Most operating models were designed for a market that no longer exists.

Only 26% of executives say the transformation they know best succeeded and sustained its gains, according to a McKinsey Global Survey of 1,946 executives. A later survey found organisations that put four basic elements in place were more than twice as likely to outperform peers: 39% versus 16%.

Most operating models were designed for a cost base, a demand pattern and a regulatory regime that have since moved. The symptoms are familiar: capacity in the wrong place, process steps nobody can justify, and a cost line that rises faster than volume.

Our approach is to find the three decisions that reset the model, not the thirty that tidy it. We start from how the work actually runs, size each decision in cost and capacity, and set an owner and a date for each. The design is complete when the P&L effect can be traced to a named change.