Realize your vision by implementing the most comprehensive organizational design, alignment, and transformation model.
The COMPASS Model
A recipe for business growth
The COMPASS Model, which stands for Comprehensive Organizational Model for Performance and Strategic Systems, is a powerful, holistic framework designed to help organizations navigate the complexities of modern business. The model integrates capabilities in various business domains, including performance management, change management, strategic alignment, organizational design, cultural assessment, and capability building. The model aims to help business organizations build strategic management systems that are core enablers of the entire organization's development stages.
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The model, developed over more than 15 years by Dr. Imad Choucair, draws on his extensive academic, consulting, and practitioner expertise. It references over 500 widely used theories, models, and frameworks across more than 40 distinct knowledge domains in the field. Additionally, the model incorporates primary data from one-on-one interviews with top business leaders of many successful organizations.
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The model has six primary building blocks called domains and 98 elements that are derived from those six primary domains.
The Six Domains of the COMPASS Model: The Core Pillars of Business Organizations
1
Stakeholders
Stakeholders play a multifaceted role in shaping the organization's strategies, operations, and overall success. Their influence extends across various domains, including financial performance, operational efficiency, innovation, and corporate reputation. Effective stakeholder management involves Engagement and communication, balancing Interests, and responsive adaptation.
2
Vision & Mission
An organization's vision plays a pivotal role in shaping its future by providing direction, inspiring stakeholders, and aligning efforts toward common goals. Its influence permeates every aspect of the organization. The mission guides strategic planning, decision-making, and day-to-day activities. It unifies employees toward common goals, enhances engagement, and communicates the organization's intentions to stakeholders.
3
Business Model
A business model is a conceptual framework that outlines how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. It serves as a blueprint for how your company operates, generates revenue, and sustains itself over time.
4
Strategy
Business Strategy is a plan that defines how a company will achieve its goals, compete in its market, and ensure long-term success. It involves making decisions on allocating resources, identifying target customers, differentiating from competitors, and optimizing operations to gain a competitive advantage.
5
Business Functions
Business functions refer to the essential activities carried out by a company to operate effectively and achieve its objectives. These functions are usually categorized into key areas that support the organization's overall strategy, growth, and profitability. Each business function plays a crucial role in ensuring that a business can operate smoothly, meet its goals, and adapt to changing market conditions.
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Management Systems
Management systems in a business refer to a set of procedures, policies, and practices that a company implements to organize and control its operations efficiently. A well-structured management system integrates all the organization's components, providing a clear framework that supports decision-making, improves efficiency, and drives business success.
The 98 Elements of the COMPASS Model
The COMPASS Model Key Features
Organizational Alignment and Design System
The COMPASS Model guides organizations through a structured approach to organizational design, beginning with its core six domains. It then facilitates the definition of 98 specific elements, prioritizing them to address the most critical ones first. The model emphasizes alignment, drawing on principles from open systems theory, contingency theory, and other foundational frameworks. It promotes an adaptive approach, viewing organizations as complex adaptive systems grounded in complexity theory to reflect the dynamic nature of modern organizations.
Performance Management System
The COMPASS Model Platform is a software solution designed to help organizations seamlessly implement the model. It includes a comprehensive Performance Management System (PMS) that enables the creation of scorecards and KPIs, linking them to the organization’s various domains and elements. The platform allows unlimited performance perspectives to be defined, offering flexibility and scalability with strong collaboration capabilities. Beyond performance management, the platform also integrates enterprise project management capabilities, providing a simple yet powerful tool for managing performance, organizational development, and change initiatives.
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Change Management Orientation
The COMPASS Model is a comprehensive tool that requires specific competencies to be effectively utilized as an organizational diagnostic and change management framework. Regardless of the framework employed, change management is often challenging. To address this, the model incorporates targeted diagnostic aspects and proven methodologies designed to be carefully followed, enabling organizations to achieve specific objectives and make the change process more manageable.
Knowledge Management and Data Integration
The COMPASS Model offers over 500 theories, models, and best practices across various subject areas. It provides over 30 fully documented guiding principles, equipping organizational managers with a shared foundation on key fundamentals. For instance, one guiding principle is based on the proven assumption that organizations function as open, adaptive, and complex systems, with change processes aligning with the contingency model. This shared understanding among stakeholders enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational design efforts.
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Complexity and Ease of Use
The complexity of the COMPASS Model is dynamic, allowing small and mid-sized companies to easily navigate its elements and select what is most relevant to their business needs. The model provides a structured framework supported by extensive knowledge to develop and execute effective change management plans, helping organizations achieve their desired objectives. Regardless of an organization’s size, the model offers exceptional flexibility. Larger organizations, in particular, will benefit from the model’s extensive content and resources.
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Cultural and Behavioral Considerations
Many organizations are constrained by their culture. The COMPASS Model addresses this by exploring deep aspects of organizational culture, values, leadership styles, and overall employee behaviors. It offers tools to guide organizations seeking to shift mindsets and norms, facilitating meaningful and sustainable cultural transformation.
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Stakeholder Orientation​
The COMPASS Model, with its six core domains, begins by focusing on the organization’s stakeholders. It then progresses through vision and mission, business model, strategy, business functions, and management systems. This structured approach ensures sufficient attention to aligning both internal and external elements, which is essential for achieving customer satisfaction and the desired social impact.​
Adaptability and Customization
The COMPASS Model applies to any industry or region, featuring a dedicated component for aligning industries with business organizations. Recognizing that industries provide the broader context and ecosystem in which businesses operate, the model emphasizes the interconnected nature of industries and organizations to ensure alignment and adaptability.
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Decision-Making and Governance Structure
The model provides a structured framework for establishing a management system that clearly defines the decision-making process within the organization’s governance structure. It includes elements designed to manage governance practices and decision-making methods, ensuring clarity, accountability, and efficiency in organizational operations.
Outcomes and Value Proposition
The COMPASS Model is designed to help organizations enhance business performance across multiple dimensions, including efficiency, effectiveness, and innovation. Simultaneously, it strengthens the organization’s resilience, adaptability, and capabilities. By providing a comprehensive framework, the model ensures that organizations are well-equipped to navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and sustain long-term success.​​​​