Group Partners
Group Partners

Latest note 26 Oct He taught art, but the lesson was thought.
  • Rolls-Royce
  • HP
  • BT
  • International Olympic Committee
  • BBC
  • IBM
  • Google
  • Unilever
  • P&G
  • Pfizer
  • American Express
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • Mercedes-Benz
  • WH Smith
  • Marks & Spencer
  • Capgemini
  • MTN
  • Coca-Cola
  • Toyota

Group Partners, since 2001

The home of Structured Visual Thinking™

For twenty five years, senior teams have brought us the one question that matters most to them. We call it the exam question.

The exam question01 / 09

What changed

Roll over a marked name to see its question.Tap a marked name to see its question.

  • Rolls-Royce
  • HP
  • BT
  • International Olympic Committee
  • BBC
  • IBM
  • Google
  • Unilever
  • Procter & Gamble
  • Pfizer
  • American Express
  • Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Mercedes-Benz
  • WH Smith
  • Marks & Spencer
  • Capgemini
  • MTN
  • Coca-Cola
  • Toyota

In their words

I have used John and his team for 3 Government turnaround challenges. Their approach worked every time and gave us the tools to create significant change.
Mark GrimshawChief Executive, RPA, CSA and Jobcentre Plus, UK Government
Without you, we will build a system; with you, we will build our future.
Barbera BridgewaterCEO, Fourthought Group, Medicaid Transformation, State of Nebraska
I’ve spoken to a few leaders who attended the session, and they have all, without fail, stated that this is the best strategy review session they have ever participated in.
Juba MashabaChief Human Resources Officer, Cell C, Johannesburg
The ability to take complex information and turn it into easy-to-navigate visualisations is a real art form.
Robert CadeDirector of Strategy and Performance, Centrepoint
In any strategy work, it’s critical that the Board have a shared understanding and alignment about where the business is going… Your process delivers both.
Jo HowardBusiness Strategy Director, WH Smith
John and his team bring unique insights into the issues that you’re inevitably facing.
Alan MatherChief Technology Officer, UK Cabinet Office and United Utilities
I’ve worked in all big agency groups and have never seen a ‘proprietary approach’ that even gets close to the Group Partners’ way.
Brian TowellBMS and Roche partner
Group Partners transformed the way we sold large, complex deals. … Our approach became a strategic, differentiated advantage while generating incredible value for our clients.
Chris DonatoFormer VP Sales, HP
The feedback to the program has been very positive with real engagement, motivation and interest across the extended leadership team…
Tony WoodManaging Director, Rolls-Royce Defence Aerospace
This program changed everything, we identified what was needed, what wasn’t needed and helped us accelerate many months, possibly years into the future.
Jane KiddDirector of Global Marketing, Bristol-Myers Squibb
We compressed time, hit all our objectives, increased the impact and scale of our solutions, we grew in confidence and knew how to enter the markets we needed.
Mark MamoneBT Global Professional Services
The entire methodology was robust and credible whilst maintaining a high degree of flexibility. The graphical representation of the ‘As-Is’ and ‘To-Be’ was paramount.
Olivier DjolianCapgemini
We like surprises, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by it all and especially the overall outcome and how the whole team contributed.
Brian GouldieMD, MTN Consumer Business, South Africa
Several people said they were ‘blown away’ by the ‘tapestry’, which is quite an appropriate description of its effect.
Dave SalmonAnglo American Technical Division
The Frameworks liberated thinking and brought much-needed light, understanding and finally, empathy to many an erstwhile blinkered ‘Doubting Thomas’.
Alexei OrlovStrategy and Marketing Director, Mazda Cars
01 / 15

The work

We find the real question. Then we stay until it is answered.

  1. 01

    The exam question

    The question on the brief is rarely the one that matters. We find the one worth answering, and write it down.

  2. 02

    Their world

    Research and analysis, and a great deal of listening, one to one as well as together.

  3. 03

    The logic

    What sits underneath: where you want to get to, and what is really in the way. Argued until it holds.

  4. 04

    Dialogue

    The people who will run it shape it with us, session by session. Nobody is handed a finished answer.

  5. 05

    The blueprint

    Synthesis into one clear picture of the strategy, drawn so everyone can see it.

  6. 06

    The path

    The plan for the change, set out so anyone can read the progress.

  7. 07

    What stays

    The capability, and the confidence to stay on the path long after we have gone.

  • Analysis
  • Synthesis
  • Research
  • Critical thinking
  • Consulting
  • Advisory
  • Exam questions
  • Conversational frameworks
  • Blueprints
  • Plans
  • Strategy
  • Change
  • Transformation
The tools behind it Structured Visual Thinking Framework Science Mezzanine

A small team, chosen for the question.

For over twenty years we have kept a network of senior specialists we trust. The challenge decides who joins: each one gets its own few, drawn in for the question and stood down when it is answered.

Between us, there is very little we have not done before.

Meet the network: more to come.

The expert network: the challenge at the centre, a small team drawn in from a wide network of senior specialists Storytelling Decision-making Goto market Programmedelivery Teamdynamics thechallenge 010203

Expert networkRoll over a name to see its line.Tap a name to see its line.

  1. 01The challenge. One question, agreed with you, decides who joins.
  2. 02The network. Senior specialists we have trusted for over twenty years: storytelling, film, media, technology, brand, reputation, turnaround and more.
  3. 03The team. A few drawn in for the question, stood down when it is answered.

The Player

How we work, in three acts.

Take it at your own pace. Scroll or tap from screen to screen.

The craft

Clients buy the answer. These are the tools we use to reach it.

Each one was built in the work, over years. Together they are why every engagement carries our fingerprint.

  • Making thinking visible, so everyone involved can test it and make it better.

    From the Player: John and a colleague building the picture on the wall while the client team reads it
    From the Player: John points to the exam question as three clients read the wallFrom the Player: the team seated in front of a full Structured Visual Thinking wall
  • The clarity to understand complexity. The structure to act on it.

    From the Player: the Framework Science drum close up, with a Structured Visual Thinking wall soft in the distance
  • The advantage point for strategy.

    Mezzanine: people at live screens on a balcony above the gallery floor, with a figure being carved out of stone below
    1. 01Where the work happens
    2. 02Every contribution kept
    3. 03Framework Science alongside
    4. 04More of it revealed

The maker’s markJudgement has fingerprints.

Contact

Worth a conversation.

John Caswell

Founder, Group Partners

john@grouppartners.net

+44 7920 759250

Or ask firstAsk John

More to come, including the book: It’s All In Our Imagination, 2027.