Operating Models: Why Getting It Right Is Harder Than Designing It
By Zeljko Nikolic and Erin Keen
A simple structure isn’t always a simple solution
A few boxes here, some bold arrows there, and just like that, you’ve got yourself a basic operating model. Drawing one can feel satisfyingly neat. Roles, layers, swimlanes... it all looks sensible on a page.
But designing a structure is only the beginning. Making it work in practice, in your context, with your people is the hard part. And implementing it? That is where most attempts falter.
The myth of the one-size-fits-all model
Too often, organisations borrow blueprints from elsewhere. A Spotify-inspired squad model here. A line-of-business structure from the utilities sector there. But without fully grappling with whether it fits, the value quickly fades.
Copying someone else’s operating model is a bit like borrowing a friend’s prescription glasses. It might help in the short term, but it is not designed for your vision and you will probably end up with a headache.
An effective operating model is not just a template. It is the link between strategy and execution. It shapes the roles, routines and relationships that determine how work gets done. If those are not tailored to your direction, constraints and people, even the best-drawn model can end up being little more than a diagram.
Why context is everything
What works for a tech scale-up will not necessarily work for a 150-year-old public institution. Even within the same sector, different strategic goals, organisational history and workforce culture shape what ‘good’ looks like.
From our work across sectors including higher education, utilities, transport, health and government, we have seen that the most successful operating models are the ones that are intentionally tailored. They are built with a clear view of the problem they are solving and with an honest assessment of what it will take to make them work in practice, in that specific organisation.
The implementation gap: from diagram to delivery
Even a well-designed model can be lost in translation when implementation begins. One reason is that implementation is often treated as a final task rather than part of the design process.
We have seen this firsthand.
In one organisation, a new operating model was introduced to improve delivery and accountability. Structurally, it made sense. But teams struggled to step into their new roles. Not because they were resistant, but because they lacked the capabilities to operate in the new model. Without the right skills and support, clarity on paper did not translate into performance on the ground.
In another, the model required more cross-functional collaboration. But the relationships between business units were fragmented and low-trust. Leaders were nominally aligned but unable to shift how their teams worked together. As a result, initiatives that relied on coordination across silos stalled. The new model reinforced old habits instead of enabling new ones.
What we have learned is that the barriers are rarely about structure alone. Common traps include:
Assuming people can step into new roles without support
Structural clarity means little without the right capabilities to deliver.Underestimating the role of organisational trust
When relationships are strained, even well-designed models fail to take root.Treating leadership alignment as a tick-box
Unless leaders change how they work together, the rest of the organisation will not either.
The organisations that get it right treat operating model design and implementation as a single, iterative discipline.
What leaders can do
Design with your constraints and your strategy in mind
Ask what problem the model needs to solve. Do not focus on what structure is trending.Prioritise capability, not just clarity
Make sure teams are supported to step into new roles. Do not just tell them about them.Invest in relationships as much as systems
Trust, collaboration and shared accountability need to be built. They cannot be assumed.Create space for leaders to lead differently
Model new ways of working at the top. Make space for challenge, alignment and real coordination.Think in iterations, not end states
Test, learn and adapt. No model lands fully formed.
Designing an operating model is not the hard part. Making it work in your context, with your people, under real pressure is where the challenge lies. But done right, it is also where the value is found.