We understand project management. Although for scientists, project management is not the most interesting part of a grant program it often is a crucial part of the project’s success. Hands4Grants offers you support on your project management tasks and has a vision of helping you to create self-supporting teams in order to keep the costs for management and overhead at an acceptable level.

Project planning and execution

We can help you create your project plans and execute your project according to those plans in compliance with the rules of your grant provider. That sounds simple, but project management has many aspects and the plan is only one of them.

Nowadays you can find an array of planning tools and collaborative platforms. These tools help you to create to-do-lists and enable direct contact between all your team members. Project planning, however, goes beyond the tools used and involves processes dealing with factors like resources, time, budget, specifications, deliverables and milestones or key performance indicators. We are very fortunate to have an experienced project planner in our team, dedicated to provide you with the best project reports and forecasts. This support will turn project planning into a useful part of the project strategy instead of letting it end up as an obligatory part of the project archive or project reporting.

We like to be engaged in a project from the start, as this phase is critical for team selection and the management structure given to the project and we can continue our support until the end when project outcomes will be implemented and sustained. The level of support can be tailored to the support needed and we will always strive for self-supporting teams as much as possible. When successful, that means that Hands4Grants’ support would only be needed in transitions phases between the different stages of the project, keeping costs flexible and manageable.

Project Team

We combine an analytic approach of the project plan with the equally important collaborative aspects of working together in a team. Why? Because the biggest success factor of your collaborative project is the performance of the team. Hands4Grants is there to facilitate team performance. By listening well to the individual perspectives and by integrating these to find the common ground for collaboration, we identify synergies that will motivate people to commit to the project and to increase the value they will get out of the collaboration. Well-designed face-to-face meetings with conversation structures, creative exercises and tools – such as the collaborative canvas – are used to stimulate and build a strong committed team.

Each team evolves along a certain pattern on its way to high performance, which psychologist Bruce Tuckman first described as “forming, storming, norming, and performing” in his 1965 article “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups.” To turn the collaboration into a high performing team, Hands4Grants offers the team a coach by listening well, communicating open and clearly, and by motivating individuals and teams towards solutions. We are focused on creating a good team spirit and aim at generating a collaboration that will last.

As all projects inevitably divert from their original plan, flexibility and ‘going the extra mile’ are trademarks of Hands4Grants in order to offer you a tailored solution in management support. Our solutions involve all stakeholders, including the project team, the grant providers, and clients (if applicable). Only a good collaboration can make the project a success.

Interim- and change management

Are you in an interim period in between managers? Of maybe one of your staff members is sick or on leave? We can help you filling in the gap. With experience in support roles as research advisor, policy advisor, research manager, operations manager, director and coordinator we very quickly pick up on the tasks at hand and take the necessary leadership. Our antenna for group dynamics, knowledge on interdisciplinary collaborations and natural inclination to build bridges makes us especially suitable to jump into the more complex collaborative situations or to manage conflict.

Do you need to re-organise, implement a new strategy or change the way you’ve always worked? We can guide you through the transition, towards your long term vision, step by step while keeping an eye on the big picture. Also, we implement new policy, pick up the necessary managerial tasks and facilitate the dialogues and meetings essential for your envisioned change.

“We make our work last by transferring our knowledge and tasks to the permanent staff of your organisation.”