Kathryn Kolaczek

Building a Proactive Plan: From Reputation Risk to Readiness

Kathryn is known for creating clarity and control in the moments that matter.

Quickly pinpoint your organization’s biggest vulnerabilities before they become full-blown crises.

How to identify the top 5 risk areas for your organization

Learn why planning for risks isn’t enough—and how true readiness keeps your reputation intact.

The difference between risk management and crisis readiness

Create a team mindset where small issues are raised early and resolved before they escalate.

Building a culture of accountability and early escalation

Use a proven audit framework to reveal gaps, boost confidence, and protect brand trust.

How to use a crisis readiness audit to strengthen your skill

An advanced-level course for senior and rising design leaders ready to address the most common challenges Design Leaders face. Learn how to build your durable design operating system to withstand scale, restructuring, evolution, and growth. Establish mechanisms and high-leverage activities that maintain quality and effectiveness for your teams and for the business. Course Topics + Content Build and activate high-impact teamsApply effective organizational design, strategic planning, and performance measurement Define and optimize your operating systemEstablish rhythms and rituals, shape a positive design culture, streamline processes and workflows, and build a robust reporting and communication strategy Identify the most effective design team structuresLearn how to choose the right team structures for your organization Activate your team’s strengths through organizational designAnticipate common challenges within and across teams and learn strategies for effectively addressing them Create your organization’s ideal design teamTogether, we’ll design and build your design team and organization 7 Live, Interactive Sessions, with timezone-friendly options for most APAC/EMEA/AMER locales - One Welcome Kickoff Session- Three Live, Interactive Learning Sessions including Q&amp;A sessions with guest experts- Two Office Hours / Q+A sessions with Kristin for personalized guidance- One Reflection/Wrap-up Session

Design Your Organization's Operating System 

Course syllabus

Course schedule

Directors+ of Design and Operations leading teams across a portfolio of products and services.

Senior Leaders and Practitioners who are establishing, evolving, and leading a Design Organization or Operations practice.

Operations leaders who want to sharpen skills, learn new approaches and methods, and accelerate their organizations.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

You'll learn how to establish mechanisms, routines, and high-leverage activities that maintain and enhance culture, quality, and community as you grow.

Best practices to build infrastructure that scales

<ul><li>Design and structure a high-performing design organization.</li><li>Effectively prioritize and plan work to maximize impact.</li><li>Utilize visual staffing tools to manage resources efficiently.</li><li>Implement accountability measures to maintain high-quality standards.</li></ul>

Build and activate high-impact teams

<ul><li>Establish effective rhythms and rituals that enhance team productivity and alignment.</li><li>Shape a positive design culture that fosters innovation and collaboration.</li><li>Optimize processes and workflows for greater efficiency.</li><li>Develop and implement robust reporting and communications</li></ul>

Define and optimize your operating system

<ul><li>Learn approaches and tactics that address common organizational and team challenges</li><li>Mitigate these challenges via a fixed vs. flexible framework</li><li>Gain new strategies to keep your team focused and thriving</li></ul>

Identify and anticipate the most common team and organizational challenges 

Guest Experience: Experienced leaders will join to share their stories and give examples of how they navigated similar challenges Instructor Experience: You'll learn directly from Kristin's first-hand experience establishing and leading multiple large-scale global design orgs

Access to first-hand experience and guidance customized to your unique situation

Included are multiple, moderated Q&amp;A sessions with Kristin and other industry leaders so that you can get expert advice on your unique challenges and aspirations.

Q&A Sessions with industry experts

Learn best practices to build a durable design organization operating system.

Kristin Skinner


Cohort 04

Cohort 05

Organizations that don’t express strategy in the form of capabilities often end up asking, “Why isn’t the strategy working?” To solve that dilemma, Capabilities emerge as a “Rosetta Stone” to translate strategy into projects and processes that are needed to produce desired results. We contend that Capability Models replace organizational charts in discussions about delivery.&nbsp;It answers the question, “What must we be able to do to execute our strategy and deliver results?” This is the work of leaders at all levels.&nbsp;Capabilities connect the work of IT, Business Architecture, Organization Design, Lean Teams, the Project Management Office, and other functions trying to get the right things done.&nbsp;Apply methods and tools to define capabilities, practice modelling capabilities and assessing them. You will have more than 8 hours of direct access to the faculty, including time after each live session plus the opportunity to engage members of the cohort and learn from them.&nbsp;Following the course, you and your team will be prepared to look at your organization through the lens of capabilities and lead strategy pursuit.

Extend your professional agency

Get your team to start developing capability models by sharing our library of recorded videos to teach others in your company to implement our framework.&nbsp;Examples: Capabilities as a source of innovation and The language of business.

Bonus #1: "How to" Videos
 

One 30-minute coaching call with your faculty. Let's talk about challenges, strategy execution or a unique circumstance in your company.

Bonus #2
Private Coaching Call

Get access to our library of capability tools and templates to further empower your team to define, build and assess capability models. Examples: Bottoms up Capability Modeling: How to do and when to use and Assessing Capability Performance: Take the emotion out of scoring

Bonus #3: Tools and Templates

BONUS: extras to save you time!
 

Organization Design Professionals who want to adapt their organizational structures in the age of AI-enabled organizations.

Organization Effectiveness and Business Architecture Professionals&nbsp;who want to learn how capabilities address the missing link in strategy.

Leaders at all levels who want to get on the same page regarding capabilities gaps to align and accelerate team productivity.

Who this course is for

<ul><li>Forget hierarchy and apply new Capability techniques and tools to manage up and across the organization</li><li>Bust functional silos! Learn how to develop more collaborative relationships with other leaders to address shared challenges and goals</li></ul>

Expand your agency as a leader
 

<ul><li>Strategy execution is not the work of a few leaders. Earn a seat at the table and contribute to the Mission by developing capabilities</li><li>Close a missing link in strategy execution by defining and evaluating capabilities</li></ul>

Relate Projects and Processes to the Capabilities required by Vision

<ul><li>Develop a common operations language to discuss strategy implications on the organization's potential</li><li>Use capabilities to frame “big questions” to manage up and move forward</li><li>Start building capabilities needed for the future</li></ul>

Rapidly focus, align and activate transformation

Make strategy actionable through a set of capabilities that shape your organization transformations

Jim Dowling

Co-founder, Capable Company

Amber Román

Principal & Founder, Sensata-llc

Richard Lynch

Cohort 3

Unlock the potential of your organization by making strategy actionable via a set of capabilities

Cohort 4

In this course, you will learn the "what" "why" and "how" of meeting adaptive challenges. By approaching challenges from an idealized future state and working backwards to the means to operate and adapt in that future state, you will experience and affect a leadership transformation from individual leaders working alone and together to a organizational leadership capability that acts as one. You will have more than 6 hours of direct access to the faculty, plus the opportunity to engage members of the cohort and learn from them. Following the course, you, your team and fellow leaders will be better prepared to apply Adaptive Leadership and Capability methods to your challenges, conditions and context &nbsp;

Flip the script of transformation leadership

Leaders at all levels who want to grow professionally and prepare themselves and their teams for adaptive challenges

Program and Project Managers as well as Subject Matter Experts, who want to expand their agency and accelerate team productivity

Internal and external leaders of Talent, Technology, Process, &amp; Culture design, development, and adaptation

<ul><li>Integrate statements: Purpose, Values and Vision to define a future state.</li><li>Explain to others how premade decisions guide leaders’ actions</li><li>Relate Projects and Processes to the Capabilities required by the future state</li></ul>

A framework and practices that orchestrate strategy to results 

<ul><li>Develop common language and shared mindset</li><li>Apply shared methods to accelerate decision-making and aligned action; even when leaders and teams work apart</li><li>Frame “big questions” to manage up and move forward&nbsp;</li></ul>

A method to rapidly focus, align and activate teams

<ul><li>Techniques and tools to help you manage up and across the organization for better alignment</li><li>Insights to develop collaborative relationships with other leaders</li><li>A way of expanding your agency as a leader</li></ul>

The ability to connect the dots for aligned actions

Learn proactive measures that you can take to accelerate change when the next disruptive wave arrives.

Rich Lynch

Build clarity, alignment, and the strategic direction needed to enable enterprise AI.AI is reshaping how businesses operate. Decision-making is becoming more data-driven. Automation is changing how work gets done. Cloud costs and value tracking are now leadership priorities. Security and compliance risks are evolving. To compete, organizations need to move beyond experimentation and establish clear, actionable AI strategies. If your teams are navigating these shifts without a cohesive plan, you are not alone. Many organizations have strong capabilities but lack a structured approach to AI readiness. This course gives you that path. Built on the proven 10 Dimensions of Enterprise AI Readiness, this program helps leaders assess where their organization stands, align teams around the right priorities, and develop a practical strategy for enabling enterprise AI. What You’ll Get From This Course ⦿&nbsp;A clear understanding of how AI is reshaping Business ITLearn how AI, automation, cloud, security, and data are driving change across operations, strategy, and leadership expectations. ⦿&nbsp;An actionable AI readiness assessment frameworkUse the 10 Dimensions of Enterprise AI Readiness to assess strengths, gaps, and opportunities across the organization. ⦿&nbsp;Alignment on strategic prioritiesFacilitate conversations that help leadership teams identify the right focus areas and build consensus on where to invest in AI enablement. ⦿&nbsp;A practical path from AI trends to business outcomesTranslate current AI trends into initiatives that drive measurable value and support business goals. ⦿&nbsp;Cross-functional collaboration and leadershipStrengthen alignment between IT, data, finance, security, and business leaders to support enterprise-wide readiness and strategy execution. Learn with a Supportive Community This is not lecture-based learning. It is hands-on, discussion-driven, and outcome-focused. You will work alongside peers from across industries who are also leading AI readiness efforts, sharing insights, building alignment skills, and shaping strategic action. By the end of this course, you will be equipped to assess your organization's AI readiness, align leadership around strategic priorities, and build a clear, actionable path to enable enterprise AI.

Future-Proof Your Organization with AI Readiness for Organizations


Join interactive, instructor-led sessions where we break down key concepts, discuss real-world applications, and work through challenges together. Expect a mix of guided learning, open Q&amp;A, and hands-on exercises to help you apply what you’ve learned.

Instructor-Led Live Sessions


Drop in for live office hours to get personalized guidance, ask questions, and connect with peers.

Open Office Hours


Apply what you learn through hands-on projects, case studies, and skill-building exercises designed to help you gain confidence and real-world experience.

Weekly projects

Get lifetime access to all future course material updates, including workshop templates and slides. Stay current, even as Business continues to evolve in the years to come.

Updated Course Materials


Join the class Discord server for continued access to instructors and community members, even after the class has ended.

Join the Community


Business and IT leaders seeking to align teams and drive a clear, actionable AI strategy that delivers results

Internal consultants and change agents working to assess organizational AI readiness and guide strategic priorities

Cross-functional leaders in roles spanning IT, data, finance, security, or operations who are shaping enterprise AI initiatives

Gain clear, practical insights into how these forces are impacting operations, decision-making, and competitive positioning across the business.

Understand how AI, automation, cloud, security, and data are reshaping Business IT

Learn to run structured readiness assessments that reveal strengths, gaps, and opportunities across teams, systems, and practices.

Assess organizational readiness using the 10 Dimensions of Enterprise AI Readiness

Use proven facilitation approaches to help leaders and teams build consensus on where to focus and how to sequence AI enablement efforts.

Align leadership and teams around clear priorities

Apply real-world examples and case studies to identify where AI can drive measurable business value, efficiency, and innovation.

Translate AI trends into actionable business outcomes

Strengthen coordination between IT, finance, security, data, and business functions to support enterprise-wide AI readiness and strategy execution.

Build cross-functional alignment and collaboration

AI Readiness for Organizations helps leaders align teams, set priorities, and build a clear, actionable strategy for enabling enterprise AI.
