New service · Capabilities
Continuous improvement discipline applied to how your board and executive team actually lead.
AC5 Labs brings the same continuous improvement methodology that makes operations work in regulated industries to the work of leading and governing an organization. We help boards, executive teams, and senior leadership groups define measurable outcomes, monitor progress with honest evidence, separate governance from management, run disciplined meetings, and align executive evaluation to the outcomes that matter. The methodology is sector neutral. The application is shaped to the buyer’s context.
Who it is for
The buyer pool is intentionally broad because the underlying methodology travels. The examples below are illustrative, not a definitive list. The right test is whether the work of leading in your context calls for the kind of discipline below.
AEC · Partner leadership
Partner leadership groups, project portfolio governance, P&L review cadence, succession planning discipline. The underlying work is defining the outcomes the firm is trying to produce (financial, client, talent), then aligning partner time and reporting to those outcomes.
Audit committee · Risk
Board governance, executive team alignment, audit committee discipline, regulatory readiness reviews, risk committee work. The discipline shows up in committee agenda design, monitoring versus operating time, and the quality of evidence the board reviews.
Quality & safety · Value-based care
Hospital and health system boards, clinical leadership teams, quality and safety committee governance, value-based care performance review. Goals tied to outcomes, monitoring tied to data, executive evaluation tied to both.
Councils · Boards · Districts
City councils, county boards of supervisors, planning commissions, and special district boards (water, transit, library, fire, parks). The work focuses on a clear statement of community outcomes, an honest cadence for monitoring them, and the discipline to keep operational topics out of governance meetings.
Plant leadership · Safety
Operations leadership teams, plant leadership groups, safety committee governance, continuous improvement program steering committees. Same DMAIC discipline applied at the executive layer that the floor already uses on the line.
OKRs · VC and PE boards
Founder and executive team operating cadence, board governance for venture-backed and PE-backed companies, OKR and goal review discipline. The point of OKRs only lands when leaders actually look at them on a serious cadence.
K-12 SOFG · Trustee boards
K-12 Governing Boards (often paired with the Student Outcomes Focused Governance framework, SOFG), community college and university trustee boards, charter networks. Outcomes the board wants for students, evidence the board reviews, and the time the board protects for that work.
Mission · Program · Steward
Board governance, program performance review, executive evaluation, donor and stewardship committee work. The framework holds equally well whether the organization measures dollars, beneficiaries served, or longer-horizon mission outcomes.
Do not see your context above? The same discipline travels. Tell us what you are leading and we will tell you whether the fit is there.
What we deliver
Across a program year, four workstreams run in parallel and feed each other. They scale up or down with the engagement.
Working sessions
Typically three to four sessions per program year, 10 to 14 hours total. Each session is anchored to a specific governance or operating capability: adopting outcome goals, monitoring progress with evidence, separating governance from management, aligning executive evaluation, and designing the meeting calendar. Sessions are working sessions, not briefings.
Working artifacts
An annual calendar with content mapping (board meetings, executive team meetings, committee work, monitoring time versus operational time), agenda templates, a goals-and-metrics framework tied to the organization’s actual data, an executive evaluation instrument, and a policy or operating procedure review punch list. All deliverables ship as the client’s intellectual property.
Analytic baseline
AC5 Labs analyzes recorded meetings, historical performance data, stakeholder or employee feedback, and any operating data the client wants to lean on. Outputs are plain-English summaries written for a board or executive audience, with the underlying data preserved for the client’s continued use. The point is honest monitoring, not dashboards for their own sake.
Executive coaching
Monthly coaching for the Board Chair (or equivalent) and the chief executive (CEO, Executive Director, City Manager, Managing Partner, Superintendent, Plant Manager, depending on the buyer). Additional members or executives join when the topic calls for it. Sessions are direct, evidence-grounded, and focused on the leaders’ actual calendars.
Trust mechanism
At the conclusion of Phase 1 (typically two to three months in), the client may determine whether the work is meeting expectations. If it is not, AC5 Labs refunds 50% of Phase 1 fees and transitions out cleanly within thirty days. All Phase 1 work product remains the client’s property at no additional cost.
The Pilot Risk-Reversal is offered at no additional charge and is invocable at the client’s sole discretion. We carry the risk of the foundational phase because that is the phase where a coaching engagement either works or does not.
The Phase 1 checkpoint covers:
Typical program calendar
The calendar below is adjusted to the client’s fiscal year and operating cadence during the SOW. Shorter engagements are available for narrower scopes.
Phase 1
Months 1 to 3
Discovery, baseline analysis of meetings and operating data, Session 1, the first monthly coaching cycle, and the Pilot Risk-Reversal checkpoint at the end of Phase 1. The end of Phase 1 is the client’s decision point.
Phase 2
Months 4 to 7
Sessions 2 and 3, the annual calendar and agenda templates produced, goals and metrics adopted, the executive evaluation instrument drafted, monthly coaching continues, first quarterly progress review.
Phase 3
Months 8 to 11
Monthly coaching continues, mid-year rubric review, an optional flex session for an emerging topic, year-end synthesis, clean handoff. The year-end synthesis covers what changed, what to keep, and where to go in year two.
For clients who do not need (or are not yet ready for) the full annual program.
Single session series
Three to four sessions for a board or executive team focused on a specific capability (for example, adopting outcome goals, redesigning the meeting calendar, building an executive evaluation instrument).
Board calendar redesign
A focused engagement to produce the annual calendar, content mapping, and agenda templates. Typically two months.
Focused coaching
Three to six months of monthly coaching for the Board Chair and chief executive, without the full session series.
Pricing posture
The numbers below are directional, not a fixed price list. The right number for your engagement comes out of the discovery call and lands in a written SOW within five business days.
| Engagement type | Fixed-fee, written SOW |
|---|---|
| Typical Year 1 fee range | $60,000 to $120,000 for a full annual program Scaled to size, complexity, and the number of leaders in scope. |
| Shorter engagements | From around $20,000 Single session series, board calendar redesign, or focused coaching engagement. |
| Travel & expenses | All in-state travel and expenses included in the fixed fee |
| Invoicing | Net 30, no prompt-payment discount |
| Multi-year extension | Optional, with a written price ceiling for budget certainty |
All numbers above are directional. The fixed fee for your engagement is written into the SOW, not left to interpretation.
Why AC5 specifically
Discovery calls are 30 minutes. We listen, we ask the questions that move the work, and we come back inside 48 business hours with a written framing of what the engagement would look like for you.