What is FUNCTION and who is it designed for?

FUNCTION is a ≈1.5-day programme for functional leadership teams at Level 2/3 on the AI Fluency Model. It installs three methods — Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and OKRs — redesigning how the entire function operates. Designed for HR, Finance, Operations, Legal, Procurement, Marketing, Communications leaders managing teams of 5–50 people.

What happens across the three sessions?

Session 1 (Design Thinking): Customer personas and value proposition mapped. Session 2 (Lean Startup): Experiment designed and tested in the room. Session 3 (OKRs): 90-day OKRs owned by the team, 13-week sprint scoped and started. Meeting transcripts automatically produce governance, charters, business architecture and roadmaps. 80% of admin writes itself.

What outputs do we get from FUNCTION?

Four deliverables: (1) Team charter, roadmap & OKRs generated from transcripts; (2) AI fluency converted to cash — insourcing, headcount non-replacement, external spend reduction evidenced and banked; (3) STEP 2 entry unlocked — Evidence Gate 3 met, funding released; (4) Enterprise common language — OKRs align CEO to function to teams. Functions absorb more with the same headcount. Attrition not backfilled. Everything moves faster.

FUNCTION — Method Installs. Fluency Converts to Money

If we're going to be successful getting to 2030, what we need to be is less about turning the handle on what we do today, and more about being the architects of growth.

— HR Leadership Team, FTSE-250 Global Insurer — during FUNCTION session

Designed For

Functional leadership teams at Level 2, ready to convert individual capacity into structural change.

Functional teams whose individual fluency is high but the function still operates the same way. CxOs whose team has the method but the function architecture hasn't changed. Organisations where 20% time-capital exists but hasn't translated into measurable output.

Pre-work in. Operating model out. Change admin writes itself.

01

TIP arrives knowing the room

Before session one: job descriptions, tools audit and change landscape pre-analysed. Transcript intelligence from TEAM, ACCELERATE and coaching sessions. The session starts from the reality of your function, not a blank sheet.

02

Method installs. Governance runs itself.

Design Thinking, Lean Startup, sprints, OKRs installed, powered by AI. Customer personas built. Experiments designed and tested in the room. Meeting transcripts automatically produce OKRs, charters, business architecture and roadmaps. 80% of admin writes itself.

03

Fluency converts to money.

Functions that absorb more with the same headcount. External activities insourced. Attrition not backfilled. External spend reduced, everything moves faster. 90-day OKRs owned by the team. STEP 2 entry agreed.

THE METHOD STACK — THREE DISCIPLINES PERMANENTLY INSTALLED

SESSION 1: DESIGN THINKING

Customer-back. Always.

Jobs-to-be-done: Why customers really choose you: in their words, not your assumption
Customer persona canvas: Internal and external personas built: both treated with equal rigour
Value proposition map: Pains, gains and jobs aligned to what you actually deliver
How Might We + Crazy 8s: 20+ ideas generated. Top 3 selected by the team in the room

Customer lens installed. Internal and external. Every roadmap decision tested outside-in.

SESSION 2: LEAN STARTUP

Experiment fast. Learn cheap.

Build-Measure-Learn loop: Hypothesis-driven work becomes the default operating mode
Minimum Viable Experiment: Real experiment designed and tested in the room (not as homework)
Experiment backlog: Prioritised pipeline of live bets, not a to-do list
Pivot or persevere gate: Funding follows evidence, not hope or seniority

Investment decisions grounded in data. STEP 2 entry earned by experiment results, not assumed.

SESSION 3: OKRs + SPRINT RHYTHM

Same rhythm. Every function. (Agile introduced here; fully installed in EMBED.)

OKR framework: 90-day OKRs owned by the team (not imposed from above)
13-week sprint plan: Sprint 1 scoped and started before TIP leaves the room
Team charter: Ways of working, decision rights and norms agreed by the team

One language. CEO to individual. Function and IT running the same sprint for the first time.

What you get. Four outcomes. One function transformed.

Team charter, roadmap & OKRs

Generated from transcripts, not created afterwards. Doing the work is the record.

AI fluency converted to cash

Insourcing, headcount non-replacement, external spend reduction, evidenced and banked. CFO can measure it on the P&L.

STEP 2 entry unlocked

Evidence Gate 3 met. Funding released. The function is structurally ready.

Enterprise common language

OKRs align CEO to function to teams. Agile, Design Thinking and Lean Startup are no longer tech-only terms.

Early evidence. From real sessions.

I thought AI was a thing that happens over there. IT does something to processes or systems that are somewhat removed from me. I couldn't see how it was going to help me personally.

— Jane Hulme, HR Director, Unum — before her first TIP session

Jane's HR leadership team went on to pilot FUNCTION. They built an AI-enabled HR vision for 2030, a people manager persona, and a future service design model — all in a single session. The same organisation where TIP's broader programme delivered 3.5×–6× ROI across 350+ leaders.

FTSE-250 Global Insurer: HR FUNCTION pilot

Session outputs (produced on the day)

HR vision statement for 2030, generated from live team conversation transcript, refined in real time
People manager persona (full jobs-to-be-done canvas) built collaboratively, validated against real operational data
Future HR service design: segmented by demographic, personalised employee value proposition mapped
AI-powered people manager toolkit concept including proactive performance signals, scenario coaching, real-time skills augmentation

What participants said

"The vision statement is about transformation and growth, which is really good. Run is assumed under the surface. Shifting this balance from being a run to being a change is really powerful." — Session participant

Broader TIP programme — FTSE-250 Global Insurer (named, approved)

£513k invested. £1.8M–£3M in-year returns. 3.5×–6× ROI. 350+ leaders across 18 months. NPS 8.6.

FUNCTION is a newer product within the TIP system. The numbers above reflect the full programme. We share them because the same leadership team, the same evidence methodology, and the same practitioners deliver FUNCTION.

ONE FUNCTION IS VALUABLE. MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS IS TRANSFORMATIONAL.

OKRs top-to-bottom

CEO to function, same direction at every layer.

One language, all teams

Design Thinking and Lean Startup enterprise-wide. (Agile introduced in FUNCTION; fully installed in EMBED.)

Function + IT governed

Knowledge workers who build. Risk visible.

STEP 2 cross-functional

Teams primed for cross-functional experiments.

Mindset shift. L2/3 → L4 horizon.

You'll shift from individual and team fluency (L2/3) and start touching transformation (L4). One function changing AI-native operations across the business.

L0

Unaware

No AI literacy. Fear & uncertainty.

L1

Literacy

Basic awareness. Occasional use.

L2

Integration

Daily AI habits. 20% time-capital.

L3

Redesign

Workflow shifts. Insourcing gains.

L4

Transformation

AI-native model. Agents + people.

One and a half days. Method installs. Start turning AI mindset into money.