The five questions every CEO should ask about their operating model: who is accountable for what, where are decisions being escalated unnecessarily, is the model designed for today's business, where is energy being spent on internal friction, and does the leadership team share a common understanding of the strategy.
The operating model is the CEO's primary tool for translating strategy into execution. When it is not working, the CEO becomes the operating model — personally resolving accountability gaps, decision bottlenecks and capability shortfalls.
1. Are the right people accountable for the right outcomes?
The CEO should be able to name the single person accountable for each significant commercial outcome — and that person should be able to name the decisions they have genuine authority to make. If the answer is unclear, the accountability structure needs to be redesigned.
2. Where are decisions being escalated that should not be?
The CEO's calendar is the most accurate diagnostic tool for accountability gaps. If the CEO is regularly involved in decisions that should be made two or three levels below them, the operating model has a delegation problem.
3. Is the operating model designed for the business we are today, or the business we were three years ago?
Operating models are designed at a point in time and then persist long after the business has changed. The CEO should regularly assess whether the current operating model is designed for the business's current scale and strategy.
4. Where is the organisation spending energy on internal friction rather than external value creation?
Internal friction — the meetings that do not produce decisions, the processes that exist to manage the consequences of unclear accountability — is the most expensive cost in most organisations.
5. Does the leadership team share a common understanding of what we are trying to build?
Leadership misalignment is the most common root cause of operating model failure.
Contact Loop Consulting Group at [loopbc.com.au](https://www.loopbc.com.au) to discuss your operating model.
Loop Consulting Group works with Australian businesses scaling from $5M to $50M. If this question reflects a challenge you're facing, let's talk.