The default model for consulting is straightforward: the consultant arrives, the work happens, the consultant leaves, and everyone hopes the change sticks.

It almost never does.

What we know about change over time

Change is not a milestone. It is a habit. And habits erode without maintenance. By the third month after we leave, half of what we built together is under pressure. By the sixth month, the old ways of working have started to creep back in. This is normal. This is human. This is what always happens.

The only reliable way we have found to prevent it is to structure the coming-back into the engagement from the start. Not as an option. Not as an upsell. As part of the contract.

The work is not done when we leave the room. It is done when the change is still alive six months later.

What a follow-up actually looks like

At one month, we look at what stuck and what did not. Small adjustments. Course corrections. Reinforcement of the things that are working.

At three months, we look at where the old ways have started to reappear. This is when the honest conversations happen. What are you avoiding? What decision are you not making? Where is the friction?

At six months, we look at whether the change is durable. Can the team run this without us. If yes, we exit for real. If no, we figure out why, together, one last time.

Then we leave. Properly.