Simple Nimble

Retained Advisor.

A thinking partner from outside the business.

Senior roles come with plenty of meetings and very few genuine thinking partners. The Retained Advisor relationship gives you a regular, dedicated space to work through what matters most, with someone who knows your context but is not caught up in it.

Senior leader weighing a difficult decision
Why it matters

Who do you think out loud with?

The more senior you become, the fewer people there are to genuinely think things through with. Your team is capable, but your authority shapes what they tell you. Your peers are stretched and have their own agendas. And almost everyone inside the business sees the problem through the same lens: its habits, its history and its norms.

A Retained Advisor gives you a standing outside sounding board. Someone who knows your context, sits outside the internal noise, and will test your thinking honestly. Sometimes that means keeping a strategy on track as it is implemented, catching drift before it compounds. Just as often, it is the problem in front of you this week: a hard call, a tricky stakeholder, or a decision you want to pressure-test before you make it.

Strategic advisor in a working session with a senior leader
How it works

How the Retained Advisor works.

It is a simple, ongoing arrangement: a set number of hours each quarter, used in whatever way is most useful to you. Some clients start it during a strategy engagement, so the rhythm is already in place before the main work winds down. Others come to it on its own, wanting a sounding board they can rely on.

You would be amazed at how much a senior leader can get done with just a few focused hours of dedicated problem-solving. Each session draws on practical frameworks to cut through the noise, so you leave with clear priorities and next steps for the weeks ahead.

Regular strategic check-ins

Regular one-on-one sessions, at a rhythm that suits your pace. Working sessions, not status reports.

Practical frameworks and clear priorities

We bring the right tools to each session so you can cut through complexity and leave with a concrete list of what needs to happen next.

Post-session outputs

A clear record of key decisions, priorities, and next steps from every session, as needed, so the work does not just stay in the room.

A standing outside view

Someone who knows your context and your people, but is not bound by the norms of the business, and will tell you what they honestly see.

Continuity

The same advisor every time, building a deep understanding of you and your organisation, so no session starts from scratch.

Quarterly fee · two options

$3,000 + GST

5 hours of strategic advisory time per quarter

$5,000 + GST

10 hours of strategic advisory time per quarter

Invoiced at the start of each quarter. Choose the level that fits, and move between them as your needs change.

Work beyond this scope is discussed and quoted separately before it begins.

Senior leader
Who it's for

Who it is for.

The Retained Advisor relationship suits senior leaders who want a trusted outside sounding board on a regular basis. It is particularly valuable if your organisation is in a period of change, if you are leading a strategy that needs to shift culture as well as operations, or if you are facing hard calls you would rather not make alone.

If the focus is your own growth as a leader, rather than the strategy you are leading, our executive coaching may be a better fit. Find out more.

What our clients are saying
"

As a senior leader, you don't have anybody in your team that you can have this kind of problem solving relationship with. My team are great, but that authority gets in the way. And you can't do it with your peers because they don't have time and you feel like you're imposing. So it's awesome. It's really, really valuable.

Director of Market Access
AstraZeneca Australia
"

Unlike other coaching I've done, this is problem solving and sounding boarding with someone removed from the internal chaos. Colleagues default to the norms of the business. Simple Nimble brings a genuine outsider's view.

Portfolio Leader
ACEN Renewables
"

The retained advisor model is exactly what I needed. I didn't have to commit to a workshop before I was ready, but I could still get clarity on my priorities. Having advisors outside the organisation, who aren't in the detail and can play back what they're actually hearing, has been invaluable as I step into a new role.

Director
University of Tasmania
"

Simple Nimble keeps me accountable, pushes my thinking, and helps me design what I need to achieve, without doing the work for me. When you're leading a large portfolio, you don't have room for that role in-house. Buying in that thinking capability keeps the work moving, so you don't trip up once you hit implementation.

Chief Marketing Officer
University of Tasmania
Get started

Want a sounding board you can count on?

Talk to us about whether a Retained Advisor relationship is the right fit for where you are right now.

Get in touch
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