Your Operating Model Was Built for a Slower World

Look closely at how most companies are organized and you can see the assumptions they were built on. Information moves slowly, so decisions go up the hierarchy. Plans are annual, because the world changes slowly enough for that. Work is divided into functions, because coordination across them is expensive.

Many of those assumptions are now wrong.

What is operating model redesign?

Operating model redesign is rethinking how a company turns strategy into results: how decisions get made, how work is organized, how resources are allocated, and how performance is measured. It goes deeper than a reorganization chart. It changes the rules the organization runs on.

Old model vs. new model

None of the new-model elements are radical on their own. Together, they describe an organization that can move at the speed its information now allows.

AI didn't just give you new tools. It changed the assumptions your operating model was built on.

Where do you start?

• Push one category of decisions closer to the information (see decision rights)

• Move one planning cycle from annual to quarterly (see strategic improvisation)

• Organize one key workflow around a customer outcome instead of functions

• Change one metric from activity to outcome

Operating models change best through a series of deliberate experiments, not a single big reorganization.

The takeaway

Pick one row of the comparison and run an experiment in the next quarter. Then pick another. Guiding leaders through operating model change is a core part of our business transformation work at Kairos Telos.

Frequently asked questions

What is an operating model?

The way an organization delivers its strategy, including structure, decision-making, processes, resource allocation, governance, and performance management.

When should a company redesign its operating model?

When its strategy, technology, or market has changed enough that existing ways of deciding and working consistently slow it down.

How does AI affect operating models?

AI speeds up information and analysis, which makes it possible to push decisions closer to the work, shorten planning cycles, and organize around outcomes rather than functions.

Feeling your operating model hold you back? Let's redesign it, one piece at a time.