Fractional People & Ops Leadership

Real support. Not an HR handbook. Just the clarity and systems your team needs.

Services

ThriveOps Labs partners with small teams to build people systems that work, supporting clarity, culture, and growth.

With a marketing-informed approach, every HR and Ops system is designed not only for function but also for adoption, enhancing communication, alignment, and buy-in across the team.

The result? Seamless operations, clear leadership, and a workplace where performance and well-being go hand in hand.

  • Because your systems are an expression of your culture.

    Onboarding Programs
    Design an onboarding experience that actually feels like your culture—not a checklist. I help you create a repeatable flow that brings new hires into your team with clarity, confidence, and connection.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Custom onboarding flow, welcome templates, manager guides.
    ✔️ Outcomes: Faster ramp-up, clearer expectations, stronger first impressions

    Rituals & Recognition Systems
    Workplace culture lives in the small moments. Let’s build rituals for check-ins, reflection, and recognition that make your values real—and your team feel seen.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Rituals menu (async & sync), meeting templates, recognition toolkit
    ✔️ Outcomes: Team cohesion, consistent engagement, moments that matter

    Values to Behaviours Mapping
    Turn your aspirational values into practical behaviours that guide hiring, decision-making, and everyday interaction.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Values alignment session, behaviour matrix, team alignment guide
    ✔️ Outcomes: Accountability, cultural clarity, alignment without micro-managing

    Culture Documentation
    Codify how your team works, communicates, and collaborates - without building a bloated HR manual.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Culture guide, internal onboarding doc, working norms
    ✔️ Outcomes: Clarity for new hires, consistency across the team, better self-management

    Feedback Loops & Listening Systems
    Design feedback rhythms that feel natural and support growth. From pulse surveys to reflection prompts, I help teams get into a rhythm of listening and evolving.
    🗝️ Deliverables: Feedback templates, retro formats, survey cadence
    ✔️ Outcomes: Psychological safety, continuous improvement, team insight

  • Support your people with clarity, confidence, and tools they’ll actually use.

    Role Clarity & Team Capabilities Mapping
    Help your team understand who does what—and what capabilities are actually needed at your stage of growth.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Role outlines, org clarity map, capabilities matrix
    ✔️ Outcomes: Reduced duplication, smarter hiring, better team alignment

    Cascading Goals & Execution Planning
    Translate leadership vision into clear, actionable team priorities. Build a rhythm for goals that scales with you.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Team goal map, goal review cadence, individual team goals
    ✔️ Outcomes: Focused execution, clearer expectations, aligned momentum

    Manager Coaching & Enablement
    Support new or stretched managers with practical tools and on-demand strategy support. Think coaching meets clarity meets “here’s how to do it.”

    🗝️ Deliverables: 1:1 coaching, decision-making tools, feedback scripts
    ✔️ Outcomes: More confident managers, less escalated conflict, stronger leadership presence

    Performance & Feedback Systems
    Create a performance rhythm your team actually wants to use. We’ll design feedback loops that foster trust and accountability without the corporate ick.
    🗝️ Deliverables: Feedback flow, 1:1 templates, growth plan structure
    ✔️ Outcomes: Ongoing development, aligned expectations, culture of feedback

    Change Communication Strategy
    During growth, change happens fast. I help you roll out team changes—structure, scope, or direction—with clarity and care.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Change comms plan, rollout toolkit, talking points
    ✔️ Outcomes: Better adoption, fewer misunderstandings, team-wide trust

  • Build lightweight systems now, so you won't have to build them in a panic later.

    Team Roles & Decision-Making Frameworks
    Define who does what, how decisions get made, and what’s in or out of scope—so your team can stop guessing and start executing.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Role clarity docs, authority matrix, team alignment canvas
    ✔️ Outcomes: Smoother handoffs, less confusion, empowered autonomy

    Process Documentation & Internal Ops Guides
    Capture how things actually work—from onboarding to offboarding—so you stop reinventing the wheel every time.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Process templates, wiki-ready SOPs, documentation flow
    ✔️ Outcomes: Team self-sufficiency, faster onboarding, scalable consistency

    Communication Rhythms & Collaboration Systems
    Design your internal comms cadence: async vs. sync, what gets written down, and when people need to actually meet.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Comms guide, meeting structure, async templates
    ✔️ Outcomes: Fewer meetings, clearer communication, better collaboration

    Tool Strategy & Workflow Optimization
    Make your tech stack work for you—not against you. We'll align tools to workflows and cut the digital clutter.
    🗝️ Deliverables: Tool audit, workflow maps, usage protocols
    ✔️ Outcomes: More focused work, cleaner systems, higher adoption

    Lean Policies & People Ops Infrastructure
    Create just enough policy to support your culture, without going full HR department.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Hiring docs, time off policy, internal playbook
    ✔️ Outcomes: Trust, protection, and clarity—without the corporate bloat

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Founder Decision Support

  • Considering a co-founder or questioning whether you actually need one?

    This engagement helps founders get unstuck around one of the most consequential decisions they’ll make. Instead of rushing into a partnership, we slow things down just enough to test leadership and operational gaps before equity gets involved.

    I step in for a defined period to work alongside you, pressure-testing assumptions, responsibilities, and decision-making in real time—so the path forward becomes clear.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Decision support sessions, leadership & operational gap assessment, role clarity (if a co-founder is needed), and a short action plan
    ✔️ Outcomes: Clarity, confidence, and a grounded decision—either with a clearly defined co-founder role or the certainty to move forward solo

  • Need alignment or a fresh perspective before moving forward as a team?

    This engagement supports leadership teams who feel stuck or misaligned and need clarity before committing to a direction. Through facilitated sessions and outside perspective, we surface what’s actually getting in the way, whether that’s unclear ownership, competing priorities, or unspoken assumptions.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Workshop design, live facilitation (virtual or in-person), and a post-session summary
    ✔️ Outcomes: Clarity, momentum, and aligned team energy

Project-Based Support

  • Got a project, a role to fill, or a system to fix?

    This scoped engagement gets it done, fast, and in a way that sticks. Ideal for creating foundational systems or seeing how we collaborate before diving deeper.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Scoped project plan, biweekly check-ins, hands-on implementation
    ✔️ Outcomes: Progress, buy-in, and clarity for your next phase

  • Upskill new or emerging managers with the tools and mindset of real leadership.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Training modules, leadership templates, optional 1:1 coaching
    ✔️ Outcomes: Stronger communication, better decisions, more confident leaders

Retainer Packages

  • Your ongoing Head of People & Ops - without the full-time hire.

    I plug into your team to lead HR and Ops projects, coach your managers, and build systems that grow with you. You get strategic thinking, tool creation, and team support- all without needing to hire more staff.

    🗝️ Deliverables: Weekly planning time, async support, tool/system delivery, manager coaching
    ✔️ Outcomes: Aligned leadership, healthy culture, and systems that scale

  • Emergency HR support—ready when you need it.

    Perfect for teams that don’t need a full-time partner but want peace of mind for when things get weird. Whether it’s a tough conversation, a reactive policy need, or a tricky people moment—you’ll have backup. If you don’t need it that quarter, we use the hours for quick iterations or strategic tune-ups.

    🗝️ Deliverables: 4 hours/quarter of on-call support, doc reviews, rapid coaching, or tool cleanup
    ✔️ Outcomes: Reduced stress, cleaner decisions, quick systems support

    Flexible usage: emergency? I’m on it. Calm quarter? Let’s build something useful for your business.

Not quite what you’re looking for?
ThriveOps is all about designing systems that fit your unique needs—let’s customize something just for you.

Share What You Need

Ceara Crawshaw, Founder & CEO, Pencil & Paper Design

“Melissa has been key in handling everything HR, from recruiting, hiring, and performance management. She’s provided valued advice in the rough times, too, where I felt the most lost. She just figures stuff out and doesn’t lose threads.”

Your People & Ops Partner

“Culture isn’t accidental; it’s built through the people you choose and the systems you design.”

Melissa McHenry, founder of ThriveOps Labs, brings over a decade of leadership experience across biotech, tech, agency, and startup environments. She’s known fordefining clear systems, guiding teams through complex change, and helping leaders move forward with confidence, especially when stakes are high.

Her background includes serving as project lead for both a merger and an acquisition at two separate Canadian biotechs - where clarity, integration, and decision-making under pressure were critical. That experience shapes how she supports founders and leadership teams today: by stress-testing assumptions, defining roles, and building scalable operational foundations.

Melissa has worked with teams internationally, bringing a global perspective to how organizations build people systems that are both human and scalable. Her approach is informed by a deep appreciation for intentional systems thinking, including her passion for the Bullet Journal® method as a mindful personal operating system.

Based on the Sunshine Coast, she partners with small teams across Canada and beyond.

Why Choose ThriveOps?

Strategic Leadership That Scales

With over a decade of experience across HR, Operations, Finance and Marketing, ThriveOps Labs brings a cross-functional lens to every engagement. We build systems and support people so teams can get aligned and move forward with clarity.

Systems People Actually Want

The best systems don’t just function—they get used. ThriveOps designs tools, workflows, and rituals that people request because they clarify, streamline, and simplify navigation. With a marketing-informed approach, every document or process is crafted to support actual behavior, not merely to check a box.

Calm Confidence, Built In

Scaling a business can feel chaotic. ThriveOps brings calm, structure, and just the right amount of process to help your team lead with confidence. Whether you're hiring, changing direction, or untangling outdated systems, we assist you in moving forward with clarity and ease.

Let’s make it work better.

Design systems that support your leadership, your team, and your goals.

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