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trusted operator academy
You gave them your trust. Now give them what trust requires.
Structure creates the conditions for trust to grow. And trust is what sets the founder and the business free.
THE PROBLEM
You have someone in your business you trust completely.
They know the work. They have stepped up every time you needed them to. And somewhere between where they started and where they are now, the role got bigger than the support did.
They are reactive when you need them strategic. Solving problems personally when the business needs them building systems. Coming to you for decisions you wish they would own.
You have told them you need them to be more strategic.
Nobody has ever shown them how.
THE DIFFERENCE
Most leadership programs develop people away from the work , in classrooms, on case studies, through frameworks that have nothing to do with the business sitting in front of them.
This is not that.
In The Trusted Operator Academy, your operator builds the structure themselves , inside your actual organization, applied to your real problems, in real time. Not as a student. As the person who will own it when the program ends.
An operator who builds the structure understands it in a way no one else can. That understanding is what makes it last.
The Program
The Trusted Operator Academy is a 14-session, 18-week cohort experience for operators in founder-led businesses, the people in COO-adjacent roles who are ready to lead at the level the role requires.
Four arcs. Fourteen live virtual sessions. A small cohort of peers navigating the same terrain.
Every session answers the same question: how does mastering this make me more trustworthy, and what does that trust make possible for the business?
It is not training. Not coaching. Not consulting.
It is a structured development experience that produces a more capable leader and a more functional organization, simultaneously.
$6,500 per seat.
Sponsored by the founder on behalf of their operator.
THE FOUR PROGRAM ARCS
The program runs across four arcs, each building on the last.
Who You Are
Before any structural work can land, operators need to know what they are building from. This arc surfaces the values already governing how you lead, names the identity shift from problem solver to system steward, and builds the systems thinking that makes the invisible visible. It closes with the trust architecture of the founder/operator relationship, the relationship everything else is in service of.
How You Operate
The structural core of the program. Decision ownership, governance, friction diagnosis, financial fluency, capacity management, and priority integrity. You will learn to steward the system's resources, authority, capital, capacity, and focus, so the founder can trust the business is being held well without them in the room.
How You Lead
People leadership, change adoption, culture stewardship, and operational rhythm. You will build the conditions for others to do their best work, lead change without breaking trust, and create the kind of predictable rhythm that lets teams operate with less anxiety and more focus.
Who You're Becoming
The trust question answered with 18 weeks of evidence behind it. Operators leave with a clear picture of who they were when they arrived, what the program required of them, and who they became. The program closes not with a certificate but with a declaration.
The Founding Cohort
The first cohort starts October 15, 2026. Six to eight seats. Once they are filled, they are filled.
Founding cohort members receive benefits that future cohorts will not.
Drop your email to find out what they are, and to stay in the loop as program details and registration opens up.
This Program Is Not For Everyone
The right founder has someone in the business already, trusted, capable, carrying more than is sustainable. They are not looking to fix their operator. They are ready to invest in developing them.
The right operator is already in the role. They are not waiting to be ready. They are ready to build.
If that is not where you are, this is not the right moment. If it is, the founding cohort is the right way in.
for the founder
You already know your operator is capable. What you are waiting for is for them to lead at the level the role requires.
You have told them you need them to be more strategic. You have watched them step up every time you needed them to. And you have also watched the role quietly outpace the support.
That is not a performance problem. It is a development gap. And it is one you can close.
The Trusted Operator Academy gives your operator the framework, the peers, and the structured development experience that most founder-led businesses never build. Eighteen weeks. Real work applied inside your actual organization. A more capable operator on the other side.
Ready to talk about it?
for the operator
Trusted with the role. Ready to lead it.
The expectations are real. The responsibility is real. And the gap between where you are and where the role needs you to be is not a performance problem. It is a development gap, and most businesses do not have a way to close it.
This program was built for you specifically. Not for leaders in general. Not for executives at large organizations. For the operator inside a founder-led business who is already trusted, already capable, and ready to build the structure that makes that trust sustainable.
Eighteen weeks. Fourteen live virtual sessions. Real work. A cohort that gets it.
Ask your founder to sponsor your seat.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Trusted Operator Academy is a 14-session, 18-week cohort program for operators in founder-led businesses, the people in COO-adjacent roles who are responsible for keeping execution moving as the organization grows. Every session is applied to real work inside the participant's actual organization, alongside a small cohort of peers navigating the same terrain. It is not training, not coaching, and not consulting. It is a structured development experience that produces a more capable leader and a more functional organization simultaneously.
The founder (business) sponsors the seat on behalf of their operator. The program is designed for founders who have someone in the business they trust, a right hand, a director of operations, a general manager, an operations manager or lead who is capable but has never had structured support for leading at this level. The founder invests in their operator's development. The operator does the work.
Most leadership programs develop people away from the work, through case studies, frameworks, and content that has nothing to do with the business in front of them. In The Trusted Operator Academy, the operator builds the structure themselves, inside their actual organization, applied to their real problems in real time. The result is not just a more capable leader. It is a more functional organization, built by the person who will own it when the program ends.
The right operator is already in the role, trusted, capable, and carrying more responsibility than they have ever had structured support for. They do not need to be ready in the sense of having everything figured out. They need to be ready to do real work, apply new thinking inside their actual organization, and show up consistently for 18 weeks, across 14 sessions. If your operator is someone you trust and you have been waiting for them to operate more strategically, they are ready.
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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