COL — Certified Operational Leader
For leaders formally accountable for a significant operational unit, department or programme, putting into effect a strategy set by others.
Who this level is for
Leaders who run a department, division, service or major programme, aligning multiple teams and functions, and carrying sustained accountability for resources, risk and delivery.
This level fits if your leadership looks like
- Running a department, division, service or major programme
- Delivering a transformation decided at executive level
- Managing a unit-wide risk or resourcing crisis
- Aligning several teams to one operational plan
- Building capability and succession across the unit
It may not fit yet if
- Below this level, leadership crosses boundaries through influence. That is CTL. COL adds formal, sustained accountability for a significant unit.
- Above this level, you set the strategic framework for a whole organisation or major institutional unit. That is CSL. The size of your department is not the test; who sets the framework is.
Common misunderstanding: “My department is huge, so I must be CSL.” If someone else set the strategy you deliver, it is COL.
The scope you lead: Operations
A significant operational unit, department or programme, executing an organisational strategy set by others.
The question that decides it: Do you hold formal accountability for a significant unit, putting into effect a strategic framework set by others?
What you would need to demonstrate
Direction
Translating a strategy set by others into clear operational direction.
People
Developing capability and succession across teams and functions in your unit.
Change
Leading operational change and transformation in response to strategic direction.
Accountability
Owning resources, risk and delivery at operational-unit scale.
Stakeholders
Engaging stakeholders across a significant delivery area, including the authority that set the strategy.
Evidence that might support it
For example:
- Operational plans cross-referenced to the approved strategy
- Resource and budget decisions
- Risk registers and escalations
- Governance papers
- Unit performance data
- Succession plans
You identify and evidence leadership you have actually demonstrated. You are not expected to create leadership experiences for the certification.
How it works
- Enquire or applyTell LII about your leadership.
- Eligibility and levelLII confirms your eligibility and the certification that fits.
- Build your evidenceYou build and submit evidence from your own work.
- Independent decisionIndependent assessors review it and a decision is confirmed.
What happens next
Talk to LII about whether COL fits your leadership. If your evidence fits an adjacent certification better, LII will tell you.