Accelerating Excellence - Creative Enterprise Growth Programme

A full-day closing session with Judy Hart of Investors in Excellence, bringing together everything from the programme into a clear plan for
About this Event


Creative Enterprise Growth Programme: Accelerating Excellence

A full-day closing session with Judy Hart of Investors in Excellence, bringing together everything from the programme into a clear plan for what comes next.

Event Details

Date: 24th November 2026

Time: 9.30am to 4pm

Location: Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne

Facilitator: Judy Hart, Chief Executive, Investors in Excellence

This programme is part of Creative Central NCL, funded by the North East Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council.

About This Workshop

We are delighted to welcome Judy Hart of Investors in Excellence to deliver this final session of the Creative Enterprise Growth Programme.

Judy is the Chief Executive of Investors in Excellence, a globally recognised performance improvement and organisational development specialist with over 30 years of experience working with business owners and leaders across the UK and internationally. Investors in Excellence has worked with organisations ranging from small independent businesses to major institutions, helping them build the habits, clarity, and capability needed for consistent, sustainable performance.

Judy brings the same warmth, depth, and practical grounding to small creative businesses that Investors in Excellence has applied across every sector it has worked in. Her approach is supportive, reflective, and always focused on unlocking what is already there in each person she works with.

Workshop: Accelerating Excellence

Work is moving faster. Expectations are higher. And running a small creative business often means doing everything yourself, often without the time to stop and think about where you are actually going.

This session is about making space for exactly that.

As the final workshop in the Creative Enterprise Growth Programme, Accelerating Excellence is designed to bring together everything participants have learned and experienced across the series. Rather than introducing new theory, this is a day for reflection, consolidation, and forward planning. A chance to look at what has shifted, what is clearer now, and what comes next.

The programme is built around the Investors in Excellence Standard, a proven performance improvement framework used by organisations across the world. Here, it has been adapted specifically for small creative businesses and people of enterprise who want to build a more purposeful, sustainable approach to how they work.

"Excellence is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle

The Eight Modules

The day is structured around eight integrated modules that move participants from reflection through to action. Each one builds on the last, and together they form a single joined-up journey from where you are now to where you want to go.

Module 1: Preparation

We begin by looking back before we look forward. What has worked during the programme? What has shifted in how you think about your business? And what do you want to carry forward?

This module creates a safe, reflective space to take stock of your journey so far, exploring the relationship between excellence and performance, and identifying the habits and approaches that are already working for you.

Module 2: Permission

A lot of small business owners hold back. They do not quite give themselves permission to lead with clarity and confidence, to own their direction fully, or to speak up about what they actually want.

This module is about changing that. You will look at vision, inspiration, and engagement as the three enablers of excellence, and explore what it means to become the responsible owner of your own direction.

Module 3: Passport

Strategy is not just for large organisations. Every small business benefits from having clear objectives, a sense of direction, and the confidence to pursue it with intention rather than just reacting to what comes along.

In this module you will set working objectives, identify the milestones ahead, and build the confidence and accountability to make progress in a purposeful way.

Module 4: Portfolio

Your Excellence Portfolio is a personalised resource you will build and take away from the day. It is a place to store your insights, tools, reflections, and plans, a living document that supports your ongoing development long after the programme ends.

In this module you will begin creating and populating your own Portfolio, setting SMARTER objectives and identifying your core working competencies.

Module 5: Portmanteau

Think of this as packing for the journey ahead. Not taking everything, just what you actually need.

This module helps you build a personalised toolkit for continued enterprise and growth. You will map out your roadmap to success, identify what matters most for your business right now, and develop a clear, practical plan for keeping yourself on track.

Module 6: Potential

Most people are working well within their own potential. Not because they are not capable, but because they have not had the space or the support to identify where that potential actually sits.

This module helps you look honestly at your strengths, identify your real areas for development, and unlock the capacity that is already there in you and your business.

Module 7: Performance

Consistent, sustainable performance is not about pushing harder. It is about building the right habits, measuring the right things, and knowing how to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

In this module you will look at what success means for your business, how to work to clear objectives and key results, and how to use practical tools to keep your performance moving in the right direction.

Module 8: Prosperity

The final module brings everything together.

By combining all of the resources, reflections, and tools from the day, you will build a fit-for-purpose plan for the next phase of your business. One that is aligned with your values, grounded in your strengths, and genuinely achievable given where you are right now.

You will leave with your Excellence Portfolio, a clear Gameplan, and the confidence and clarity to move forward independently.

What You Will Leave With

By the end of the day, participants will have:

• Proven leadership tools and frameworks adapted for small creative businesses

• A completed Excellence Portfolio to use as an ongoing business resource

• A personalised toolkit for continued enterprise, improvement, and sustainable growth

• A clear, actionable plan for the next phase of their business

• Greater self-awareness, confidence, and strategic clarity

• Membership of the IiE Excellence Alumni community

This is not a workshop you attend and then file away. Everything you build on the day is yours to take forward and use.

Why This Is the Right Note to End On

The Creative Enterprise Growth Programme has been designed to give creative business owners not just new skills, but a shift in how they think about and run their businesses.

Closing with this session ensures that participants leave not only with knowledge from across the programme, but with the self-awareness, confidence, and strategic clarity to apply everything they have learned in a sustainable way.

It brings together the practical and the personal. The tools and the intention. The plan and the person who has to carry it out.

Who Is This For?

This workshop is the final session of the Creative Enterprise Growth Programme and is open to all programme participants. It is designed for small creative business owners, including sole traders, limited companies, and partnerships of one or two people, who are based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, or Northumberland.

If you have not attended every session in the programme, you are still welcome. The day is structured to be valuable wherever you are in your journey.

About Judy Hart and Investors in Excellence

Judy Hart is the Chief Executive of Investors in Excellence (IiE), a globally recognised performance improvement, organisational development, and sustainable growth specialist. Over the past 30 years, IiE has worked with forward-thinking organisations across the UK and internationally, helping them deliver continuously improving outcomes linked directly to their business goals.

IiE has worked across sectors including education, housing, public services, and enterprise, with clients ranging from small independent businesses to major national and international organisations. Its Investors in Excellence Standard is a recognised performance improvement framework used by organisations committed to sustained excellence and growth.

Judy brings a wealth of experience to small business development, and a genuine belief that excellence is not reserved for large organisations. It is something every business owner can build into the way they work, one habit at a time.

Can't Make the Date?

If you are unable to attend this session, please get in touch and we will help you explore other ways to engage with the programme.

The Creative Enterprise Growth Programme is a Creative Impact project, part of Creative Central NCL, funded by the North East Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council.