ABEC Diagnostic · Organisation report

Harbourline Services

Round 3 · September 202638 managers at 4 levelsCompared with Baseline (Nov 2025) and Round 2 (Apr 2026)

This report shows how well Harbourline is set up to keep the promises it makes to its customers, as seen by its own managers.

38 managers, from the executive team to team leads, answered the same questions about how the organisation really works day to day. The report brings their answers together to show where Harbourline is strong, where it is held back, and where its managers see things differently. It is not a test with a pass mark. It gives the leadership team a shared picture to decide where to start, and a way to check whether the changes they make are working. This is Harbourline’s third round, so it also shows what has changed since the first one in November 2025.

Headline scores

The Foundation Score is the average of the six foundations. The Execution Score combines the five pillars so that the weakest one counts most, because an organisation can only deliver as well as its weakest link. The Agility Score shows how often the leadership team revisits and updates its plan.

Where execution is strong and where it is held back

Harbourline understands its customers well (Understand 73) but is slow to change what it does in response (Adapt 47). Like a chain, the organisation is only as strong as its weakest link, so improving Adapt by 10 points would do more for the Execution Score than improving Understand by the same amount.

Pillar scores, Round 3

Round 3Baseline (Nov 2025)Weakest pillar

The shape of the organisation

The outer ring shows the dimensions being measured: the six foundations, or the 21 execution dimensions grouped by pillar. Each shape inside is one management level, so you can see where the levels agree and where they see a different organisation. Switch to Round 3 vs Baseline to see how far the organisation has moved.

    All 27 dimensions by management level

    Each cell is the average score given by managers at that level. The last column shows how far apart people’s answers were. Where they were far apart (marked ▲), the leadership team does not share one picture of how that area works. Levels with fewer than three people are combined into “Other”, so nobody can be identified.

    Below 4040–4950–5960–6970 and aboveRed is lowest, yellow is the middle (50) and blue is highest. The colours are chosen so that people with colour blindness can tell them apart.

    Where to start: low score and low agreement

    The biggest opportunities are usually where a low score and wide disagreement come together. The team does not do these things well and does not agree on how well it does them, so the first step is to build a shared picture, then fix it.

    Trend across rounds

    Events such as a reorganisation or a new system can be marked on the timeline, so it is easier to see what may have caused a change. The Agility Score starts from the first round after a change programme begins.

    FoundationExecutionAgility

    Largest changes since Baseline

    Looking back at the Baseline

    In Round 2, people were also asked to look back and re-score where they had been at the start. Scoring the past lower with hindsight is common and a good sign: it means their idea of “good” has risen.

    Written review

    Each round comes with a short written review of the combined results. It uses the actual figures, ignores small movements that are just normal ups and downs, and suggests possible causes for the team to check rather than stating them as fact.

    Three things that matter most

    1. Collaboration across teams is the weakest area and the least agreed. Working across teams (“Across”) scores 34, and it is where managers disagree most. Executives rate it 49; team leads rate it 20. Structured Collaboration shows the same pattern: 62 against 32. Leaders are probably not seeing where handoffs between teams break down.
    2. Adapt (47) is the pillar holding execution back. Respond (36) and Innovate (39) are the lowest scores in the pillar. The team understands its customers well (Understand 73) but is slow to act on what it learns. Because an organisation can only deliver as well as its weakest link, improving Adapt will do more for overall execution than further gains in Understand.
    3. Strategy Deployment (42) trails the other foundations. Mission scores 78 and Vision 71, so the direction is understood. The weakness is in turning that direction into agreed work at team level.

    What changed since the last round

    Five dimensions show real change since the Baseline: Across (+17), Structured Collaboration (+14), Respond (+12), Strategy Deployment (+11) and Agility (+10). Most of the gains came after the new operating model was launched, so it is worth testing whether the clearer handoff agreements it introduced are the cause. The Agility Score rose from 38 to 51, which means the team is revisiting its canvas more often.

    Questions for the leadership team

    • Which two handoffs between teams generate the most escalations or meetings, and does each have agreed expectations on both sides?
    • Why do team leads rate Structured Collaboration 30 points lower than executives, and what evidence would they point to?
    • What is the one thing we learned about customers this year that we have not yet acted on, and what is stopping us?
    Written by AI from the combined results · reviewed by Alex McDonnell

    What each person sees

    Every person gets their own result the moment they finish, set against the organisation's average for the round.

    Example: a middle manager in Operations

    Your scoreOrganisation average

    What else is included

    See your own organisation's picture

    The questionnaire takes about 15 minutes per person. Results appear as soon as three people in your organisation have answered.

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