Leading Process Improvement and Operational Excellence Programmes – Dubai, 28 Jun – 2 Jul 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Conceptual · Practical mode: Case study

Introduction

Many organisations run dozens of improvement projects at once yet cannot show that the combined effort has moved strategic results. Projects compete for the same experts, benefits are counted twice or leak away, and early momentum fades when sponsors change. This course equips executives to lead improvement as a governed programme rather than a collection of projects, drawing on ISO 21503, Hoshin Kanri, the Shingo Model and the EFQM Model 2025. Participants test their judgement on multi-sector cases and leave with an Improvement Programme Blueprint for their own organisation.

Course Objectives

• Diagnose the maturity of an organisation's improvement system and the reasons earlier programmes stalled
• Select programme, portfolio and excellence frameworks that fit the organisation's strategy and complexity
• Deploy strategic priorities into an improvement portfolio using Hoshin Kanri and weighted prioritisation
• Establish governance, benefits tracking and capability plans that keep a programme accountable
• Anticipate programme-level risks, including interdependency, improvement fatigue and benefits leakage
• Sponsor an Improvement Programme Blueprint through executive approval

Target Audience

• Executives sponsoring enterprise-wide improvement or transformation programmes
• Heads of operational excellence or business excellence functions
• Chief operating officers and divisional heads accountable for multi-site performance
• Directors of strategy and performance linking improvement to strategic objectives
• Programme directors governing portfolios of improvement initiatives

Course Outline

Day 1: The Improvement Programme Landscape

• Programme, Project and Daily Improvement: Governance Distinctions
• Deming's System of Profound Knowledge for Executive Oversight
• Operational Excellence Maturity Diagnosis with the Shingo Model
• EFQM Model 2025 Direction, Execution and Results Lens
• Improvement Portfolio Health Check Scorecard

Day 2: Programme, Portfolio and Excellence Frameworks

• ISO 21503:2022 Guidance on Programme Management
• ISO 21504:2022 Portfolio Governance of Improvement Initiatives
• Managing Successful Programmes Principles and Themes
• Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix for Strategy Deployment
• Theory of Constraints for Choosing Where to Improve

Day 3: Governing and Steering the Programme

• Improvement Governance Board Terms of Reference
• Benefits Dependency Network and Benefits Register
• Weighted Scoring Model for Portfolio Prioritisation
• Catchball Cascade from Enterprise Goals to Team Targets
• Deployment Capability Plan Using ISO 18404 Roles

Day 4: Complexity, Risk and Sustainment

• Cynefin Framework for Complex Versus Complicated Improvement Problems
• Programme Risk and Interdependency Register Aligned to ISO 31000
• Lean Management System Oversight: Tiered Huddles and Escalation
• Improvement Fatigue and Initiative Saturation Heat Map
• Benefits Leakage Review and Post-Programme Sustainment Audit

Day 5: Case Work and the Programme Blueprint

• Multi-Site Manufacturer Case Study: Stalled Lean Deployment
• Public Services Case Study: Cross-Agency Process Redesign Governance
• Steering Committee Decision Exercise on a Troubled Portfolio
• Improvement Programme Blueprint Drafting
• Executive Panel Challenge and Blueprint Defence

Skills You Will Gain

• Strategy Deployment
• Programme Governance
• Portfolio Prioritisation
• Benefits Management
• Excellence Model Assessment
• Complexity Judgement
• Improvement Capability Building

Why Attend This Course

• Take back an Improvement Programme Blueprint for your organisation, challenged by an executive peer panel
• Hold programme and project leaders to account with governance and benefits evidence you can interrogate
• Recognise early the signs that an improvement programme is losing momentum and act before results slip
• Exchange experience with executives who have led excellence programmes in industry and public services

Conclusion

Process improvement delivers strategic results only when it is deployed from strategy, governed as a programme and sustained beyond the first wave of projects. This course moves from diagnosing improvement maturity, through the principal programme, portfolio and excellence frameworks, to governance, benefits and the complexity and fatigue that cause programmes to stall. The final day turns that material into an Improvement Programme Blueprint, and Core Concept participants leave with a defensible structure for the next programme they sponsor.