“A man should never be appointed to a managerial position if his vision focuses on people’s weaknesses rather than on their strengths. The man who always knows what people cannot do, but never sees what they can do, will undermine the spirit of the organization. Of course, a manager should have a clear grasp of the limitations of his people, but he should see these as limitations on what they can do, and as a challenge to them to do better.” – Peter Drucker

The purpose of a Centre of Excellence (COE) approach is a repository of knowledge, templates, and best practices that allow projects, and people to succeed. It is about lessons learned. The goal is to highlight what works and the best way to approach challenges. Employees do not feel chastised, but proud; they contribute rather than detract. This can be a tremendously motivating factor for employees and teams, and a powerful advantage for organizations.

Organizations that set up a Centre of Excellence take the best from a variety of places and offer them as tools to help others be successful. It has value to those who are trying to complete projects to look at what’s worked in the past. But imagine if you were the one who contributed that knowledge? If you see your contribution applied to other areas or projects, it creates a tremendous sense of pride!

What often happens, though, is that organizations take all this excellence and put it into a project management office. It then becomes part of a checklist: “Bob had 15-minute daily meetings with the project managers. Ok, let’s put it on the list.” Then it is simply something to tick off – not a tool of value in itself.

The Centre of Excellence approach offers the best tools, methodologies, and processes. They’re there to be utilized, and going a step further. People can teach you how to use them effectively or direct you to whomever in the organization did it before you. A project is its own unique being. If you need to tweak or adjust it to make these tools work for you, then do so. Become a contributor to the organization’s intellectual capital in the process.

Reviews become positive learning processes as opposed to policing mechanisms. When you create a positive environment and an educational process as well as elevate your teams and individuals, you get that level of esprit de corps. People feel better… They’ve contributed; they have done something of value. Excellence breeds excellence, and an engaged workforce.