Sarah Heffron Advisory & Consulting
Confidence in delivery. The structure to sustain it.
The right structure isn't just how you fix what's broken. It's how you capture what's possible.
An independent consultancy specialising in operating model diagnosis and transformation, covering both the structural design of how your organisation works and the operational infrastructure that enables it to be executed efficiently, effectively, and reliably. Sarah Heffron brings 20+ years of senior leadership experience, including redesigning product operations across 200+ countries at Visa and leading operations design and implementation for a new $800M+ business unit at Mercer. The work starts with diagnosis. Everything else follows from that.
Operating model diagnosis, design, and transformation for organisations that need to execute at a different level
When complexity has outpaced execution, the instinct is to act. And when a major opportunity arrives, such as AI, the instinct is the same: reorganise, hire, invest, launch a programme.
These can be the right answer. But without diagnosis first, they're more likely to treat the symptoms than the cause.
Whatever you need: a structured diagnostic, a full operating model redesign, fractional COO or transformation leadership, or an independent review of a transformation already underway, the starting point is a conversation.
Why this work is different
Most transformation approaches start with a solution. A methodology to apply, a framework to implement, a programme to run. The diagnosis, if it happens at all, is shaped by the answer that's already been chosen.
I start with the system. Before any design work begins, I need to understand which structural failures are present, how they connect, and what the operating model is actually producing versus what it was designed to produce.
The work is also continuous across phases. The person who does the diagnostic is the same person who does the design, and if you choose, the same person who leads the transformation. No handover between phases, no junior team interpreting a senior partner's framework.
Signals worth paying attention to
Seven consistent patterns signal that an operating model is, or soon will be, in trouble.
- Strategy that looks clear but isn't translating into execution.
- Decisions that loop and never land.
- Work that is invisible to the people who need to prioritise it.
- Cross-functional initiatives that consistently underdeliver.
- Global and local pulling against each other rather than working together.
- Incentives and metrics that produce the wrong behaviours even when teams are doing exactly what they're measured to do.
- Growth that is revealing the gaps rather than validating the model.
These patterns appear in organisations that are struggling. They also appear in organisations that are scaling, or trying to capture a new opportunity and finding that their current infrastructure wasn't built for it.
Risks and opportunities with AI
Organisations are investing heavily in AI. Most are discovering that the returns depend less on the technology than on the operating infrastructure surrounding it. Unclear decision rights, fragmented processes, and weak governance don't disappear when AI is introduced. They become more visible, and more costly.
But the relationship runs in both directions. AI, deliberately applied to specific execution gaps, has the potential to address coordination failures and seam issues more effectively than traditional operating model redesign. The organisations getting the most from AI are designing their programmes to exploit that opportunity, not just survive the implementation.
Both conversations start in the same place: a clear-eyed diagnosis of where the operating model is actually breaking down, and what needs to change. I work with specialist AI implementation partners to ensure that the infrastructure design and the technology delivery are aligned from the outset.
The experience behind the approach
Two decades designing and running execution infrastructure in some of the most complex operational environments in fintech and professional services. At Mercer, across two tenures within a $4.5B enterprise, including the design and operational leadership of the multinational client group ($800M+ portfolio across 40+ countries) and a CFO-sponsored revenue model transformation. At Visa, leading global product operations transformation across 200+ countries.
20+
Years of Industry Experience
200+
Countries of Operational Complexity Designed and Led
1 Rule
People doing the work have to be part of changing it
Contact me
If you want to send a message or question before booking, please use the form below or send an email to sarah@sheffronadvisory.com.