THE CHALLENGE

We partnered with a specialised team within a major utility following the implementation of a new Target Operating Model.

The team was responsible for a broad set of interconnected functions, including strategy and planning, systems planning, asset management, portfolio investment, and infrastructure delivery. While the new operating model had been introduced, the team was still working through what it meant in practice.

Structurally, the organisation had changed. Culturally and behaviourally, the shift was still emerging.

The team had historically operated through functional silos, with each area focused on its own priorities, accountabilities, and ways of working. To give effect to the new model, the team needed to take a more enterprise-focused view of its contribution and better understand how work flowed across functions.

This required more than a process change. It required a shift in mindset, relationships, and everyday behaviours. Team members needed to see how their work connected, where collaboration mattered most, and how different functions could work together in service of shared organisational outcomes.

The challenge was to help the team move from operating as separate functional areas to thinking and working more as one connected system.

THE SOLUTION

We designed and facilitated a human-centred change process that helped the team explore what needed to change, why it mattered, and what new patterns of behaviour were needed to support the Target Operating Model.

The work began with discovery. We conducted one-on-one conversations with team members to understand their perspectives on the change, the challenges they were experiencing, and the behaviours they believed would be needed for the new model to work.

These insights informed the design of a collaborative workshop, where participants explored the nature and scope of the change required. The workshop focused on the shift from functional thinking to enterprise thinking, helping team members consider how their individual, team, and functional behaviours contributed to the broader system.

Rather than treating the Target Operating Model as a static design, the process helped the team make sense of what it meant for everyday work. Participants explored how decisions were made, how functions interacted, where collaboration was needed, and what behaviours would support more connected ways of working.

Following the workshop, we co-designed and facilitated a series of team sprints. These sessions gave the team structured opportunities to continue working on the behaviours and practices needed to support the desired future state. The sprint approach allowed the work to evolve over time, responding to emerging needs, feedback, and the realities of implementation.

Throughout the project, we worked closely with the team’s Executive Director to maintain alignment with the purpose of the work, support leadership ownership, and ensure the process remained focused on practical outcomes.

THE RESULTS

The project helped the team build a stronger foundation for working across functional boundaries.

Through the discovery, workshop, and sprint process, team members developed a clearer understanding of the behavioural shifts needed to support the Target Operating Model. The work helped make the new model more tangible by connecting structural change to everyday decisions, interactions, and ways of working.

The process also created opportunities for team members to step back from their functional roles and consider their collective contribution to the broader organisation. This helped support a more enterprise-focused view of the team’s work and the interdependencies between functions.

By involving team members throughout the process, the engagement helped build shared ownership of the changes needed. The sprint sessions provided a practical mechanism for continuing the conversation, testing new behaviours, and reinforcing more connected ways of working over time.

We also worked with leaders to develop tools and techniques that could support the change beyond the end of our engagement. This gave the team practical ways to continue embedding the Target Operating Model and maintain focus on the behaviours needed to support it.

By creating these foundations, the team was better prepared to work across silos, strengthen collaboration, and contribute to the organisation’s broader objectives as one more connected system.