CoE

Why Centres of Excellence Are the Backbone of Sustainable Transformation

/ Hans van 't Riet / Leave a comment

Real-world lessons from building CoEs across domains

In every transformation I’ve led—whether in supply chain, commercial, innovation, or enabling functions—one thing has remained constant: transformation only sticks when it becomes part of the organizational DNA. That’s where Centres of Excellence (CoEs) come in.

Over the years, I’ve built and led CoEs across foundational disciplines, transformation approaches, and specific capabilities. When set up well, they become more than just support groups—they build skill, drive continuous improvement, and scale success.

This newsletter shares how I’ve approached CoEs in three distinct forms, and what I’ve learned about setting them up for lasting impact.

What is a CoE? (From Theory to Practice)

In theory, a CoE is a group of people with expertise in a specific area, brought together to drive consistency, capability, and performance. In practice, I’ve seen them evolve into vibrant communities of practitioners where people connect to:

  • Share business challenges and solutions
  • Scale learnings and continuously evolve best practices
  • Facilitate exchange between experts and users
  • Build a knowledge base and provide education

The most successful CoEs I’ve led were about enabling people to learn from each other, work smarter, and operate more consistently.

Three Types of CoEs I’ve built and led

1. Foundational CoEs – Building Core Capabilities

These are the bedrock. Without them, transformation initiatives often lack structure and miss out on leveraging proven approaches. Examples from my experience include:

  • Program & Project Management CoE
    Built on PMI (PMBoK) and Prince2 standards, this CoE offered training, templates, mentoring, and coaching. It became the go-to place for planning and executing complex programs and projects.
  • Process Management CoE
    Using industry frameworks (e.g., APQC), platforms (ARIS, Signavio), and process mining tools (Celonis, UiPath, Signavio), this CoE helped standardize processes and enabled teams to speak a shared process language and identify improvement opportunities through data.
  • Change Management CoE
    Drawing from Kotter’s principles and other industry best practices, we developed a change playbook and toolkit. This CoE played a critical role in stakeholder alignment and adoption across transformation efforts.
  • Performance Management CoE
    Perhaps less commonly named, but highly impactful. We developed strategy-linked KPI frameworks and supported teams in embedding performance reviews into regular business rhythms.
  • Emerging: AI Enablement CoE
    Looking ahead, I believe the next foundational capability for many organizations will be the smart and responsible use of AI. I’ve begun shaping my thinking around how a CoE can support this journey—governance, tooling, education, and internal use case sharing.

2. Transformation-Focused CoEs – Orchestrating Change Across the Enterprise

Unlike foundational CoEs, these focus on embedding transformation methodologies and driving continuous improvement across functions. In my experience, they’re essential for changing both mindsets and behaviors.

  • Continuous Improvement | Lean CoE
    Anchored in Toyota’s principles, our Lean CoE supported everything from strategic Hoshin Kanri deployment to local Kaizens. It equipped teams with the tools and mindset to solve problems systemically, and offered structured learning paths for Lean certification.
  • Agile CoE
    Created during our shift from traditional project models to Agile, this CoE helped scale Agile practices—first within IT, then into business areas like marketing and product development.
  • End-to-End Transformation CoE
    One of the most impactful setups I was part of. At Philips, in collaboration with McKinsey, we created a CoE to lead 6–9 month E2E value stream transformations. It brought together Lean, Agile, and advanced analytics in a structured, cross-functional method.

3. Capability & Process CoEs – Scaling New Ways of Working

These CoEs are typically created during the scaling phase of transformation to sustain newly introduced systems and processes.

  • Supply Chain CoEs
    I’ve helped build several, covering Integrated Planning, Procurement (e.g., SRM using Coupa/Ariba), and Manufacturing Execution Systems (e.g., SAP ME). These CoEs ensured continuity and ownership post-rollout.
  • Innovation CoE
    Focused on design thinking, ideation frameworks, and Product Lifecycle Management (e.g., Windchill). It enabled structured creativity, process adoption, and skill development.
  • Commercial CoEs
    Anchored new ways of working in e-Commerce, CRM (e.g., Salesforce), and commercial AI tools—helping frontline teams continuously evolve their practices.
  • Finance CoEs
    Supported ERP deployment and harmonized finance processes across regions and business units. These CoEs were key in driving standardization, transparency, and scalability.

Lessons Learned – How to Build an Effective CoE

Having built CoEs in global organizations, here’s what I’ve found to be essential:

  • Start with a Clear Purpose
    Don’t set up a CoE just because it sounds good. Be explicit about what the CoE is solving or enabling. Clarify scope—and just as importantly, what it doesn’t cover (e.g., handling IT tickets).
  • Design the Right Engagement Model
    Successful CoEs balance push (structured knowledge and solutions) with pull (responsiveness to business needs). Two-way communication is critical.
  • Build the Community
    Experts are crucial, but practitioners keep the CoE alive. Foster interaction, feedback, and peer-to-peer learning—not just top-down communication.
  • Leverage the Right Tools
    Teams, SharePoint, Slack, Yammer, newsletters, and webcasts all support collaboration. Establish clear principles for how these tools are used.
  • Measure What Matters
    Track adoption, usage, and impact—not just activity. Set CoE-specific KPIs and regularly celebrate visible value creation.

Closing Thought

CoEs aren’t a magic fix—but they are one of the most effective ways I’ve found to institutionalize change. They help scale capabilities, sustain momentum, and embed transformation into the organization’s ways of working.

If you’re designing or refreshing your CoE strategy, I hope these reflections spark new ideas. I’m always open to exchanging thoughts.