Written words of any type are prepared at a point in time. Today, leaders are trying to understand how to lead their organisations into a future being reshaped by seemingly daily advances in technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the uncertainty, it is easy to lose focus on the big picture view of how organisations operate and change.

Maintaining an operating model that is fit for purpose to achieve your business objectives is among the most important topics on your leadership agenda. Your operating model is the only intermediary between business strategy and performance outcomes. If you’re seeking to improve performance through technology, any installation of substance will touch your complete operating model. How will you approach this design task in the organisation you lead?

This resource is also about organisational change. In today’s environment, we think it’s suitable to use the language of transformation in its intended definition – changes to the basic character of the organisation. AI is a powerful, disruptive and emotionally charged topic. So, too, is most significant change. It is one thing to design an operating model and specify some new technology that will be used within it. It is another to appreciate the difference between installation and realisation outcomes. Everyone knows significant change is difficult to stabilise into new ways of working.

Change is difficult because we have collectively never distinguished between change and human transition. Or, we have assigned the latter to change management specialists and given them an exceedingly difficult task, which is to drive commitment and ownership without the involvement that creates it. People must travel a path of psychological transition to adopt and commit to change. This is especially true when working with technology that carries a high emotional charge.

This resource is offered to help senior leaders see the whole, ask better questions and influence views about operating models and change process. In this guide, you will find a clear bias towards collaborative design. An operating model initiative that does not translate into changes to organisational behaviour creates very little benefit for leaders and their organisations. Involvement offers immense value during implementation. It pulls on the wisdom and know-how that exists in your organisation today. And it builds the engagement and commitment that every leader seeks.

If you’re seeking to improve performance through technology, any integration of that tech will touch your complete operating model.