Designing the new organisation
Target operating models and culture in mergers.
Two and a half hours on designing the new organisation: strategic responses to new legislation, target operating models tied to strategy, building culture through a merger, and trust in strong cultures.
- Level
- Focus
- Learning time
- 2 hours 30 minutes
- Where
- Serving the public
- Price
- £69
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
Senior leaders and programme leads designing new or merged councils and public bodies
Overview
A new organisation can have a sound strategy on paper and still change very little. Sharing its material with Building the new council, this course treats the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 and the Best Value Duty consultation as live strategic choices, using Cynefin, Five Forces and the Strategic Choice Approach. It draws on Chandler's finding that structure follows strategy and sets out target operating models with five core elements. It then turns to culture through Schein's embedding mechanisms, Gerstner at IBM and a culture due diligence checklist, closing with Edmondson, Coyle's belonging cues, Pixar's Braintrust and a three question safety audit.
Aims
It sets out to help leaders build a new organisation's design and culture with equal care: responding strategically rather than simply complying, keeping structure traceably tied to strategy, and shaping a culture in which people trust each other enough for bad news to travel in time.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Assess whether your organisation is running a compliance response or a strategic response to new legislation, using Cynefin and the Strategic Choice Approach.
- Explain Chandler's finding that structure follows strategy, and use four pressure tests to check whether a target operating model holds together.
- Apply a three question safety audit and Coyle's three skills to build trust and belonging as two organisations become one.
What you'll develop
Through this Focus course, you will build the ability to:
- Distinguish what new legislation mandates from what it leaves open to local choice and what is easily missed.
- Explain Chandler's finding that structure follows strategy and identify when a proposed reorganisation reverses that sequence.
- Identify Schein's embedding mechanisms, both day to day and through systems, and explain why they shape culture more than formal statements.
- Explain what psychological safety is and is not, and how it combines with high standards to create a learning zone.
- Apply Cynefin, Five Forces and the Strategic Choice Approach to the same legislative change, explaining what each lens reveals.
- Use the five elements of a Target Operating Model and four pressure tests to assess whether a proposed design holds together.
- Plan a culture change that builds on existing strength and avoids the four common reasons culture change fails.
- Apply Edmondson's three moves and Coyle's three skills to build safety and belonging in your own team.
Built from 2 parts.
2 hours 30 minutes of learning.
- 01Shaping the organisationOrganisation design and target operating modelsBitesize · Strategic Thinking2 modules
- 02Trust at the heartCulture change, mergers and psychological safetyBitesize · Culture in Organisations2 modules