My First 30 Days Inside a Company

Part 3 of The Five-Lens Decision Framework series. By Chip Gardner, Gaggle Force Consulting.

Owners often ask what I actually do when I enter a new engagement. The answer is consistent whether the company is a $25 million metal fabricator or a $100 million multi-plant manufacturer. It is the same diagnostic discipline I used while managing a multi-site operation with $275 million in assets — now applied as an external partner rather than the person holding the title.

Week 1 — Observe and Connect

I walk the floor, observe handoffs, and watch how the operation actually functions compared with how leadership describes it. But observation alone is not enough to build trust or context. In parallel, I hold first-round interviews and get-to-know sessions with department heads — building my databank while establishing the collaborative relationship that makes the rest of the engagement productive.

Week 2 — Quantify and Compare

I move into the data: financial statements, operational metrics, customer concentration, margin by product line. The goal is to compare what the numbers say with what the floor showed me.

Weeks 3–4 — Synthesize and Prioritize

By day 30, the goal is not to claim certainty. It is to replace assumptions with a grounded picture of how the business creates value, where it loses value, and which decisions deserve priority.

Questions to Take to Your Next Leadership Meeting

• When was the last time someone walked the full operation without an agenda?
• Where does our description of the business differ from what actually happens on the floor?
• Which metrics do we track because they are easy vs. because they drive decisions?
• What would a fresh set of eyes see that we have stopped noticing?

Contact: (941) 799-9450 · chip@gaggleconsulting.com