Forget the org chart. Start with delivery.

Most operating model designs start in the wrong place. They begin with the organisation chart. Boxes, reporting lines, governance structures. It looks neat on paper but doesn’t tell you much about how value is delivered.

It’s best to start with delivery. With how value flows to customers. Once you understand that, the type of operating model you need becomes obvious. Only then should you shape the organisation, systems and governance around it.

When you look through this lens, three types of operating model show up again and again.

Groups

Groups are typically where you have a few different types of products and services that are similar, with each group using shared resources and teams.

You will usually have different customers for each group.

For example: A retailer might have a grouped model when they have a fashion business, a grocery business and a home business.

(Sometimes described as: divisional model, business unit model.)

Graphic visual in a blue box, with sets of white vertical lines arranged in three clusters, each cluster joined by a small dark horizontal bar.

Tracks

Tracks are typically when you have a number of different products or services that share common touch points and systems.

Your customer base will often overlap across the products and services.

For example: A health business might sell gym membership, tennis coaching, spa services, and have a restaurant.

(Comparable to: networked model, federated model.)

Graphic visual in a blue box, with white horizontal lines crossing through two dark circles, creating an interwoven effect like tracks or pathways.

Stages

If your business has a long customer journey, where customers interact with different products and services across different stages of their experience, you likely need a staged operating model.

You will typically have the same customer base across all products and services.

For example: A university provides different products and services to students throughout their time studying.

(Similar models: value chain, platform model, ecosystem model.)

Graphic visual in a blue box, with white horizontal lines staggered across the image, some longer and some shorter, suggesting steps or stages.

Of course, no organisation fits perfectly into just one of these types. There’s always some overlap, and most organisations are a mix, with one dominant model. The point isn’t to force a label, but to understand how to make value flow effectively and design around that.

Designing whether your organisation would deliver more value being organised in groups, tracks or stages is only the first step. The next challenge is knitting it together. How enabling functions support delivery, how end-to-end oversight keeps the whole flowing, and how cross-functional teams, governance, leadership and accountability make it real.

Too many operating models are designed as if delivery is an afterthought. Flip it round. Start with how value is delivered. Build from there. The model you end up with won’t just look tidy. It will work.

The most transformational step you can take is to make delivery the centre of your organisation. Not because it matters more than customers, but because it keeps everyone focused on what they are doing to serve customers. Everything else - leadership, shared services, central functions - should exist in service of delivery. And delivery must always be in service of customers.

Katherine Wastell