IOD Core R6: realigning governance levels

Most companies suffer from an invisible ailment: misalignment. Leadership wants innovation, but processes are rigid. Teams want autonomy, but the organisation imposes centralised control. The result? A massive loss of energy, time and money — and a strategy that never truly materialises on the ground.

Performance does not depend solely on the quality of a vision or the talent of employees, but on the coherence between three critical levels of the organisation.

The IOD Core R6 model is a compass designed to make that coherence visible, measurable and actionable.

A three-tier structure: the S-O-I model

For a company to succeed sustainably, its three tiers must "speak" the same language:

• S (strategy): your directional choices. This is the "roof" that sets the course and defines the trade-offs between exploiting current value and adapting to future markets.
• O (organisation): your systems, rules and tools. These are the "walls" that enable results to be produced in a repeatable way — where intentions either take shape, or stall, into real capacity.
• I (individual): the behaviours and skills of your employees. These are the "foundations" — defined not by abstract job descriptions, but by observable and developable behaviours.

The central principle of the model is isomorphism: the same structural tensions exist at each of these three levels. What happens in the mind of the executive (S) is reflected in the organisation's processes (O) and in the team's competencies (I). If you call for innovation (S) but your bonus system rewards only procedural compliance (O), you create a friction that paralyses the whole. IOD Core R6 makes these frictions visible so you can eliminate them.

The three axes of tension (R6)

The R6 approach identifies three fundamental tensions present at every tier of the S-O-I model. A high-performing organisation does not choose a side — it dynamically regulates both poles of each axis.

Examples:

• Posture axis: maintaining a supermarket's service quality while piloting new delivery models.
• Coordination axis: allowing a developer to choose their tools while ensuring they remain compatible with the rest of the information system.
• Realisation axis: delivering an urgent client project without sacrificing the documentation others will need to pick up the work tomorrow.

What the model makes possible

IOD Core R6 operates simultaneously on two complementary levels.

• Leadership level: it is about securing execution and growth: identifying where strategy stalls between intentions and the organisation's actual capacity, moving from success driven by the heroic effort of isolated individuals to an industrialised, orchestrated production capacity, and calibrating the balance between exploiting current value and adapting to future markets.
• HR teams and managers : it enables them to develop engagement and competence: setting precise expectations based on observable behaviours, identifying whether an employee needs to strengthen their direct impact or their ability to formalise methods for the team, and preventing burnout by balancing individual autonomy with solid cooperation structures.

Both levels revolve around a common language: HR professionals, technical staff and executives share the same framework for diagnosing problems — without the misunderstandings that arise from differences in vocabulary or professional culture.

Why choose IOD Core R6?

The model has been developed progressively since 2006, tested and refined across a wide range of organisational contexts — from industrial companies to public sector bodies, in demanding multicultural environments.

It does not offer a static equilibrium, but a dynamic calibration tool: each tension can be tuned according to the strategic context of the moment, the constraints of the organisation, and the maturity level of the teams. This is what makes it possible to transform isolated successes into permanent organisational capabilities — and to bring strategy down to where it actually creates value.