Transformation Partners

Selected work.

Recent Corporate Affairs work: the situation, what we did and what happened. Client names and identifying details are withheld.

What clients say about the work
Case study
Australian energy
Team
Public affairs, 12 people

A public affairs team cut about $550K of low-value work in four weeks.

The situation

  • The leadership team had rejected the team’s business case for a strategic initiative, and could not see what the function contributed to the business.

What we did

  • Cut about $550K of low-value work in four weeks: sponsorships and grants that no longer earned their place, positions no longer needed, reports nobody read and briefings that took hours to draft.
  • Moved the time to earlier stakeholder engagement, and built measures tied to decisions the executives needed to make.

The result

  • At four weeks, the team’s leader took the changes back to the leadership group that had rejected the case.
  • Six weeks later the business case was approved.
  • At six months, the CFO asked the leader to present the operating model to other functional leaders.
Read the case study

More recent work.

Client
National member-owned organisation
Work
Briefing pack

A briefing pack on the Corporate Affairs function for an incoming CEO.

The situation

  • A new CEO was arriving. The General Manager, Public Affairs needed to brief him on what the function contributes, its priorities for the coming year and the decisions it needed from him.
  • The work followed an earlier note on positioning the function for the new CEO.

What we did

  • Ran a working session with the General Manager, and built the briefing from the organisation’s own plans, outcome reports and government relations material.
  • Linked the function’s campaigns to benefits for members and the organisation’s businesses, kept intended benefits separate from reported results, and closed on the decisions needed from the CEO.
  • Delivered the briefing pack and speaking notes.

The result

  • The new CEO took office confident that Corporate Affairs was delivering against the organisation’s top priorities.
  • He gave the function a seat at the table, and relied on it as his navigator across the organisation through his first 90 days.
Client
ASX 100 retail group
Work
Executive preparation

Preparation for an executive conversation on Corporate Affairs strategy.

The situation

  • The Chief Corporate Affairs Officer needed to set out the function’s strategy and value ahead of an important executive conversation.
  • She wanted to set the function’s direction before any further work was scoped.

What we did

  • Started with an outside-in draft: where Corporate Affairs could create or protect value against the business’s issues, with possible measures of success.
  • Revised it with her over several rounds into a presentation and supporting paper.
  • Connected the group’s published strategy to the function’s contribution, proposed priorities and campaigns, and the steer she wanted from the executive.

The result

  • A strong first meeting, where the function’s strategic benefits were acknowledged.
  • A restructure of the function was avoided.
Client
State-owned energy generator
Work
Programme under way

A 12-week Corporate Affairs programme, currently under way.

The situation

  • The executive sponsoring the work commissioned a programme for the Corporate Affairs function: free capacity, automate repeatable work, and set the function’s strategy.
  • Part-way through, a new chief executive arrived and the executive structure began to change.

What we did

  • Designed the programme around the team’s structure, workload cycles and stakeholders.
  • Interviewed the team and mapped the function’s activities. Each person checked and corrected their own activity file.
  • Prepared the Head of Corporate Affairs’ discussion with the new chief executive.
  • Scoped the next stage with her: a performance scorecard built from the new chief executive’s priorities, an automated briefing and correspondence workflow, and a plan for the team.

The result

  • The organisation recognised that the function was spread too thin.
  • It acted straight away to focus the function on the organisation’s strategic priorities.
Client
ASX-listed lithium producer
Work
AI and data, about 12 months

A 12-month AI and data uplift, including work with the Corporate Affairs team.

The situation

  • Several generative AI tools were in use across the company without consistent training or oversight, and its data and AI governance needed to be put into practice.

What we did

  • With the Corporate Affairs team: a team-day session on using AI in Corporate Affairs work, and a voice file setting out how the company writes.
  • Across the wider business: terms of reference for a data and AI governance committee, charters for AI and data communities of practice, AI training, automation in procurement, and planning support for the operations leadership.

The result

  • The voice file streamlined drafting of external documents, and ended senior executives’ constant rewriting of copy.
  • The Corporate Affairs team now knows far more about what AI can do, and is working on several ways to use it to cut low-value work.
  • The engagement began as a three-month project and was extended to about 12 months.

What clients say

Feedback from Corporate Affairs leaders and executives, attributed by role and type of organisation only.

Corporate Affairs leaders and sponsors

“This is excellent. … [The CEO] loved the statistics around trust and NPS increasing significantly due to advocacy and community work … He’ll likely use this as the basis for increasing focus and resources into corporate affairs.”

General Manager, Public Affairs, national member-owned organisation

“You were on my hit list! Went very, very well. … Ticks all round – thank you for your assistance.”

Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, ASX 100 retail group

“This is great. You have articulated the three areas I would like to focus on much better than I did. I’m very happy to proceed on this basis.”

Head of Corporate Affairs, state-owned energy generator

“I can see the significant effort that has been invested in tailoring the engagement to [our] Corporate Affairs function and operating environment. The revised approach is much stronger in its alignment to our team structure, regional footprint, workload cycles and stakeholder context.”

Chief Corporate Services Officer, state-owned energy generator (on the engagement design)

“I found it genuinely very helpful. Really appreciate the time you’ve taken to think through our conversation, focus on where the value sits, and then structure it so clearly. … There’s a lot here I will take forward and apply.”

General Manager, Public Affairs, national member-owned organisation

“This is very helpful. It is generous of you to share your time on our call the other day and to follow up with your observations.”

Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, national investment fund

“I suspect it is something I will return to multiple times in the weeks and months ahead.”

Corporate Affairs leader, major Australian infrastructure operator

AI and operations

“[The business] is definitely better off, we wouldn’t have got this far without you! … You have a way of listening, and a knack for giving people just enough help to let them formulate their own thoughts and make a decision confidently.”

Senior Data & AI Specialist, ASX-listed lithium producer

“I did do that community sweep and I’m now doing that weekly (which I think was a brilliant recommendation and worth the consulting fee in itself).”

Head of Subcontracts and Procurement, APAC, global energy services company

“Again, thanks for the work, appreciated your assistance with the team and I’m sure we will work together in the future.”

Chief Operating Officer, ASX-listed lithium producer

For a structured start, the Corporate Affairs leadership sprint runs over four weeks. See how the sprint works

Bring the situation as it is.

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