Operating Model & Governance
An operating model is the set of rules for who decides what, with which information, and how often. We write those rules down and build them into the tools that record the decisions.
Questions we help answer
- Who may approve a price change, a discount, a capital purchase or a new supplier?
- Which of our meetings make decisions, and which only receive updates?
- What should be standard across our sites or countries, and what can vary locally?
- How should the board and the management team divide decisions as the business grows?
- How do we keep governance light enough that it does not slow trading down?
What we do
Decision rights and approval matrix
A delegation of authority covering spend, pricing, discounts, hiring, contracts and system changes, with limits set by role.
Governance forums and cadence
A small set of meetings with defined inputs, decisions and owners, and the report each one works from.
Common and local operating rules
Which processes, systems and data definitions are common across countries, brands or sites, and where local teams decide.
Governance built into systems
Approval limits, workflows and change logs configured in the ERP, procurement, finance and CRM tools staff already use.
- How an engagement with THEFOCUS startsDiscuss this with us
How we approach it
- 01
Read the decision record
Approval logs, purchase orders, discount overrides and meeting papers show who decides today and how long each decision takes.
- 02
Agree the rules on real cases
We draft decision rights and forums with the executive team and test them against decisions taken in recent months.
- 03
Configure and close the side channels
Limits and routes go into the systems, and approval by message or phone is retired wherever the system now covers it.
- 04
Review exceptions monthly
Override and exception reports go to named owners on a fixed calendar, so drift is visible early.
Relevant industries
How an engagement with THEFOCUS starts
A first conversation is about your situation. If there is a fit, we propose a scoped diagnostic with a fixed deliverable before any larger commitment.
Discuss this with us01
A working conversation
Forty-five minutes with the person who would lead the work. We ask about the decision, the systems behind it and the deadline.
02
A scoped diagnostic
Read-only access, a fixed timeframe and a written finding: what the records show, what it costs and what to change first.
03
A plan you can act on
Changes, owners, measures and exclusions in writing. The same team then builds and measures, or hands over cleanly.
- One accountable team
- The people who diagnose also build the systems and measure the result.
- Partners chosen per problem
- Independent specializts join for the parts that need them, under one contract.
- Records before dashboards
- Orders, ledgers and logs are reconciled before any recommendation depends on them.
Questions executives ask
Is a delegation of authority a legal document?
It is an internal governance document. Where it touches directors' duties, company law or contracts, your legal advisers should review it, and we prepare it in a form they can work with.
Can you configure approval limits in our existing systems?
Usually. Most ERP, procurement, finance and CRM tools support approval workflows by role and amount. Where a tool cannot, we design a recorded alternative and tell you its limits.
Discuss this with us
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