Cranfield chosen to deliver new project leadership programme

Cranfield School of Management has been selected by the Cabinet Office to run a Project Leadership Programme (PLP) in collaboration with PA Consulting Group and The Project Academy for senior civil servants responsible for major government projects.

Cranfield will work closely with PA Consulting Group and The Project Academy to deliver a customised programme to over 300 government staff each year for the next five years.

The programme will combine expert academic theory with practical hands-on learning and will build the skills and capacity of senior project leaders across government to deliver large and complex projects on time and on budget.

Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, announced the partnership in the House on 23 March saying:  “We are launching a new project leadership programme with Cranfield. This programme will help to build project management skills in parallel to our successful major projects leadership academy.”

Mike Bourne, Professor of Business Performance at Cranfield who will lead the programme commented: “Project management and leadership development are part of our core offering at Cranfield. We have worked with organisations across the world to help them improve their capability to lead on important and high profile projects.

“Major public sector projects are large and complex by nature due to their scale and complexity. We look forward to working with our government to ensure future projects have world-class leadership.”

Simon Green, project management capability development expert at PA Consulting Group, said: “PA is thrilled to have been entrusted, in partnership with Cranfield and The Project Academy, with such a nationally important project leadership programme. We are pleased to be contributing through coaching and development, the practical experience gleaned from our 70 year history of leading and delivering complex projects to this group of future project leaders across central government.”

“We are absolutely delighted to be delivering this programme alongside Cranfield and PA Consulting” added Paul Erricker, Managing Director of The Project Academy. Paul went on to say: “We are looking forward to working closely with government project leaders to really understand the challenges that they face, to identify their development needs and to coach them to enhance their project leadership skills.’

 The 5-year contract will start in June.

Cranfield School of Management is one of Europe’s leading university management schools renowned for its strong links with industry and business.  It is committed to providing practical management solutions through a range of activities including postgraduate degree programmes, management development, research and consultancy. www.cranfield.ac.uk/som

PA Consulting Group is an employee-owned firm of over 2,500 people, operating globally from offices across North America, Europe, the Nordics, the Gulf and Asia Pacific.  We are experts in energy, financial services, life sciences and healthcare, manufacturing, government and public services, defence and security, telecommunications, transport and logistics. Our deep industry knowledge together with skills in management consulting, technology and innovation allows us to challenge conventional thinking and deliver exceptional results with lasting impact. www.paconsulting.com

The Project Academy is a niche SME consultancy that supports clients to improve their project and programme management capability. With a focus on the development of senior project leaders, the team’s expertise drives project performance through defining critical skills, assessing the current skill levels and delivering targeted development. In doing this, the Academy works with organisations to mitigate the corporate risk around poor project delivery to ensure it has the right people with the right skills working on the right projects. http://www.project-academy.co.uk

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Marie McCormack, Media Relations, Cranfield School of Management on: T: +44 (0) 1234 754425 or E: sommediarelations@cranfield.ac.uk