I’ve been reflecting on patterns I’ve observed across various PPM transformations. Despite sincere effort and significant investment, common challenges tend to re-emerge: Delivery teams reverting to old habits, inconsistent process adoption, and a persistent gap between design and practice. A key reason? While frameworks and tools receive significant attention, the uplift of capability, the people and teams who form the PPM community of practice is often under-emphasised or inconsistently supported.
The transformation trap: In today’s fast-paced and complex delivery environments, organisations are investing heavily in transforming their project and program management functions. These transformations typically focus on deploying new systems, redesigning governance models, and adopting modern delivery tools. The goal is clear: to improve consistency, control, and performance. While many of these changes deliver initial gains, the long-term benefits depend on nurturing ongoing capability development across the PPM community of practice.
The flawed assumption: There’s a widespread belief that once the right tools are deployed and processes defined, better outcomes will naturally follow. But capability doesn’t work that way. It cannot be switched on via a rollout or checklist. It must be cultivated, supported, embedded, and reinforced over time. Capability uplift addresses this gap by focusing on how people actually work. For example: securing stakeholder buy-in becomes critical to fostering a collaborative, “easy to work with” culture. Uplift efforts equip teams to apply practices with consistency, confidence, and situational awareness. It’s not about adding more, it’s about doing better, with alignment and clarity across stakeholders.
What capability uplift really means: When capability becomes the focus, the nature of the conversation changes. It’s no longer about whether a process exists, it’s about how well it’s understood and applied. Consider risk management: most delivery teams maintain a risk register. But is it actively used? Is it reviewed at critical decision points, or has it become a compliance artefact? Capability uplift helps uncover and close these practical gaps. It bridges the space between knowing and doing, enabling people to apply practices with purpose, not just obligation. It helps shape effective habits across the PPM community.
From compliance to confidence: This behavioural lens also improves alignment between delivery teams and governance leaders. Instead of relying solely on top-down controls, capability uplift fosters a shared understanding of what “good” looks like, and how to sustain it. It promotes a shift from static compliance to dynamic confidence. Many organisations already invest in change management and training, but capability uplift complements these by focusing directly on delivery behaviours in real-world settings. It’s not a one-off event or a maturity score, it’s a continuous, practical effort to uplift performance where it matters most.
Making transformation stick: Capability uplift isn’t the only ingredient in a successful transformation, leadership, sponsorship, culture, and strategic focus all play essential roles. But without uplift, even the most elegant frameworks often fail to gain traction. Uplift creates the conditions for delivery excellence, where tools are adopted with purpose, processes are lived not just documented, and people are empowered to consistently deliver outcomes. It’s the difference between a transformation that fades and one that thrives.
Let’s rethink transformation together: If your organisation has invested in tools, frameworks, or governance redesigns yet still struggles to achieve consistent delivery outcomes, it may be time to reconsider where transformation truly takes root. Lasting change doesn’t just come from structure, it’s realised through the uplift of the people who bring that structure to life every day.
Ready to make transformation stick? Focus on capability uplift for lasting results, get in touch with us today!
