National Commissioning Academy applications are open: September 2026 to February 2027View dates and fees

Immersive two-day programme

Commissioning simulation

Face the consequences of strategic and operational decisions in a live but risk-free environment.

Available in-house

Strategy meets operations

The simulation places participants inside a changing public service system. Decisions made in one part of the system alter the pressures, relationships, resources, and outcomes elsewhere.

Because the consequences become visible during the programme, teams can examine their assumptions and try a different move without putting a real service or relationship at risk.

What participants work through

  • Managing a service as part of a wider system.
  • Deciding whether, where, and how to collaborate with other services and organisations.
  • Allocating limited resources across services with different needs.
  • Designing a performance framework with timely, useful measures.
  • Seeing how strategy and day-to-day operations interact.
  • Tracing the social consequences of management decisions.

What previous groups valued

Participants have described the simulation as a strong way to compare strategic options, see how teams and relationships work in practice, and think hard about the consequences of their choices.

It works particularly well for a group that needs a shared experience before tackling a live commissioning, partnership, or transformation challenge.

How it runs

The simulation normally runs over two consecutive days for an organisational or cross-system cohort. We agree group size, location, facilitation, and price for each run.

Start with the work

Tell us what is happening, who needs to act, and what cannot wait.

We will help you decide whether a short diagnostic, an in-house cohort, a place-based academy, or an existing programme is the sensible next move.