A project always works at two levels, it starts from a challenge for the company and from an objective resulting from a strategic vision, it therefore involves senior managers of the company but also actors who will implement it in a more operational phase, we will often find business services, specific skills (internal or external) and support functions. Senior managers and the sponsor ensure the strategic direction of the project and the provision of the resources and conditions necessary for its execution. Then the other members of the project work to execute and operationally carry out the project.
Problem: The project can fail quite quickly due to lack of strategic vision, power games and internal politics, poor allocation of resources, poor management of the tensions and problems inherent in any project that, even if planned perfectly, will almost always involve unforeseen events. And the operations team won't always be able or in the right position in the business to address these issues and make the right decisions.
Hence the importance of setting up a project steering committee in order to arbitrate and take strategic decisions for its success, as well as to provide the means and gather the factors that will give the project every chance of succeeding.
The success or failure of a project very often depends on the actions carried out by it. Good news, you can go deeper into the fundamentals in our reference article: Steering Committee or Copil: The basics.
If you want to do a really effective Copil that goes against what can usually be done, the selection of committee members is critical and can completely change the dynamics and the outcome of a project.
In key members that we usually find, we will have:
The sponsor of the project : Generally part of the Codir/Comex, He gives the strategic direction to the project, he ensures that he can give the necessary resources and conditions to the project manager so that he can properly coordinate the execution of the project. He will also be responsible for deciding difficult arbitrations and decisions.
The project manager : He is the conductor of the project, the armed arm of the sponsor, they work in tandem to ensure the smooth running of the project, he is supported by the sponsor within the committee and he is also the eyes and ears of the sponsor.
This is where you have the opportunity to Don't be like the others : Where most do not involve trade representatives and/or support functions Only later or punctually, the trick here is to be able integrate all key stakeholder representatives into the life of the project as early as possible. Indeed, many projects have failed when the “file” falls on the desk, that is to say, only when operational actions are expected from them and this is often where critical problems come in internally with Almost immediate causes of failure making the rest of the project really difficult or even giving rise to a No Go.
We will give priority to the fact of Involve them as soon as possible in order to be able to take into account their points of attention and streamline the operational future of the project.
The other particularity will be to name a project leader on the business side, which will make it possible to properly involve the key service (s) and to evangelize the project for internal teams who are currently external to the project. This will allow the project manager to pilot the implementation while working and helping the project leader to clearly identify the alignment between the problem to be solved and the implementation of the solution.
We will give priority to the maximum The driving elements of the approach, who want to Make the lines move and who have an attraction for the project, we will therefore limit personalities who are skeptical or hostile to the idea of the project or the way it is carried out successfully.
We want to be able to bring people together in the company who have the resources and the necessary influence for the realization of the project
Sometimes you can call on external personalities to the company in order to Give life to the vision or execution of the project, or even call on experts who will help clarify certain topics and/or eliminate some cognitive biases potentially blocking certain stakeholders.
It may also be interesting for the management of the company or the sponsor to involve other members of other departments or other subsidiaries from time to time in order to make them aware of the approach if they want to replicate it in the future elsewhere on another project, or in a dynamic of harmonization of internal projects to avoid project duplicates or solutions to be put in place.
In the steering committee, the sponsor is responsible for several things:
He gives The strategic line, challenge The progress and plays a key role in Arbitrations. Also, it will facilitate the work of the project manager, by suggesting ideas related to business strategy but also by ensuring conflict management in the event that cross-functional management is not enough, he has the last word, He is able to cut in case of unresolved decisions and submit or give corrective actions during the Copil.
It guarantees the company's interest in the project and will be value the right state of mind as well as the actions that go in line with the project.
A large part of projects often involve several services and several business skills, so the actions of a project can add up for some with their main activities, this is the case with transversal projects, as such it is not obvious for everyone that the actions of a transversal project are just as important for the company as the actions of their main missions.
Also it is important to set the rules and framework from the start on the expected investment as well as how decisions will be made and what is the role expected of each participant.
As for those who would think of playing it personally, seeing the project as an opportunity to get something else or simply to shine, know only value actions that directly advance the project And those who promote team spirit.
Establish a climate of trust as well as to value the members of the project in their ability to lead the group towards the success of the project.
To dig deeper into the subject, Find out how to manage aggressiveness in steering committees.
Looking for the most effective and qualitative path towards the achievement of the objectives of the steering committee, few people take pleasure or gain in efficiency in so-called “meetings”,
The more busy members you have on your steering committee, the more they will appreciate The effective Copil that get right to the point. To do this, you have to focus on an agenda and one synthetic presentation possible by simply limiting yourself to information needed to make decisions. Categorizing agenda items in order of priority and impact on the project can be very effective.
As a reminder, all your support must be content with fulfilling the objectives of the role of the steering committee mentioned above. You will find more information on this point in the article: How to properly prepare your steering committee
There are no rules indicating that a steering committee must be held in the same meeting room with necessarily the same people, the project manager must have control over the invitations of the committee in order to be sure that there will be no counterproductive presence, that being said nothing prevents him fromInvite a personality chosen for a specific skill or background that could give back A good impetus to the project. Also vary locations, especially if it is linked to the project and allows take employees out of their daily lives.
Another Copil culture is possible than essentially addressing only risks and blocking factors. Valuing the work done and using the completion of Project Milestones as points to celebrate. Focusing too much on problems can lead to the end up creating problems and it is very important to know how to focus on what went well as well.
You will keep the value of this instance if you keep its effectiveness and usefulness. Don't keep a Copil because the meeting has been stalled for a long time if you don't have anything significant to referee or significant progress to show. If you have the right frequency of these meetings, this problem should not occur, but if you do, it is always better to shorten or postpone a meeting, rather than trying to expand its content.
The project manager must make this exercise easy for the participants and ensure that he maintains an interest in his members and perpetuate this body.
Have you set up your copil? Discover How to lead a steering committee?
