Most businesses hire before they have decided what the job is.
A role design consultant defines what each seat owns, its measurable requirements, its targets and its decision rights, aligned to the business the next 12 to 36 months need. Ajility does this work and leaves recruitment to recruiters.This work is about structure, not recruitment. Ajility designs the role, the requirements, the targets and the accountabilities. It does not run the search.
Decide the job before you fill it
Accountability charts
One name against every function, so no seat is shared by two people and no function is owned by nobody.
Role requirements and position descriptions
What the seat is responsible for, what it must be able to do, and what good looks like in it, written before anyone is considered for it.
Measurable targets and quarterly objectives
A small number of numbers per seat, reviewed each quarter, that the person holding the seat can actually influence.
Bonus and commission design
Incentive structures modelled against the P&L at several volume and margin outcomes before they are announced, so the cost of success is known in advance.
Where the line sits. Ajility designs the commercial architecture: what the business is buying, the measure, the shape of the payout curve, the cost of the scheme at every outcome, and the rules in plain commercial language. Ajility does not give employment law advice. Award coverage, whether a person is an employee or a contractor, whether a deduction or a clawback is lawful, and whether a scheme rule is an unfair contract term are questions for your employment lawyer, and they are put to them in writing before the scheme is announced. From 1 July 2026 superannuation is payable on all commissions under the qualifying earnings rules, so the on-cost sits in the model rather than being discovered afterwards.
Structure and incentive work delivered in senior operating roles
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
A full review of the accountability structure, seat by seat, alongside ~$1M p.a. of non-critical people overhead removed in the first three months
Mining services
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
A bonus policy change delivering $200K in FY16 savings
Kmart Tyre & Auto Service
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
A company-wide bonus scheme where everyone, not just the top of the house, had a stake in the result — one of four levers behind four consecutive years of profit growth
TOT Transport
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
Financial modelling for enterprise bargaining negotiations delivering a $1.2M three-year cost benefit
Kmart Tyre & Auto Service
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
A two-role restructure delivering $250K
TOT Electrical
Delivered in salaried operating roles before Ajility was founded, not as Ajility client engagements.
Remuneration and Incentive Design, People, Culture & Accountability install, Org Design Sprint
This area of expertise sits inside every Fractional COO engagement, and each module can also be bought on its own. Scope and fees are published on the packages page.
See the modulesCommon questions
What is an accountability chart?
- An accountability chart maps the functions a business must perform and assigns exactly one name to each one, along with the handful of outcomes that function is responsible for. It differs from an org chart because it describes the work and the ownership rather than the reporting lines, and it is drawn for the business the next twelve to thirty-six months require.
How do you write a role requirement that can be measured?
- State the outcomes the seat exists to produce, express each one as a number or an observable condition, and name the cadence at which it is reviewed. A requirement such as 'manage the workshop' cannot be assessed; 'hold labour recovery above the agreed rate and close the weekly schedule by Friday midday' can be assessed by both parties on the same evidence.
How are targets different from KPIs?
- A KPI is a measure that is watched; a target is a specific commitment on that measure by a specific date, held by a named person. A business can carry many KPIs on a dashboard, but each seat should hold only a few targets, otherwise nothing is genuinely prioritised.
How do you design a commission structure that does not cost margin?
- Pay on the outcome the business actually needs rather than on revenue alone. That usually means commission on gross margin or on collected cash, a floor below which no commission is earned, accelerators only above the plan number, and the whole structure modelled against the P&L at low, expected and high outcomes before it is announced.
When should a business restructure rather than hire?
- Restructure first when the work is unclear, duplicated or spread across too many seats, because adding a person to an undefined structure adds cost without adding capacity. Hire when the accountability chart is settled, a named seat is genuinely full, and the outcomes for the new seat can be written down before the search begins.
Does Ajility do recruitment?
- No. Ajility designs the role, the requirements, the targets and the accountabilities, and refers the search out to a recruiter or the client's own hiring process. This page is about structure, not recruitment.
Where does Ajility's work stop and the lawyer's start?
- Where the line sits. Ajility designs the commercial architecture: what the business is buying, the measure, the shape of the payout curve, the cost of the scheme at every outcome, and the rules in plain commercial language. Ajility does not give employment law advice. Award coverage, whether a person is an employee or a contractor, whether a deduction or a clawback is lawful, and whether a scheme rule is an unfair contract term are questions for your employment lawyer, and they are put to them in writing before the scheme is announced. From 1 July 2026 superannuation is payable on all commissions under the qualifying earnings rules, so the on-cost sits in the model rather than being discovered afterwards.
Can someone help me hire a general manager?
- Ajility designs the general manager seat, its outcomes, targets and decision rights, and can act as a fractional interim while the role is defined. It does not run the search; that goes to a recruiter or your own hiring process.
How do I create a second-in-charge role in my business?
- Write down the decisions and results you want off your plate, design the role around them with measurable targets and matching authority, then decide whether to promote or hire. Ajility designs the role; it does not run the recruitment.
How do I tell if our current bonus scheme is actually working?
- Compare what was paid with what the business earned over recent periods, check whether payouts moved with profit, and ask staff to name the measures. A scheme that pays in poor years, or that nobody can explain, is not working.
What KPIs should an operations manager have?
- Typical measures are on-time delivery, labour utilisation or recovery, gross margin by job, rework or defect rate and safety incidents. Choose two to four the role can genuinely influence, set targets and review them weekly.
Should staff bonuses be tied to company profit or individual KPIs?
- Often both: a company profit pool so everyone has a stake in the result, with individual payout weighted by a few role targets. Model the scheme against the P&L at low, expected and high outcomes before announcing it, and check the rules with a lawyer.
Delivered through: People, Culture & Accountability and Org Design Sprint and Remuneration and Incentive Design.
Start with the free Operating Scan
Twenty-one plain statements about how the business actually runs, answered from Not us to Always. In about six minutes you see a provisional score naming the weakest areas, then choose whether you want a conversation.