Enhancing operational execution by strengthening sponsor–service provider collaboration.
After years of
experimentation and
research, we now have
the answers…
Successful delivery requires three things:
Disciplined vendors, strong controls, and healthy relationships.
Successful delivery requires three things:
We help organisations integrate these pillars into a single, coherent execution model.
This is where traditional project management often fails — and where our cross-sector experience excels.
Vendor Management
Why vendor management often fails.
Vendor performance issues rarely stem from capability, but from how the relationship is managed. Poor communication, unclear expectations, and weak governance create misalignment between sponsors and service providers.
We fix that.
What we deliver:
We strengthen vendor oversight and collaboration to ensure sponsors and service providers operate with clear expectations, aligned incentives, and effective governance.
-
Vendor mobilisation support to establish clear roles, expectations, and ways of working from day one
-
Contract performance monitoring to track delivery against commitments and obligations
-
Governance frameworks and reporting that enable effective oversight and decision-making
-
Incentive structures and KPI design that align vendor performance with sponsor objectives
-
Clear issue escalation and resolution processes to address problems before they impact delivery
-
Structured approaches to improve vendor–client relationships and collaboration
Outcomes:
✔ Clear accountability across all delivery partners
✔ Reduced disputes and contractual friction
✔ Improved adherence to cost and schedule commitments
✔ Stronger, more productive partnership behaviours
Project Management
and Controls
Why controls matter.
Strong project controls are essential to maintaining delivery discipline in complex programmes. Without them, optimism bias creeps into plans, emerging issues remain hidden, and cost or schedule pressures accumulate unnoticed. Effective controls provide the structure, transparency, and governance needed to ensure teams understand the true status of delivery and can act early when challenges emerge.
What we deliver:
-
Cost control frameworks that provide transparency over spend and forecast accuracy
-
Robust planning and scheduling discipline to ensure realistic timelines and dependencies
-
Structured change control processes to manage scope, cost, and schedule impacts
-
Clear reporting and independent assurance to provide reliable delivery insight
-
Strong decision-making governance to enable timely escalation and resolution
-
Targeted project recovery and intervention when delivery is under pressure
Outcomes:
✔ More predictable delivery performance
✔ Faster, better-informed decision cycles
✔ Earlier identification of delivery risks
✔ Stronger executive confidence in programme status
Relationship Management
Where most frameworks fall short.
They focus on tasks and timelines — not the behaviours that determine whether people work well together.
Our approach:
Drawing on years of academic research into relational risk, we help teams:
-
Identify behavioural misalignment
-
Understand trust dynamics
-
Build collaboration norms
-
Resolve hidden tensions
-
Reduce friction and conflict
Asking stakeholders to be nice is not good enough. That is why we developed the CURED framework, which fosters effective cooperation.
Our team collaboration workshops, facilitated by CURED experts, typically take place at project kick-off or mid-project when delivery challenges begin to emerge. In a structured and open environment, we bring sponsor and service provider teams together to discuss common issues in outsourced projects, such as misaligned objectives, unclear roles and responsibilities, ineffective risk management, and the tension between sponsor oversight and micromanagement.
Using the game NODEL®, teams work through realistic project scenarios and apply the framework to solve problems collaboratively. This interactive approach encourages open dialogue, strengthens understanding between teams, and builds a foundation of trust and cooperation.
Following the workshop, we provide a summary of insights, recommendations, and agreed actions to support ongoing collaboration and improved project delivery.
Outcomes:
✔ More constructive interactions
✔ Fewer surprise escalations
✔ Greater psychological safety
✔ Stronger, more resilient partnerships
Training's in our DNA
Our project management training acknowledges the work of the Association for Project Management (APM) and the Project Management Institute (PMI) Bodies of Knowledge. It also incorporates our extensive research on stakeholder behaviours (the CURED Framework). Every programme we deliver is tailored to the organisations we work with.
We design training around your projects, your governance structures, and the real challenges your teams face in delivery.
Example Areas we cover:
Delivering Clinical Trials with Confidence
Applying structured project management to complex trial delivery. This course introduces practical project management principles tailored specifically for clinical trials, helping teams plan, coordinate, and control delivery from protocol approval through to database lock.
Managing CRO Partnerships for Performance
Turning vendor relationships into delivery partnerships. Focuses on practical techniques for governing CRO relationships, managing performance, and improving transparency between sponsors and outsourced partners.
Execution Risk in Clinical Trials
Identifying delivery risks before they become delays. Participants learn how to identify emerging execution risks early and use risk management as a real delivery tool rather than a compliance exercise.
Governance That Supports Delivery
Designing decision structures that keep trials moving. Explores governance models that enable timely decisions, credible escalation, and clear accountability across sponsors, CROs, and vendors.
Practical Planning & Control for Clinical Trials
Building realistic schedules and managing delivery pressure. Teaches practical planning, scheduling, and progress tracking methods that allow teams to understand what is achievable and intervene early when pressure builds.
Managing Behavioural and Relational Risk
The human factors that influence clinical trial performance. Based on the CURED framework, this course explores how behaviours, incentives, communication, and alignment affect trial delivery, and how to actively manage these dynamics.
“The CURED team gave us a detailed project review, providing us with actionable insights and a clear roadmap for success, ensuring our goals were not only met but exceeded with precision and impact”.
Justin D.
Project Manager
Redefining How Organisations Diagnose, Decide, and Deliver.
GET IN
TOUCH
THE
FRAMEWORK
USEFUL
LINKS