Your Operating Model Is Working Against You

A COO told me recently that her leadership team spends more time in alignment meetings than making decisions.

She asked: "Is this normal now?"

My answer: It's normal. But it's not inevitable.

In my last article, I talked about Performance Mode versus Preservation Mode. Under sustained pressure, the brain defaults to familiar patterns instead of strategic thinking. I promised I'd get into what the redesign looks like.

Here's the thing. Most operating models were designed for a world where change happened one initiative at a time. They reward responsiveness (read: constant availability), default to committee-based decisions, and treat recovery as something that happens on vacation.

That design worked when the pace allowed it. It doesn't anymore.

What does it look like when your operating model is the problem?

Under sustained pressure, these design choices push entire organizations into Preservation Mode, regardless of how talented your people are. It's not a people problem. It's an environment problem.

The prefrontal cortex, where strategic thinking lives, needs space to stay engaged. Too much information. Too many forums. Every decision compressed into a standing meeting. When that's the environment, the biology takes over. People default. Not because they're lazy or disengaged, but because the system is designed for survival, not performance.

From our experience, three operating model levers matter most.

Is your decision framework creating drag?

Most organizations have too many decision layers. Decisions that should take a day take a week. Escalation criteria aren't explicit. Standing meetings have become rituals rather than decision points. And the default is "bring it to the group" instead of empowering the person closest to the work.

I say "choose your hard." Redesign how decisions flow, or keep paying the cost of alignment meetings that produce updates instead of outcomes.

Are you designing for recovery, or just expecting endurance?

Back-to-back initiatives with no transition time between them. Most organizations treat constant output as a sign of commitment. It's not. It's a design flaw that depletes the cognitive resources leaders need most.

Recovery isn't weakness. It's what keeps Performance Mode online. This is not a wellness conversation. It's a capacity conversation. You wouldn't run your phone to 2% every day and wonder why it keeps shutting down. But that's what most organizations are doing with their leadership capacity.

Are your communication rhythms helping or hurting?

The instinct under pressure is "everyone needs to know everything." That sounds like good leadership. Biologically, it's a disaster. Every additional information stream adds cognitive load. Every "FYI" email and cross-functional update competes with the one thing that needs attention right now.

The shift is from "broadcast everything" to "communicate what requires action." Fewer channels. Clearer escalation triggers. And the discipline to let people focus on what matters instead of drowning in what doesn't.

A quick way to test this

Pull your last three steering committee agendas. Count how many items were decisions versus updates. If updates dominate, your system is designed for reporting, not executing. That ratio tells you more about your operating model than any engagement survey.

What happens when you get this right?

Organizations that redesign for Performance Mode don't slow down. They accelerate, because the system stops fighting itself. Decisions hold. Meetings produce outcomes. Leaders spend energy on the work that matters, not the overhead the system creates.

But here's what I'll say next: redesigning the operating model is necessary but not sufficient. The next constraint most organizations hit is leadership capacity under sustained pressure. And that's a different problem than most people think.