Let's start with an example of a large building; if one is transforming a large building, one would normally have access to its blueprint to avoid risks of missing important items and to also know areas of strengths in its structure. However, when transforming an organization, one often has to take risks in the lack of such detailed insight into the organization.  Most executives understand this lack of detail, but still have to take a head-first dive into the murky waters of transformation because creating an organization’s blueprint requires time, money and skill that most organizations don’t have.

Access to the organization’s blueprint can considerably reduce the risks associated with transformation efforts headed by executives. However, the creation of a blueprint necessitates the overcoming of the necessary time, money and skill inputs. For this, the following industry best practice can be leveraged:

One example of industry reference blueprint comes from the insurance industry. The "Industry Reference Blueprint for Insurance" (a.k.a IRBI)  provides a reusable base for P&C insurance organizations to jumpstart their blueprint development efforts by providing a methodology and accelerators. With thousands of pre-documented Processes, Metrics for SMART Goals, Roles, and Locations, the IRBI provides a jump start to the building of a blueprint for an insurance organization. Similar models are available for some of the other industries also. Refer my other post. 

The concept of an organization blueprint is a recent development, and leaders who leverage it have a competitive edge over others. As the saying goes, the companies who do little extra are rewarded many times more than the others. Success in transformation sometimes might come just by being at the right place at the right time, but for the most part, it is a result of solid plans and relentless execution. Access to an organization’s blueprint provides a solid base for such plans by ensuring that the inner structure of the organization is well-understood by all involved before attempting a change across any of its facets.

ReferenceBlueprint.com