Practice 01
Business Strategy and Operating Model
We help organizations translate their strategic ambitions into clear business priorities, effective operating models, and actionable plans.
Who it's forChief executives, boards and HR leaders setting direction.
01 —Business challenges
Sound familiar?
- The strategy is clear, but no one can say what it means for the organisation.
- HR is busy with requests and has no agenda of its own.
- Decisions travel to the top because nobody knows who owns them.
- A transformation programme has started, but its people side has no plan.
02 —Approach
Six stages, the same every time
Every engagement moves through the stages of the Architecture Chain, so you always know where the work stands.
Diagnose
Find where the chain breaks, with evidence, before proposing anything.
Define
Agree the principles, scope and decisions the design must respect.
Architect
Design the structure, roles, measures or rewards, layer by layer.
Quantify
Cost the design and test it against budget and market data.
Govern
Set the policies, owners and decision rules that keep it working.
Implement & evolve
Roll it out with an owner, a first step and a date; then review and adjust.
03 —Scope
What the work covers
- Translate the business strategy into people priorities
- Design the operating model: capabilities, structure, governance and decision rights
- Shape the HR function: its service model, roles and partnership with the business
- Build a costed roadmap with owners and dates
04 —Deliverables
What you receive
People strategy on a page
The priorities, the reasons behind them and how progress will be measured.
Operating model blueprint
What sits where, who decides what, and how the parts work together.
Decision-rights matrix
Who proposes, who approves and who is informed, for the decisions that matter.
Implementation roadmap
Phased steps, each with an owner, a first step and a date.
05 —Outcomes
What changes afterwards
- Every people initiative traces back to a business priority.
- Leaders know which decisions are theirs.
- HR spends its time on the work that moves the strategy.
06 —Engagement models
How we can work together
Advisory
Regular sessions with your leadership or HR team to test decisions, review designs and unblock work you run yourselves.
Best when your team has the capacity and wants a second opinion.
Defined project
An agreed scope, deliverables and dates, from diagnosis to an approved design and a plan to implement it.
Best when the question is clear and a decision is due.
Embedded support
We work inside your team for a set period, alongside the people who will run the design after we leave.
Best during implementation, or when internal capacity is short.
For this practiceUsually a defined project, followed by advisory support while the roadmap is implemented.
08 —Book
Talk to us about Business Strategy and Operating Model
Tell us what is happening in your organisation. We will reply with a suggested first step.
- You describe the situation in a few lines.
- We meet for a first conversation.
- You receive a short proposal: scope, deliverables and dates.