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trusted operator academy
Trusted with the role. Ready to lead it.
You learned this job by doing it. Every fire, every handoff, every decision that landed on your desk taught you something.
Now you get to learn it on purpose. With operators who do what you do, on the real work in your business.
Five full days of training over five months. Six to eight seats per cohort.
THE PROBLEM NOBODY NAMES
You’re trusted. You have been for a while now.
You know the work. You show up when it matters. And somewhere in the last year or two, the role changed. More decisions land on you. More people look to you. The job you’re doing today is bigger than the one you were hired for.
You’ve probably heard some version of: I need you to be more strategic. Or: I need you to stop solving everything yourself and start building systems. Or you’ve heard nothing, and you can feel it anyway.
Here’s the thing. You want that too. You want to get better at this. You’ve read the books, listened to the podcasts, and picked up what you could between fires. Founders have peer groups, forums and programs built for them. Operators mostly piece it together alone.
You’re ready for more. The Academy is built for exactly that.
WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENT
Picture a room full of people who do what you do.
They know what it’s like to be the one everyone comes to. They’ve been caught between the founder’s vision and the team’s reality. They’ll understand your problem in one sentence, because they solved a version of it last month.
Now bring your real work into that room. The decision that keeps landing back on your desk. The process that only works when you’re watching it. The project that’s always on fire.
You map it. You pull it apart. You rebuild it with frameworks you can use the next morning. Then you go back to your business and try it. A month later, you come back and tell the room what happened.
Five full days over five months. Each one ends with something you built and a few new ideas you can’t wait to try.
The Program
The Trusted Operator Academy is a training program for operators in founder-led businesses. You run the day to day, you work closely with the founder, and you’re ready to lead at the level the role asks for.
Five full days, one a month for five months. A one-hour accountability session sits mid-month between each day. Six to eight seats per cohort, so the room stays small and everyone gets heard.
Each day gives you something to try. You put it to work over the next month, then bring what happened back to the room.
$5,900 CAD per seat.
Most operators have their founder sponsor the seat. We’ve made that conversation easy.
How the Five Days Build
Five days, one a month. Each one building on the last.
Day 1: Who You Are
You get clear on the role and the kind of leader you want to be in it.
You Learn: how your values show up in decisions under pressure, what the role asks of you, where your time builds trust and where it only fills gaps, the difference between responsibility, authority and accountability, and what builds trust between you and the people you work with.
You Build: a clear agreement on how you and the people you work with bring each other what matters that sets out how you work with the people who matter most in your role, starting with your founder.
What Changes: you know what your role is for, how you lead, and where your time makes the biggest difference.
Day 2: How You See and Structure operations
You map how work really moves, then decide who owns what inside it.
You Learn: mapping the business as a system, where work waits and changes hands, accountability charts, decision rights (who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed), and knowing which decisions are yours to make.
You Build: a map of your business drawn in the room, an accountability chart with one name per seat, and decision rights for five recurring decisions, shared with the people they affect.
What Changes: you see the whole system, so you can fix what’s slowing it down. Decisions land with the right person the first time, and your team knows what’s theirs to own.
Day 3: How You Hold It
You learn to spot strain early and keep capacity and priorities honest.
You Learn: what’s weighing the business down and what’s slowing it down, the one bottleneck that sets the pace for everything else, and how to protect priorities when everything feels urgent. How to read the early warning signs in your business, and where AI can help you keep watch.
You Build: a picture of where work gets stuck in your business, with the most expensive problem named in one sentence. A view of where your team’s hours really go. A simple way to decide what moves when something new lands. And a short set of warning signs to watch in your own business.
What Changes: you see trouble coming while it’s still small. When a new priority lands, you have a clear way to decide what moves, and the numbers to back it up.
Day 4: How You Build and Lead the Team
You build the team and lead it through change.
You Learn: building the team and hiring, leading the team and performance conversations, leading change, and working across functions.
You Build: a plan for one real team need you’re facing right now, such as a hire, a performance conversation or a change.
What Changes: the conversations you’ve been putting off get a plan and a date. You lead your team through change with confidence.
Day 5: Who You and the Business Are Becoming
You leave with the numbers, the rhythm and the plan to lead the business into its next stage.
You Learn: how to read the whole P&L, what drives your costs, and the handful of levers that move profit. How to set a rhythm of daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly check-ins that keeps everyone pointed at the same priorities. And how to think like a strategic leader: owning outcomes, presenting options with their trade-offs, and planning beyond this quarter.
You Build: a business case on one line of your P&L, ready to take to your founder. A meeting rhythm for your business. And a commitment for what you’ll lead next.
What Changes: you speak the language of the numbers, you run a rhythm the business can count on, and you know what you’re building toward next.
Is this right for you?
You’re already in the role, or you’re stepping into it. You run the day to day. People come to you when something needs to get done.
You want more from your work. More skill, more range, and a bigger say in where the business goes next. You learn every chance you get, and you’re ready for something built for the job you actually do.
If that sounds like you, this is the right way in.
BRINGING YOUR FOUNDER IN
Most operators don’t pay for this alone.
Founders who invest in their operator usually say yes once they see what the business gets back. More decisions owned below them. Problems caught earlier. An operator ready for what comes next.
We’ve written a page for your founder that explains the program from their side: what you’ll build, what changes in the business, and what it costs. Send it their way, then book a time to talk it through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Operators in founder-led businesses. You run the day to day, you work closely with the founder, and you’re ready to grow into a bigger leadership role. Your title might be operations manager, general manager, director of operations or COO.
No. The title usually depends on the size of the business. In a team of 15, the person running the day to day is often called operations manager. In a team of 50, they might be COO. The Academy is built for the person in that seat, whatever it’s called, and for where the role is heading next.
The Academy works across industries. Operators from different businesses face the same problems with ownership, priorities, people and growth. Hearing how someone in another industry solved yours is part of the value.
Five full days, one a month over five months. Each day runs 8:00 to 11:30 and 12:30 to 4:00. Between days, there’s a one-hour accountability session, and you put what you learned to work in your own business.
Yes. Fully online, open to operators in Canada and the US.
Most operators have their founder sponsor the seat. It’s $5,900 CAD. We’ve written a page for your founder that explains what the business gets back, so you have something to send when you ask.
The Trusted Operator Academy is a SOLVED Collective program.
Learn more about Lindsay Sheldrake and SOLVED Collective.
START with TRUST
Most engagements begin with a conversation. Book a discovery call and we'll look at where your business is, where trust is breaking down, and what would help most.
Have questions? Read Our FAQs
Fractional executive support for founders of growing service businesses. We build the operational structure that makes trust possible and stepping back safe.
Located in Calgary, Alberta | Serving clients across Canada
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