Leadership Center

Project management can only be implemented when we touch on the barriers, difficulties and challenges specific to the one and only organization and team. Although the principles of management do not change, the key is to ADAPT them to the identity of the organization. This identity consists of the current organizational arrangements, the people working in the organization, the tools it uses and the way it is managed.

 

It is possible to prescribe medication without a diagnosis, but in such case we have to rely on chance. For this reason, we propose to start by diagnosing the situation, gathering the facts and using them as a basis for recommending further actions. During the diagnostic process you get a report on the organization in the context of project management and an action plan to be followed in order to achieve the expected results. During the diagnosis, we look for strengths and we seek to understand the key to success in your projects. And where you want your company to be in the future. Because we design a process that will be ready for change.

 

The Project Management Audit is a proven and practical way to comprehensively improve and implement a project management process focused on your Organization.

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Comprehensive diagnosis

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Practical recommendations

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Specific implementation plan

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Visible change

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  • Find out what is hindering the growth of your business.
  • See where you are losing money.
  • Find the sources of frustration and conflict.
  • Achieve your business goals more effectively.
  • Identify and eliminate the obstacles to your projects.
  • Learn about the best practices that match the unique characteristics of your organization.
  • Increase the level of productivity and satisfaction of the project team.
  • Turn challenges into opportunities for your business.

 

Don’t waste time, nerves and money, get a tailored, flexible and efficient way of working with projects at your company.

Project Management Audit - what does it look like?

Tailor project management to your company

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Are you a business owner?

Is your business growing faster and you can no longer control it? You have more and more projects, more and more work, but things are not happening as fast as they used to? Something that used to be well arranged suddenly stops working? Do you feel that you are reaching a glass ceiling? Communication chaos appears and projects are delayed further and further? Individual teams only focus on their specific jobs and are not open to collaborating with others? There are so many things arriving at your office that it is difficult to find time for decisions and for the people implementing projects? Your company has grown very quickly and you want to structure it well, but you do not want to be like a corporate organization? Your people are overburdened and there is still more work ahead of you? You are doing projects on the fly and the company is growing yet you are no longer in control of the throughput and finance? You want to keep the company running in a structured way because you have a big thing coming up? You are working with a client and the project gets disintegrated? You want the best and as a result you are going over the budget?

Your people are running the projects?

They find it difficult to make others work and the projects are delayed? There is chaos and communication problems? Decisions are not being made on time? You can see that the teams fail to exchange information properly, something is not working and people are not delivering? Jobs are stretched out over time and your managers have no control over individual project tasks or the available resources? Unnecessary procedures slow down the project work, increasing costs and adversely affecting the morale of the team? Interpersonal tensions and lack of effective conflict resolution affect the work atmosphere and productivity? Processes are not structured and everything seems to be happening in a vacuum? Your managers fail to make others do their jobs? Projects are not delivered on schedule, deadlines are missed and budgets are exceeded? Communication standards are lacking, resulting in misunderstandings and errors? Inefficient decision-making processes are causing stagnation in projects? Key information fails to reach the right people at the right time, which affects productivity? Employees do not have access to the right tools, which makes project management difficult? Individual teams are working without clear objectives or direction, which affects their motivation and performance? Changes are made to projects without proper planning and communication, causing confusion and resistance? You experience a lack of support and commitment to projects from senior management? Projects are not integrated into the company’s strategy, resulting in low returns on investment?

If so, the Project Management Audit is here for you.

Diagnose what works and what does not work in your projects

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What will you gain?

If you are running a business:

You will make strategic decisions effectively – You will understand how the company’s processes work so that you are able to make strategic decisions more effectively

You will avoid unnecessary risks – You will define any ambiguities or gaps in your governance structure, which will make it easier to address them early and minimize the risks

You will eliminate unnecessary costs and procedures – You will improve your operating performance by identifying and eliminating excessive costs or unnecessary procedures

You will strengthen confidence in the team – By better understanding their needs, challenges and opportunities

You will establish a culture of continuous improvement – Through regular evaluation and modification of the project management strategy

You will optimize the processes and profits – You will receive a specific list of recommendations setting the path towards optimization of project processes and increasing profits

Your leaders/managers:

Will be making more informed decisions – Will have a clear picture of how project management affects team performance, for more informed decision-making

Will improve the efficiency of projects – Will identify the areas for optimization, thus improving performance

Will communicate more fluently with people – Will uncover any potential gaps in communication and collaboration between project team members in order to strengthen their relationships

Will learn the best practices in project management – That is, tools and methods to implement in your teams

Will improve on their leadership skills – Through a deeper understanding of project management mechanisms

Will avoid unnecessary risks – Will find ways to better manage risks and anticipate project challenges

Your coordinators and project managers:

Will be more efficient – Will be better informed on the aspects of project management that are performing well and those which need improvement

Will find out which areas need further development – Will discover specific areas in which they can improve on their skills and knowledge

Will be more successful in managing people – Will get an objective view of the team dynamics and project communication, enabling them to manage human resources better

Will avoid any unnecessary risks – Will be informed of the risks and barriers in the current projects for better planning and risk management

Will manage projects more effectively – Will receive concrete recommendations on the tools and techniques that can improve the project management performance

What is unique about Leadership Center’s Project Management Audit?

A good match for small, medium, large companies

Small, medium-sized and large companies have different characteristics, just like every specific industry. This is an important factor that we take into account for the audit. Because we have worked with companies from a wide spectrum of industries and sizes, at different levels of project and process maturity, we can choose the right solutions that you can put into practice, instead of theoretical models that only work for one specific type of organization.

Working with an experienced auditor

The audit is carried out by experienced top experts in their respective areas of specialization. Among them, there are project management experts, business consultants as well as experienced trainers/coaches in management, leadership and team cooperation. This is important because you will not only learn “how to do it by the book”, but you will also get specific solutions from the consulting team, based on their experience with projects.

Focusing on what is at the heart of the business

Focusing on what works and what matters most for your business. We search for whatever works best for the growth of your business in a simple and quick way. It is not project management as such, nor a team of trainers, which is at the center of attention. It is your company’s core business and the way this business is done. The solutions we choose take into account the unique characteristics of your business, your industry and the practices you have developed to maintain what has made you successful.

Focus on 3-5 points of support

When the main focus is on the essential aspects for the company’s development, the effects of change will be more successful for the organization and will give it leverage in its growth. You get a plan that you will implement quickly, see the results and decide what to do next, avoiding a situation where the only thing to do is “improve on everything”.

The KISS PM® 12 Questions model

The entire audit system is based on the KISS PM® 12 Questions method, with questions asked in a simple and direct language. As a result, there is no need to provide project management training to everyone in the company to enable them to work. Moreover, it is the only method with the assumption of starting with the simplest possible solution and expand it with more complex methods afterwards. There are many methods telling you that you need to know the big picture in order to cut out unnecessary pieces from a complex structure to fit specific projects. With the 12 Questions, there is no risk of people saying “this is too complicated and may be cool, but not for us.” You need the Leadership Center to learn the KISS PM® 12 Questions method.

Project Lever Mechanism™

It is an effective model of project work, a simple, practical and efficient system for successfully starting and completing projects. Throughout the years of working with clients, we have developed a model of project work at the following essential levels: sponsor, manager, project manager and project participants. Project and business management is a system, which you need to approach with a certain understanding of how the specific pieces of the puzzle interact with each other.

A model based on statistical research

The model is not only based on our experience of working with clients and global standards (Project Leverage™ and the KISS PM® 12 Questions method are compatible with PMBOK®, Prince 2, IPMA or Scrum approach, or more broadly with Agile or Lean), but on statistical data, verifying when hierarchy-based management should be recommended, when to give full freedom and whether the project approach and performance are correlated. You get empirically and scientifically proven knowledge.

You are in full control

At every stage, you are able to verify if our work meets your expectations and if our discoveries are sufficient for taking the next step. You work with a partner who offers extensive knowledge and experience in project management and who listens to you. We show you the results of our work and you assess whether we have understood the problems properly, whether the solutions are consistent your vision, whether the workshops meet your expectations. We do not immediately plan for months; rather, we work systematically together on what is needed at the given time. Because you will be able to see value in these quick wins and steer the change in the desired direction.

A ready-made recipe for implementation

You get a set of implementation instructions and a workshop to start putting the post-audit recommendations into practice right away. You will not get a list of things to change, just 2 or 3 points of support, a complete workshop plan to turn the recommendations into practical action in your team. You do not have to read a document, you just start acting and the team initiates change in the desired direction.

4 aspects of the audit

Process – How is project work organized

The first aspect of evaluation is the project management process. What parts of it are already functioning in the organization in a more or less formalized way. What parts are missing. The focus is on how projects are started, run and completed at the company. How teams are involved across the different functions. How all projects in the organization are controlled and managed. To what extent the process reinforces the lessons learned.

People – The cooperation around projects

The second aspect of the diagnosis covers cooperation, communication and identity of the organization. How well the teams are prepared to work across the various functions. How people communicate. Where the barriers are for decision-making or information sharing. How teams deal with conflicts and difficulties. What levels of project management awareness and competence, conscious or unconscious, already exist at the company.

Tools - What solutions support you on a daily basis

The third aspect of the audit is an overview of the tools used in the organization, beside the inevitable Excel. What specialized tools are needed to do the work. Whether the software used by staff supports such functions as reviewing all projects, planning, progress tracking, communication. We look for what is already working in the organization and what gaps there might be, so that as many processes as possible are based on tools that people are already familiar with.

Strategy - What is the essence of the company and where you are heading

The fourth aspect, but not the least important, is the company information. Where it is today. What its organizational structure looks like. How it developed and why it is organized the way it is. What organizational changes it has already undergone. What stage it is at now. What its objectives are for the coming years. What this means for the structure and the employees. What types of projects need to be launched. What strategic decisions have been or will be taken in the near future.

Find out what is hindering the growth of your business, and change it

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Process

Interviews - In-depth diagnosis

The first step in the diagnosis consists of individual interviews with key people. We are not trying to find weaknesses, that is not the aim. We capture the most important information in terms of processes, people, tools and strategy in order to get a 360-degree picture. An interview is a 1-1.5 hour meeting. We have these meetings with the people who are essential for project success.

Summary - Practical recommendations

Based on the gathered information, we present a report showing the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities associated with project management. We analyze the project management process in terms of project portfolio management, initiation, planning, resources, implementation, lessons learned, maintaining the results, and the tools. We give an initial recommendation for action.

Workshop - Specific action plan

The diagnosis is followed by a workshop for those who took part in the audit. The aim of the workshop is to start putting the recommendations into practice in order to develop a final action plan. Depending on the recommendations, the workshops may cover various areas. They let us quickly verify the team’s attitude to the contemplated changes and give the company a final, viable action plan.

Step one - interviews - in-depth diagnosis

During the interviews, we focus on finding answers to the following questions:

  • Company strengths
  • Company weaknesses with regard to projects
  • The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each position
  • How many projects are underway at the company
  • What types of projects there are
  • How many projects are pursued by a specific department
  • How projects are initiated
  • How planning is done
  • How resources are managed and assigned to projects
  • How knowledge is gathered and conclusions drawn

We also gather evidence showing how these processes are implemented, to what extent, using what tools

Step two - summary - Practical recommendations

Once the interview information has been collected, we review the available information in terms of the company’s expectations, current status and project knowledge. No two organizations are the same, so this analytic process is not linear. Most often we would uncover some common patterns across departments, and individual points of good practice on which further solutions can be built. The purpose of the analysis is not to show deviations from global standards (because this is easiest to find at any company without doing any research) but to demonstrate the following:

 

  • The company’s maturity level in terms of projects
  • The 3 to 5 points at which change should be leveraged
  • Repeated patterns in the company’s system that support or hinder project management
  • The discovered correlations are usually not linear but cross-cutting, so we present them in the form of a report, which is also an action plan for the future. At this stage, our understanding of the organization is juxtaposed with how you see it from within the company, so that we can choose the area of focus for the workshop.

Step three - workshops - specific action plan

The workshops rely on the identified points of leveraging change. Their purpose is to initiate the process of changing the attitudes in the organization and to find out other points of potential resistance inside the organization. These can only be revealed when we start to proceed with the change. In addition, the workshop introduces the first steps and diagnoses whether the organization is ready to act at the particular time.

Example workshop topics

Developing the organization's project portfolio
Rules for monitoring and controlling multiple projects
Establishing principles for the project management process
Working out the details of project initiation
Risk management in the organization
Analysis of key persons in projects, working with the client
The role of the sponsor and the project manager - principles of cooperation
Initiating projects - how to measure project benefits
Retrospectives - how to learn from mistakes

With this approach, the audit closes with a list of conclusions and an improvement of the team’s competence, as well as a REAL PLAN of action which you will further pursue on your own or with our support.

When is it reasonable to carry out a project management audit?

Why do a project management audit?

You will learn about the weaknesses in your project management process and eliminate them

You will make better use of company resources, which will translate into savings

You will get a clear picture of the current state of project management, which will make it easier to plan future activities

You will discover untapped opportunities that can become a competitive advantage for your company

Your company will be better prepared for the challenges ahead

You will understand the needs of the team, which will give you greater staff commitment to projects

You will increase the chances of successfully completing projects on time and on budget

Project management audit - selected projects

A COMPANY IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR

“A project for the client stops short.”

 

The company was manufacturing industrial machinery on individual order. In its operating model, they financed the operations and received payments from customers at the end. It was effective up to a point, but at the onset of the pandemic some of the orders started to fall through. Some of the orders, in turn, could not be closed because the customer would specify certain requirements at project end that were not there at the beginning. With the machine downtime and last-minute corrections, delivery was postponed by months. Cash problems occurred as a consequence.

In any organization where you deliver a service and you are paid at the end, if you cannot control the expectations, you may find yourself in a huge liquidity threat.

A COMPANY FROM THE IT SECTOR

“We want to do well for the customer and we go over the budget”

 

This is common situation at many places I have seen. Here I’m talking about an IT company, but what I mean is beyond the framework of the IT sector. You want to do well for the client, you agree on a certain scope and according to your calculations, your programmers will spend X hours doing it. Then the client comes in with new stuff, you come up with new ideas, you want it to be nice, enjoyable, but the job is expanding and in the end your profit margin is zero. You exceed the budget allocated to the project. Like in the previous case, the problem area is similar – working with the client.

A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

“I want to scale the company, but we’ve come up with dangerous gaps in the process”

 

A company operating in the construction industry with an amazing ability to win new clients. Unfortunately, its projects to date did not work out so well, in terms of time and money, that would enable the company to scale up. If you don’t have a well-structured process, accelerating it will make it fall apart. We came in to look at how the process works, whether it is cobbled together from start to finish, how to make sure the project manager does not make a mistake that could cost you a lot. If you feel you have a pretty good process, you are able to tap into the market but there is money leaking out somewhere, it is worth looking at.

FOOD SERVICE COMPANY

“We have grown very fast. We need to organize and we do not want to be a corporate structure”

 

This is a food service company. Their operations grew very quickly, they had a great feel of innovation, technologies. On the other hand, the old way of doing things, the friendly/family model, no longer worked. But at the same time they did not want to become a typical corporation. You should realize that with the team doubling in size, there is a good chance that something in the management system has changed and it would be worth looking into.

TRADING COMPANY

“We have found that projects done outside the silos are an ordeal”

 

A trading company decided to implement an ERP and found that it was not so easy to work across departments. They have found a way to work across silos, it was a success as long as it applied to specific functions, but working across the organization was harder. It was not completely bad, there were nice people, willing to work with each other, results-oriented, but the effect was not satisfactory. They were climbing up higher, more complex levels of operation, they needed more focus on projects.

IT COMPANY

“We were working with SCRUM but it was no longer doing the job”

 

I will disappoint anyone who expects me to criticize SCRUM here. I will save that for a different piece ;) In this example, the team has grown, they were operating in e-commerce. 10 SCRUM teams were working on the product. At some point it turned out that the business requirements were distributed in pieces across the 10 teams and instead of being business efficient, they quickly produced certain functionalities which failed to integrate into a solution capable of doing something. Each product owner has a backlog, we don’t quite know where we are, we cannot get in sync, etc. It was a very challenging case. When you work in this way it is quite a scale. SCRUM will not always get you anywhere in terms of projects, especially when IT is supposed to be working effectively and deliver jobs for the business.

Effective projects start with a good audit

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Industries for which we have carried out project management audits

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MANUFACTURING

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CONSTRUCTION

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FOOD SERVICE

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IT

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BIOTECHNOLOGY

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FMCG

Audit videos and client implementation stories

Business management - how to do it effectively?

Effective project management implementation

How not to go crazy when your business is growing?

What to do when your business is limping?

Prototype projects - case study

Project management in e-commerce

Project management in a construction company

Implementation of project management in production

Rapid company growth - case study

Who conducts the audit

Mariusz Kapusta

Mariusz Kapusta

Magdalena Robak

Magdalena Robak

Magdalena Kowacka

Magdalena Kowacka

Adam Moszyński

Adam Moszyński

Magdalena Misiak

Magdalena Misiak

Adam Richter

Adam Richter

Marlena Wieteska

Marlena Wieteska

Find sources of frustration and conflict
and stop wasting money

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FAQ

How long does the whole audit process take from the start to the presentation of the final report?

 

It takes one month from the kick-off meeting to the final report presentation.

Will the audit interfere with the day-to-day operations of my company or project team?

 

No. What we will need from you is to make your employees available for 1.5 to 2 h individual meetings.

What information will be needed from our side for the audit?

 

The following information will be needed: how many projects are ongoing at the company/department? What types of projects are they? Are they different or quite similar? How are the projects initiated? What are their origins? Who is responsible for them? How does the planning go? What is produced at this point? Who takes part? How is it implemented? How is progress monitored? How do you capture information on possible problems? How are changes implemented? How are they monitored? What tools do you use on a daily basis?

Does the audit only cover current projects or the overall project management strategy?

 

An audit looks at the entire project management process in your company. The parts which are already operating in the organization, in a more or less formalized way. The parts that are missing. The focus is on seeing how projects are initiated, run and completed at the company. How teams are involved across the specific functions. How all the projects in the organization are controlled and managed. To what extent the process reinforces the lessons learned.

What information and resources will you need from us to start the audit?

 

We will ask you to identify the people to be interviewed, the structure of your company, the standards you have been following to date for project management.

What are the auditors’ qualifications?

 

The trainers conducting the audit are top class experts with years of experience in their respective fields of specialization. Their bio details are available above.

Do we get clear and specific recommendations for further action after the audit?

 

Of course. Once we collect information from the interviews and carry out our analysis, you will receive a report with the audit findings and follow-up recommendations.

Once the audit is completed, will there be any further support or advice on implementing the recommendations?

 

Yes, we will not leave you with just the proposals. We will regularly monitor further implementation of the recommended solutions and advise you on an ongoing basis.

What project management practices and methods will be included in the audit?

 

Above all, ones which are simple, practical and effective. We rely on the proven KISS PM® 12 Questions method, which is compatible with other methodologies, i.e. PMBOK®, Prince 2, SCRUM. The advantages of KISS PM® 12 Questions include its practicality (pragmatic approach to tasks, where project management is not the goal in itself, but the accomplishment of objectives), simplicity (agile approach to projects), accessibility (agile approach to projects), flexibility (agile approach to projects), psychology (projects are implemented by people, not procedures, therefore KISS PM and the 12 questions include communication, cooperation and understanding of project participants as an important element).

Will the audit be tailored to the organizational culture, internal communication and interpersonal relationships within the teams?

 

Yes, of course. During the audit, we consider the organizational culture and the way work has been done together and communicated so far.

After the audit, do we get recommendations for training or development for our team in project management?

 

The audit deliverable is a report identifying the areas for development. During workshops, we work out improvements in key areas and then present a recommended action plan for the organization, including project teams. The process of follow-up changes is determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the audit findings and the project maturity of the organization.

How can the audit information be useful for the HR department in typical HR projects?

 

During the audit, we also pay attention to the cooperation, communication and project management competences of employees. We determine how well teams are prepared to work across different functions. How they communicate. Where there are barriers to decision-making or information sharing. How teams deal with conflicts and difficulties. What levels of project management awareness and competence, conscious or unconscious, already exist at the company.

HR staff will receive information which will help them define a training plan or succession plan, for example.  We show the competences which are lacking in the organization or which we would recommend to develop.

Will we have the opportunity to discuss and provide feedback on the audit findings before they are finally presented?

 

The audit findings include a summary of all the interviews, with a 360-degree perspective. We recommend that conclusions be drawn on the basis of the final report and not any partial data.

What are the costs of a project management audit?

 

We determine the audit costs individually, depending on the scope, number of interviewees and length of the workshop.

Does the price include all the component parts of the audit process, or can additional fees be charged?

 

The proposal that we develop for each client includes all the costs.

Will the change be implemented right after the audit?

 

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Here we need to say that we do not make plans for a huge development program unless we know the company’s needs. When we get to know each other, we will propose further actions, and these will vary. Sometimes it is an academy, mentoring for managers, individual training courses, and sometimes we stop there because the change itself was revolutionary. It is up to you to decide, every step of the way, whether you benefit from working with us and whether we understand you enough to trust us with the next step.

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+48 507 548 922 biuro@leadership-center.pl

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    Opinions about us

    We had the pleasure of working with Leadership Center and Mr. Mariusz Kapusta during a consulting and training project related to improving the project management methodology in our company.

    In our opinion, Mr. Mariusz is a professional and passionate about project management. In a substantive and practical way, he was able to convey how to effectively manage the portfolio in our company. With the support of the Leadership Center, we have taken our PM environment to the next level.

    We highly value our cooperation with Leadership Center and Mr. Mariusz Kapusta and sincerely recommend him as a business partner.

    President Bella Sp. z o.o., Dariusz Kostkowski

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