# A management charter written cohort by cohort > A public body with a regional network wants decisions to be made closer to the front line. Its senior managers, then several hundred line managers in successive cohorts, worked on the question one link of the chain at a time. The charter of operating principles was written live, each cohort picking up where the last one stopped. *Real case, anonymised: the company name is invented.* - Company (invented name) : Réseau Orvane - Sector : Public administration with a regional network - Size : Several thousand staff - Format : Two days, then a week in cohorts - Audience : About a hundred senior managers from the network, in some twenty teams. Then several hundred line managers, heads of department and unit, welcomed in successive cohorts over a single week. - URL : https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/cas-clients/charte-manageriale-en-cohortes ## Context - Leadership is launching a change in management practice: make decisions at the right level and give the front line more room to act. - This change goes hand in hand with major reforms already under way. - Frontline teams face more complex situations than before. - Line managers say they are caught between instructions from above and an already heavy workload. ## The challenge Make a principle concrete when it stays abstract as long as people discuss it in general. And get several hundred managers who never meet to write one shared text. ## Design ideas - **A chain of responsibility** : The network is drawn as a chain of levels, from head office to frontline teams. Between two levels sits a numbered link. Nobody talks about “decentralising” in general any more: people work on one specific link, and on the decisions that should move one step down. - **Two rounds of workshops, two links** : Each cohort runs two rounds of workshops. The first is about the link between department and unit: room to act and real use cases. The second is about the link between unit and teams: managing day to day. A number on each badge sends people to their use case. - **A “room to act” canvas** : A triangle in three bands. At the top, the manager’s manager: how I can support, what I will let go of. In the middle, the manager: what they want to take on, their skills, their needs. At the bottom, what they hand over to their teams or stop doing. Filled in alone first, then as a group. - **A charter that changes hands** : The charter of operating principles is not presented: it is written. The first cohort starts from a draft zero. Each following cohort receives the previous version, with the crossings-out and additions in colour, and reworks it. Everyone also picks one principle they already live by and one that costs them. - **Timed peer coaching** : In threes, with a fixed time for each step. The person bringing the case explains it, the other two ask questions, then share ideas, and the first person says what they want to do with them. The timer protects their voice. ## Run of show ### Senior managers’ seminar · two days - **What changes the game** : Frontline challenges set out at the start, then one subgroup per challenge. - **A shared language** : What “deciding at the right level” means: proximity, added value, responsibility. - **The chain of responsibility** : Use cases, link by link: which decisions move one step down? ### Line managers’ week · one day per cohort - **Questions for leadership** : A dedicated slot gathers participants’ questions, one page per cohort. - **Workshops A: room to act** : The link between department and unit, with the canvas, alone then in groups. - **Workshops B: managing teams** : Same approach on the link between unit and teams. - **The charter, next version** : The cohort reworks the charter handed down by the previous one. One principle you live by, one that costs you. - **Peer coaching in threes** : Explain, question, suggest, conclude: each step has its time. - **Group photo** : End of the day, and the baton passes to the next cohort. ## Deliverables - A theme-by-theme synthesis, produced during the seminar from the teams’ own outputs: a matrix of convergences between themes and recommendations on four fronts (training, partnerships, tools, organisation). - The final version of the charter of operating principles, shaped by every cohort. - The collected questions addressed to leadership. ## The role of AI Live votes and questions through a polling tool built into the slides. The thematic synthesis was produced during the seminar, from the teams’ report-back materials. ## Key takeaways - A general principle becomes workable once you bring it down to one link, between two levels that know each other. - The charter is not presented, it is written live. Each cohort inherits the previous one’s work and sees it crossed out and added to. Related expertise : [Leadership offsites](https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/seminaire-de-direction), [Collective intelligence](https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/intelligence-collective), [Seminar design](https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/design-de-seminaire), [Seminar facilitation](https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/facilitation-de-seminaire) --- Source: Flow Design, https://www.getflowdesign.com Contact: victoire@getflowdesign.com, marie-violaine@getflowdesign.com, +33 6 72 15 94 77. Request a quote: https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/nous-contacter. Draft a run of show online: https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/concevoir-mon-seminaire.