Applying proven models to real-world situations.
Each program connects proven management frameworks to the operational reality of your team. The goal is judgment to act differently on "Monday".
We begin with a question — and follow a disciplined four-step process from diagnosis to decision. The process is iterative: after Debrief, clients return to Discover with a sharper question.
What is the real problem or opportunity?
We establish a fact-based definition before any solution is proposed.
What does the right solution look like?
We apply Design Thinking to find the best path forward for your specific context.
How do we execute with precision?
We implement alongside your team, building systems and measuring results against the objectives defined in Discover.
What did we learn?
We compare results to intent, surface lessons, and transfer knowledge.
The stated problem was a skills gap. The real problem was behavioural. Teams had the tools but lacked a shared model for why planning discipline matters.
The solution had to address the why before the how. A single governing principle shaped everything: a weak Work Breakdown Structure makes forecasting impossible. That theory determined the workshop design.
Three sessions across North American time zones. Teams applied the principle to their own projects, their own WBS gaps, their own forecasting challenges.
The client returned to Discover twice, each time with a sharper question. First: how do we build trust between Project Controllers and Project Managers? Then: how do we make the value of Project Controls visible to the people it serves?
Since 1990, Mount Royal University's Faculty of Continuing Education has partnered with organisations to build capability and respond to change. Every Academy program is co-delivered through this partnership. Participants receive co-branded certificates from a leading Canadian university.
MRU Custom Training →This partnership has delivered some of the most consistent results we have seen across our Custom Training portfolio. Participants leave with frameworks they apply immediately. The outcomes speak for themselves.
Strategic Partnerships, Mount Royal UniversityTarka Consulting brings Theory in Practice methodology to enterprise clients across North America. Together, we deploy the same frameworks inside some of the continent's most operationally complex organisations.
tarka-consulting.com →The ability to ground every engagement in a clear theoretical model and then execute against it is rare. Our clients consistently report that the approach produces results that other interventions have not. The methodology holds.
Emil Tarka, Principal · Tarka Consulting“I walked out with a framework I could use the next morning. The concepts finally connected to the work I was actually doing.”
Project Controller, 2025“Our team left with a shared language for tracking performance. For the first time, everyone understood what the numbers meant and what to do about them.”
Program Manager, 2023“The program gave our team a shared framework for managing complex land administration projects. The structure was clear, the delivery was practical, and the impact has been lasting.”
Representative, NALMA“It changed how we plan. We stopped guessing and started forecasting. The difference in our project outcomes has been measurable.”
Director, Project Controls, 2019“We came in thinking we had a scheduling problem. What we discovered was a planning problem. That distinction changed everything about how we approached the project.”
Program Lead“The team came out with a common language and a clearer sense of accountability. Within two months, our project reporting had fundamentally changed.”
Project Director“What distinguished this engagement was the emphasis on understanding before acting. That sequence matters enormously in an institution like ours, where change takes time and requires genuine buy-in.”
Department Head“Our staff had been through change management training before. This was different. It started with a real diagnosis of what was actually happening, not a prescribed model layered onto our situation.”
Operations Manager“Delivering across distributed teams in multiple time zones is difficult. The fact that each session felt coherent and purposeful, despite the complexity, says everything about the preparation behind it.”
Program Manager“In a regulated environment, the cost of poor planning is not just delay. It is compliance risk. This engagement gave our team the discipline to plan with the precision that environment demands.”
VP Operations“We had good project controllers. What we did not have was a consistent methodology. After this engagement, we did. The improvement in forecast accuracy was immediate.”
Project Controller“We operate in a demanding environment where performance data has to be defensible. This engagement gave our PMO the theoretical foundation to produce reporting that stands up to scrutiny.”
Director, PMO“We build software for complex spatial problems. Our delivery challenges are equally complex. Having a framework that could adapt to our specific context, rather than a generic methodology, made all the difference.”
Delivery Lead