Excellence in any field is the result of the application of proven best practices. As Aristotle put it, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit."
For example, there is the magic number of 10,000: the number of hours of directed practice in one's chosen discipline that is a predictive measure of excellence. Check out this article.
For companies, one critical success factor for an effective Center of Excellence is how well the CoE aligns with the various organizational competencies. There are seven major categories of these competencies that I've classified broadly into three groups:
- architecture
- execution
- enablement
Each of the seven major competency categories have three sub-competencies. In all, every company must address these twenty-one competencies, which are 'horizontal' in nature, i.e., they are independent of, and applicable to, any industry, vertical, or business model.
To make the implementation of a CoE truly effective and efficient, we have to focus on a subset of these competencies. I'd never advocate that a CoE work on all twenty-one competencies at once!
For more information, check this out.
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