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Why TORVAKO

Strategy sets the direction. Results happen in everyday work.

We show where a change in strategy gets lost, what TORVAKO does differently and the data we build on.

Where companies lose value

A change in strategy often fails to reach everyday work. It gets lost between what the company has decided and what people decide and do every day.

  1. The market changes
  2. Strategy changes
  3. Processes and technology change
  4. Roles stay the same
  5. People decide by the old brief

45 %of middle managers could not name even one of their company’s top five priorities. The rest could name at least one.Source: Sull, Homkes and Sull, Harvard Business Review (2015).

When roles lag behind strategy, people decide according to old goals, old authority and old ideas about their work. They work well, but on what the company needed yesterday. We call this role lag.

What TORVAKO changes

Organisations set the direction. Managers create room. People deliver results.

Performance is created at three levels. A change in strategy shows in the work only when all three come together. TORVAKO develops people and sets up the conditions at all three levels at once.

ResultsAt the start and at the end, we measure whether the change has carried through into work, decisions and results.

What TORVAKO does differently

Development shaped by the environment people work in

We link the development of managers, teams and individuals to what is expected of them and what they are allowed to decide. People can then put what they learn to use in their work quickly.

Development in practice

Team workshops, short online lessons between sessions, individual development, shadowing, and work directly with customers and on ride-alongs.

We measure real impact

We track how results and people’s behaviour at work are changing. We show the outcome in numbers.

What we build on

Data, research and examples from practice.

The value of work is changing

Over fifty years, what companies create value from has changed, and so has what technology can make cheaper.

Chart 1

Intangible assets make up 92 % of the market value of the largest companies

Share of tangible and intangible assets in the market value of S&P 500 companies, in %. Intangible assets are software, data, brand, know-how and people’s capabilities.

Intangible assetsTangible assets
0 % 25 % 50 % 75 % 100 % Around 1990intangibles took the lead 17 % 92 % Tangible Intangible 197519851995200520152025

1975 17 %

2025 92 %

10×smaller share of tangible assets than 50 years ago, from 83 % to 8 %. One square is 1 % of value.

Source: Ocean Tomo, Intangible Asset Market Value Study (2025); analysis by TORVAKO. Intangible assets are a company’s market value minus its net tangible assets. The year intangibles took the lead is an estimate between the 1985 and 1995 measurements.

Chart 2

Technology got cheaper. Services built on people’s work got more expensive.

Change in US consumer prices between 2000 and September 2025, in %

GoodsServicesAverage of all items
Hospital care+275 %
College tuition+196 %
New and used cars+25 %
TVs−98 %
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index; Visual Capitalist overview (2025); analysis by TORVAKO. The statistics adjust prices for higher quality, so part of the fall in technology prices reflects better products.

Technology has made many goods cheaper. Services built on people’s work have not seen the same effect. Value increasingly comes from work that cannot be fully written down as a procedure.

Neither process nor skills are enough on their own

Procedures and rules are necessary. On their own, they do not secure performance. This case shows what happened when people followed every rule and traffic came to a standstill.

Case in point

What happens when people do only what the rules say

France, March 2019

Customs officers in Calais and Dunkirk did not walk out. They started carrying out checks in full, exactly as the rules allow. It was a protest: they wanted to show what the border would look like after a no-deal Brexit, and to push for more staff and better conditions.

37 kmqueue of lorries from Calais to the Belgian border
up to 6 hdelay at the border
110,000Eurostar passengers the tunnel operator estimates it lost

The procedures were followed in full. Traffic stood still in queues kilometres long.

Source: The Guardian (28 March 2019); Euronews via AFP and Reuters (12 March 2019); Getlink, Q1 2019 revenue.

The same happened in Canada in August 2021: border officers followed procedures to the letter and lorries waited up to 3 hours 45 minutes (The Canadian Press). Italian labour law has its own term for this, sciopero pignolo, a nitpicking strike. As early as 1984, the Italian Senate recorded that customs officers had paralysed border crossings by applying the rules literally.

Between the rule and the result there is something process alone cannot solve: a person’s decision in a specific situation. Smooth traffic at the border relied on the officers’ everyday judgement about what to check thoroughly and what to clear quickly.

The reverse is also true. Skills are essential. On their own, they do not create performance. Someone who can lead, negotiate or decide also needs to know what is expected of them and be allowed to decide.

Processwhat needs to be done and in what order
Skillsbeing able to do it well
Judgement and authoritydeciding in a specific situation

Performance comes when all three meet. This is the connection TORVAKO works on.

AI will speed up this shift

The internet made information cheap.AI is making answers cheap.Decisions and accountability stay with people.

+40 %higher-quality work from BCG consultants using AI where the task was within AI’s reach. Where it was not, they had 19 percentage points fewer correct solutions than colleagues without AI. The difference came from knowing when not to trust AI.Source: Dell’Acqua et al., Harvard Business School Working Paper 24-013 (2023), experiment with 758 consultants.

Chart 3, outlook

AI will split services into two branches

TORVAKO outlook: how the price of work in services will develop. The chart shows a direction and has no numerical scale.

Outlook ServicesGoods Judgementand accountability Routine work Goods 2000TodayComing years

Gets more expensive

Decisions with impact, leading people, dealing with customers, accountability for results.

Gets cheaper

Answering queries, preparing materials, routine analysis, translation.

The difference between companies will be made in the upper branch.That is where TORVAKO works.

A TORVAKO outlook, not measured data. It draws on the theory of rising service costs (Baumol), on the estimate that around 80 % of US workers have at least a tenth of their tasks that AI could speed up (Eloundou et al., 2023), and on measurements in call centres (Brynjolfsson et al., 2025). The pace of change is uncertain. Some estimates expect a small overall effect on productivity (Acemoglu, 2024).

Follow what is changing and how organisations will work tomorrow.

We share research, observations and practical experience on strategy, decision-making, changing ways of working and future demands. The conversation happens on LinkedIn.

Frequently asked questions

Showing 14 of 14

Not sure where to start?

Write to us or book a short introductory call. Together we will define what you need to change and where it makes sense to start.

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There is no answer for this word. Try another one or ask us directly.

We start where the biggest obstacle lies between what you want to achieve and how work actually happens. It may be in what is expected of people, in the support they get from managers or in what they need to be able to do. Together we decide where change will have the greatest impact.

Yes. A specific team or part of the organisation lets us understand the situation quickly, test the solution in practice and evaluate its benefit. Based on the results, you decide whether and where to continue.

No. We start with what you need to achieve and what has to change. We use the diagnostic where we need a more precise picture of the current state, to uncover obstacles and to choose the right next step.

We compare strategic demands with how the organisation actually works. We ask people whether they know what is expected of them, what support they get, what they can do, how much time they have and how they work together across the organisation. The result is a clearer picture of where change loses speed or effectiveness.

It measures how quickly and how well changing demands reach everyday work. Across nine areas we measure Effectiveness, meaning how well the conditions support people in their work, and Commitment, meaning how willingly people carry change. We add the expected development of demands over the next two years and role lag: how long it takes for a change in strategy to show in work.

The time and the gap between a change in strategy and the moment roles change with it: what is expected of people, what they decide, who they work with and what they can do. The diagnostic measures it with two questions and by comparing today’s readiness with the demands of the next two years.

We do not assess people or their personalities. We measure the conditions the organisation creates and how quickly change reaches work within them. The result shows what will help people, not who performs well or badly.

Yes. Besides today’s state, for each area we ask how demands will change over the next two years. We ask what your environment will require, not what you would like. This shows where today’s readiness may not be enough.

The next step depends on where the gap between required and current functioning lies. It may be clearer roles, better support from leadership, collaboration across the organisation or targeted development of people.

When new or future demands require different capabilities, decisions or ways of working. We focus development on the specific situations and capabilities people need in their everyday work.

The scope depends on the situation you are dealing with and the result you want. We can start with a specific part of the organisation and continue based on the findings. The collaboration follows five steps: direction, reality, change, delivery and impact. Scope, time and people’s involvement are agreed in advance.

Depending on the brief, you get a picture of the current state and future demands, the main obstacles and change priorities, specific recommendations for roles, leadership and people development, and indicators for tracking change and its impact.

We track how change reaches decisions, ways of working, collaboration and selected results. Depending on the brief, this may include decision speed, the number of escalations, overload, productivity, quality of collaboration or specific operational and commercial indicators.

Decisions and the removal of obstacles change first, which is visible within weeks. Clearer roles, collaboration and new capabilities show within months. What we track and when we evaluate it is agreed in advance.

Start with an introductory call

In 30 minutes we will define together what is stopping your people from achieving results today, how demands on your organisation are changing and where it makes sense to start.

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