Design how the organisation delivers.
A target operating model sets out how an organisation delivers value both internally and for its customers. It connects the work, decisions and responsibilities that make it happen.
Organisational Addiction brings a further question into that design: do the rewards and everyday behaviours support the service, or pull people away from it?
What is operating model design?
Operating model design is the work of deciding how an organisation delivers value both internally and for its customers: what happens, who owns it, how decisions are made, and which information, capabilities and measures support delivery.
The design should explain a real customer or service journey. It should let people resolve a difficult handover, recognise an exception and know who can decide what happens next.
- Current operating model
- How work happens now, including decisions, manual workarounds, responsibilities and structure, grounded in evidence.
- Target operating model
- The “To be” future state, modelled around delivering service and value, with future structures and measures.
- Blueprint
- How the business will reorganise around core processes and deliver measurable benefits.
Too much focus on strategy can leave IT and business processes without clear direction. MIT CISR’s research, Forget Strategy: Focus IT on Your Operating Model, argues that defining the operating model is the key to turning IT investment into business value. It sets out how core processes should be integrated and standardised. Our approach also examines the incentives and behaviours around delivery.
Our six step approach
Agree the scope around your situation. You can start with a service question, an existing programme or evidence you already hold.
- 01
Define the model that serves the customer
Identify the customers, the outcomes they need and the boundaries of the service. Agree which decisions this review must enable, who owns them.
- 02
Understand the current landscape
What are the current gain and pain points? Compare experience from leadership to the people doing the work. Record handovers, exceptions and constraints, and measure the gap to be addressed.
- 03
Examine rewards and behaviour
Ask what people are measured on, what wins approval and what happens when someone raises a problem. Use the nine Organisational Addiction markers where relevant. Treat a mismatch as something to investigate, not proof of its cause.
- 04
Design for value
Describe the target flow of work, decisions, responsibilities and supporting capabilities. Compare a focused repair with wider alternatives. Make dependencies, costs and tradeoffs visible before choosing desired outcomes.
- 05
Make it deliverable
Too many designs are unachievable. Develop a roadmap with clear transition states: early experimentation, new structures with old ways of working, new structures with new ways of working, through to a steady state operating model.
- 06
Measured improvements and outcomes
Track baseline measures and review what changed for customers as well as completion of work. Tie outcomes to observed results and revise the model when challenges arise.
A bespoke model built for you
Your organisation is unique and so is the operating model design. We ensure the outputs connect you to your customers, not follow an out of the box template.
A view of the future
A full picture of your service, its current constraints and the changes needed to transform. All underpinned by the optimal people, process, technology and data.
A blueprint
An overview of the current and target services, the main activities, responsibilities and supporting capabilities.
A goal based plan
Agreed changes translated into rapid experimentation, transition states and end goals. Each with accountable owners, resources and clear dependencies.
Outcomes evidence
Intended future state benefits and outcomes, with agreed measures tied to lead and lag KPIs. Actual progress is backed by evidence.
Why change
Do we need a full target operating model?
By starting with the problem or opportunity statement and its reach, we avoid overcomplication and strip back to changes that make a real impact.
Can this fit an existing transformation programme?
Yes. By examining a particular service, a new capability, or testing a design assumption, we can help you understand how the programme affects the operating model and how to maximise the benefit of the transformation.
Do we have to take the Organisational Addiction Test first?
No. The free Test can start a discussion about organisational behaviour. An operating model review can also start directly with a problem or opportunity and inform a design brief.
How long does the work take?
Design work typically takes 8 to 16 weeks depending on size and complexity. Implementation can take weeks to a year when accounting for the size of the ambition and the acceptable level of organisational disruption.
Is this a technology or business redesign?
Either may form part of it. The starting point is the service and the work needed to deliver it. From there, the level of new capability, technology, AI and process is considered to achieve the required benefits.
Does your organisation need to deliver differently?
Tell us about the opportunity or problem statement and your vision for how you would service your customers.
Optimise your operating model