Many organisations are responding to rising demand, tighter budgets, increasing regulatory pressure, and growing customer expectations by “working harder” rather than “working differently.”
If your housing organisation feels constantly stretched, the challenge may not be a lack of capacity, but the operating model within which your people are expected to work.
Operational delivery can be taken for granted with met KPIs each month however operational excellence is a strategic choice to be made, at its best it will enable people to do their best work and your organisation to grow.
In my article I will outline what is meant by a Target Operating Model and based on my experience the key changes that will supercharge your operating model.
Firstly, What We Mean by “Target Operating Model (TOM)”?
A TOM is a tool for better outcomes; it’s not the theoretical diagram and is something that should sit alongside a delivery approach that aligns to your values and should importantly evolve. In short this covers:
- What gets done (services and outcomes).
- How it gets done (processes and decision-making).
- Who does it (roles, skills, accountabilities).
- What enables it (technology, data, partners, governance).
What’s the cost of an outdated operating model?
This is often hidden but significant, it shows up across performance, people, and finances not just in obvious inefficiencies.
- Fragmented service delivery (repairs, tenancy, assets not aligned).
- Reactive firefighting instead of prevention and proactivity.
- Low staff retention, lack of progression and succession.
- Decision bottlenecks and duplicated effort.
- Digital tools layered onto broken processes.
- Low colleague and customer satisfaction.
An outdated operating model doesn’t just cost money it absorbs capacity, reduces impact, and creates continuous strain.
If this is you, keep reading I’ll share with you how you can supercharge Housing and Property Operations.
The Key Changes That Supercharge Housing Operations
Move from Function-Led to Customer-Centric Design
- Design services around customer needs, not internal teams/talent.
- Reduce handoffs and confusion for customers.
- Align KPIs to outcomes, not activity.
Clarify Decision Making and Accountability
- Push decisions closer to customer facing colleagues.
- Remove unnecessary approval layers.
- Make trust and ownership clear.
Integration through a complimentary delivery approach and shared principles
- One operating rhythm for housing, assets and repairs, not parallel silos.
- Shared data and forward planning.
- Prevent issues rather than respond to them.
Build Digital into the Model, Not on Top of It
- Redesign processes before digitising.
- Use data for prioritisation and prediction.
- Ensure teams have the training and capability to use the tools.
Design for Flexibility, Not Perfection
- Operating models must adapt and evolve to policy shifts and demand spikes.
- Build modularity and clear escalation paths.
- Test, learn, refine
What This Looks Like in Practice
I’ve been working at Tuath Housing in Ireland over the last 18 months creating their TOM and delivery approach for Housing and Assets and Property with some fantastic early outcomes. I will share a full case study on this shortly however if you would like to hear more about my work in Service Transformation please contact me directly.
Before you embark upon this you need to be clear, this is a change journey and not a one-off restructure.
- Diagnose where your TOM is holding you back.
- Identify one service area to redesign end-to-end.
- Align leadership around outcomes, not organisation chart.
The organisations that thrive won’t be the ones with the most staff or systems but the ones with operating models built for today’s realities that can evolve to the environment.
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on which parts of your operating model most needs a rethink?
