Stonehill launches MODERN organizational design methodology

Stonehill on Sept. 8, 2026, introduced MODERN, a six-stage organizational design framework aimed at tying structure to growth, efficiency, synergy capture and AI-enabled performance. The Tampa-based consultancy says the approach is built to help CEOs, private equity firms and management teams quantify how an organization should be structured to deliver business value.

Why it matters: - Stonehill is trying to reposition organizational design from a chart-making exercise into a value-creation tool. - The framework is aimed at companies where structure affects revenue growth, operating efficiency, M&A integration, synergy capture and margin improvement. - The approach is especially relevant for private equity firms and portfolio companies, where organization design can affect the value-creation thesis.

What happened: - Stonehill, a strategy and innovation consultancy, announced MODERN™ Organizational Design Methodology on Sept. 8, 2026. - The new framework is designed for CEOs, private equity firms and management teams. - Stonehill said the methodology starts by defining how a business creates value, then builds the organization around those outcomes. - The company detailed the approach in a white paper titled “Earning the Org Chart: A Value-Creation Approach to Organizational Design.”

The details: - MODERN has six stages: MAP, OWN, DESIGN, ENHANCE, RENDER and NAVIGATE. - MAP focuses on the operational journey and how work, decisions and value move across the enterprise. - OWN establishes ownership, responsibilities, decision rights and measurable KPIs. - DESIGN sets roles, capabilities, reporting relationships, management layers, spans of control and matrix responsibilities. - ENHANCE uses process redesign, artificial intelligence, automation and technology to improve productivity, scalability and operating performance. - RENDER builds a quantitative model and tests it against revenue, workload, capacity, headcount, cost, synergy and EBITDA assumptions. - NAVIGATE covers implementation through leadership alignment, talent decisions, communications, governance, training, technology adoption and change management. - Stonehill said its broader Process Improvement work supports the MAP stage by analyzing workflows, handoffs, bottlenecks and opportunities to improve how work gets done. - Stonehill said its Technology, Analytics & AI practice supports the ENHANCE stage by identifying and deploying technology and AI opportunities tied to measurable business outcomes. - The Render stage uses operational KPIs and business assumptions to pressure-test the proposed organization. - The modeling can translate revenue and demand into workload, capacity, automation requirements, roles, FTEs, management load and organizational cost. - The methodology is designed to help growth companies test whether commercial and operational capacity can support revenue goals. - For mergers and acquisitions, the framework can identify overlapping responsibilities, duplicate capabilities and opportunities to speed up synergy realization. - For margin improvement, the methodology evaluates where work can be eliminated, simplified, standardized, centralized, automated or augmented with AI. - For acquisitive companies, MODERN complements Stonehill's Post-Merger Integration capabilities by linking future-state org design with synergy capture, process integration, technology consolidation and long-term value realization.

Between the lines: - Stonehill is making a direct argument that organizational design should be measured against financial outcomes, not benchmarked mainly against peer charts. - The emphasis on Render suggests the firm wants to differentiate with quantitative modeling rather than traditional structure-first consulting. - The messaging also signals a broader push to connect AI and automation to operating-model changes, not treat them as standalone tools.

What's next: - Stonehill said management teams should be able to demonstrate why an organization is structured a certain way. - Pace said the firm wants companies to show whether growth plans, synergy commitments and productivity assumptions appear in the organizational model and financial performance. - The methodology is positioned for rapidly growing businesses, private equity portfolio companies, post-merger integrations, corporate restructurings and operating-model transformations. - Stonehill's more general consulting work will likely use MODERN alongside its organizational design, process improvement, AI and post-merger integration offerings.

The bottom line: - Stonehill is betting that companies will pay for an org-design process that ties reporting lines directly to revenue, cost, capacity and enterprise value.