Work and experience

Practical experience behind the work.

Simple Ops brings together business leadership, operational improvement, training and technology adoption to help New Zealand businesses make useful change.

Who we work withMeet the lead trainer ↓

Business experience

Experience across the whole business.

Experience spans frontline operations, franchising, business consulting, product leadership, digital platforms, software delivery, workflow automation, data and organisational change.

Geordie has conducted operational audits and profit reviews across multi site businesses, established franchise systems and manuals, and led enterprise discovery where customer, finance, ordering, inventory, fulfilment and technology all intersect.

This breadth helps Simple Ops see beyond a single symptom and connect customer needs, commercial outcomes, people, information and systems.

Leadership experience

From specialist teams to larger workforces.

Geordie has led small specialist groups, managers and franchisees, product and business analysis teams, and delivery environments involving 36 engineers, with earlier operational responsibility across workforces of about 300.

He has coached senior leadership groups of 5 to 15, served on a senior leadership team, and worked with boards, suppliers and international customers.

His role has often been to create clarity: set direction, establish planning and reporting rhythms, develop capable leaders, and help people adopt and implement new products, processes and ways of working.

Training and facilitation

Grounded in real business work.

Geordie has trained franchisees, managers, frontline staff, product teams and technical teams in new systems, procedures, products and ways of working.

Facilitation ranges from company wide Quarterly Business Reviews and portfolio planning to focused workshops, reviews, retrospectives and business process sessions.

Complex concepts are translated into plain language. Participants work with genuine business examples and leave with documentation, controls and repeatable methods they can apply independently.

His ability to explain complex technical ideas clearly to non specialists was recognised by Subway Europe.

Lead trainer

Geordie Lindsay-Russell

Founder and lead trainer

Geordie’s career has progressed from frontline operations to multi site leadership, business consulting, software delivery and senior product leadership.

He has worked across hospitality, franchising, retail, energy, data, customer platforms and international technology services, leading work from observation and problem definition through roadmaps, implementation, training and review.

He combines practical commercial and operational experience with product, automation and measurement disciplines. This helps Simple Ops connect what leaders want to achieve with how work actually happens.

Why small business matters

Geordie wants small and medium businesses to succeed. He is particularly motivated by helping owners regain control when growth has outpaced their systems, then building repeatable ways of working that support sustainable scale.

That commitment extends into community service. He was a committee member of the Brisbane Junior Chamber of Commerce, a board member of Birkenhead Primary School and a trustee of the Birkenhead Learning Trust.

Qualifications and professional development

Relevant learning, applied in practice.

Credentials and professional development across leadership, facilitation, product delivery, repeatable business models and responsible AI adoption.

Certifications and qualifications

Professional Scrum Master

Scrum.org certification, 2021.

Agile Coaching

Certificate in practical team coaching.

Certified Agile Product Ownership

ICAgile certification, 2021.

Postgraduate Franchising Study

Griffith University postgraduate papers.

OpenAI Academy Courses

Certificates in practical and responsible AI.

Professional development

LINK Leadership Programme

Eight week leadership and manager programme.

Presenting with Power and Authority

Professional presentation and communication course.

Case studies

See the experience in context.

Customer testimonials and case studies show how the work supports capability, clarity and better business processes.

Who we work with

Measurable outcomes

Agree what should improve.

Every engagement begins by defining the problem, baseline and intended result. We identify the few measures that would show whether the change is valuable, form a testable hypothesis and set a target that reflects the available evidence.

We draw from customer, commercial and operational data. Depending on the work, measures can include time, capacity, error rate, response speed, revenue, cost, adoption or confidence.

After delivery, we review the measures with the customer. If the result is not there, we identify why, adapt the process or solution and agree what to test next.

Delivery approach

Business first. Technology where useful.

Many businesses already have most of what they need. Our first job is to understand the current work, put useful information and tools in order, and remove duplication, clutter or workarounds that no longer help.

We then improve what is worth keeping, make ownership clear and standardise the practical way of working so people know what to use, where to find it and what happens next.

Technology supports this process only when it is justified by the outcome. The customer leads the decision, the business need comes first, and any technology should make the work simpler, clearer or more reliable.

A sensible next step

Start with the work that matters.

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