The control paradox – how a culture of control can paralyse programs (and your business)

Frameworks traditionally constructed to deliver projects and programs are all about control. As programs grow in scale and complexity, so increases the anxiety about mistakes and rigour of control frameworks implemented to manage risk.

The primary objectives of traditional risk based Control frameworks are to avoid mistakes mistakes, to stop things going wrong.

The problem with this approach is that is it based on fear. The fear of poor outcomes, the fear of wasting money or just simply getting it wrong

While control is essential to successful programs, a culture of fear is not

At Koah, we believe great project and program outcomes come down to people and teams. Groups of people working well together to deliver great outcomes

We think a culture of control (and fear) is not a natural or productive environment for people. We believe people are at their best when they are trusted and enabled to get and supported when things don’t got to plan

So we want to flip the narrative, and develop frameworks which enable things to go right.

We know that if our people and teams do the right things, then great outcomes will follow.

Our model is to increase teams freedom to do the right things, rather than placing controls stoping them from making mistakes. While this may seem seem a little counter intuitive at first, we understand that with freedom comes responsibility. We build cultures in our capital delivery teams that not only foster control but which values and enables Trust, Creativeness, Collaboration, Courage, Learning and Improvement

We believe that putting people first and design our Program and Project deliver frameworks to enable people to be their best will improve outcomes for your capital programs and your business


Koah – People, Teams, Outcomes

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