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McKinsey 7S Assessment
Compare seven parts of your organization with the strategy, find what pulls against it, and plan what to change.
This tool also runs as a stage in a playbook, which takes you through several tools in order:
- Execute a business strategy Stage 3 of 5: is the organization set up to deliver the strategy? Start at stage 1
Not following the playbook?
The seven elements
For each one: what it looks like today, in a line, and whether it fits the strategy.
- The usual failures are in the less visible parts: a bonus scheme, a reporting line or a habit that still rewards the old way.
- Strategy, structure and systems are the hard elements: they can be changed by decision. The other four change slowly, through hiring, example and time.
Your notes never leave your browser
What you write about each element stays on your computer and in your progress file. To write the diagnosis, only the ratings and which boxes are filled are sent to our server. How it works
Plan what to change
For each element that doesn't fully fit: what to change, by when, and who owns the change.
- Fix the hard elements before the targets go out. A team paid for the old way will miss the new targets, whatever they say.
- Plan the soft ones over the year: they change through hiring, example and time.
The seven elements against the strategy
Fits Partly Doesn't fit Strategy, structure and systems are the hard elements; shared values sit at the centre.
What to change
Save your progress
Download your progress file to continue from this point any time, on any computer: choose it under "Coming back?" at the start of the tool. Each new file includes everything so far, including the earlier stages when they are connected, so keep the latest one. Your work stays in this browser only until you close it.
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Take your results with you
A PDF of the 7S picture, what to change and when, and the diagnosis.
About the tool
Why it exists
Find what pulls against the strategy before the targets go out
The McKinsey 7S model looks at seven parts of an organization that have to fit together: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills. Compared with a new strategy, it shows which parts still reward the old way.
This tool works on its own, and as stage 3 of our playbook for executing a business strategy, where it picks up the strategy and the scorecard from stages 1 and 2. For the method, see our guide to the McKinsey 7S framework.
The method
How the tool works
Today, and does it fit? For each element, one line on what it looks like now, and yes, partly or no against the strategy.
Hard before soft. Strategy, structure and systems can be changed by decision, so a hard element that doesn't fit has to be fixed before the targets go out. Shared values, style, staff and skills change slowly: plan them over the year.
Targets at risk. In the playbook, each change can name the scorecard objectives it puts at risk; stage 4 then holds those targets until the change is made.
What leaves your computer. What you write stays in your browser and your progress file. To write the diagnosis, the page sends our server only the ratings and which boxes are filled, and the server keeps nothing.