engagement models

Strategic Workshops & Intensive Sprints

Fast, Senior-Level Resolution for Decisions That Can’t Drift

Some moments don’t require a long engagement. They require clarity — quickly. Our Strategic Workshops and Intensive Sprints are designed for situations where momentum has stalled, alignment has fractured, or a critical decision has been deferred for too long.

These are time-bound, high-intensity engagements, led by Chartered CMOs, built to resolve ambiguity and create immediate forward motion.

strategic workshops

When Our Workshops Are the Right Approach

Our Strategic Workshops and Sprints are most effective when:

  • A leadership team is misaligned on priorities
  • A growth or go-to-market decision keeps circling without resolution
  • A business needs clarity before committing investment
  • A new phase of growth, change or scrutiny is approaching
  • Delay is becoming more expensive than action

If the cost of not deciding is rising, a sprint is often the most proportionate response.

strategic workshops

What This Is — and What It Isn’t

What our workshops are:

A compressed decision environment

Senior, structured facilitation led by a Chartered CMO

A focused intervention with a clear objective

Designed to surface assumptions, trade-offs and risks

Built to produce decisions you can act on immediately

What they are not:

❌ A brainstorming session

❌ An offsite or away day

❌ A generic strategy workshop

❌ Ongoing advisory or leadership cover

❌ A substitute for Fractional CMO

These engagements are deliberately bounded.

strategic workshops

The Types of Decisions We Resolve

Our Strategic Workshops and Sprints are typically used to resolve questions such as:

  • "What is our actual go-to-market priority?"
  • "Which opportunities should we pursue — and which should we drop?"
  • "Is this a market problem, a capability problem, or a leadership gap?"
  • "What must be true for this growth plan to succeed?"
  • "What does “good” look like for the next 90 days?"

The focus is not on producing documents — but on enabling confident choices.

strategic workshops

How Our Workshop Sprints Work

While each engagement is tailored, the underlying structure is consistent and disciplined.

1. Define the Decision

Before any session, we align on the specific decision or outcome the sprint is designed to unlock.

No vague objectives. No open-ended discussion.

2. Surface the Evidence

We bring together the relevant data, assumptions and constraints — internal and external — to establish a shared fact base. This reduces opinion-led debate and focuses attention where it matters.

3. Structure the Conversation

Using proven strategic frameworks (including SOSTAC®), we guide the group through trade-offs, priorities and implications. Our structure helps to:
• Expose assumptions
• Clarify options
• Prevent drift
• Maintain pace

4. Decide and Align

By the end of the sprint, the leadership team has:
• Clear decisions
• Agreed priorities
• Defined next steps
• Explicit ownership

Momentum is the output along with meeting notes and agreed actions.

strategic workshops

What You Leave With

At the end of a Strategic Workshop or Sprint, clients typically have:

✅ A resolved strategic question

✅ A clear direction of travel

✅ Alignment at leadership level

✅ Defined priorities and ownership

✅ Confidence to move forward without second-guessing

Not theory. Not a slide deck. Clarity.

strategic workshops

How This Fits With Other VCMO Services

Strategic Workshops and Sprints often act as a bridge within the VCMO ecosystem.

Depending on the outcome, next steps may include:

The sprint creates momentum. The next service sustains it.

strategic workshops

Investment & Structure

Our Strategic Workshops and Intensive Sprints are fixed-scope, fixed-fee engagements, priced to reflect urgency and decision criticality, seniority of facilitation, preparation and synthesis required, leadership and stakeholder involvement.

Indicative investment is shown below with scope and pricing confirmed in advance.

There is no ongoing commitment unless it is explicitly agreed.

Business Context Day Rate 
(+VAT)
Example Scenarios
Early-stage / advisory-led £1,500 Launch planning, founder / SLT workshops, ICP development
Growth-stage / scale-up complexity £2,000 GTM review, sales-marketing alignment, martech review
High-stakes / transformation contexts £2,500 Board / investor workshops, organisation design, positioning reviews

Important Notes:

Travel costs for on-site delivery charged extra in line with your travel policy.

strategic workshops

When This Is Not the Right Fit

Our strategic workshops are not the right approach if:

  • You’re looking for tactical execution support
  • The problem is already well understood and simply needs delivery
  • You require long-term leadership ownership
  • You’re seeking training or facilitation for its own sake

In those cases, we’ll guide you to a more appropriate service.

Our project was to create a top-level marketing strategy which, once built, we could drive forward ourselves. And I can honestly say the work has been transformational for Yellowtail. After each workshop with VCMO, both Dennis Hall and I would be amazed at how much we'd achieved. We worked hard! But the results are worth it.

Sarah Steele
Operations Director, Yellowtail Financial Planning
Read the Case Study

Shout out to Paul Mills who bravely took on running a positioning workshop with us yesterday. Is there anything harder than doing the thing your client does for others for them?! Great work. Really thought provoking, and so important to have facilitated by someone with an external perspective!

Bryony Thomas
CEO, watertight business thinking

Paul is a professional strategic marketeer who is able to apply his expertise with marketing budgets large and small. The commercial impact of Shaw & Co's rebrand, which was initiated, designed and implemented by Paul, has been to differentiate us positively in a sector where few have succeeded. He delivers what he promises, on time and on/under budget, to a high quality. Paul made a positive impact on our business that will last.

Rod Leefe
chair, shaw & co

VCMO's audit brought clarity to a complex set of challenges. They cut through the noise and delivered a clear, prioritised roadmap that we could act on immediately. Their ability to engage across teams and translate insight into action was exactly what we needed.

Dr. Ross Burn
Co-founder, Catsci limited  
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Lydia possesses a deep understanding of marketing strategies and has consistently delivered exceptional results. Her ability to analyse market trends, create engaging campaigns, and drive customer acquisition is truly impressive. Her dedication, attention to detail, and strong communication skills make her an invaluable asset to any organisation. I cannot recommend Lydia enough for her expertise, professionalism, and exceptional work ethic.

Alan Leckey
Business Consultant, CCO - the Collaboration Company  

Paul Mills wasn't just an outsourced marketing leader — he was a mentor. His support helped me enhance my technical marketing skills and shape a more strategic mindset, as well as build my  confidence with senior leadership and deliver higher-impact work. He is dependable and skillful, and his guidance has made me feel more capable and prepared for future challenges.

Caitlin Daniels
marketing manager, catsci limited
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VCMO brings knowledge, insight and practical experience to the table, but also something else, which is quite rare, the unwavering commitment to finishing the job without compromising on the quality of the output. Their work for Yellowtail has been exemplary and we're seeing the results already.

Dennis Hall
founder, yellowtail financial planning

Ruth brought great experience and insight to my firm over many years. Her considered and thoughtful approach to problem solving are a real strength and her experience of marketing and business development in the legal sector was invaluable.

Gavin Tyler
Managing Partner, Cripps

VCMO helped us think beyond our capabilities and reframe how we communicate the true value of what we do. Paul's workshop unlocked fresh ideas resulting in a more strategic approach to our content plan and go-to-market materials. The quality of the output and power of the messaging is really impressive.

Peter Ridgway
Business Development Director, Reach Separations
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VCMO has been instrumental in reshaping how we approach marketing at Lucent. Their strategic clarity, attention to detail, and ability to deliver at pace have been exceptional. Paul's embedded himself seamlessly into the team and quickly earned trust — not just from me, but from our wider staff and partners. The website and content strategy he led have already started delivering results, and I now feel far more confident in how we grow the business over the coming years.

Steven Rowe
Founder - Lucent Financial Planning
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VCMO helped me find the words and structure to communicate what I do — and who I do it for — in a way that finally connects. I’ve had more inbound enquiries since the website relaunch than in the previous two years.

Lee Spencer
aka The rowing marine
Read the Case Study

If a decision has been circling for too long — or the cost of delay is increasing — a focused strategic sprint may be the most effective next step.

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