In our previous post, we explored how strategy provides the essential “why” behind your digital transformation. Now let’s turn to the second critical component of your governance blueprint: the Operating Model—where vision meets reality and aspirations meet operations.
The Bridge Between Strategy and Execution
If strategy is the architectural vision for your transformation, the operating model is the structural engineering that makes it buildable. It’s where high-level plans become concrete frameworks for action.
The operating model translates your “why” into a practical “how”—creating the essential bridge between your strategic vision and day-to-day execution.
Figure 1: Strategy-to-Execution Bridge
What Questions Does Your Operating Model Resolve?
Your operating model answers a seemingly simple question that contains worlds of complexity:
How will your team actually accomplish its purpose?
This question forces you to move beyond abstractions and confront practical realities. It compels you to think about workflows, decision rights, communication channels, and resource allocation in concrete terms.
Why Operating Models Matter: Thinking From the End
Here’s a truth worth remembering: Your technology implementation is a means, not an end. The ultimate purpose is to successfully deploy and operationalize technology that creates lasting value.
We call this “thinking from the end”—imagining how your system will actually function in the daily life of your organization after the implementation team has packed up and gone home.
Consider a manufacturing company that perfectly implemented an advanced inventory management system. The technical deployment was flawless. Yet six months later, warehouse workers were still tracking inventory on clipboards and manually entering data once a week.
The reason? The implementation team never considered the practical realities of the warehouse environment—dirty hands, poor connectivity, and workflow patterns that made real-time system updates impractical.
Technology that sits unused is just expensive digital furniture.
Figure 2: Digital Vision vs. Operational Reality
Building an Effective Operating Model
To create an operating model that bridges vision and reality, focus on these key elements:
- Workflow Integration
How will your technology integrate with existing workflows? Where will it replace current processes, and where will it complement them? The most successful operating models map the entire journey of work—not just the digital touchpoints. - Decision Rights
Who makes which decisions about the technology during and after implementation? Clear decision rights prevent the paralysis that occurs when everyone (or no one) feels responsible for moving things forward. - Support Structures
What ongoing support will users need? The best operating models include clear paths for troubleshooting, feedback, continuous improvement, and adaptation as needs evolve. - Measurement Systems
How will you know if your technology is delivering value? Effective operating models include concrete metrics that track both adoption and outcomes—connecting system usage to strategic goals.
Figure 3: Four Pillars Framework
Cross-Functional Collaboration: The Hidden Challenge
Think of your transformation like constructing a complex building—except all the teams are from different trades, each trained in different construction methods.
Without a unified blueprint, handoffs become chaotic. The foundation crew races ahead with aggressive timelines while the electrical team slows progress to meet safety codes. A critical structural beam gets misplaced—not from lack of skill, but because no one coordinated where load-bearing elements should connect.
That’s where your operating model comes in.
It’s not just a project timeline—it’s the master blueprint that harmonizes competing priorities. It defines how information flows between trades, who makes which decisions, and what happens when technical specifications conflict.
Without this alignment, even the most innovative architectural design risks collapsing under the weight of well-intentioned but uncoordinated efforts. With it, your teams build like a synchronized crew—each completing their specialized work while contributing to a cohesive whole.
Figure 4: Construction Team Coordination
Integrating Your Operating Model into Governance
Like strategy, your operating model must be integrated throughout your governance structure:
Regular Testing
Create mechanisms to test your operating model assumptions against reality. This might include user shadowing, workflow simulations, or prototype testing with actual end-users.
Feedback Loops
Establish clear channels for operational feedback to flow back into governance decisions. The people doing the work often see practical challenges long before they become visible at the governance level.
Continuous Refinement
As implementation progresses, continuously refine your operating model based on what you learn. The most effective governance frameworks treat operating models as living documents that evolve through experience.
Figure 5: Continuous Improvement Cycle
Looking Ahead: The Next Blueprint Component
While your operating model translates strategy into action, it needs clearly defined roles to function effectively. In our next post, we’ll explore the third critical component of your governance blueprint: Core Functions and Responsibilities.
We’ll examine how to define the essential roles needed during implementation and after launch—ensuring your transformation maintains momentum long after the initial excitement fades.
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This article is the second in our “Blueprint for Digital Transformation” series—a journey through the architecture of change that builds organizations ready for the digital future.
How does your organization bridge the gap between strategic vision and operational reality? Have you experienced the “expensive digital furniture” phenomenon? Share your experiences in the comments below.