Why Big Projects Keep Failing, and What We’re Finally Doing About It

Across every major sector, from infrastructure to healthcare, technology to clean energy, organisations are pouring billions into capital projects. Ambition is high. So are the stakes. But outcomes? Still depressingly familiar. 

Projects arrive late. Budgets blow up. Outcomes underwhelm. Trust breaks down. Teams burn out. This isn’t just inconvenience; it’s colossal waste, eroded trust, and missed opportunities.

The data is clear: Over 90% of large projects miss their targets. Some run 80% over budget. Fewer than 1% deliver on time, on budget, and to the satisfaction of stakeholders. If these were clinical trials or financial audits, the approach would’ve been overhauled long ago.

So why does this keep happening?

The Problem Isn’t the Plan. It’s the System

Most organisations treat delivery issues as process problems; planning, scheduling, procurement. But these are just surface symptoms not the problem.

The real issue runs deeper and it’s how people coordinate, make promises, respond to surprises, and manage shared effort under pressure. Or more precisely, how they don’t.

Coordination failure is the invisible tax on every capital project. It shows up in half-finished plans, vague roles, mismatched timelines, second-guessing, and “just in case” buffers that inflate everything. And the tools we use Gantt charts, milestone trackers, risk registers don’t touch the core of the problem.

Worse, many delivery frameworks assume people will collaborate once the contracts are signed. But collaboration doesn’t follow from structure. It follows from trust.

We Don’t Need Better Control. We Need a Better Way of Working

At VISION, we’ve spent the last 40 years helping leaders and delivery teams rewire the way they work together. Not with more rules, but with smarter systems, built around how people really behave in high-stakes environments.

Our approach was forged in some of the most complex delivery contexts in the world, from semiconductor megaprojects to public infrastructure, where results aren’t optional.

What we’ve learned is this:

You don’t fix broken delivery with tighter control. You fix it by creating a system that enables people to make clear commitments, adapt fast, and support each other to deliver them.

That system has four core components.

1. Transformational Leadership

Big projects require big leadership, of a different kind.

We help leaders step into a new role: not just technical sponsors or budget holders, but community convenors. That means:

• Calling the room together—clients, suppliers, designers—and setting shared direction early.
• Challenging the behaviours that quietly kill collaboration: turf protection, blame, gamesmanship.
• Creating space for teams to solve problems together, not escalate endlessly upward.
• And sometimes stepping back at the right moment, to let others step up.

Leadership in these environments is not about heroic control. It’s about enabling collective courage.

2. Transformational Governance

The governance models we see on most major projects are built for compliance, not performance. They track outputs, not outcomes. They escalate decisions, but rarely resolve them.

We install a governance structure that does what traditional models can’t:

• Aligns decision-making to different time horizons, strategic, tactical, operational, so the right people are focused on the right problems.
• Builds feedback loops between layers of the system, where insight flows up, not just pressure down.
• Uses structured meeting rhythms, clear decision protocols, and even rotating chairs to avoid bureaucracy and stagnation.
• And embeds coaching throughout, so teams grow in capability as well as delivery.

The result? Less noise. More ownership. And a system that learns.

3. Shared Risks and Rewards

If your project’s financial model is still rewarding people for their own efficiency, not collective success, you’re fighting the wrong battle.

VISION work with clients to reset commercial models around:

• Open-book costing and shared financial baselines.
• Profit pools tied to total project performance, not individual workstreams.
• Transparent contracting that makes innovation safe, not risky.
• And budget-holder accountability for the things that can’t be outsourced: big decisions, environmental risk, political exposure.

This isn’t just fairer. It’s smarter. Because when everyone shares the outcome, everyone pulls in the same direction.

4. Commitment-Based Management™

This is the engine room of how things actually get done.

In our model, work happens through explicit commitments, not assumptions, not heroics, not vague “next steps.”

We train teams in:

• Making clear, time-bound, costed promises to each other.
• Listening for what’s really being asked, not just what’s said.
• Managing their own moods and energy, and coaching others out of resentment, fear, or resignation.
• Surfacing “surprises” fast, so recovery is possible before things derail.

It’s not just about communication. It’s about coordination as a discipline. When done right, it creates a rhythm of trust that carries the team forward, even through turbulence.

What Happens When You Shift the System

At VISION we’ve helped global tech, utilities and construction companies cut delivery costs by 30%. We’ve helped Water CAPEX projects move from design to site in halve the time. We’ve also helped overloaded supply chains improve performance operate like high-trust partners. But the most powerful outcomes aren’t just commercial.

They’re cultural.

• Teams stop blaming and start building.
• Meetings get shorter, sharper and more results focused.
• Decisions move faster.
• People feel safe enough to be bold again.

You don’t just get better delivery. You get people who actually want to work together again.

From Delivery to Community: The Real Goal

Every complex project is more than just a structure. It’s a community of people trying to make something difficult happen, together. But communities don’t self-organise. They need intention. Governance. Language. Leadership. And a way of working that supports trust, not stress.

That’s what VISION delivers.

We don’t just improve delivery. We build the kind of system where exceptional delivery becomes possible…every time.

Ready to turn coordination into performance?
If you’d like to explore how Commitment-based Management™ can unlock your team’s potential and deliver measurable impact, reach out to us at ask@vision.com