Operating Model Design

When to use

Use whenever a strategy has changed but the organization hasn't (a classic cause of "we have a great strategy but can't execute it"), when decisions are slow or get re-litigated because no one clearly owns them, or when someone asks for a reorg without first defining what the new structure needs to make possible.

What it does

Designs the operating model as a coherent system — structure, decision rights, core processes, and capabilities — explicitly derived from the strategy, using McKinsey's 7S coherence check (are structure, systems, staff, skills, style, shared values, and strategy actually aligned) and RAPID/DACI to make decision rights explicit rather than assumed.

Method

1. Start from the strategy, not the org chart. List the 3-5 things the organization must be able to do exceptionally well to execute the strategy (e.g., "ship product weekly," "respond to enterprise RFPs in under 48 hours") — the operating model exists to make these possible.
2. Audit current decision rights with RAPID or DACI (Recommend/Agree/Perform/Input/Decide, or Driver/Approver/Contributor/Informed) for the 5-10 decisions that most affect execution speed. Most "slow decision-making" problems are actually unclear decision-rights problems, not org-structure problems — fix this before redrawing boxes.
3. Design structure to fit the required capabilities, choosing explicitly between functional, product/business-unit, matrix, or hybrid — and state why the chosen structure best supports the capabilities named in step 1, not just "this is how peer companies are organized."
4. Map the core processes that cut across the new structure (how a decision actually moves from idea to shipped, how budget actually gets allocated) — a structure without process redesign just moves the same bottlenecks to new boxes.
5. Run the 7S coherence check: does the new structure align with systems (what gets measured/rewarded), staff (do we have the right people/roles), skills (capability gaps to close), style (how leaders actually behave), and shared values? A structurally elegant design that conflicts with incentive systems will quietly fail.
6. Identify the capability gaps the new model requires and aren't yet in place — hiring, reskilling, or new systems — and sequence closing them before or alongside the structural change, not after.
7. Pilot before full rollout where possible: one business unit or function first, with a defined evaluation window, rather than a simultaneous company-wide change.