Our proprietary analysis method helps businesses and their leaders solve challenges in a meaningful and sustainable way – and in any area of their operations. Learn how we apply traditional problem solving to industry needs through our Classical Improvement System.

How do music and business fit together?  In more ways than I could have imagined when I started out as an entrepreneur and music educator. 

For me, the intersection between the two worlds spawned from my experience as a piano teacher combined with my role as a business owner / director of a music school.  The challenges and solutions between both aspects of my work were eerily similar, though I would be in completely different worlds between each side of my career – between art and industry.

Over time, though, this led to a new insight:  the same systems used to teach a complicated instrument like piano are the same systems that can work for business owners and their challenges – even if they have not studied music, or a classical art form.  All leaders and professionals can still benefit from classical learning and systems, so our firm made it a mission to create an accessible way to share our tools as classical educators with others.

So it was born, the Classical Improvement System

Based on these insights and the benefits we believe classical problem solving can lend to businesses and their leaders, we developed a system of improvement and analysis that can be applied to most goals and industry challenges to generate results:  The Classical Improvement System. 

At the core, reaching success in any process-driven area comes from similar foundations in logic and learning.   When we tap into our ability to analyze and create effective systems for our goals, we also learn how to harness “the power of progress” to continue the same pattern of success again and again.  Once realized, achieving objectives becomes purposeful and effective.    

The Classical Improvement System (CIS) is for both analysis and a plan of action in one system.  Just as a piano teacher plans a long-term course of study for a student to learn to play their instrument, the same foundation of problem-solving works for owners and business level problems.

HOW does the Classical Improvement System work?

We have a three-step approach for businesses and leaders:

Step 1:  Learn everything we can about the challenge and need from the client first.  We evaluate the big picture and isolate the critical components.

Step 2:  Analyze the client’s strengths and weaknesses in the areas of Technique, Theory, and Performance to reach their objective. 

• TECHNIQUE:  This is the way you, or your team performs operations, or individual tasks.  The technique area of our CIS is where soft skills are developed – where the know-how and memorization of processes are important.

• THEORY:  This is the why for you and your team.  Or, the overall goal for any task, or system.  This is where mission and core values come into play, as everything in your business should relate back to this statement and invigorate every “why?” with a clear answer.

• PERFORMANCE:  This is the actual work being done and real output.  For individual workers, performance involves their on-the-job results – regardless of if they fully understand objectives for their work, or have all the systems mastered. 

Step 3:  We then create strategies to improve each category.  We have defined improvement markers to quantify success in each of these three areas, as well as around the overall goal. 

Creating unity between these 3 areas and a holistic understanding of how they work together solves business challenges, as well as objectives completely outside of industry (like learning to play piano).

This synergy gives leaders the ideas and momentum needed to create lasting success.

The Classical Improvement System – In Practice

CIS is both a learning and problem-solving philosophy, as well as a living method that can be applied to challenges in almost any realm of personal achievement – especially business development and business processes.

With industry-related problems, there are a few recurring areas that come up for clients and where they would like to see better results:  operations – set up and refining processes, as well as scaling; sales; advertising; training and hiring; and developing a brand image, or company culture – including events and personal development for leaders.  Workflow and work / life balance are big ones too.

These areas all intertwine for owners and businesses, and challenges can span more than one – possibly even more than two – of these categories!  There are other categories not listed, but important as well.  No matter the specific topic, each part of your business has its own set of techniques, theories, and levels of performance associated that can lead to improvement when all 3 work together fluidly.

As we start with an organization and apply AstroCat’s CIS, the learning phase at the very beginning is critical to create measurable success in the end.  For that reason, we pay extra special attention to this step.  Our goal is to fully understand the companies we serve like we are part of the team.  We keep asking questions until we fully see our client’s vision.

From there, we will dissect the systems and processes that have been built around the challenge, or goal for the company and will get down to the very core actions that result in success. 

After learning the full scope of a challenge, we analyze.  We pick apart the systems involved and evaluate the strength of the soft skills and services needed to complete essential processes.  We ask questions that determine a leader or team’s level of understanding around the tasks they are completing every day, how they complete them, and uncovering if they see the same purpose in their daily work as our client intended.

Finally, we assess the strength of performance around specific tasks and how aptitude in the areas of technique and theory tie in.  Can improving one, or both areas help with performance?  Or are technical and theoretical skills strong, but issues with performance are still present?

We will uncover the source, and will implement practice-based solutions for each of the three classical areas for improvement.  Performance is the output and where clients see progress demonstrated, but developing a plan to address the technical and theoretical challenges that tie in leads to much greater success than any of the three areas alone.  The process of problem-solving creates a connection with the person implementing the solution, as well as the audience being served.

Ultimately, the art of ‘practice’ is the cornerstone of CIS, because it is how you bring together Theory and Technique to create action within your business.

Studying and practicing performance will always be an important step, and it requires maintenance for you and your team.   

In Summary

AstroCat Consulting applies our Classical Improvement System to business challenges across all clients and leaders as a central philosophy to problem-solving and systematically reaching goals.  It is universal and can be applied to challenges outside of business too.  Any process related, or goal-driven task can be merged with this approach to yield results.

To learn more, download the full CIS White Paper, and Contact Us if we can help your business succeed!

Copyright 2026 AstroCat Consulting. All Rights Reserved.