Angry Birds Approach to Designing Change and Driving Performance

Too many organisations try to force growth on top of old models. Like the game the Angry Birds approach is about precision: redesign the business model, build enablement into the flow of work, accelerate the trajectory. Small shifts, done right, deliver performance at pace.

The Problem

Too many organisations try to deliver growth and efficiency around their existing business model rather than inside it. The result: stalled initiatives, margin erosion, and credibility loss.

The Opportunity

Too often, organisations treat change like force — more projects, more spend, more energy. The Angry Birds approach is about precision: redesign the business model, enable execution, and accelerate a trajectory that compounds growth and resilience. High performers succeed because they focus less on brute force and more on the levers that actually shift outcomes.

Four Moves That Matter

1. Start with the Business Model

Every organisation runs on a business model — how it creates value, serves customers, and protects margin. If that model is outdated, even the best strategies stall.

High performers start by redesigning the business model itself

Revenue logic that scales predictably.
Workflows that are fast, simple, and lower cost-to-serve.
Decision rights aligned to outcomes, not hierarchy.
Data and AI embedded into the daily flow of work.

Evidence: Companies that redesign their business model this way are 1.5x more likely to deliver above-average growth and 2.1x more likely to maintain resilience in disruption [1].

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2. Enablement by Design

A strong business model creates direction, but execution depends on enablement. That means building work systems that remove friction, speed up decisions, and give teams what they need to deliver at scale.

Targeted activations that improve how work gets done.
Digital systems that reduce rework and delays.
Metrics that show performance lift in real time.

Evidence: Companies that embed enablement into frontline work see 70% higher
success rates in sustaining results [2]. BCG reports frontline enablement
programs deliver 10%+ EBITDA uplift and 20%+ cost reductions when adoption
barriers are removed [3].

3. Accelerate the Trajectory

In Angry Birds, the smallest change in launch angle changes the outcome. In business, the clarity of the model and the precision of enablement design set the
trajectory. When these align, performance compounds:

Faster cycle times.
Early ROI signals.
Execution that scales without eroding resilience.

Evidence: A manufacturer restructured raw material workflows with analytics — productivity rose 20% and savings hit $60m (12x ROI) [4].

4. Build Resilience Along the Way

Performance shouldn’t dip before it improves. With resilience designed in, every activation strengthens the system — decision cycles shorten, errors reduce, customers see gains earlier, and ROI builds confidence.

Evidence: Resilient companies are 3x more likely to outperform peers in EBITDA
growth [5]. Resilience contributes to around 30% of long-term TSR [6]. Deloitte
found IT resilience programs cut incidents by 25% and outage duration by 30%
[7].

The XOAM Kit Bag

At XOAM, we don’t deliver playbooks — we deliver performance.

Our Kit Bag equips leaders with four disciplines that turn intent into measurable outcomes:

Model Design – reworking how the organisation creates and captures value, aligning revenue logic, workflows, and decision rights so the model can scale and stay resilient.
Enablement – building clarity and simplicity into how work gets done, equipping teams with the tools and frameworks to execute without friction.
Activation – running thin-slice pilots and micro-activations that prove value early and create the confidence to scale fast.
Resilience – embedding early indicators, adaptability, and governance so performance strengthens as change builds.

The XOAM Kit Bag is how we help leaders shift from effort to performance — ensuring growth, margin, and resilience are delivered, not just promised.

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_{References
1. [1] McKinsey, *The numbers behind successful transformations* (2015).
2. [2] McKinsey, *What successful transformations share* (2010).
3. [3] BCG, *The Necessity of Building an Operational Resilience Framework* (2022).
4. [4] McKinsey, *Today’s Next Generation Operational Excellence* (2019).
5. [5] McKinsey, *The numbers behind successful transformations* (2015).
6. [6] BCG, *Operational Resilience as a Source of Long-term TSR* (2022).
7. [7] Deloitte, *IT resilience programs and performance outcomes* (2020).}

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Don’t layer projects on top of old models. Redesign the foundation, design enablement into the work, and accelerate the trajectory toward growth and resilience. The companies that win aren’t the ones that force change — they’re the ones that design their model to scale, enable execution, and accelerate a trajectory of growth and resilience.

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