Operational maturity check

How to use the check

1. Think of a normal week. Not your best week, and not the week everything went wrong.
2. Answer all six questions. They cover how jobs are written down, how the week is planned, who owns what, what happens when something goes wrong, what happens when someone is away and how new systems get added.
3. Read your level and the next step. The result names your level and the one change that moves you up.
4. Copy or print the sheet. It lists your level and every answer, so you can talk it through with your team or your manager, and answer again in three months.

How the check works

Each answer scores from 1 to 5, one point for each level. Your result is the average of your six answers, rounded to the nearest level. The check is a thinking tool, not a formal standard, and different parts of a business often sit at different levels.

Look at your lowest answer as well as your result. That's usually where the next step is, and it's where a job slides when the person who carries it is away.

A worked example

Here's a typical, made-up set of answers. The key jobs are written down but not always up to date (2). A weekly rhythm sets the plan (3). Every recurring job has one named owner (3). When something goes wrong, it gets fixed and someone means to look into why (2). When a key person is off, someone covers using what's written down (3). New systems start from a reusable format with an owner (3). That's 16 points over six answers, an average of 2.7, which rounds to Level 3: Structured. The two answers on 2 are the next step: keep the written jobs up to date, and look into why problems happen instead of only fixing them.

Common mistakes

• Answering for the business you're building. Score how it runs now. The point is to find the next step, not to feel good.
• Answering for the whole company when you run one team. Answer for the work you can see and change.
• Aiming for Level 5 straight away. For a small team, a solid Level 3 on the work that matters is the target.
• Ignoring the lowest answer. An average can hide one area that stops the week whenever its owner is off.

What to do with your level

The five levels in full describe each one and the single change that moves you to the next. If regular review is what you're after, read what operational excellence means in practice for a small team. For a set plan from Level 2 to Level 3, try a 90-day systems reset.