Why Diagnosis Matters Before Operating Model or Organisational Design Work
Ken Brophy
Before diving into the details of any Operating Model or Organisational Design project, it's critical to pause and ensure you’re starting in the right place. In our experience, many leaders and teams have an initial sense of the problem—but they may be tackling symptoms rather than root causes, or addressing short-term issues in ways that create unintended long-term consequences.
Here are three considerations to help ensure diagnosis is robust, value-adding, and expedient:
1. Start with the right Diagnosis, not just the familiar prescription
No matter how effective a treatment is, if it’s aimed at the wrong condition, it will fail—or worse, cause harm. The same principle applies to organisational change. Accurate diagnosis must come before intervention. Because organisational challenges are diverse, it's important to clarify the type of issue at hand before selecting an approach. A common pitfall is jumping to familiar tools and frameworks—whether it's Agile, restructuring, or new processes—without ensuring they fit the context. This "hammer looking for a nail" mindset can waste time and erode credibility. By aligning the right diagnosis with the right type of intervention, you create early momentum and avoid costly missteps.
2. Avoid the ‘Survey of One’—triangulate perspectives
Diagnosis is only as good as the data that informs it. Be mindful that all data sources—including your own assumptions—carry bias. The best safeguard is to gather insights from multiple perspectives and levels, taking a systems view of the organisation. For example, if reviewing the Marketing function, don’t limit input to leaders. Seek feedback from the frontline (e.g., open-ended survey responses) and from adjacent teams like Operations and Sales, who interact with Marketing daily. Organisation design decisions have lasting impacts—ensure they are based on comprehensive, balanced insights.
3. Push back with data, not opinion
Leaders often want to move fast, particularly when facing pain points or urgent opportunities.However, investing time upfront in diagnosis—often days, not weeks—can prevent months of rework and disruption later. When leaders are attached to a specific solution, robust diagnosis can be a powerful way to challenge assumptions without confrontation. By surfacing critical themes through data, you help them rethink their approach and avoid rushing into poorly conceived changes. This ensures that any Operating Model or Organisational Design effort is grounded, thoughtful, and accelerates real value creation, rather than triggering painful, ineffective change processes.
In summary, effective diagnosis is both an art and a discipline. Done well, it helps leaders focus on the right issues, build alignment, and dramatically increase the likelihood that their organisational design efforts will deliver the intended outcomes.
