Systems, Slings and Seeing People
Why Target Operating Models Only Work When They’re Human
By Claire Taylor, Founder of SJG Global Consulting, Contractor, Spirit Junkie Goddess & Oh My Goddess Candles
Anyone who knows me knows I love a good analogy.
So here’s one that landed hard — on the tarmac and in my heart.
I recently travelled through Manchester Airport with a broken collarbone and a slung arm.
Let me just say:
Manchester Airport is world-class.
The new security system? Phenomenal. No unpacking laptops or liquids. Clear, fast, seamless.
The staff? Kind, attentive, patient. I felt cared for at every step.
This post isn’t a complaint — in fact, it’s the opposite. It’s a reflection.
About systems, design, and the people inside them.
Broken Systems or Broken Awareness?
Even with a visible injury, I was surprised by how many people didn’t see me — bumped into me, rushed past, stared when I needed help but didn’t step in, all in their own unconcious holiday lane - not so different from an organisation!!
And it struck me:
If people don’t notice visible pain, how can we expect them to notice invisible struggle?
I’ve lived with Addison’s disease for over 25 years which is totally under control until you break a bone
It’s an autoimmune condition that affects the body’s ability to produce cortisol — the hormone that keeps your brain sharp, your body steady, and your stress response functioning. On a bad day, it feels like you’re trying to drive with the handbrake on and no fuel in the tank. Everything is foggy, slow, and draining on a good day you feel like Usain Bolt and have laser sharp speed and accuracy.
I recently went six weeks misdiagnosed with this broken bone — no meds, no cortisol boost, and a body locked in fight mode.
And yet I pushed on.
Why? Because that’s what the system expects of us, right?
The Airport Analogy
Most organisations operate like airports at peak time:
People in their own lanes
Heads down, targets up
Metrics driving behaviour over awareness
And this shows up not just in airports — but in our operating models, our change programmes, and our transformation failures and how we land our values-driven cultures.
We design Target Operating Models (TOMs) with the best of intentions.
We build slick frameworks, map value streams, implement governance.
But if we forget the people inside the system — their humanity, their pace, their unseen battles — we’re just moving boxes on a slide, not enabling true change.
KPIs vs Consciousness
When I reached the repacking area, still in my sling, in visible pain, I couldn’t lift my bag.
The security agent — who had already been kind and professional — paused.
It was a split-second moment.
I could see the conflict behind her eyes:
“This isn’t the flow. This isn’t the system. But this person needs help.”
And then — she helped.
She quietly and gracefully packed my bag for me.
No fuss. No judgment.
But I also saw something else in that moment (yep being an integral type I see, hear and feel it all, I may hide it but trust me not much gets passed an integral type)
It was uncomfortable for her — not because of me, but because the system wasn’t designed for that exception.
She was being human in a structure built for throughput.
She was choosing care in a system measured by speed.
That moment wasn’t her fault.
It wasn’t even the system’s fault.
But it was a crack — a crack where a more human operating model could begin to emerge.
Systems that measure output without context will always have blind spots.
True transformation begins where humans are empowered to see — and act — beyond the script.
Where Culture Gets Lost
We spend so much time engineering structure and process — but if we don’t design for culture, we risk cultural dissonance so loud it derails the whole strategy.
You can build the best TOM in the world —
But if you don’t align it with your people, your values, and your lived culture…
You’ll land yourself in a beautiful framework that no one trusts, and everyone resists.
When Leadership Sees You
And here’s the most important part of the story.
Even with my invisible condition — on days when it left me foggy some 15 years ago, exhausted, and fragile —
When a leader truly saw me for who I was, not just what I produced,
I delivered the biggest global transformation of my career.
That is what true leadership does.
It doesn’t push people through systems.
It designs systems around people.
That’s why I talk about the Glitter Ball Mirror Effect of Leadership.
Imagine a leader who sees every person on their team as a unique fragment of brilliance —
each holding a mirror to a different part of the whole.
Now imagine putting all those mirrors together, reflecting light in every direction.
That’s your human-centred operating model.
That’s your living values system.
And that’s where organisations don’t just work — they shine.
Final Thought
If you’re building transformation, designing new operating models, or rethinking your leadership or culture approach…
Start here:
See your people.
Listen for the outliers.
Design your system with culture as core infrastructure.
