Strategic Team Sourcing & Company Alignment — Cassidine Consulting × The Gathering Spot
CASSIDINE × TGS
Cassidine Consulting · Proposal
May 2026 · Confidential
A Proposal for The Gathering Spot

Strategic Team
Sourcing &
Company Alignment.

Prepared By
Searcie Cassidine, MBA, LSSBB
Prepared For
Ryan Wilson · The Gathering Spot
Locations
Atlanta · Washington, D.C.
Contact
searcie@cassidineconsulting.com
cassidineconsulting.com  ·  We fix what others can’t find.
01 / 09 · Letter from Searcie

Sourcing leaders for Atlanta & D.C. — and the work underneath it.

Subject
Sourcing leaders for Atlanta & D.C. — and the work underneath it.
Includes
Two potential engagements. Final engagement determined by gaps and vision.
From
Searcie Cassidine
678-895-7967 (C)
searcie@cassidineconsulting.com

Ryan,

I scrolled past an Instagram post of yours asking if anyone knows of available leaders, as you are seeking leaders for your Atlanta and D.C. locations.

I can help you source leaders and build teams. I can also help you fix a problem you haven’t named by assisting as a fractional COO — an instant partner to help navigate the new complexities you are likely facing due to growth and change.

As businesses grow and make changes, they must establish a new homeostasis for the growth or change to hold. Growth and change are natural producers of strategic misalignment, causing gaps throughout the company. Strategic gaps are difficult to identify and resolve.

Strategic gaps often present as people problems: trouble keeping employees, siloed leadership, customer service issues, inconsistency of brand across locations, stress, gossip, and insecurity. That is why people try to hire, train, replace people with technology, and fire their way out of these situations. They’re not people problems. People are indicating that something much bigger is happening.

Hiring alone won’t fix this. You don’t need a recruiter. You need a competent partner who understands the pressures you’re facing — someone who listens and creates the space you need to lead without becoming another thing you must manage.

I’ve included two potential engagements. The final engagement is determined based on gaps and vision. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions while reading or after. My cell is below if text is easiest.

— Searcie (Sir-See)  · 678-895-7967 (C)

Cassidine Consulting × The Gathering Spot02 / 12
01Program One · The Request

Executive Search.

You’re looking for leadership. The generic answer is a recruiter or internal sourcing. A recruiter may source a candidate you like who looks good on paper — but there is much more to hiring, and to the success of the new hire, than the placement.

The Cost of Recruiter-Only — when the placement doesn’t hold
01 · Replace · US DOL
30%
of first-year salary, minimum, to replace a bad hire
02 · True Cost · CAP
213%
of annual salary in true cost of senior leader turnover
03 · Failure · HBR
~50%
of senior leaders fail in their first 18 months
04 · Momentum
12–18
months the seat sits open or churns

Half of senior leaders fail in their first 18 months — and most of those failures trace back to the role and what’s underneath it, not the candidate. You’re not in a business that can absorb that twice.

I source team members who understand your vision, mission, and needs — and I build what’s needed to find the right candidate and what’s needed to keep them.

Program 01 · Executive Search03 / 12
Program 01 · Executive Search Process

What proper actually looks like.

Most recruiters work transactionally — find a résumé, vet it, hand it off. This is different. What follows is what a proper search looks like when the goal is for the person to succeed, not just for the seat to be filled. These are not done in sequence — we run as much as possible in parallel for the fastest result.

Integration & Retention
01
Sign NDA
Some companies like to stay private. We discuss what level of privacy is needed.
02
Social Media
Some companies like to share parts of the engagement publicly. We agree on what is shared and what isn’t.
Engagement & Diagnostic
03
Kickoff
Review the engagement. Ensure there is a shared vision.
04
Diagnostic
A custom-designed diagnostic to understand the skills needed to work at the company and in the role. Extent depends on your desired outcomes.
05
Create Plan
Review findings and recommendations, and any info you already have on the position. Decide priorities. Understand what’s going on and what needs to happen.
06
Create Position Packet
Roles and accountability must be defined. A bad hire is far likelier if there’s no path to success. They must understand how they contribute to the mission — and we build the framework that displays legal compliance.
Program 01 · Process · Engagement & Diagnostic04 / 12
Position Packet · Documents Included

Everything built before a single interview.

Strategic Job Description
Creates accountability for their portion of the vision. What are they supposed to make sure happens, and that it happens correctly? What numbers should they hit? What KPIs do they keep you updated on?
Department Plan
Helps the leader move in the same direction as everyone else — their portion of the strategic plan. Used with the development plan to ensure KPIs and goals are met.
Development Plan
Assess the leader on the skills needed to lead at TGS and in their specific role — then a plan to help them succeed in their first 24 months.
Accountability Matrix
What they’re responsible for, their KPIs, reporting cadence, and meeting cadence.
Avatars
Built for each position so we know what good looks like.
Rating System
Built before interviewing, with a grading scale to evaluate each candidate against the avatar.
Hiring Process
How involved you want to be, and the steps you want candidates to take along the path.
Internal Folders
All résumés and interview documents saved properly in case of legal review.
Performance Format
The format we’ll use to assess them after hire.
Market Research
Salary ranges, market differences, and more.
Program 01 · Process · Packet & Hiring05 / 12
Program 01 · Sourcing → Onboarding

From offer to first 90 days.

Sourcing & Offer
07
Source Candidates
Find people to interview. Hold interviews.
08
Make Decision
Review candidates. Salary agreement and any benefits offered.
09
Offer
Make the offer. Any follow-up or additional offers as needed.
Welcome & Onboarding
10
Welcome Video
This should be Ryan. People will look to hear from you — a quick welcome to the team.
11
Welcome Packet
Paperwork, laptop, swag, a welcome letter, and a picture of the team.
12
Dinner
Optional but valuable. Take them to dinner between accepted offer and first week. Keeping a new hire matters as much as hiring one — a relationship needs to be created. I can fill in if no one is available. The point is a safe space to ask questions and talk about fears, so they feel supported.
13
Onboarding
Mainly paperwork and setting expectations.
14
90-Day Plan
I create a plan for their first 90 days. They can adjust it, but it’s a starting place — not a blank canvas.
Program 01 · Process · Welcome & Onboarding06 / 12
Program 01 · Integration & Retention

Setting the leader up to stay and win.

15
Team Intro
Intro them to the team to start the relationship — likely their most comfortable area. They get to know their people and the work they do.
16
Key Stakeholder Intro
Intro to anyone else needed — other executives, leaders from different locations.
17
Training
Depending on the engagement, there will be some level of training.
18
Executive Framework Toolkit
A toolkit with frameworks for everything from diagnostic problem-solving to decision-making.
19
Regular Executive Meetings
With other executives to monitor performance.
20
Six 1-Hour Coaching Sessions
One each month for the first six months — to help them adjust and increase retention.
21
Leadership Lab Workshop
If sourcing more than three leaders: a workshop to motivate leaders, help them connect as a team, agree on what leadership looks like at TGS, and hold each other accountable.
Program 01 · Process · Integration & Retention07 / 12
02Program Two · What I’d Build With You

Fractional COO.

A diagnostic-led engagement that rebuilds the operating layer underneath TGS — so the company can run like a large organization.

The Full Picture

The engagement begins with a diagnostic, so every decision is made for you. I provide a plan based on the diagnostic and your vision, delivered through clear project deliverables you can see and track.

The Gathering Spot has gone through many changes and needs to find its new homeostasis. The systems underneath — processes, training, feedback loops, the way information moves — are still built for one location and thirty people.

This is not a failure. It is the natural result of growth. The company has outgrown its structure, and it is time to rebuild. Every new location and every new hire adds complexity without adding capacity — until you establish a new rhythm.

The next page shows the six deliverables with the highest immediate impact for where TGS is right now — followed by the full program, all twenty deliverables, on the page after.

Program 02 · Fractional COO08 / 12
Program 02 · The Six That Move First

Six deliverables that change everything.

Out of twenty in the Fractional COO program, these six carry the highest immediate impact for where TGS is today.

01 · Leadership

Building Out the Leadership Team

Every role defined around your competitive strategy, not a template. Development path and 90-day plan written before the offer letter, with departmental strategy, SOPs, and team structure built underneath — so the leader isn’t handed a blank canvas.

05 · Strategy

Strategy Completion

The vision says “grow to five cities,” but the decision-making structure, reporting lines, and accountability systems were never rebuilt to support five cities. I complete the half-built strategy — connecting vision to the systems and people that produce results.

07 · Service

Customer Service Standardization

A member in D.C. should feel TGS the same way they feel it in Atlanta. I build the experience standards, train every team on them, and make sure they hold across every location — before each one drifts into its own version of service.

10 · Visibility

Feedback Loops

Right now you find out something’s broken by being in the room when it goes wrong. You can’t be in every room across five cities. I design the systems that tell you what’s working and what’s not — so you can decide from anywhere.

19 · Diagnostics

Org Diagnostics & Process Restructuring

A deep look at how work flows through TGS today — who decides what, where information moves, what gets stuck — then a redesign of the processes so the company runs the way it was meant to.

06 · Markets

Market Research per Location

You can’t run D.C. like Atlanta — different members, competition, and expectations. I research each market so every decision about programming, staffing, and investment is tied to what that specific city needs.

What the Work Pays Back · Published Research
01 · Retention · Bain
25–95%
profit lift from a 5% increase in member retention
02 · Alignment · Gallup
23%
higher profitability with aligned leadership
03 · EBITDA · McKinsey
2.3×
growth advantage of operationally excellent firms
04 · Development
3.5×
typical ROI on structured leadership development
Program 02 · The Six That Move First09 / 12
Program 02 · The Full Program

Everything included.

One engagement, one price. None of it is sequential — it runs in parallel based on what the diagnostic surfaces and what you need first.

01
Leadership Team BuildoutRoles built around strategy, before the offer.
11
Stakeholder & Community SupportReports and meetings represented on your behalf.
02
Retaining Leaders Past Year TwoCoaching and development so leaders stay.
12
Long-Term PlanningSuccession, exit, and growth planning that lasts.
03
Operational Tech LayerReal-time dashboards, not vanity metrics.
13
Behavioral & Personality AssessmentsUp to fifteen types as the diagnostic warrants.
04
Training, Branded for TGSPulled from a deep library, rebranded for you.
14
Individual Coaching SessionsTied to the development plan and specific gaps.
05
Strategy CompletionVision connected to structure and accountability.
15
Group Coaching SessionsDepartment numbers reviewed, team kept in sync.
06
Market Research per LocationDecisions tied to each market, not assumptions.
16
Culture ResetRe-grounding in what TGS is across every location.
07
Customer Service StandardizationOne TGS feeling, every location.
17
Company-Wide TrainingEliminates the “Atlanta vs. D.C.” drift.
08
Building Out DepartmentsTeams designed to execute from day one.
18
Custom Training or WorkshopBuilt around whatever gap the diagnostic surfaces.
09
Efficiency & EffectivenessWhere your spend returns — and where it doesn’t.
19
Org Diagnostics & RestructuringRedesign how work flows through TGS.
10
Feedback LoopsKnow what’s working from anywhere.
20
Customer AnalysisSurveys, interviews, NPS — who your members are.
Program 02 · The Full Program10 / 12
Closing · About · Recommendation

About me.

I’m an executive service operator who understands the natural cycles of operations and how to build one that honors your vision. When I help leaders create environments where people can succeed, lives change.

My goal is to reduce the burnout and chronic stress that come from people being asked to carry work the business itself isn’t built to handle. When strategy, operations, and daily decisions don’t line up, the pressure doesn’t disappear — it moves onto people.

Background & Training
Searcie Cassidine
  • Lean Six Sigma Black Belt · PMI PMP trained
  • B.S. in the Psychology of the Workplace
  • MBA in Operations Management & Supervision
  • 15 years as an operational leader
  • Sports leagues, tech, healthcare, legal, hospitality & more
  • Self-proclaimed operations nerd

What I’d recommend.

Recommended Path

Given the urgent seats in Atlanta and D.C. plus the scaling strain underneath, I’d start with the Diagnostic and run both programs concurrently — Executive Search to fill the seats now, the Fractional COO engagement to rebuild what they land inside, so the placements actually hold.

How we’d structure it.

Structure
A retainer, so you don’t have to worry about hours. The engagement stays as long as you need it.
Sequencing
None of this is sequential — it runs in parallel based on what you need and when you need it.
The Guarantee
We start with the Diagnostic. If it surfaces no fixable gap, that’s where it ends — no obligation to continue. The numbers come after we’ve scoped what you actually need.
Closing · About · Recommendation11 / 12
The Next Step

One call. No cost, no pitch.

Sixty minutes to figure out where the gap is leaking most and whether I’m the right partner to close it. If we move forward in that conversation, I’ll apply a 15% discount on your first three invoices.

15% Off the First Three Invoices
Book the No-Cost Advisory Call Prefer to start smaller? Ask about a mini diagnostic →

Contact me however is easiest — the number below is my cell. Every part of the conversation is confidential. My goal is to help.

— Searcie (Sir-See)
Searcie Cassidine, MBA, LSSBB · Founder
678-895-7967 searcie@cassidineconsulting.com cassidineconsulting.com
Cassidine Consulting
We fix what others can’t find.
© 2026 · Confidential · For The Gathering Spot