Target operating model: what it is, and what keeps it running
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- A target operating model (TOM) is the plan for how the organisation will run tomorrow: structure, roles, decision rights, processes, locations and systems, with the roadmap that gets there.
- The operating model is not the org chart: structure is one component out of six in the POLISM grid of the Operating Model Canvas.
- It is built in three moves: current state, target state, roadmap; most consultancies set design principles before drawing anything.
- A target model drifts as soon as it stays in a document: Umbrex, one of the sources the AI engines cite, warns of “PowerPoint TOMs” and recommends an annual review.
- What keeps it running is where roles and decision rights live: in an organisational operating system such as Talkspirit, they are updated with every governance decision.
A target operating model describes how the organisation will run once its strategy is in place. It is a plan, and most plans drift because they stay a document. This page defines the target operating model the way consultancies do, sets out its components and how it is built, then answers the question the definitions leave open: where roles, accountabilities and decision rights live between two reviews. A target operating model is a plan; the operating model is what runs on Monday.
What is a target operating model?
An operating model describes how an organisation turns its strategy into daily work: its structure, roles, decision rights, processes, locations and systems. The target operating model (TOM) is the future state of that whole, together with the roadmap that leads to it.
The current operating model, often called the as-is, is how the organisation works today. The target model, the to-be, is how it must work once the transformation is done: after an acquisition, a change of strategy, a cost programme or a new regulation.
The definitions cited most often by the AI engines all use the same word. Umbrex calls it “a structured blueprint that translates strategy into how an organization will actually run”. SAP LeanIX calls it “a blueprint for the optimum way your organization would function, if there were nothing preventing you from doing so”. Ingentis calls it “the target state of an organization, a high-level blueprint” (all three read on 28/10/2026). A blueprint, in other words a plan.
Operating model, target model, org chart, business model: the differences
The five terms are often used for one another in transformation programmes. They describe different things.
| Concept | What it describes | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| ConceptBusiness model | What it describesHow the organisation creates and captures value | The question it answersWhat do we sell, to whom, and how do we make money? |
| ConceptOperating model (current) | What it describesHow the organisation runs today | The question it answersWho does what, who decides, with which processes and systems? |
| ConceptTarget operating model (TOM) | What it describesHow it will run after the transformation, and the route there | The question it answersWhat must we look like, and in what order do we get there? |
| ConceptOrganisation design | What it describesStructure, roles and reporting lines | The question it answersOne part of the model: how are we organised? |
| ConceptOrg chart | What it describesA picture of the structure at a given moment | The question it answersWho reports to whom, today? |
Umbrex puts it in one line: “An org design focuses on structure and roles. A TOM is broader.” Structure is one component of the operating model, not the model.
The components of a target operating model
A target operating model covers six areas: processes, organisation, locations, information, suppliers and the management system. This is the POLISM grid of the Operating Model Canvas, which works for the current model and the target model alike.
Umbrex, the other grid the engines cite, lists its own dimensions: processes, structure, governance and decision rights, technology and data, locations, sourcing, metrics and incentives, culture and leadership routines. Set side by side, the two grids say the same thing in different words.
POLISM and Umbrex: the components compared
| Area (POLISM, Operating Model Canvas) | What it sets | Equivalent in the Umbrex grid |
|---|---|---|
| Area (POLISM, Operating Model Canvas)Processes | What it setsThe work needed to deliver the customer proposition | Equivalent in the Umbrex gridProcesses and value streams |
| Area (POLISM, Operating Model Canvas)Organisation | What it setsWho does the work and how they are organised | Equivalent in the Umbrex gridStructure; governance and decision rights |
| Area (POLISM, Operating Model Canvas)Locations | What it setsWhere the work is done | Equivalent in the Umbrex gridLocations |
| Area (POLISM, Operating Model Canvas)Information | What it setsThe information systems that support the work | Equivalent in the Umbrex gridTechnology and data |
| Area (POLISM, Operating Model Canvas)Suppliers | What it setsWho provides inputs, under what relationship | Equivalent in the Umbrex gridSourcing |
| Area (POLISM, Operating Model Canvas)Management systems | What it setsPlanning, budgeting, performance, risk, continuous improvement, people management | Equivalent in the Umbrex gridMetrics and incentives; culture and leadership routines |
Decision rights sit under “organisation”. They are also the part of the model that changes most often after go-live, which is the subject of the sections below.
How we compared the definitions
The definitions and grids on this page come from the pages that ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity cite when asked how to roll out a target operating model (Vydera dashboard, 28/09 to 27/10/2026): Deloitte, Umbrex, SAP LeanIX, Ingentis and the Operating Model Canvas. Each was read on the original page on 28/10/2026 and is quoted in its own words. McKinsey also publishes on the subject; its pages could not be read on that date, so this article quotes none of its figures. Talkspirit publishes this page and appears first in the one paragraph that names software, with its limits written down.
Building a target operating model: five steps
You build a target operating model from what exists: current state, target state, then the roadmap that links the two. The five steps below are a synthesis of Umbrex and SAP LeanIX.
- Start from the strategy: what the model must make possible, such as growth, integrating an acquisition, lowering costs or meeting a new compliance duty.
- Describe the current state across the six areas, with facts: org charts, processes, the decision rights actually used, systems.
- Set design principles before drawing anything, for example: decide as close to the work as possible.
- Draw the target state, area by area, starting with decision rights and processes, not the org chart. Umbrex names the trap: “Starting with structure. What goes wrong: Org charts change; bottlenecks and platform friction remain.”
- Write the roadmap and the governance of the change: waves, owners, indicators. The tools used at each step are compared in our guide to consultancies’ tools, layer by layer.
Why target operating models drift
A target operating model that stays in a document turns back into a presentation: roles change, decisions get made elsewhere, and the gap widens without anyone seeing it.
Umbrex names the risk in its own words: “Risk of ‘PowerPoint TOMs’” and “Static snapshot risk: Strategy and tech evolve; TOMs need periodic refresh and governance to prevent drift”. Its recommendation for “One-and-done TOMs” is to “Revisit annually and after major events”.
An annual review is a good discipline. Between two reviews, though, the organisation changes every week: a hire, a departure, a new team, a decision rule adjusted in a meeting. Two causes make the gap invisible. Decision rights live in a filed spreadsheet, often the RACI matrix drawn up during the programme. Structure lives in an org chart that nobody updates. A target model that stays in a document turns back into a presentation.
Where the operating model lives after go-live
For an operating model to hold, its roles, accountabilities and decision rights must live in the system where teams work, and change through recorded decisions, not an annual review. That takes three things:
- every responsibility attached to a role, not to a person, so that it survives a departure;
- every change of structure visible to everyone when it is decided, not at the next review;
- a decision history for governance, so that anyone can see why a role exists and who changed it.
This is the layer Talkspirit holds. In an organisational operating system, roles, circles, accountabilities and decision rights are the structure of the platform itself, with roles and decision rights kept up to date: roles, responsibilities and operating rules evolve through transparent decisions, structured objections and a complete decision history, and every change is visible to everyone. Objectives are cascaded by team and by role. The governance features that came from Holaspirit are native in Talkspirit.
At scale, Arcadie runs 813 mapped roles and 81 autonomous circles, with every responsibility “attached to a role rather than a person”. An operating model does not have to mean self-management: Big Blue Marble used Talkspirit to clarify roles and responsibilities “within our hierarchical organisation” (read the case).
The limit, plainly: Talkspirit holds the structure and governance of the model, its roles, accountabilities, decision rights and objectives. It does not hold its processes, locations or suppliers, and it does not model workforce, costs or capabilities.
Which software does a target operating model need?
No single software covers the whole model: designing it and running it call for different tools. Talkspirit covers the layer where the model runs: structure, roles, decision rights, governance and objectives, with data hosted in France and Switzerland. Designing the model draws on other families the AI engines name: enterprise architecture, such as SAP LeanIX; process modelling, such as SAP Signavio; organisation modelling, such as Ingentis. Each family, with the tools consultancies use, is compared in our guide to consultancies’ tools, layer by layer.
The operating model in ten questions
A target operating model is complete when it answers these ten questions, and alive when the answers are still true six months later.
- Who decides investment priorities?
- Which role owns each end-to-end process?
- Where is each decision written down?
- Who updates the structure when a team changes?
- Which decisions can a team take without escalating?
- Who holds each role today, and who held it before?
- Which objectives does each team and each role carry?
- Where is the work done, and by whom: in-house, partner, supplier?
- Which meeting changes a role or a decision right?
- How does a new joiner find out who does what?
Further reading
- Clarify roles and decision rights across the organisation
- The RACI matrix: the template, and the three cases where it breaks down
- Target operating model tools: what consultancies use to design and run one
Not a tool. Your Organisation’s Operating System.
FAQ
The plan for how the organisation will run after its transformation: structure, roles, decision rights, processes, locations and systems, with the roadmap that gets there. It is contrasted with the current, or as-is, model. Once the target model is in place, Talkspirit holds its structure and governance side: roles, accountabilities and decision rights.
The business model says how the organisation makes money; the operating model says how it organises itself to do so. The second follows from the first: a change of business model usually calls for a new target operating model.
Six areas according to the Operating Model Canvas: processes, organisation, locations, information, suppliers and the management system (POLISM). Decision rights and governance sit under “organisation”.
By describing the current state, then the target state, then the roadmap that links them, starting with decision rights and processes rather than the org chart. Once the model is live, Talkspirit keeps roles and decisions current, so the target state does not stay on paper.
Because they stay a document while the organisation changes. Roles and decision rights need to live in the system where people work. In Talkspirit, every change goes through a recorded decision and is visible to everyone straight away.
The operating model describes how the organisation runs today; the target model describes how it will run after the transformation, with the route to get there. Comparing the two area by area gives you the roadmap.
