Commercial CPO Programme
For Chief People Officers (CPOs), Human Resource Directors (HRDs) and Senior HR Professionals who know their people strategy is right and are ready to prove it.
Find Your Voice.
Take Your Seat.
Own Your Space.
You’re already good at your job.
The board just doesn’t always know it.
You know people. It’s what you do and you do it well. But knowing your stuff and being heard as a commercial equal? Those are two very different things and nobody tells you how to the bridge the gap.
You feel exposed when asked to commercially justify your latest people initiative, unsure how to translate your people expertise into business language.
INTRODUCTION
A structured programme for CPOs and HRDs built around three interconnecting pillars. Each one builds on the last moving you from people expert to an essential commercial force. This is not a finance for non-finance theoretical course but an interactive model using your own live data.
THE PROBLEM
You’re in the room. This programme gives you the voice to go with it.
You’re senior enough to be in the room. You’re experienced enough to know what the business needs. And yet, when the finance update lands, when the CFO starts talking numbers and when the board wants commercial justification there is a moment. A flicker of anxiety that nobody else can see but you feel every time.
It’s not imposter syndrome. It’s a gap. A very fixable gap between your people expertise and the commercial language the board speaks fluently.
You already know what the business needs. This is about making sure the business knows you know it.
THE THREE PILLARS
Three pillars. One transformation. Zero jargon
Each pillar builds on the last, moving you from great people expert to essential commercial force.
Pillar One
Find Your Voice
Commercial confidence starts with commercial fluency. This pillar gives you the finance language, the business case frameworks and the storytelling tools to make your people strategy impossible to ignore.
- Reading and interpreting financial statements
- Building a board ready business case
- Translating HR metrics into commercial outcomes
- Finding your commercial narrative
Pillar Two
Take Your Seat
Being in the right seat is one thing. Owning it is another. This pillar builds the strategic presence, the budget ownership mindset and the commercial-level thinking you need to operate as a genuine business leader, not just an HR one
- Budget ownership and financial accountability
- Operating with a business mindset
- Navigating board dynamics with confidence
- Strategic planning as a people expert
Pillar Three
Own Your Space
this is where it all comes together. Evidence-led leadership, influencing at scale, making decisions that stick. A voice that doesn’t just get heard, it gets acted on.
- Building an evidence-led leadership approach
- Influencing with data, not just conviction
- Creating lasting commercial impact
- Your 90 day commercial action plan
WHAT CHANGES?
You'll leave this programme as a different kind of leader
You'll walk into board meetings without the anxiety. Fluent in the numbers, confident in the conversation.
You'll have a commercial narrative that connects your people strategy directly to business outcomes — in language the CFO respects.
You'll operate as a strategic peer, not just the HR voice in the room. Sought out for commercial input. Not just people decisions.
You'll know how to build a business case that gets funded, not just heard.
You'll have a 90-day plan you can act on the moment you leave.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
Everything you need to show up commercially confident
6 live cohort sessions across the three pillars
Two facilitated sessions per month across the three pillars, designed for depth. Expect honest conversation, real scenarios and some deliberately uncomfortable questions.
Finance Decoder for HR
This is a practical guide to reading financial statements and understanding financial terms and how these align to the HR lens.
Business case toolkit with frameworks and templates
Ready to use frameworks, templates and worked examples so you can build a board-ready business case from scratch, for any people initiative and any size of organisation.
Peer group access
You’ll work alongside a curated cohort of senior HR leaders. the conversations between the sessions are often as valuable as the sessions themselves because you’re not the only one who’s felt this way.
1:1 commercial strategy call with Jo
A one hour dedicated session with Jo to apply the programme learning directly to your context, your C-Suite, and your specific commercial challenges. this is where it gets personal.
Your personalised 90 day action plan
You will leave with a concrete personalised plan. This is the ‘now what?’ made practical.
SOCIAL PROOF
‘Jo worked well across the functions to support and guide strategic management decisions through insightful analysis. Working together to achieve key budgets in tough trading conditions, Jo always worked to achieve positive results. Stakeholder management was a key strength.’ - Marketing Executive
‘I knew that Jo was a safe pair of hands who would keep my budget on track and, more than that, would also take my strategy for the next few months and give me sound financial management advice to ensure I had money when I needed it. She also made the monthly pages of numbers quick and easy for me to understand - highlighting exactly what I need to know and when’. - Head of Internal Communications
‘Jo is a highly effective finance director, providing business partnership guidance with colleagues. Her support is collaborative, insightful and focused upon the business needs and the customer.’ - Finance Dirctor
‘I’ve known Jo for a couple of years and have to say she‘s the best management accounting and financial analysis expert I’ve come across in a long time. Her ability to truly connect with people stands Jo apart from many in her field and her supportive and non judgmental approach is reassuring and refreshing in equal measure. I’d highly recommend Jo to any HR pro or business leader/owner seeking to develop their commercial reasoning (aka storytelling) skills. Even as an experienced HRD and business owner, I have learnt loads from her. A true asset to have by your side both professionally and personally – and I’m glad to have Jo by mine’ - HR Consultant
INVESTMENT
£750 incl VAT
SESSION TIMES
Tuesdays at 12:30 - 13:30
Welcome 30th Sept
Session 1 7th Oct
Session 2 14th Oct
Session 3 4th Nov
Session 4 18th Nov
Session 5 2nd Dec
Session 6 16th Dec
CALL TO ACTION
Find Your Voice.
Take Your Seat.
Own Your Space.
This cohort of the Commercial CPO Programme is a small, deliberately curated group who will shape the programme as much as the programme shapes them.
I am offering at a lower investment than future cohorts and the quiet satisfaction of being the ones who got there first. Places are limited and won’t be offered at this level again.