Why centres of excellence keep failing

Centers of Excellence solutions consistently fail - why is that? I think I found some ground for the approach I've been trying to implement with MIT's help.

This week's MIT Sloan module on "Harnessing the Crowd" enabled the concept I've been trying to apply: involving stakeholders in active design, rather than passive acceptance. There's a powerful wave of collaborative change happening, and we can leverage it so much further.

After years leading COEs in HR, I'm excited about evolving it through the change of role we can place. While the traditional COE approach isn't broken, it's just ready for transformation.

The Shift: From Expert to Enabler

Instead of asking "What should we build?" I've started asking:

"Who will actually use this?"

"What do our HR partners see in the field?"

"How do managers really make decisions?"

"What would employees design if they could?"

The answers are always better than anything I could create alone.

Breaking Down the Silos

My current AI project exemplifies this shift. Rather than approaching it as a "COE initiative", we've dropped that concept entirely. The focus is simple: products and deliverables that solve real problems.

The result? Solutions that people actually want to use.

The Question That Keeps Me Up

How do we scale this approach? How do we consistently harness collective intelligence without falling back into expert-driven design patterns?

I'm convinced the future of HR isn't about having all the answers - it's about asking better questions and creating spaces where the crowd can solve complex challenges together.

What's your experience with collaborative design in HR? Have you seen traditional COE models evolve?