The operating model mirage: why organisations think they’ve transformed when they haven’t
We’re done!
By the time the steering committee wrapped, everyone looked strangely satisfied. The slides were crisp. The RAG statues were “mostly green.” The operating model was “live.” The transformation was “on track.”
But outside the room, nothing had actually changed.
Teams were still escalating the same decisions. Leaders were still bypassing the new governance. Delivery was still stalling. And the people doing the real work were quietly asking each other the same question: “What exactly changed?”
This is the operating model mirage. The moment an organisation thinks it has transformed because the artefacts say so, even though in reality the behaviour of its people says it hasn’t.
It’s more common than anyone cares to admit.
The mirage: when design is mistaken for delivery
Most organisations confuse operating model design with operating model transformation. These are two distinctly different things:
Design is intellectual. Transformation is behavioural,
Design is a blueprint. Transformation is a lived experience, and
Design is a promise. Transformation is a practice.
Commonly inside large organisations, the moment the model is “launched,” leaders behave as if the hard work is done. That’s because this is the moment where:
The consultants have left,
The artefacts have been published,
The communications have gone out, and
The steering committee has given the okay to close out the transformation program and move things to business as usual.
Everyone thinks the model is in place; except it isn’t.
What’s in place is a diagram, not a transformation.
The mirage forms because organisations mistake clarity of documentation for clarity of behaviour.
And a change in behaviour is the only thing that actually transforms an organisation.
Why the mirage happens (even in mature organisations)
The mirage isn’t caused by incompetence. It’s caused by human nature, executive dynamics, and organisational psychology. Here are the real drivers that no one says out loud.
Leaders overestimate how obedient and compliant people will be
Most executives assume that if the model is explained once, clearly, then people will automatically adopt it.
Unfortunately humans don’t adopt clarity. Humans adopt confidence, safety, and habit.
If the new model threatens any of those, people revert to the old one - quietly, consistently, and quickly.
The organisation is still wired for the old model
Operating models don’t fail because the new one is wrong. They fail because the old one is still alive:
The old incentives,
The old relationships,
The old power dynamics,
The old escalation paths, and
The old decision rights.
These constitute the real operating model - not what’s on the slide deck.
Executives behave inconsistently
This is the part that no one wants to admit.
A single executive bypassing the new governance structures “just this once” will collapse the model faster than any delivery issue that comes up.
People don’t follow frameworks. They follow the behaviour of people with power and respect.
If leaders behave inconsistently, the model becomes optional.
The capability uplift never happened
Operating models often assume capability that doesn’t exist yet. They assume:
Product leaders can prioritise ruthlessly,
Transformation leaders can navigate politics effortlessly,
Delivery leaders who can manage and move everyone at pace, and
Executives who can make the right decisions at the right altitude.
But most organisations launch the new operating model before they build the new capability it depends on.
This is like asking a driver who’s always driven petrol cars with automatic transmissions to jump into an electric vehicle with one pedal driving and expecting them to immediately know what to do without teaching them how to do it and giving them an adjustment period to get used to the car.
The emotional load is underestimated
Transformation is emotional:
It threatens identity,
It threatens confidence,
It threatens status, and
It threatens safety.
When people feel threatened, they don’t adopt the new model. They protect themselves and they do it quietly.
The mirage is dangerous because it feels like progress
The operating model mirage is seductive:
It creates the illusion of momentum,
It creates the illusion of alignment,
It create the illusion of delivery, and
It creates the illusion of leadership.
But underneath, the organisation is losing its way because:
The integrity of the model is degrading,
The behaviours are reverting,
The decisions are slowing,
The politics are intensifying,
The teams are confused,
The leaders are frustrated, and
The transformation is stalling.
And no one wants to say it out loud because saying it out loud feels like failure.
How to tell if you’re in the mirage
Here are the signs, the ones senior product and transformation leaders will recognise instantly.
Teams are still asking for permission instead of making decisions
This means psychological safety hasn’t been established. Just because you tell someone they can make decisions doesn’t mean they believe it.
Leaders are running parallel governance processes
You’re running multiple models in parallel “just in case something slips between the cracks” or you have just added the processes from the new model on top of the ones from the old model. This places stress on people who are already too busy, making their job almost impossible to contain during standard working hours.
Delivery pace hasn’t changed
If the model doesn’t make it more efficient to get things done, it’s not a transformation.
People are still saying “I’m not sure who owns this”
This is a gap in decision rights, ownership, or both. If the new model hasn’t clarified or changed who decides what, the model isn’t live.
The same problems keep resurfacing
This means the new model hasn’t change behaviours or it hasn’t been designed well enough to remove the problems it was meant to solve for.
The real work begins after the launch
The launch is not the transformation, it’s the starting line. The real work is:
Shifting behaviours,
Building capability,
Rewiring decision pathways,
Aligning executives,
Navigating politics,
Stabilising delivery,
Reinforcing new habits,
Creating psychological safety, and
Coaching leaders through identity shifts.
This is the work that most organisations underestimate. This is the work that almost never makes it into the transformation budget or is the first to get cut when there is a risk of overrun. This is the invisible work that most leaders who “get it” fight hard for but are often overruled on.
Why leaders struggle to navigate the mirage
Because they’re caught between:
The pressure to deliver,
The politics of alignment,
The expectations of the executive team,
The change fatigue of the organisation,
The ambiguity of the new model,
The emotional load of leading change,
The fear of being seen as the blocker, and
The reality that the model isn’t landing.
They know something is off. They feel the drift. They see the behaviours. They sense the misalignment. They carry the weight of this knowledge on their shoulders.
Yet they don’t have a safe place to say: “This isn’t working the way we think it is. We need to acknowledge we’re not seeing the returns on the millions of dollars we’ve spent designing this new operating model and we need to do something about it.”
Nor do they have a partner who can help them think through and navigate the complexity.
Shattering the illusion: what leaders actually need
Not another framework. Not another workshop. Not another deck. Not another change and communications plan. They need:
A strategic partner,
A confidential sounding board,
Someone who understands human systems,
Someone who can see the political system,
Someone who can help them navigate the behavioural system, and
Someone who can help them lead with clarity and confidence at pace.
This is the real work of transformational leadership and it’s the work most leaders don’t have support for.
You don’t have to navigate this alone
If you want a strategic partner who can help you close the gap between operating model design and real-world delivery, reach out.
This is the work I do with senior product and transformation leaders who lead complex transformations.