Chief Operating Officer Masterclass Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Chief Operating Officers, Aspiring COOs and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-EM-144

Before you join: Participants should have substantial management experience, normally including responsibility for a business unit, major function, transformation programme or operational portfolio.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

A Chief Operating Officer must turn strategic intent into reliable execution while balancing service, cost, capacity, risk, cash and workforce performance. The role requires more than functional oversight: it demands an operating system that makes priorities visible, assigns decision rights, exposes constraints early and holds leaders accountable for corrective action. This is especially demanding when operations span regions, regulated activities, outsourced services, complex supply chains or major transformation programmes.

This masterclass examines the COO mandate through the practical disciplines used to run an enterprise. Participants work with operating-model design, strategy deployment, performance architecture, process management, capacity planning, working-capital control, operational risk, resilience and executive governance. They learn to connect board-level measures to frontline routines, distinguish strategic decisions from operating decisions, challenge weak performance narratives and structure interventions when delivery deteriorates. The course also addresses leading through transformation, managing cross-functional dependencies and building leadership routines that sustain execution.

Teaching combines focused faculty briefings with executive cases, performance-review simulations, operating-model diagnostics, group analysis and individual application planning. Cases reflect the pressures faced by banks, public bodies, manufacturers, energy operators, healthcare providers, technology businesses and service organisations. Participants leave with a COO Operating System Blueprint: a practical set of governance, performance, risk, transformation and execution tools adapted to their own operating context. The programme is best suited to senior leaders moving into, preparing for or working directly with a COO-level remit.

What you will be able to do

  • Design a COO operating system using decision rights, governance forums and accountabilities
  • Translate strategy into measurable execution priorities using Hoshin Kanri and OKRs
  • Build an executive performance architecture linking outcome, driver and control metrics
  • Diagnose process, capacity and service constraints using value-stream and bottleneck analysis
  • Construct a 13-week cash and working-capital control plan from operating data
  • Assess operational risks and resilience controls using ISO 31000 and scenario analysis
  • Lead transformation portfolios through benefits tracking, dependency management and governance
  • Produce a 90-day COO action plan with priorities, owners, measures and review routines

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Clarify the practical scope and decision discipline of a COO-level role
  • Improve confidence leading board-facing operational performance discussions
  • Build a reusable framework for diagnosing execution failures and constraints
  • Strengthen credibility with finance, risk, technology and frontline leaders
  • Create a focused 90-day agenda for a current or future operating remit

For your organisation

  • Sharper alignment between strategic priorities, operating plans and accountable owners
  • Earlier identification of service, capacity, cash and control problems
  • More disciplined executive performance reviews and corrective-action follow-through
  • Better governance of transformation investments, dependencies and realised benefits
  • Stronger operational resilience through tested risk ownership and escalation routines

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define a COO mandate with clear governance, decision rights and escalation routes.

  • COO mandate translated into decision rights, accountabilities and board reporting
  • RACI matrices clarify ownership across executive, functional and operational leadership
  • Design authority separates policy decisions, operating choices and escalation thresholds
  • Board packs connect operational indicators, material risks and management action
  • Delegated authorities align spend approvals, commitments and exception handling
  • Stakeholder maps identify sponsors, detractors, information needs and influence routes

Participants can convert strategic priorities into an aligned operating model and execution cadence.

  • Hoshin Kanri converts strategic intent into breakthrough objectives and annual priorities
  • OKRs distinguish outcome commitments from activity lists and local initiatives
  • Operating-model choices balance central control, business autonomy and shared services
  • Strategy maps connect customer, financial, process and capability objectives
  • Policy deployment catchballs test feasibility, ownership and cross-functional commitments
  • Quarterly business reviews reconcile priority conflicts, resources and delivery evidence

Participants can design performance reviews that turn evidence into timely management action.

  • Balanced scorecards separate outcomes, drivers, controls and diagnostic measures
  • Metric trees trace customer, operational and financial results to root drivers
  • Leading indicators provide earlier warning than lagging financial results
  • Performance tolerances define intervention thresholds, owners and response times
  • Weekly operating reviews challenge variance narratives, forecasts and corrective actions
  • A3 reports frame problems, evidence, countermeasures and follow-up commitments

Participants can diagnose operational constraints and select targeted service and productivity interventions.

  • Value-stream mapping exposes handoffs, queues, rework and customer waiting
  • Theory of Constraints identifies system bottlenecks before local productivity improvements
  • Little's Law links work-in-progress, throughput and cycle-time performance
  • Service blueprints connect customer journeys, backstage processes and failure points
  • Standard work reduces variation in high-volume and regulated activities
  • Capacity models test demand scenarios, staffing levels and service commitments

Participants can use operating data to improve cash discipline, cost control and investment decisions.

  • 13-week rolling cash forecasts combine receipts, payroll and supplier commitments
  • Working-capital cycles link receivables, inventory, payables and operating decisions
  • Zero-based budgeting tests cost purpose, demand and accountable ownership
  • Unit economics reveal margin erosion by customer, product and service channel
  • Benefits cases distinguish cashable savings, cost avoidance and revenue effects
  • Capital allocation gates investments through strategic fit, risk and return

Participants can manage critical suppliers and service dependencies through measurable controls and contingencies.

  • SCOR model links plan, source, make, deliver and return performance
  • Supplier segmentation differentiates strategic partners, bottleneck suppliers and transactional vendors
  • Service-level agreements specify outcomes, measurement rules, remedies and governance
  • Should-cost analysis challenges supplier pricing using demand and cost drivers
  • Third-party risk assessments test concentration, substitutability and exit readiness
  • Control towers combine demand, inventory, supplier and transport exception data

Participants can prioritise digital operations initiatives while controlling data, automation and adoption risks.

  • Process mining identifies actual workflows, deviations, rework and automation candidates
  • Automation portfolios rank opportunities by value, feasibility, control and adoption
  • Data ownership assigns quality standards, access rights and remediation responsibilities
  • Master-data controls prevent reporting inconsistencies across customers, products and suppliers
  • Technology roadmaps sequence platforms, integrations, retirements and capability releases
  • Product operating models align technology teams with measurable business outcomes

Participants can establish risk and resilience routines that protect critical operations under disruption.

  • ISO 31000 risk assessments connect causes, events, impacts and controls
  • Bow-tie analysis maps preventive barriers, recovery controls and escalation triggers
  • Business impact analysis prioritises critical services, recovery times and dependencies
  • Scenario planning tests severe but plausible disruption and management responses
  • Incident command structures establish roles, decision cadence and communications protocols
  • Lessons-learned reviews convert disruptions into control improvements and ownership

Participants can govern transformation portfolios while sustaining operational performance and workforce commitment.

  • Transformation charters define outcomes, scope, sponsorship, funding and decision rights
  • Benefits-realisation maps connect initiatives, capabilities, adoption and measurable outcomes
  • Dependency mapping exposes sequencing risks across processes, technology and suppliers
  • Change impact assessments identify role, process, policy and capability implications
  • Transformation control rooms track milestones, risks, decisions and benefits evidence
  • Leadership narratives explain trade-offs, non-negotiables and local implementation choices

Participants can establish an executive cadence and prioritised 90-day plan for operating improvement.

  • Executive cadences integrate daily control, weekly reviews and monthly governance
  • Gemba walks test reported performance against frontline work and customer reality
  • Skip-level listening surfaces hidden constraints, cultural signals and execution barriers
  • Decision logs record commitments, assumptions, reversals and accountable executives
  • 90-day plans sequence stabilisation, diagnosis, intervention and performance follow-through
  • Personal leadership commitments specify behaviours, stakeholders, measures and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. COO Operating System Blueprint
  2. Decision Rights and Governance Matrix
  3. Executive Performance Review Pack Template
  4. 13-Week Cash Control Plan
  5. Operational Resilience Scenario Checklist
  6. 90-Day COO Action Plan

Who should attend

  • Chief Operating Officers — strengthen enterprise-wide execution, control and governance routines
  • Aspiring COOs — prepare for the breadth of a senior operating leadership remit
  • Chief Transformation Officers — connect change portfolios to operating performance and benefits
  • Business Unit Presidents — improve delivery discipline across functions, services and markets
  • Operations Directors — move from functional management to enterprise operating leadership
  • Chief of Staff Leaders — support executive governance, priorities and performance follow-through

Skills and tools covered

Operating model designStrategy deploymentPerformance managementOperational resilienceWorking capital controlTransformation governance

Tools and standards

Hoshin Kanri, OKRs, SCOR model, ISO 31000

How the course runs

Training methodology

Faculty briefings introduce the operating disciplines and frameworks used by effective COOs. Executive cases examine competing demands involving service failure, cost pressure, regulatory scrutiny, transformation delay and cash constraints. Participants analyse operating data, conduct structured diagnostics, test decisions in performance-review and disruption simulations, and compare approaches with senior peers. Group work focuses on practical trade-offs rather than theory alone. Individual application planning converts course methods into a prioritised 90-day agenda, supported by faculty feedback.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have substantial management experience, normally including responsibility for a business unit, major function, transformation programme or operational portfolio. They should be comfortable interpreting management accounts, performance dashboards, risk reports and operating plans, and should be prepared to discuss current organisational challenges at an appropriate level of confidentiality. Prior COO experience is not required. The course does not require advanced mathematics, coding, formal project-management certification or prior knowledge of every framework used. It is not designed as an introductory operations-management course.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

This is designed for senior leaders with meaningful responsibility for operations, a business unit, transformation or enterprise support functions. Participants should be able to interpret operational and financial performance information and contribute senior-level examples.

Bring a current operating challenge, such as a service issue, transformation portfolio, cost target, control concern or growth constraint. A laptop is useful for working with course templates, but no specialist software is required.

It is best suited to current COOs, aspiring COOs, operations directors, business unit leaders, transformation executives and chiefs of staff supporting executive operations. It is not aimed at first-line supervisors or participants new to management.

The course addresses enterprise leadership rather than a single operational discipline or project methodology. It focuses on executive governance, strategy deployment, financial control, resilience and cross-functional execution.

Participants develop a 90-day COO action plan and leave with templates for governance, performance reviews, cash control and resilience planning. These materials can be adapted to an existing operating rhythm or a new leadership remit.

The programme runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided across ten connected modules, faculty input, case analysis, simulations, peer discussion and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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