The hardest part of centres of management excellence is rarely deciding — it is holding the decision when it becomes unpopular. Authority is granted by the organisation; credibility in management excellence is earned separately. Organisations that document this aspect of organisational leadership properly resolve disputes about it far more quickly. It is pitched for practitioners with responsibility for centres of management excellence, not for observers of it. Moving the organisational leadership capability from written policy into daily practice is not achieved by a single decision. Participants gain a realistic view of what management excellence costs and what it returns. It treats centres of management excellence as an operating discipline and equips participants to run it as one. The method assumes participants will be challenged on their handling of management excellence and prepares them for it. Work concludes with a self-assessment of this part of organisational leadership that participants can repeat annually.
Expected Learning Outcomes
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Verify that improvements to centres of management excellence have held six months after they were introduced.
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Document decisions about management excellence in a form that remains useful after the people change.
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Judge when to escalate centres of management excellence and when to absorb it.
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Set direction on management excellence that people can act on without further interpretation.
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Recognise when centres of management excellence needs a different leadership style than the one that got you here.
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Prepare a short, evidence-based briefing on management excellence for senior management.
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Set standards on centres of management excellence and apply them consistently regardless of who is involved.
Who Should Attend
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Newly promoted managers taking on centres of management excellence for the first time.
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Internal auditors reviewing how management excellence is designed and operated.
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Team leaders responsible for daily delivery of centres of management excellence.
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Newly appointed managers taking on management excellence for the first time.
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Consultants coaching leadership teams on centres of management excellence.
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Project and programme managers whose success depends on management excellence.
Course Modules
Open any module to see its sessions and topics.
01
Centres of management excellence: resilience and the personal cost of leading
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Getting other functions to support centres of management excellence
Identify the data already collected that bears on centres of management excellence.
Identify single points of dependency in management excellence and reduce them.
Check that centres of management excellence still works when volumes rise unexpectedly.
Check whether incentives anywhere reward behaviour that undermines management excellence.
Session 2Holding the line on management excellence when it costs you
Test whether the team can explain centres of management excellence in their own words.
Agree the standard on management excellence and confirm it applies to everyone.
Collect evidence on the present handling of centres of management excellence before proposing changes.
Build the internal briefing that explains management excellence to those affected.
02
Management excellence: influence across functions you do not control
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Showing that management excellence changed something measurable
Name a single owner for each element of centres of management excellence.
Set the review interval for management excellence and who attends.
Identify your successor for centres of management excellence and the gap they need to close.
Rehearse the briefing on management excellence that would follow an incident.
Session 2Applying the standard on management excellence to your best performer
State the outcome expected from centres of management excellence in a single sentence anyone can repeat.
Set the decision rights on management excellence: who decides, who is consulted, who is told.
Confirm that the people affected by centres of management excellence heard it from you first.
Identify where judgement in management excellence is legitimate and where it is not.
