Strategy & operating models
Set priorities the organization can fund, and structure roles, decision rights, and cadence to deliver them.
When this is the work
Signs the strategy has no operating model behind it.
A sound strategy still stalls when the organization is not set up to deliver it. If several of these apply, the issue is structure and ownership, not effort.
- Every initiative is a priority.Budget and people are spread across more work than the organization can finish.
- The strategy is agreed, but nobody owns the pieces.Objectives have no accountable owner, so progress depends on goodwill.
- The structure reflects last year's business.Roles and reporting lines no longer match where the work or the revenue is.
- Decisions wait for the same few people.Authority is unclear, so routine choices escalate and slow everything behind them.
- Planning happens once a year, then drifts.No cadence tests the plan against results and adjusts it.
- Growth, a merger, or new leadership has changed the brief.The operating model needs to be redesigned, not patched.
What it includes
What the work can include.
Every engagement is scoped in writing. Most start with priorities and decision rights, then extend to structure and cadence.
Strategic priorities and trade-offs
A ranked set of priorities with the trade-offs made explicit, sized to the budget and capacity available.
Operating model design
How the organization is structured to deliver the strategy: functions, roles, interfaces, and where work is done.
Roles and decision rights
Who decides, who is consulted, and who is accountable, written down for the decisions that matter most.
Objectives and measures
Objectives translated into a small set of measures, each with an owner, a source, and a target.
Planning and review cadence
An annual, quarterly, and monthly rhythm that connects planning, budget, and performance review.
Implementation roadmap
A sequenced plan with owners and dependencies, and the first phase defined.
- Measured by
- Share of budget and people on top priorities
- Decision turnaround
- Progress against plan
- You keep
- Ranked priorities
- Operating model and decision rights
- Planning and review cycle in use
How it runs
Stages and outputs.
Assess
Review the strategy, structure, budget, and how decisions are made today.
OutputCurrent-state assessment
Decide
Work with leadership to rank priorities and agree the trade-offs.
OutputRanked priorities with owners
Design
Design the operating model, roles, decision rights, and cadence with the people who will run them.
OutputOperating model and decision rights
Put in use
Run the first planning and review cycles with the team, then hand over.
OutputA cadence in use and a roadmap
Related capabilities
Define who decides, what is measured, and how progress and risk reach leadership.
→Related capabilityProgram & portfolio managementGive complex programs a plan, accountable owners, and reporting leadership can rely on.
→Related capabilityChange managementPlan communication, training, and adoption alongside delivery, then measure whether the change is in use.
→Questions
Strategy and operating model questions.
Do you write the strategy for us?
We work with leadership to sharpen and rank it. The strategy is yours. Our role is to make the choices explicit and build the operating model that delivers them.
How is this different from the Operating Diagnostic?
The diagnostic is a three-week, fixed-fee assessment of what is slowing the work down. Strategy and operating model work goes further: it sets the priorities, structure, and cadence, and carries them into use. Many clients start with the diagnostic.
Do you work with boards as well as executives?
Yes. Board and committee priorities, reporting, and decision calendars are often part of the scope.
Does operating model design mean a reorganization?
Not necessarily. Many operating model changes concern decision rights, cadence, and accountability, with limited structural change. Where structure does need to change, it is planned with leadership and sequenced.
Not sure this is the right starting point?
The Operating Diagnostic is a three-week, fixed-fee look at how the work actually runs. It tells you whether the fix is a process, a decision, a system, or all three, and gives you an action plan either way.