Centre of Excellence (CoE) Set Up

We were asked to manage an organisation-wide Development Programme consisting of multiple high-priority business improvement initiatives and corporate milestones. Upon commencement of the programme, it became clear that the lack of structure for teams to seek expertise and support on subject matters was a root cause for many of the problems they faced.

We advised the creation of a Centre of Excellence (CoE) across various disciplines to focus on developing and implementing best practices and acting as a central hub for help and specialist expertise. 

To set up the CoE, we began by defining the purpose and scope. We set very clear goals and scoped the services it will cover and the services it will provide so that stakeholder expectations could be managed. We identified the CoE’s stakeholders which was based on those that will benefit most from the services. We also mapped out who will need to be involved in its development and operation.

Upon clear definition, we developed a governance structure for the CoE. This included clarifying roles and responsibilities, decision-making processes, and reporting lines.

Once the foundations were established, we worked with the senior leadership team to assemble a team of experts to staff the CoE and developed a plan for the work they would be carrying out which included key initiatives, timelines, and resources.

A big part of launching and embedding the CoE was communication and wider change management. We developed a change management plan detailing a series of initiatives to drive understanding, adotoption and utilisation of the service. 

The benefits included:

• Improved performance by developing and sharing best practices, tools, and resources.
• Increased innovation by fostering collaboration between Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and providing a forum for sharing new ideas.
• Enhanced customer service by providing a mechanism for developing and implementing standardised processes.
• Reduced costs by consolidating resources and streamlining processes.
• Improved compliance by developing and implementing best practices and providing training and support.