Why Major Transformation Programs Fail Before Leaders See the Risk

Host Laurent Cochet interviews Peter Wardle, co-founder of Intelligent Assessments and Managing Director of Mainstay Management Consulting, who has 25+ years in complex transformation, project assurance and program recovery. Peter explains how he moved from turning around failing projects to digitizing assessments for continuous assurance. He also covers why organizations spot major risks too late, and why a single quiet voice can matter more than an average score.In this episode: - Peter's path from the Royal Engineers and telecoms to contracting on failing projects and programmes - How the Mainstay health check was digitised (over 2 million variables) and led to Intelligent Assessments - Why consistent, evidence-backed data matters, since AI analytics are only as good as the underlying data - A big-four "A-" assessment of a program whose business case assumptions were false - Why "assurance" is often heard as "audit", and how the three lines of defence model fits - A two-question anonymous survey where one team member said 0% while others said 90-100% - Plans for a marketplace where subject matter experts can sell their assessments <!--THE END--> - Late risk detection: Peter describes a program given an "A-" by a big-four assessment even though its business case assumptions were false. 0:01 - Intro and guest introduction1:40 - From Royal Engineers and telecoms to program turnarounds3:47 - Founding Mainstay Consulting and the health-check methodology5:34 - Digitising the health check and the idea behind Intelligent Assessments7:52 - The problem solved: consistent assessments, trends and evidence-backed data9:33 - Why major risks are identified too late14:29 - Hardest parts of building and scaling the business17:25 - Do customers understand continuous assurance?20:21 - Anonymous survey example: the go/no-go story25:29 - The next 12-18 months: controlled growth and a marketplace27:52 - Target markets: project management and regulated industries29:25 - Rapid-fire: multilingual platform, "Prove it" and red-amber-green31:56 - Advice to his younger self34:09 - Where to find Peter34:35 - Sign-off and outro **Key points** project assurance, continuous assurance, transformation failure, project risk management, programme assurance, program recovery, enterprise transformation, project governance, evidence based decision making, project health check, transformation risk, project management, PMO, project delivery, programme management, risk management, maturity assessment, regulatory compliance, assessment platform, #AIInterConnect, #AIInterConnectPodcast, #PeterWardle, #IntelligentAssessments, #MainstayConsulting, #ProjectManagement, #ProgramManagement, #ProgrammeManagement, #ProjectAssurance, #ContinuousAssurance, #ProjectRecovery, #ProjectRisk, #RiskManagement, #ProjectGovernance, #Transformation, #BusinessTransformation, #DigitalTransformation, #EnterpriseTransformation, #ProjectDelivery, #PMO, #ProjectHealthCheck, #EvidenceBased, #DecisionMaking, #MaturityAssessment, #Assessment, Peter Wardle, Co-Founder of Intelligent Assessments and Managing Director of Mainstay Management Consulting, joins AI InterConnect to explain why major transformation programs can look healthy while serious risks remain hidden. Drawing on more than 25 years around project delivery and recovery, Peter explains how weak evidence, inconsistent assessments and human behaviour can distort executive decision-making. He shares why annual reviews often fail, how continuous assurance can surface problems earlier, and why a single dissenting voice can reveal more than an average score. The conversation also covers the evolution from consulting health checks to a configurable assessment platform, the role of evidence in AI analytics, regulated industries, market education and Intelligent Assessments' ambition to become a global marketplace for assessment frameworks. Subscribe to AI InterConnect for founder conversations on AI, technology and business growth.