FOR INVESTOR-BACKED AND MULTI-UNIT BUSINESSES
Growing businesses buy HR at the wrong altitude
A full-time CHRO is more capability than a 40-person company can carry. A generalist may not provide the level of leadership and execution the business requires for its next stage of growth. Rhizome fills the gap with executive judgment, senior execution, and operational capacity in one embedded team, rebalanced as the business changes.
One embedded team. Capability at every level
THE RHIZOME MODEL
Growing businesses rarely need HR support at only one level. They need executive judgment for critical decisions and alignment to plan, experienced capacity to turn those decisions into action, and reliable operational support to keep the function running. But they are often not large enough to justify three separate full-time roles, and the work is rarely split evenly across those levels
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A full-time CHRO may spend only a fraction of their time on work requiring CHRO-level expertise, while a generalist may lack the senior experience needed for the most consequential decisions. Rhizome provides the right mix at each level and adjusts it as the business changes.
Executive Judgement
Translate the business plan into clear people priorities and guide the decisions with the greatest impact on growth:Â leadership structure, organization design, workforce strategy, compensation, and the sequencing of change.
Senior Execution
Turn those priorities into practical plans, systems, and management practices, then work alongside leaders to implement them. This includes hiring plans, performance management, manager capability, communications, and change delivery.
Operational Capacity
Keep the function running reliably through onboarding, employee changes, records, compliance, lifecycle administration, and the day-to-day support leaders and employees need.
THE BUSINESS AGENDA
The people function should work from the same plan as the business.
Every business plan is ultimately executed by people. When HR operates on a separate agenda, even competent work can direct attention and investment toward initiatives that are disconnected from what the organization actually needs people to deliver.
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Rhizome starts with the priorities of the business and translates them into decisions about structure, leadership, hiring, performance, incentives, manager capability, and the systems required to support execution.
The HR team works on the priorities the business actually needs.
WHO WE WORK WITH
People systems that have to work across many businesses or locations.
Private equity sponsors and franchisors face a similar challenge: they need greater consistency across businesses or locations they do not manage day to day, while ensuring the people practices remain workable at the company or unit level.
FOR SPONSORS AND PORTFOLIO LEADERS
Private Equity
Supporting portfolio companies through integration, carve-outs, scaling, and exit preparation, as well as sponsors engaging Rhizome across several companies.
Franchise Systems
FOR FRANCHISORS AND OPERATORS
Supporting franchisors as they build practical people standards across the network, and franchisees that need experienced HR capability inside their own locations.
POINT OF VIEW
The business plan is only as strong as the people system underneath it
Competitive advantage comes from a connected system: how the business sells, serves customers, makes decisions, shares knowledge, and operates at scale. People carry out nearly every part of that system.
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In many organizations, HR is still treated as administrative overhead rather than as a function that helps shape execution. The CEO or COO may define how the business needs to operate, but someone still has to translate that direction into leadership structure, clear accountabilities, incentives, hiring, capability building, and management practices. When no one owns that work, it gets spread across executives, finance, and managers, often inconsistently or too late, with no one responsible for carrying it through.
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When those decisions are made separately from the business strategy, they can work against it.
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Rhizome aligns the people system with how the business intends to grow and compete, then builds the structure, accountability, and knowledge needed for it to hold as the company scales, expands across locations, or changes hands.
HOW IT STARTS
A clear, aligned plan in the first three weeks.
Before delivery begins, we agree on what the business needs, what Rhizome will own, and what should happen first. The result is a written plan with clear priorities, sequencing, and accountability.
STEP 01
Strategy assessment
We start with how the business operates, what it is trying to achieve, and where the organization may need to change.
STEP 02
HR Assessment
We assess the current team, structure, leadership, systems, risks, and capacity against what the business requires.
STEP 03
Alignment deliverable
One document sets out the priorities, sequence, ownership, and level of support required. Leadership agrees to the plan before delivery begins.
Ongoing
Quarterly plans
Each quarter begins with clear priorities, owners, and expected outcomes. We review what was completed, what changed, and where the people function should focus next.