Target Operating Model Design
What the organisation is accountable for, who owns each part of it, and how many people that actually takes. We assess the structure you run today, design the future state around outcomes, and build a driver-based staffing model that shows where every role comes from.
Structure, Ownership and Size
Most operating model work stops at a new org chart. The questions leadership actually needs answered are harder: what are we accountable for, who decides what, where does work get handed over and dropped, and how many people does each outcome require.
We answer all three, in this order:
- Current state first, documented rather than assumed
- The outcomes the organisation exists to deliver, and the activities and ownership each one requires
- A staffing model built from workload drivers, so the headcount number can be defended line by line rather than negotiated
- Current roles, skills, layers and spans of control documented
- Where capacity actually goes, recurring against ad hoc, with duplication named
- The outcomes the organisation is accountable for, agreed top down
- Ownership, decision rights, escalation paths and handoffs mapped
- Capability and skill requirements per outcome
- A driver-based staffing model with every assumption shown
Assess, Design, Size
Assess the Organisation You Run Today
- Roles, skills and staffing levels documented
- Layers and spans of control measured
- Overlap and duplication named, not implied
Agree the Outcomes, Top Down
- Outcomes agreed with leadership, not functions
- Critical activities defined per outcome
- Skills and capabilities each one needs
Set Ownership and Decision Rights
- An owner named per outcome
- Decision rights and escalation paths mapped
- Handoffs between teams made explicit
Build the Staffing Model
- Workload drivers measured
- Capacity converted by role and function
- Target capacity allocated, gaps visible
Where the Headcount Number Comes From
A staffing number arrived at by benchmark or by negotiation will not survive its first challenge. We build the number from drivers you can count, with an effort assumption against each one, so any figure in the model can be traced back to a volume and a rate. Change the volume and the model moves with it.
Drivers are chosen for your organisation, not taken from a template. Assumptions are set with the people who do the work and recorded in an assumption register you keep, so the model can be re-run next year without us.
First and Second Line, Drawn Properly
In banks, insurers and other regulated businesses the hard part is the boundary between the lines of defence. Duplicated effort and coverage gaps usually sit in the same place, which is wherever the split was never written down.
First line
The business owns its risks and operates its controls. We establish which activities genuinely belong here, what capability that requires in the operating teams, and what capacity it consumes against everything else those teams are asked to do.
Second line
Oversight and challenge, not a second copy of the first line. We define what independent review means in practice, where it escalates, and how much of it the risk profile actually justifies.
The same method applies outside financial services wherever two teams share responsibility for one outcome, which in our experience is most shared-service, quality and compliance functions.
Fixed Scope. Known Price
- The functions in scope agreed
- Current layers and spans measured
- The design work sized, before you commit
- Current state assessed, duplication named
- Future-state model with ownership and decision rights
- A driver-based staffing model you can re-run
Delivered by one senior consultant working directly with your leadership. No pyramid, no analyst layer between you and the person doing the work.