Designing human-led operating systems for scale-ups that have outgrown improvisation
Hi, I’m Lydia
After 18+ years inside fast-growing organisations, I’ve seen the same patterns repeat:
Unclear decision rights, inconsistent onboarding, performance friction, and collaboration slowing just as growth accelerates.
In almost every case, the problem isn’t talent or effort.
It’s that the organisation never designed how work should scale, expectations, ownership, and ways of working were left implicit.
Why I approach scale differently
I started my career in highly regulated environments at Lloyd’s Register, where precision, governance, and delivery discipline mattered.
I quickly realised something was missing: organisations were optimising systems, but under-designing human behaviour.
That insight took me into senior People & Culture roles across global organisations and tech scale-ups including Orange Group, ofi, Imagination Technologies, and Kobalt Music where I worked at the intersection of talent, performance, inclusion, and operating rhythm.
Across every environment, the same truth held: growth breaks organisations when ways of working are assumed rather than designed.
Proven across complex environments
Since starting Labyrinth Consultants, I’ve supported organisations across tech scale-ups, the public sector, health, and the arts, applying the same human-systems lens in very different operating environments.
The sector changes, but the patterns don’t.
My approach
My work sits at the intersection of systems thinking and human behaviour.
I design flexible operating frameworks that people adopt naturally not because they’re told to, but because they reduce friction, increase clarity, and create psychological safety.
The result: faster decisions, less dependency on founders or heroes, and organisations that scale without losing trust or momentum.