Leading Complex Transformation Programmes

Sales Nova is trusted by clients to lead the delivery of complex organisational transformation, change and commercial growth programmes. We lead programmes in SMEs and in the Public Sector.

Our experienced programme leaders, robust systems and tools provide clients with the assurance of successful delivery and a transparent “no surprises” approach to the identification and mitigation of risks. We govern not only the delivery of projects, but the effectiveness of the PMO, project managers and the project management process. We ask the challenging questions to be sure all workstreams, risks, and progress are fully understood, clearly communicated to stakeholders, and that decisions required are well informed & actioned without delay.

We often inherit programmes & projects that must be delivered to imminent deadlines, in circumstances in which delivery is behind plan, over-budget, and where control and risk management are not to the desired level. We rapidly assess the situation, identify recovery options, agree the way forward with senior management, and then act to establish control and deliver.

Our approach is set out below:

Initial Diagnostic: Where we are brought in to take control of an existing programme, we quickly review the scale, scope and state of progress of a programme. We then report to senior management, proposing actions to bring the programme under control using the framework below.

Governance: We ensure there is a clear, effective governance framework for projects:
- At Board level- Programme Board:
  - To review business cases & budgets, agree priorities, and approve the resourcing and mobilisation of individual business improvement, change and growth projects.
  - At least monthly the Project Board undertakes executive level review of live projects.
  - The Project Board acts as the ultimate decision maker for ‘red’ risks and recovery actions that exceed the authority of programme management. We ensure agile access to Project Board members so that decisions escalating to them are made quickly and on a well-informed basis, so as do not to delay progress.
- At Senior Management (MD or CEO) level- Executive Programme Review:
  - Reviewing the effectiveness of the PMO and project managers, including project management events, project KPI reporting, and driving ‘get to green’ recovery actions for red and amber work elements and risks.
- Reporting:
  - The production of visual programme status, risks, decisions required, KPIs and financial cost/benefit reports for Executive and Board reviews.
  - Behind these, documents linked back through the PMO to workstream leads, are detailed project plans with work breakdown structures, resource plans, risk registers and budgets.

Prioritisation & Resourcing:
- We ensure that programme objectives are clear, with all projects having a robust business case, a clear charter and a detailed project & resourcing plan.
- Where there are several potential projects competing for resources, we review the prioritisation of projects with senior management to ensure optimisation of the order of delivery of projects for benefit to the business.
- We look very carefully at resourcing, especially in SMEs where resources are scarce, to ensure that the allocation of individuals’ time to projects is realistic and does not conflict with or threaten the delivery of core “business as usual.”
- Where a project involves significant change for employees, a specialist change manager will be engaged to support employees through the project. Working with HR and project managers they will address employee concerns and ensure they are trained and inducted in new ways of working.

Delivery:
- Our programme leader will review delivery progress and risk status with the PMO, project managers and key team members. Depending on the scale of projects and the delivery timescales, reviews may be daily, weekly or fortnightly.
- Project KPIs are monitored including financial cost and benefit throughout the project lifecycle.
- The review identifies workstream actions, risks and mitigations that require recovery plans or, where required, agile escalation to senior management.