An operating-model redesign changes how responsibilities, processes and decisions fit together. The best consultant for this work must be able to connect strategy to daily operations and expose the consequences of alternative designs. A new organisation chart alone is not an operating model, and a successful selection should test more than the bidder's ability to produce one.
An operating-model redesign changes how responsibilities, processes and decisions fit together. The best consultant for this work must be able to connect strategy to daily operations and expose the consequences of alternative designs. A new organisation chart alone is not an operating model, and a successful selection should test more than the bidder's ability to produce one.
Identify the decisions the organisation needs to make: where work sits, who owns outcomes, which activities are shared and how exceptions are resolved. Describe the problems with the current arrangement using examples rather than broad claims about silos or inefficiency.
Ask bidders to explain how they will examine processes, roles, information and governance together. A proposal that begins and ends with reporting lines may miss the handoffs that create the actual operational problem. Require a clear link between diagnosis and design choices.
Use a realistic choice, such as centralising a support function while preserving local responsiveness. Ask how the consultant would compare alternatives and involve affected managers. The answer should make trade-offs visible rather than promise that one model will maximise every desirable outcome.
For example, central approval may improve consistency while delaying urgent local decisions. A useful design specifies decision thresholds, escalation routes and information needs. It does not merely move the approval box to a different department.
Ask what outputs will make the model usable: role accountabilities, process interfaces, governance routines, transition steps and measures. Clarify whether job design, workforce consultation, systems changes and implementation management are included or require separate specialist support.
Request references from assignments where the proposed team supported adoption, not only presentation of the target model. Ask what changed after implementation and which assumptions proved wrong. The buyer needs evidence that the consultant can learn from operational reality.
The design should have buyer owners capable of maintaining it after the consultant leaves. Evaluate workshop methods, documentation and the proposed handover. Ask how unresolved choices will be escalated to the sponsor and recorded. The strongest fit is a consultant who helps the organisation make defensible choices and implement a coherent model, rather than delivering an impressive diagram whose responsibilities remain unclear to the people expected to use it.
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