• Expressing the capabilities you are acquiring in plain English to keep all stakeholders on the same page for the life of the project.
• Keeping vendors aligned through powerful and cost-effective incentives to successfully deliver capabilities.
• The sophisticated vendor methods that can cause project bloat, delays, cost blow-outs, risk and failure and how to avoid them.
• Mobilising a culture. Learn research-based and proven methods to successfully build a high-performance culture, attract and retain top talent, maintain a plurality of thought styles in your team and place a clear boundary around your role as Leader

This course equips participants to lead capability acquisitions with clarity and control.

Proven methods and science-backed techniques are explained, demonstrated and applied in small-group settings using real-world and hypothetical scenarios.

Participants receive coaching and mentoring throughout to ensure practical understanding and application. Reference materials are provided to support continued use beyond the course.

Curriculum

Module 1 – Effective Acquisition: A National Security Imperative

Module 2 – Vendor & Stakeholder Motivation: Practical and repeatable mechanisms

Module 3 – Understanding Sophisticated Vendor Techniques: Taking charge of the relationship

Module 4 – Science-backed Program Leadership: Building a high-performance culture

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• define capability statements in clear, plain English
• craft powerful incentives so you get the most out of vendors
• recognise and resist the advanced psychological techniques vendors use
• apply proven methods to prevent cost blow-outs, project bloat and delay
• build and sustain high-performance teams
• attract, motivate and retain top talent
• foster plurality of thought styles in complex environments
• maintain effective leadership boundaries during delivery.

“I completed the course feeling I was in a far better position to make decisions on purchases and contracts that will benefit the Commonwealth. Great course, highly recommended.”

— Defence Procurement Manager

“This course reframed procurement as a leadership and capability discipline rather than a transactional or compliance exercise. I recommend this course to leaders and future leaders responsible for procurement, acquisition and major investment decisions.”

— Management Consulting Firm Partner

“For any person working in or alongside government on high-value, high-impact capability acquisition, I strongly recommend this course.”

— GRC Consultant

“I came away feeling much more confident about making informed purchasing and contracting decisions for the Commonwealth.”

— Defence & National Security Professional

“Matt delivered the content in plain English… his ability to make complex topics accessible was impressive.”

— Defence Employee, IT and Acquisition

“I encourage all decision makers to join Matt on his course and gain an appreciation of what can go wrong, and how to prevent it. Best I have attended.”

— Practice Lead, Internal Audit & Enterprise Risk