August 2025

What does operational excellence really mean? At its core, it is the continuous pursuit of improving performance across every part of an organisation, delivering value while minimising waste, in a culture where every colleague is empowered and expected to improve the way work gets done.

Yet operational excellence only works if everyone buys into what the organisation is trying to achieve. For most development workers, that buy-in requires evidence that their work is truly benefiting the communities we serve, through rigorous impact evaluation and, just as importantly, through an ongoing, open dialogue with those communities about what they need.

Beliefs are the catalyst of developmental change; systems of operational excellence optimise its delivery. That belief is the pre-condition of operational excellence at Pharo Foundation and beyond.

Thomas Mason, CEO, Pharo Foundation