Service Delivery Conference 2026

Op Connect: Connecting the Team Around How We Deliver

A two-day conference-style experience to strengthen team connection, build shared understanding, and shape the future of Service Delivery under the new operating model.

Two-Day Event Full Function In-Person Conference Location TBD

Three goals. Two days. One team.

We are inviting the team to connect, think ahead to our future together, and align on key actions to get there.

Connect to Our System of Work

Help each of us better understand how we connect to the broader operating model.

Think Ahead

Explore what future work could look like if teams were not constrained by today's challenges.

Aspiration to Action

Test current challenges, explore better responses, and agree where attention should go next turning our ideas into practical focus areas.

What we are doing

People understand systems best when they can see them, move through them, and make choices within them.

Sharing your views

Opposite will conduct 30-minute interviews with each of you, and ask you to complete a survey and self-assessment gathered before the event so that we can focus on your challenges, ideas, and priorities.

Conference-style event

Opposite have designed the two days to be similar to a conference. You will move through stations and activities in groups interacting with a range of different topics.

Scenarios that relate to you

We will build our event around practical stories you share so we can test our thinking in a realistic context.

Playback & reflection

Insights from pre-work and activities will be played back so the group can see emerging patterns in what they value and where there are common challenges.

Whole-group alignment

After smaller-group exploration, the full function will come together to identify the ways of working and priorities that matter most.

Two days to connect and plan

Day 1 reimagines the future. Day 2 tests that future against the current system. Together we aim to produce clarity, alignment and practical priorities.

Opening & Scene-setting

Framing the purpose of the event and the context of the new operating model. Participants are invited to think beyond current constraints.

Warm-up Activity

A light, future-focused warm-up to shift people from business-as-usual thinking into a more open, exploratory mode.

Exploring Four Future States

Teams rotate through four compelling visions for Service Delivery then choose the one that is most compelling.

Group Profile Playback

Choices from the future-state activity are played back as a group profile revealing the individual and team preferences for the future.

Station 1. Examining the Changing Future Landscape

Explore external and internal forces shaping the future based on your survey and interview findings alongside broader trends likely to affect the work ahead.

Station 2. Future Ways of Working Experience

A "day in the life" scenario. Participants choose how they'd prefer work to happen in the future exploring topics like collaboration, coordination, planning, communication and decision-making.

Station 3. AI Personal Profile

Exploring individual's AI thinking styles profile (completed prior to session).

Station 4. AI Crash Course

A practical, confidence-building session on AI including practical examples, and a take-away learning kit.

Day 1 Close

Reflecting on what the group has learned about the future, about itself, and about the kinds of ways of working it is most drawn to — building a bridge into Day 2.

Reconnect & Frame the Day

Reconnecting to Day 1 insights and setting up the shift into operational reality. Day 1 is the imagined the future, Day 2 tests it against the current system.

Playback of Patterns

We will explore the current challenges shared in interviews and the survey. Participants will need to spot the red herrings (what didn't you say) versus true themes (what you did say!).

Stations 1-4. Lifecycle Challenge Rotation

Four interactive stations will be explored built around key parts of the Service Delivery lifecycle scenarios, decision sequences, consequences and reflections on what better would require.

Station 5. Agreeing Future Ways of Working

The whole group identifies which future behaviours and ways of working matter most through live voting.

Station 6. Priority Sorting & Focus Areas

Groups sort priorities into "Act on now", "Build next", and "Let go or stop prioritising" ensuring the event ends with strategic choice and focus.

Close & Commitment

An initial AI summary of the two days, challenging what it has pulled together as a group.

Four future states to explore

Each represents a different emphasis for what Service Delivery could become. Teams explore strengths, trade-offs, and choose what resonates most.

Operational Efficiency

A future built around coordination, clarity, control and smooth delivery. Everything works like clockwork — streamlined processes, clear handoffs and minimal waste.

High Team Engagement

A future built around trust, connection, inclusion, energy and strong team experience. People thrive, collaborate willingly and feel genuinely invested in outcomes.

Innovation & Change

A future built around adaptability, experimentation, learning and new ways of working. The function evolves continuously and embraces what's next.

Risk Resilience

A future built around foresight, strong controls, good decisions and the ability to respond well under pressure. Prepared for whatever comes next.

Four lifecycle challenge stations

Interactive, scenario-based stations that make the current system visible and help teams explore what better could look like.

1

Planning & Prioritisation

How work is scoped, sequenced, prioritised and handed over. Competing demands, unclear priorities, reactive work and cross-team coordination.

2

Delivery & Execution

How work moves from plan to action across teams, locations and contexts. Control, coordination, adaptation, handoffs and maintaining clarity.

3

Whole-of-life Asset Decisions

How decisions at one stage create downstream consequences. Design-build-operate-maintain connections and long-term visibility.

4

Risk & Safety in the Flow

How risk is identified, escalated and managed through normal work. Early identification, controls, escalation, speaking up and safe decisions under pressure.

What we'll walk away with

Shared Picture

A clearer view of who the function is and how it works as one system.

Stronger Connection

Deeper relationships across teams, locations and roles.

Future Direction

Insight into the futures the group finds most compelling and some quick AI upskilling.

Clear Priorities

A prioritised set of focus areas for what matters most going forward.

We'll be in touch soon with more details.

Two days of connection, insight and practical alignment.

Try Opposite