Ready to think through what's next?
Book a 45-minute conversation — to think through where you are, and what you are looking to build next.
Transformational People & Culture Support for Growing Organizations.
Growth creates pressure. As organizations scale, people strategy and operations become more complex, leadership expectations and scope increase, and the systems that once worked begin to strain. EleventhRoot partners with founders and leadership teams to build the people infrastructure their organizations need to scale with intention.
Who We Work With
EleventhRoot partners with founder-led and growth-stage organizations where people decisions directly shape culture, execution, and organizational performance.
Early-stage through scaling. Small and mid-sized organizations navigating growth.
Founders and Executive Leadership Teams
Professional services and people-centric businesses
Based in Ontario. Work extends across Canada and internationally.
If you are building structure into a scaling organization, navigating leadership or performance complexity, or putting people strategy in place for the first time — this is the work we do.
How We Support Growing Organizations
EleventhRoot partners with leadership teams as an embedded strategic and operational advisor — strengthening leadership, infrastructure, communication, and accountability so organizations can scale with intention, not strain.
We work alongside leadership teams in the areas where growth places the most weight — bringing structure, clarity, and steadiness as complexity increases.
- Strengthening leadership capability and consistency across managers
- Building accountability systems that hold their shape as teams grow
- Designing communication that stays clear under pressure and at scale
- Establishing the people infrastructure a scaling organization relies on
- Supporting leaders through high-stakes decisions and organizational change
- Aligning business performance with a strong employee experience
EleventhRoot is not traditional HR consulting. The difference is operational fluency — executive-level People & Culture expertise grounded in how organizations actually function under pressure.
- We bring deep operational understanding, not frameworks applied from the outside
- We pair executive-level strategy with the practical experience to implement it
- We understand how decisions land — across business operations and across teams
- We build infrastructure designed to work inside real, growing organizations
- We hold credibility with leadership and employees alike, so the work lands at every level
- We stay embedded as a partner, supporting execution well beyond the strategy
The goal of every engagement is the same — an organization that scales more intentionally, with the systems to support both its performance and its people.
- Leadership that operates with consistency, even under pressure
- Accountability that holds its shape across teams and managers
- Decisions made with clarity and communicated in ways that hold across the business
- Infrastructure that scales with the organization rather than straining against it
- Stronger trust and alignment between leadership and teams
- Sustainable growth — built on both business performance and employee experience
The Reality of Scale
Growth rarely breaks at the strategy level. It strains at the operational and human layer — where leadership, accountability, and communication carry more weight than the systems beneath them were built to hold.
01 When growth outpaces infrastructure
- The business scales faster than the leadership systems meant to support it.
- Decisions that were once straightforward become higher-stakes and less defined.
- Roles, ownership, and accountability blur as the organization expands.
- The gap between growth and infrastructure is where operational risk accumulates.
02 Scaling without leadership systems
- Leadership expectations shift faster than the structures supporting them.
- Accountability becomes inconsistent across teams and managers.
- Decisions are made reactively, without a clear framework to anchor them.
- Communication breaks down precisely when pressure is highest.
- Operational and cultural strain compounds quietly — long before it is named.
03 What strong infrastructure makes possible
- Leadership operates with consistency, even under pressure.
- Accountability and decision-making hold their shape as the organization grows.
- Difficult conversations happen earlier, with less cost to trust.
- Teams move with greater clarity, alignment, and operational stability.
- The organization scales on a foundation built to hold its culture and standards.
About Us
A founder-led People & Culture advisory, built to help growing organizations scale with intention.
EleventhRoot Consulting is a founder-led People & Culture advisory practice founded by Marla Lorraine, CHRL. We partner with founders and leadership teams of growing organizations to build and support strategic people infrastructure that scales with intention — across transformational fractional HR consulting, organizational strategy and design, leadership development, and coaching.
We work with organizations and leaders at every stage of growth — through strategic consulting, fractional HR support, leadership development, and individual coaching. Whatever the entry point, the work is always practical, tailored to where you are, and designed to build what comes next.
Senior-level People & Culture expertise grounded in both strategy and execution. EleventhRoot embeds directly into your organization, partnering alongside your team to build practical, scalable infrastructure informed by executive-level perspective and a first-hand understanding of how the work actually gets done.
This includes
- Embedded Fractional HR Leadership
- Scalable People Operations & Infrastructure
- Leadership Support, Coaching & Employee Relations
- Performance Management & Accountability Systems
- Organizational Design & Compensation Strategy
- HR Systems, Policies & Compliance Foundations
- Employer Brand, Talent Strategy & Recruitment
- Leadership Development & Manager Capability Building
Unlike traditional leadership training built around theory alone, EleventhRoot's approach is grounded in real organizational and operational experience. We help leaders navigate pressure, communication, accountability, and team dynamics in ways that are practical, credible, and sustainable — balancing business realities with the human side of how work actually gets done.
Research consistently shows that organizations with highly engaged employees are 21% more profitable and grow up to three times faster than their competitors — and leadership is the single biggest driver of that engagement.
Available for individuals, teams, and corporate groupsThis includes
- Leadership Escalation & Emotional Regulation
- Difficult Conversations, Conflict & Accountability
- Leadership Foundations & Manager Capability Building
- Values-Based Leadership & Decision-Making
- Communication, Trust & Psychological Safety
- Team Effectiveness & Organizational Dynamics
- Executive Advisory & Custom Workshops
- Conference Speaking & Keynotes
- Online Leadership Masterclasses (Coming Soon)
Explore our signature program, Leading Through Escalation™ — practical tools for leading well under pressure.
Leading Through EscalationIndividual coaching for HR professionals, people leaders, founders, and professionals seeking practical support in how they lead, communicate, navigate pressure, and grow in their careers.
This work is designed for individuals — separate from organizational consulting engagements — who want a trusted thought partner with deep operational and leadership experience.
For HR professionals especially, coaching focuses on building strategic confidence, strengthening executive influence, navigating complex workplace dynamics, and evolving beyond traditional administrative HR into transformational People & Culture leadership.
This includes
- Leadership & Career Development
- HR Leadership & Transformational People Strategy
- Confidence, Communication & Executive Presence
- Leadership Transition & Growth Support
- Difficult Conversations & Workplace Dynamics
- Strategic Thinking & Organizational Influence
- Founder & Emerging Leader Coaching
- Emotional Regulation & Leadership Under Pressure
- Building Credibility, Trust & Leadership Effectiveness
Our Approach
Compliance is the floor, not the ceiling
Every engagement begins with understanding the business, its goals, and the challenges leadership is navigating. From there, we work alongside leaders as trusted advisors to identify what may be happening beneath the surface — where communication patterns, leadership dynamics, operational strain, and people systems begin to impact the organization more broadly.
This approach is shaped by years inside high-growth organizations through multiple stages of scale, and by firsthand experience supporting leaders through complexity, change, and organizational pressure.
The result is practical, grounded support designed to strengthen the systems, structures, and leadership foundations organizations need to grow sustainably and operate effectively over time.
Areas of Focus
Engagements are tailored to the needs of each organization. Common areas of focus include:
01 People Foundations & Compliance
The structural and operational backbone growing organizations require.
- Employment compliance and policy review
- HR policies, employment agreements, and core documentation
- Organizational design and role clarity
- Onboarding and offboarding systems
- Workplace health and safety frameworks
02 Talent & Employer Brand
Attracting and retaining the right people — and building the brand that makes it possible.
- Employer value proposition and brand strategy
- Hiring systems and structured interview frameworks
- Candidate experience design
- Onboarding program development
- Engagement insights and retention strategy
03 Performance & Accountability
Values-anchored frameworks for clear expectations and consistent standards.
- Performance management framework design
- Feedback structures and review cycles
- Progressive discipline guidance
- Performance improvement support
- Manager coaching through difficult conversations
04 Leadership Development & Coaching
Building the leadership capacity that determines how an organization scales.
- Leadership coaching for founders, senior leaders, and emerging managers
- Manager fundamentals and 1:1 frameworks
- Support for leading under pressure
- Difficult conversation frameworks
- Leadership development workshops and facilitation
05 People Strategy & Workforce Planning
Supporting organizations building toward scale with greater intentionality.
- Workforce planning and hiring roadmaps
- Compensation philosophy and total rewards strategy
- Succession planning and leadership pipeline
- HRIS guidance and optimization
- People analytics and reporting
The Business Impact
Organizations that address people complexity early are better positioned to:
Operational outcomes
- Greater leadership bandwidth focused on strategy and growth
- Stronger hiring outcomes and reduced rehiring cycles
- Clearer ownership and reduced operational friction
- Employee relations situations navigated confidently
Organizational outcomes
- More confident, consistent leadership across all levels
- Stronger engagement, retention, and employee experience
- A culture that holds and scales under pressure
- Faster, clearer decision-making grounded in strong people systems
Our Expertise
Marla Lorraine
Founder &
Principal Consultant
Marla Lorraine is a Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL) with over a decade of experience building People & Culture functions inside growing organizations. She founded EleventhRoot on the belief that compliance is the floor, not the ceiling — and that the real work is building people strategy that drives how the business performs.
Before starting EleventhRoot, Marla held senior HR leadership roles in high-growth, highly regulated companies — building functions from the ground up and working directly with executive teams on the decisions that shape how organizations operate day to day.
She is known for asking the right questions, cutting through complexity, and helping leaders move forward with clarity.
Mission & Vision
Our Mission
To build strong people foundations that support sustainable growth — with integrity, care, and the conviction that people strategy is never secondary to business strategy.
Our Vision
A future where people strategy is recognized as a core driver of business performance — where trust is foundational, clarity replaces complexity, and the systems supporting your people are built to scale from the start.
Operating Principles
At EleventhRoot, values are embedded into the work itself — guiding how decisions are made, how leaders navigate complexity, and how organizations move through periods of pressure and growth.
Questions on Next Steps?
Book a Discovery Call
Book a 45-minute conversation — to think through where you are, and what you are looking to build next.
Book a ConsultationEmail Us
Have a question or want to learn more? Send us a note and we'll be in touch.
marla@eleventhroot.com