (Emily's reflection)Founder Lens
JanuarySetting up the people year wellFoundations
FebruaryPromoting from within: what nobody tells youManager Capability
MarchFour generations, one teamGenerational
AprilWhat good clients have in commonFounder Lens
MayPerformance conversations that don't suckManager Capability

Welcome series for new subscribers

Day 0 (immediate)
1. Welcome

Short, warm, from Emily. 'Here's what to expect, here's the most useful thing I've written, here's where you can find me.'

Day 4
2. The 4Bs

Introduces the People Design framework in plain language. Useful even if they never become a client.

Day 10
3. The invitation

'If anything in this resonates, here are three ways we could chat.' (Newsletter, an event, a discovery call.) No hard sell.

4.4 — Events & Partnerships

Intentional ecosystem

For a relationship-led business like People Design, partnerships and in-person connection will continue to play an important role in growth. The opportunity is to move from purely reactive referrals toward a more intentional ecosystem of aligned partners, events and community presence.

Focus on building genuine relationships with people who serve a similar audience, share similar values, understand the commercial importance of people and culture, and can create mutually valuable referral opportunities over time.

Webinar strategy

  • Continuing the monthly virtual webinar can turn it into a real lead engine.
  • One topic per month, mapped to a content pillar. The same topic can drive a webinar, a LinkedIn post series, a newsletter and a podcast pitch.
  • Open invites beyond the existing client list. Promote on LinkedIn 14 days, 7 days, and day-of. Send to your newsletter list.
  • Limit to 45 minutes: 25 mins content from Emily or a guest, 15 mins Q&A, 5 mins 'here's how we work if it's useful'.
  • Capture every registrant into the tracker tagged with the topic — topic interest is the strongest single signal of buying intent.
  • Always end with a clear next step: newsletter signup, follow on LinkedIn, book a discovery call, download the deck, share with a colleague.

Webinar themes

  • Difficult conversations leaders avoid
  • Building high-performing teams
  • Hiring better in growing businesses
  • Founder burnout and leadership load
  • Scaling culture intentionally
  • Performance and accountability frameworks
  • Managing modern flexible teams

In-person formats

  • Founder breakfasts
  • Leadership roundtables
  • Partner-led events
  • Industry-specific workshops

Guest speaking & panels

  • Aim for one external speaking opportunity per quarter.
  • Stone & Chalk events (panels, workshops, founder programs).
  • Co-working space and accelerator partner sessions — Y Combinator AU/NZ alumni, Antler, Startmate, Tractor Ventures network.
  • Industry association events: Australian Institute of Architects, AGDA, ACA (consulting), Association of Chief Executives.
  • Selected podcasts: 'How I Got Here', 'Smart Money', 'The Imperfects', 'Fearless and Free' (female founders), 'Startup Series' (CauseEffect).
  • Create a one-pager 'speaker kit' for Emily so partners can book easily.

4.5 — Referral Partner Strategy

Ideal partner types

  • Accountants
  • Fractional CFOs
  • Business coaches
  • Leadership consultants
  • Recruiters
  • Employment lawyers
  • Startup ecosystems
  • Industry networks

Partnership principles

  • Shared client profile
  • Shared values
  • Mutual referrals
  • Educational collaboration opportunities
  • Long-term relationship focus

Section 06

Action Plan

Tick items off as you go. This week is about foundations. This quarter is about compounding.

Progress0/21 · 0%

This week — quick wins

This month — building rhythm

This quarter — engine momentum

What's next

Section 07

Resources & Links

Templates, references and links that support this playbook. New resources can be added as the engine matures.