Three ways to work with me. One standard of honesty.
I help boards and leadership teams turn transformation strategy into how people actually work. Some clients need a senior People & Culture leader in the room for a season. Some need an independent read before they commit. Some need their leaders to see culture differently. Start wherever you are.
Introduced by someone we both know? You're in the right place. Every engagement starts with a 30-minute conversation, with no pitch deck and no obligation, so you can decide quickly whether there's a fit.
Which of these sounds most like you?
A senior People & Culture leader, embedded for a season.
I join your leadership team part-time and own the culture, leadership and talent work your strategy depends on. You get twenty years of senior experience at a fraction of a full-time cost, and a clear exit once the work is embedded.
- You're growing faster than your people infrastructure
- Your CHRO needs senior capacity, not another agency
- You're between People leaders, or not ready for a full-time hire
Fractional Partner
A regular, part-time presence in the business, typically one to two days a week, leading culture, leadership, operating-model and talent work alongside your executive team.
- Culture operating model
- Leadership cadence and behaviours
- Talent and succession architecture
- Organisation design and reorganisation
Project-based programme
One critical programme, designed and delivered end to end, priced against agreed deliverables rather than days. For example, a multi-phase manager or leadership-capability programme.
- Diagnose, design, pilot, embed
- Milestone invoicing
An independent read on the people side of your transformation.
Most transformations stall in daily leadership behaviour, not on the slide. I give boards and executive teams a structured, evidence-based view of where leadership, culture and talent risk really sit, and what to do about it next.
- A strategy reset hasn't reached how leaders behave
- A reorganisation or deal is putting people risk on the table
- A new CEO or leadership team needs to land and move fast
Change Leadership Diagnostic
The usual first step, and the easiest way to test the fit. A time-boxed diagnostic that tells the board exactly where the risk sits and which two or three moves matter most.
- 8–12 structured stakeholder interviews
- Change Readiness Index
- Leadership risk map
- Board-ready executive read-out
- 30-day roadmap
- First intervention installed live
Executive Advisory
A standing senior sounding board for a CEO, CHRO or board through a transformation: someone who will test assumptions, say what I notice, and help you make the people calls with confidence.
Culture change, explained so leaders can act on it.
I speak about why culture change so often stalls, and what the research says actually works. Sessions are grounded in network science and twenty years of making it happen inside global organisations, so audiences leave with something they can use on Monday morning.
- You're planning an HR or leadership conference
- Your leadership team needs a shared language for change
- You want an offsite that moves beyond inspiration
Keynote: Culture by Design
Leaders can't decree culture. It spreads like a complex contagion, through peer networks and local tipping points, not executive broadcasts. This keynote reframes culture change from a top-down mandate into something leaders can design for, with a practical three-pillar framework.
- The mandate myth
- The science of social contagion
- The 25% tipping point
- The Culture by Design framework
Leadership workshops & panels
A working session for a leadership team or HR community, tailored to the change you're living through: culture, leadership behaviour, reorganisation or integration. Panel and fireside formats also available.
Compare the ways to work together.
| Engagement | Best when | Time commitment | Commercial model | First step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional Partner | You need senior People & Culture leadership on an ongoing basis | Typically 1–2 days a week | Monthly, rolling | 30-minute conversation |
| Project-based programme | One critical programme needs to be designed and landed well | Scoped to the programme | Fixed fee, milestone invoicing | Scoping conversation |
| Change Leadership Diagnostic | You need an independent read before you commit | 3 weeks | Fixed fee | Diagnostic conversation |
| Executive Advisory | A CEO, CHRO or board wants a standing sounding board | Around 2 days a month | Monthly retainer | 30-minute conversation |
| Keynote or workshop | An event, offsite or leadership community needs a fresh lens | 20 minutes to a full day | Per session | Share your date and audience |
Fees are agreed in writing before any work begins and held for the term of the statement of work. Request the rate card.
From introduction to first step, without the friction.
A 30-minute conversation
You tell me what's happening. I'll ask the questions others might avoid, and tell you honestly whether I'm the right person to help.
A short written proposal
Scope, timing, deliverables and a fixed fee on one or two pages. No open-ended retainers, no surprises.
Easy procurement
I work with POs, supplier onboarding and approved-vendor processes, with Net 30 terms as standard. NDAs are signed on request and professional indemnity insurance is held.
Work begins
A clear kick-off, early visible progress, and a plan to embed the work so it keeps running long after I've gone.
Maria brings a strong combination of strategic thinking and practical, hands-on execution. She has a real ability to make culture tangible and measurable, connecting data and insight to business priorities and turning ideas into meaningful action and lasting results.
Thank you. Here's a note you can forward.
If you're connecting me with someone, copy this short description into your email or LinkedIn message. It tells them who I am, what I do and where to start.
Maria Dinu is the founder of Boardroom Alchemy and a fractional Culture, Leadership & Talent Transformation Partner, with 20+ years at The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola HBC and Procter & Gamble. She helps boards and leadership teams turn transformation strategy into how people actually work, as a fractional People & Culture partner, through a fixed-fee Change Leadership Diagnostic, or as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator. A good first step is a 30-minute conversation: boardroom-alchemy.com/services
Before we speak.
Can we start small?
Yes. Most clients start with a Change Leadership Diagnostic or a single workshop. Both are fixed in scope and fee, and give you a clear view of what working together looks like before any larger commitment.
How do your fees work?
Diagnostics, projects and speaking sessions are fixed fee. Fractional and advisory work is billed monthly. Every fee is confirmed in writing before work begins, and a rate card is available on request.
Can you work through our procurement process?
Yes. I invoice directly through Boardroom Alchemy Ltd and accommodate purchase orders, supplier onboarding, approved-vendor processes and Net 60 terms by agreement. If your organisation buys through a marketplace or framework route, I can work through that too.
Where do you work?
I'm based in London and work with UK organisations, on site and remotely, depending on what the work needs.
How do you keep client work confidential?
Confidentiality is standard practice. I sign NDAs on request, and client names only appear in my materials with permission, which is why some of my current work is described by sector rather than by name.
Tell me where you're starting from.
Pick the option closest to your situation. Each one opens a short email with a few prompts, so I can come to our first conversation already prepared.
Prefer LinkedIn? Message me there.