Time for an operating model review?
Updated: 2 days ago
Want to review your operating model but unsure where to start? This staged framework sets out the core components of a clear and systematic assessment.
Clarify objectives
A comprehensive operating model review brings together strategy, people, processes, technology, governance and culture to form a single, coherent picture of how an organisation functions. Establishing a shared understanding of what is being examined (and why) creates the foundation for a structured assessment of current performance, future needs and the conditions required for effective change.
Analyse the strategic and operating environment
Assess the external and internal context shaping the organisation’s future requirements, including what the organisation must be capable of delivering over the next 3–5 years.
Focus areas:
Strategic priorities, mandate and required future capabilities
Policy, regulatory and market conditions
Customer or stakeholder expectations
Workforce, technology and societal trends.
Diagnose the current state
Assess the organisation’s current performance, maturity and pain points using evidence-based insights into strengths, weaknesses and systemic issues.
Focus areas:
Leadership, culture and collaboration
Delivery capability and performance
Workforce skills, capacity and role clarity
Enabling functions (finance, HR, digital, data)
Governance, decision rights and accountability.
Evaluate the operating model
Examine how the organisation is structured and how work flows across the system, identifying operating model elements that enable or constrain performance.
Focus areas:
Structure: Organisational design, roles and spans of control
Governance: Decision-making, prioritisation and accountability
Processes: Workflow efficiency, handoffs, duplication and bottlenecks
Technology and data: Systems, tools, infrastructure, automation and data use
People and capability: Skills, behaviours and workforce alignment
Performance: Metrics, incentives and outcomes.
Review processes and ways of working
Analyse how teams collaborate and deliver work to create a clear picture of how work is actually done, workflow maturity and where improvements are needed.
Focus areas:
Process mapping and pain‑point identification
Coordination, communication and escalation pathways
Inefficiencies, delays and opportunities for simplification
Collaboration patterns and bottlenecks
Governance and escalation pathways
Use of data, automation and digital tools
Alignment with customer or stakeholder needs.
Assess future workforce capability
Evaluate whether the organisation has the skills, capacity and culture required for future delivery, identifying gaps and workforce implications for future operating models.
Focus areas:
Workforce planning and future skills needs
Talent, role clarity, responsibilities and decision rights
Leadership capability and cultural enablers/barriers
Collaboration
Delivery.
Gain stakeholder, customer insights
Gather perspectives from internal and external stakeholders to validate findings, understand lived experiences, expectations, pain points and opportunities.
Inputs:
Interviews, workshops and surveys
Direct observation and shadowing
Synthesise insights and prioritise
Integrate insights across all review components to identify the most critical issues and opportunities, and provide next steps based on readiness and impact.
Deliverables:
Issue and opportunity themes
Prioritisation based on impact, urgency and feasibility
Interdependencies across processes, capabilities and operating model elements.
Outline recommendations and next steps
Develop actionable, sequenced recommendations that support organisational uplift.
Deliverables:
Operating-model redesign options
Process improvements and ways-of-working changes
Capability uplift areas
Technology and data investments
Workforce and cultural interventions
Sequencing and roadmap (short-, medium-, long-term).
Understand implementation considerations
Outline the conditions required for successful change and sustainable implementation.
Focus areas:
Change management approach
Leadership alignment
Resourcing and investment needs
Risks and mitigation strategies
Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
