Organizational Health and Leadership Performance

You’re not losing your best people to competitors.
You’re losing them to overload.

Civara Advisory helps mid-market companies keep the people they cannot afford to lose. We find where the work itself is driving them out, then redesign it so capacity matches demand.

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$1 Trillion

lost to voluntary turnover
in the U.S. every year

52%

of employees who left say their manager
or organization could have prevented it

70%

of the variance in team engagement
comes down to the manager

Source: Gallup

Our Methodology

The Capacity Method

Most retention efforts try to help individuals cope with the load. The Capacity Method changes the load. We look at how work is assigned, how managers are stretched, and how the operating rhythm of the business adds or removes pressure. Then we redesign those structures with your leaders, so performance and retention improve together.

This is not a reorganization. No reporting lines move and no headcount changes. We change how the work runs.

In a randomized field experiment at a large firm, teams in a work redesign initiative had lower voluntary turnover over almost three years (Moen et al., Social Problems, 2017).

Proprietary Methodology

Deborah Bumbaugh

Founder
Civara Advisory

Behavioral science, applied to how work gets done

I’m Deborah, founder of Civara Advisory. I have spent more than 20 years studying and applying how people change behavior, grounded in neurobiology and evidence-based practice. I have used that work inside mid-size organizations, designing behavioral strategies and working alongside leadership on multimillion-dollar businesses and deals.

At Civara, I help leaders find the real causes of overload, friction, and talent loss, then build the conditions where people can perform at a high level and stay. The result is stronger teams, steadier leadership, and growth that does not cost you your best people.

Behavioral Science Diagnostic First Structural Change Mid-Market Companies

What We Offer

Two ways to work together.
One starting point.

Every Civara engagement begins with a diagnostic. No generic programs and no guesswork. Only work built around what your organization needs.

Start Here

Capacity Diagnostic

Before anything changes, you need to see clearly. The Capacity Diagnostic shows where overload sits in your organization, which roles and teams carry the most retention risk, and what is driving it. You receive a written report and a prioritized plan your leadership team can act on.

Diagnostic and Roadmap

Core

Leadership and Team Performance Program

A multi-month engagement that acts on what the diagnostic found. Deborah works alongside your leaders to rebalance manager load, redesign the operating rhythm of the team, and build the leadership capacity to sustain the change. Every program is built from your diagnostic findings.

Multi-Month Engagement

Why Civara

Built for the companies the big firms overlook.

Large consultancies are built for large enterprise. Most employee programs are aimed at individuals, one person at a time. Civara was built for the middle: companies of roughly 100 to 2,000 people with real complexity, real leadership pressure, and no senior partner focused on why good people leave.

Every engagement is diagnostic-first. Before any program begins, Civara maps the system underneath the symptoms: the leadership load, the team friction, the quiet drain on capacity. The work then targets the real cause, not the surface noise.

Diagnostic First

Every engagement begins with a rigorous assessment. Nothing starts until we understand what is driving the problem.

Structural, Not Individual

We change how work is designed. We do not ask your people to cope better with a broken system.

Grounded in Behavioral Science

Built on evidence about how people and teams change, for work that holds up to scrutiny.

Take the First Step

Most mid-sized companies spend on programs to support their people.
Almost none can show that the spend keeps them.

Book a conversation. We’ll look at what is quietly driving your best people out, and what it is costing your growth, while there is still time to change it.

Book a Conversation Send an Enquiry

You’re not losing your best people to competitors. You’re losing them to overload.