Six months to build a business that could run without him.

In late 2022, Alex Mosnier sat down with his wife and made a decision that most business owners would consider reckless: they were going to load up a caravan and drive around Australia. Starting in June 2023, they would be gone for seven months, and they didn't want to worry about the business while they were gone. By building a self-managing leadership team in just six months with Adapt, one Perth engineering firm founder finally took the trip of a lifetime, and came home to a stronger business.

There was just one problem. Floating Solutions, the specialist maritime engineering firm Alex had built from scratch since 2017, was still heavily dependent on him. They had a good culture with the team feeling empowered in their operational roles, but almost everything from a functional level relied on him. If he left, he was uncertain on how the business would run without him.

Built to depend on one person. Five years into building Floating Solutions, Alex had done many things right. The company had earned ISO 9001 certification just two years in and had always maintained a formal strategic plan. The culture was genuinely strong and organically built. But Alex knew deep down the business was structurally dependent on him. People still came to him for key decisions from a business perspective.

Alex had long been drawn to ideas around self-management and organisational design. He'd read the books and absorbed the philosophy. "Ever since I started the company, I'd always wanted to build something that could run without me," he says. "But there's a big gap between where I wanted to get to and how the hell do we even do it."

He'd heard of Adapt through industry connections, a combination of peer networks and a grant programme. He'd had a few conversations with Gabe Enslin, Adapt's co-founder. What resonated wasn't just the Adapt philosophy; it was the Lumia platform. Unlike other consultants and coaches talking about the same ideas, Adapt had a tangible system backed by technology. It was a place to make the invisible visible, to map out structure and hold the business accountable to it. "We're engineers," Alex says. "Having the Lumia platform made the difference. It's a tangible thing where you can put stuff in and be honest about what's happening."

While the Lumia platform was the draw, putting everything in place in such a short time didn't happen by magic.

Caravan dreaming: a hard deadline changes everything. Alex's caravan dream had existed in the background for years, quietly deferred by the demands of building a business. In late 2022, with their eldest child starting high school in two years, he and his wife made the call: they were leaving in June 2023. Six months away. They were taking their family to travel the whole of Australia.

Alex recalls thinking that if they didn't do this now, it would be too late. He had no idea how they were going to make it happen but decided to commit to the trip and figure out what it meant for the business.

With the departure date locked in, what had been an abstract aspiration became an urgent, six-month sprint. Alex knew that a soft handover wouldn't work. "If I was still there when I tried to pass things on, I'd still be dipping my hand back in the cookie jar," he says. "People would still be asking me things. I had to actually be gone."

The clock was ticking: six months to build a functioning leadership team, document processes, define roles and responsibilities, and create enough organisational scaffolding that Floating Solutions could operate successfully without its founder at the helm.

Six months to build a self-managing business. Working closely with Adapt Coach Susan, Alex focused the engagement on two interconnected priorities. The first was establishing the cadence and structure of a functioning leadership team: regular meetings, clear agendas, and defined accountability. Prior to working with Adapt, none of this had been formalised. "We can run those meetings ourselves now without Susan, but it's still massively valuable having her there," Alex says. "Having that outside perspective keeps us honest. It reminds us of things."

The second was helping Alex operate at the right level. He was already working 'on the business' and thinking strategically, but it was the framework and guidance as to how to do that better which was the game changer. He also reconnected with Gabe to draw on his leadership experience, working through what it meant to function as a director rather than an operator. "The last couple of years were very much strategic and operational, getting all of that together and making it work," he says. "Now I'm spending more time thinking about where we're going for the long term. That's been very valuable."

The Lumia platform gave the whole effort a home. Floating Solutions' organisational structure, its teams, their purposes, and key roles were mapped out in a system that the whole team could access and use. For a firm built on engineering principles, the rigour of a visible, accountable structure was a natural fit.

Lap of freedom: seven months on the road. In June 2023, Alex and his family drove out of Perth. For the next seven months, they travelled 28,000 kilometres around the country: up to the NT, down to Uluru, back up to Queensland, down the East Coast, through the Snowy Mountains, along the bottom and back across the Nullarbor.

Back in Perth, Floating Solutions kept running.

Seven months away. Twelve or so phone calls. The business did more than survive; it functioned as intended. Decisions were made. Clients were served. The leadership team operated under its own momentum. "It was amazing. It was awesome," Alex says. "I feel really lucky to have done that."

But the real result wasn't the holiday; it was what the holiday proved. Floating Solutions had become a business that could operate independently of its founder. The dependency that had been woven into every day, every decision, and every escalation was gone.

Looking ahead: building in long-term resilience. Back in Perth, Alex has re-engaged with Gabe on the ownership side of the business, thinking about direction, strategy, and his evolving role as a founder rather than an operator. Four years into his relationship with Adapt Coach Susan, that partnership remains a consistent feature of Floating Solutions' leadership rhythm.

The next challenge is one that many growing businesses recognise: how to define roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authority across a complex organisation without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. Floating Solutions' organisational map outlines major functions and team aims, and the focus now is on clarifying individual roles at all levels. "That's our strategic objective this year," Alex says. "Working out how we do it simply enough that people actually use it."

It's a good problem to have. Not long ago, the question was whether the business could run without him. Now, the founder who once thought a seven-month caravan trip was an impossible dream is planning how to make his organisation even more resilient for the next decade.