Transformation Programme Leadership
Your transformation is funded and the plan is agreed, but the programme is not delivering. We tell the board why and what to change, and we can then lead the programme ourselves.
The problem
Eighteen months after the plan is signed, the milestones have moved by quarters, costs are ahead of plan and benefits behind it, and the operating change the board paid for has not arrived. The monthly status report still shows green.
Decisions are parked at the steering committee and come back a month later. The benefits have no named owner, and the spending has not slowed.
The work is for the board, sponsor, CFO or PE operating partner who needs an independent read before a re-baseline, a decision to stop or continue, or in a new sponsor’s first weeks. It is the wrong fit if you want backing for a decision already made, or if delivery is on plan and the question is strategy.
What we do
A Programme Assessment is an independent read of a live programme at board level. We rate it on six dimensions: governance and decision rights, accountability and ownership, programme structure, dependency management, business change capability and benefits realisation. The board gets a clear answer on whether the programme can deliver what the business case promised.
Multi-programme portfolio assessment
Where the problem is the whole portfolio, we map every programme and change initiative, including those missing from the official list, and recommend which to close, enhance or amalgamate. The board receives a portfolio map with the cost, risk and capacity recovered in each category.
Where the programme depends on a systems integrator or a large consultancy, the supplier contract work runs through Sourcing and Supplier Partnerships.
At Accenture, Stephen led programme controls on a €300M European SAP transformation, then led its UK deployment as UK Implementation Manager.
How an engagement runs
The diagnostic takes two to four weeks and starts with a conversation with the sponsor and the programme director about what the board needs to know. If you go on to design and implementation, we scope those stages then, and each one is a separate decision.
1Diagnose
We read the governance pack, plan, finances and risks, interview the sponsor and senior leads, and rate the six dimensions. At the end of the stage the board has a confidential interview synthesis and a rated assessment to base its decisions on.
2Design
We set out the priority interventions in order. If the answer is to stop, restructure or replace the programme leadership, the report says so. This stage produces a board report and a 90-day intervention plan for your people to carry out.
3Implement
We lead the programme through to delivery, as a continuation of the engagement or through an Interim Leadership role. The governance, controls and reporting we put in place stay with your team when we hand back.