Operational Maturity Self-Assessment


Six questions, one for each dimension of operational maturity that matters most for mission-led organisations. You get your result on screen, free, with nothing to fill in first and it only takes 3 minutes. It uses the same framework and the same scoring as the facilitated assessment I run with leadership teams.

On its way

The assessment tool is yours

Download it below. I read every submission personally, so you may well hear from me.

Do it properly: get three or four people to fill it in separately, without conferring, then put the sheets side by side. The conversation that follows is the valuable part. It is also the easiest part to get wrong, because it asks people to disagree out loud about how their own organisation works. If you would rather someone independent held that session, that is exactly the kind of work I do.

Free self-assessment

Have you outgrown your systems?

An honest, structured read on your operational maturity across the six dimensions that matter most for mission-led organisations. About three minutes.

One ask before you start: score how things actually work, not how they’re meant to. Most organisations score lower than they expect – that’s normal, and it’s the point. It shows you where focused effort will make the biggest difference.
A little context
Which best describes your organisation?

So I can show you an example from an organisation like yours.

Your operational maturity results

From someone who did this work

Where you are

Your maturity shape
Reading the shape

Signals worth taking seriously

    Your one move

    Where you placed yourselves

    One point up looks like

    Talk it through with me

    The version that does the real work

    Everything here came from one person answering six questions. The full assessment opens the same six dimensions into 24 statements for three or four of you to complete separately – about forty minutes each – and then compare. Where two of you sit three points apart on the same statement is usually where the real issue is hiding.

    This gives you a perspective, not a verdict. Real operational change is systems-level – a group of people working together – and getting it right takes proper research and understanding on a human level. That is what the facilitated assessment is for.

    The next step

    Go deeper, with your team

    Your results are yours, free. You do not need to fill this in to read them.

    This is the longer, deeper version of the same six dimensions – filled in separately by three or four of your team, then compared. Where two of you disagree is almost always where the real problem is.

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    Thank you for your response. ✨

    Thank you – the assessment tool is on its way.

    Your scores travel with this form so I send you the right thing. I keep your details for 24 months, I do not share or sell them, and you can ask me to delete them at any time – see the privacy notice.

    What the self-assessment measures

    The assessment scores your organisation from 1 (ad hoc) to 5 (optimising) across six dimensions of operational maturity: governance and decision-making; financial management and sustainability; people, culture and capability; systems, tools and data; impact measurement and learning; and strategy-to-operations alignment.

    It is built for leaders of charities, NGOs, social enterprises and purpose-driven businesses – typically organisations that have grown faster than their systems. Your results appear on screen immediately: a maturity band, a radar chart of your profile, a reading of what its shape means, and the one dimension where a single point of improvement would make the biggest difference. It is free, and there is nothing to fill in first.

    It uses the same framework and the same scoring as the facilitated Operational Maturity Assessment I run with leadership teams.

    The paid version

    When you want the whole picture

    The facilitated Operational Maturity Assessment takes you from six completed sheets to a shared picture, a prioritised roadmap, and a written report you can take to your board. Two to three days, from £700 on a sliding scale by organisation income.