Distinguish exploitation of the core business from exploration of new growth options.
Leadership & Management
Organisational Ambidexterity and the Three Horizons of Growth
Balance today's core business against tomorrow's emerging bets using organisational ambidexterity and the three horizons model, with practical portfolio and governance tools.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Reward a business unit only for this year's numbers and it will starve the ideas meant to replace those numbers; free it to chase every new idea instead and it will stop defending the revenue it already earns, which is why most organisations swing between the two rather than holding both at once. Organisational ambidexterity is the discipline of running exploitation of the core business and exploration of new growth at the same time, without one starving the other of funding, talent or management attention. This course pairs that concept with the three horizons model, which separates today's core, horizon one, from scaling ventures, horizon two, and early-stage options, horizon three, each needing different metrics, funding rules and leadership styles. The course closes with participants mapping their own organisation's initiatives across the three horizons, diagnosing whether current structures separate or blend exploration and exploitation, and designing governance and resourcing rules that keep horizon two and three initiatives alive long enough to prove themselves.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Classify current initiatives across horizon one, two and three using consistent criteria.
Diagnose whether an organisation's structure separates or blends exploration and exploitation.
Design funding and governance rules appropriate to each horizon's stage of maturity.
Select performance metrics that fit horizon two and three ventures rather than core-business targets.
Protect early-stage horizon three options from being starved by short-term cost pressure.
Build a portfolio view that shows leadership how growth bets are balanced across horizons.
Who Should Attend
Corporate strategy and innovation leaders managing a portfolio of growth initiatives.
Business unit heads balancing core delivery with new product or service development.
Innovation and venture-building teams seeking protection from core-business metrics.
Senior executives allocating capital and talent across mature and emerging businesses.
Portfolio and programme managers overseeing initiatives at different stages of maturity.
Board members and investors assessing how well a company balances growth horizons.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Foundations of Exploration and Exploitation
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1The Ambidexterity Problem
- Define exploitation and exploration and explain why organisations default to one over the other.
- Identify the metrics and incentives that quietly bias managers toward short-term exploitation.
- Recognise the symptoms of an organisation that cannot sustain exploration alongside its core.
- Distinguish ambidexterity from simply running an innovation team alongside the main business.
Session 2Structural, Contextual and Sequential Approaches
- Compare structural separation, contextual blending and sequential ambidexterity approaches.
- Assess which ambidexterity approach fits a given organisation's size and culture.
- Identify the leadership behaviours contextual ambidexterity requires from every manager.
- Evaluate the coordination cost of structurally separating exploration from the core.
02The Three Horizons Framework and Portfolio Balance
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Mapping Initiatives Across Three Horizons
- Classify initiatives into horizon one, two and three based on maturity and risk profile.
- Build a portfolio map that shows current resource allocation across all three horizons.
- Identify horizons that are over-invested or under-invested relative to strategic intent.
- Distinguish a genuine horizon three option from a horizon one initiative in disguise.
Session 2Funding and Resourcing Across Horizons
- Apply different funding models, from fixed budgets to staged venture funding, by horizon.
- Set stage-gate criteria that move a horizon three option into horizon two funding.
- Protect horizon three funding from being reallocated during short-term cost pressure.
- Balance talent allocation so the best people are not permanently reserved for the core.
03Structural and Contextual Ambidexterity in Practice
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Designing Structural Separation
- Design a separate unit, incubator or venture team insulated from core-business processes.
- Define the interfaces needed between a separated unit and the core business.
- Decide when and how a horizon two venture should be reintegrated into the core.
- Avoid structural separation that isolates new ventures from valuable core capabilities.
Session 2Building Contextual Ambidexterity in Teams
- Coach managers to switch between exploitation and exploration behaviours within one role.
- Redesign team objectives so exploration is a legitimate part of everyone's role.
- Identify performance review changes needed to reward exploration without ambiguity.
- Manage the tension when the same team is judged on both delivery and discovery.
04Governance and Leadership for Ambidexterity
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Governance and Portfolio Reviews
- Design a portfolio review cadence that senior leadership uses to rebalance horizons.
- Chair a horizon review that reallocates funding based on evidence rather than seniority.
- Report portfolio balance to the board in a format that supports real trade-off decisions.
- Set escalation routes for conflicts between core-business and exploratory priorities.
Session 2Leadership Behaviours for Ambidexterity
- Model the leadership behaviours that keep exploration credible inside a delivery-focused culture.
- Sponsor horizon three initiatives without shielding them from all commercial discipline.
- Communicate horizon strategy so employees understand why some bets receive patient funding.
- Review and refresh the three horizons map as initiatives mature or fail.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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