Case study

Translated growth strategy to target operating model and implementation plan

A large defence contractor, providing complex services to commercial and public sector customers across marine, aviation and land portfolios, had doubled in size over 3 years through diversification of services, new market entries and new contracts. The ambition was for prolonged, targeted growth through market opportunities and emerging customer demand acquisition. In a tight labour market, it was critical that the organisation could mobilise their capability and capacity to deliver on new and varied contracts.

Big changes, big challenges and big questions to answer

The leadership team recognised that they needed to reset strategy, provide clarity on how things needed to operate to deliver to clients successfully, and honour the promise of their unique value proposition. The executive team needed to agree:

  • What are the key things we need to manage as a business, so we deliver value to our customers now and in the future?

  • What are the most important enterprise capabilities and enablers to put in place now and in the future, and how will we do that?

So what did we do to answer those questions?

Following the refresh of the organisational strategy, Rachel led ran a three-month program of executive engagement to determine the new operating model and aligned organisation structure. The high-level future operating model (a visual representation with comprehensive supporting material) included:

  • Principles that underpinned the operating model

  • End to end operating model showing key functions and activities of the organisation

  • Required people capabilities

  • Processes and systems underpinning each function

  • Linked with organisation structure and functions

The steps to determine the new operating model included:

  • Worked with the executive to develop the value chain underpinning the core business and identify key capabilities required for the enterprise to govern activities and deliver quality services to customers

  • Assessed operating model maturity through a survey of all leaders and managers, evaluating over 20 capabilities and delivering rich information on current state and required improvements

  • Defined the desired target state for critical capabilities

  • Costed the priority projects that would bridge the gap.

In parallel, Rachel and the team worked with the CEO and a small advisory group to design the organisation structure, regularly engaging with the executive team (individually and collectively) to gain input, test progressive results and gain feedback.

Rachel mentored the transformation team to develop the organisational design for the next level and developed a tailored methodology to support this methodology to be cascaded through each level.

The clear implementation plan featured prioritised initiatives for improvement and was supported by a detailed cost calculation tool allowing the client to compare implementation scenarios and associated costs.

Close collaboration with the CEO, rigorous design processes and frank and transparent engagement developed the CEO’s deep understanding and confidence in the process and rationale and a clear narrative to take to the board and staff. These outputs have stood the test of time, and four years later, the CEO talked with me about the relevance of the model, and the significant shifts in thinking (towards serving the enterprise, rather than one’s own area) that it enabled.