Clearly identify and determine the objectives of the project steering committee
A Copil should not be your umpteenth meeting of the week or month. One steering committee is also not a working group seen as a collaborative workshop to co-build the project, it should not allow you to answer operational or business questions that you could have gleaned elsewhere during the previous phases.
All this must have been done beforehand in working sessions in smaller groups (Task Force). And the project manager, as well as the sponsor, should have a very clear idea of what they expect from each project steering committee session.
This article is part of the series Steering Committee or Copil: The basics which lists the essential simple and pragmatic elements to know about the project steering committee.
The goals of a committee cannot be reduced to information purposes or to keeping everyone informed and valued.
If there are no problems to solve or to anticipate, then the very purpose of holding a Copil is strictly useless. Steering committees are usually held about every 45 to 60 days, for the duration of the project, so the idea is to focus on what may be problematic immediately or between now and the next Copil (s).
The Steering Committee must serve the project manager to mobilize and activate resources or actions necessary for the project and which it requires the support of the sponsor and top managers of the company. He must be able to rely on the sponsor to get what he needs to carry out the project successfully.
Your ability to define the objectives well will depend on the preparation work done by the project manager beforehand, but also on his ability to listen, assess and anticipate the risks and blocking factors that he will have identified throughout the implementation of the project.
These appointments will have much more impact if they are used by the project manager to unlock downstream aspects of the project, to de-risk others or to lead to the taking of key decisions that the project manager is not in a position to carry out elsewhere.
Therefore, it is important to gather in advance all the elements necessary for decision making in Copil, and for having proposed a strategy to follow to the sponsor and recommendations as to the various possible options and their impacts before COPIL day (the project manager must know the positioning of each stakeholder more or less precisely so that there are no surprises during the steering committee).
The sponsor should not discover anything during the steering committee
Whether the project manager or the sponsor, none of them should discover dimensioning elements, information or members' positions that could call into question the capacity to arbitrate and decide during Copil, at the risk of making it ineffective and having to postpone it. In some cases, even call the project itself into question.
The role of the project manager is therefore to investigate in order to gather this type of information, in order to synthesize it, at the sponsor, over time and throughout the project. It is necessary to inform him of potential blocking factors, risks and problems so that he can fully play his role as a sponsor.
Contrary to what we usually hear, do not bring these key points up to the sponsor only two or three days before Copil. The idea is to be able to give him time to assess situations and make the right decisions. To do this, you can submit a strategy to him to adopt but keep in mind that he must have time in front of him.
The project and the Copil should not be a forum for personalities to promote their priorities or personal interests. Bringing so many key business people together around the table could be tempting for some to stray from the meeting plan.
Having a square agenda and good personality management are obviously part of the solution, but it is good to add a good communication plan to enhance everyone's involvement. It is also where the project manager must put his ego aside, if the successful project is not thanks to him but thanks to the participation of all and if he gives enough reasons for ambitious personalities to shine through the project in the overall interests of the company, then he will have fulfilled a part, sometimes difficult, of his mission.
Gather information on the reality on the ground and the associated blockers and increase the leadership of the transversal project manager: Demonstrate listening and consideration of all the opinions of stakeholders
Collect the positions of some in relation to the project and survey those who will facilitate operations and why, as well as those who will slow it down
The important thing here is to be able to anticipate the risks or facilitators for the project, and to listen carefully to business feedback, but this will also make it possible to identify and identify any tension, frustration or unsaid that must be dealt with before and on the margins of the COPIL, the first approach consists in trying to understand, find solutions or defuse it for the project manager and in a second step, if it does not work or represents too big a risk, to rely on the sponsor on the right strategy to adopt.
A steering committee is the time to discuss all aspects of the project that require a clear position or strategic choices/decisions. To do this, everyone must be able to express themselves, give their opinion or raise points of attention and we must leave at the end of this committee with all these decisions taken in order to properly advance the project.
It is necessary to have identified, identified and prepared with the sponsor in advance and over time all the elements of the project that require such decisions or corrective actions in the next Copil.
The members of the steering committee should know in advance what the key decisions of the next Copil are, so that everyone can have time to reflect and assess the impact of the decisions. All agenda documents and annexes must be submitted, at least one week and ideally 15 days before the day of the steering committee!
It is therefore essential for all this, that the objectives and expected deliverables are clear and For having established the rules of the game about how to make decisions and establish the principles of governance, this common framework will make it possible to establish a framework that is known and understood by all who accelerates decision-making.
If you spend enough time and listening with the members of the Copil project. This will allow you to gather the vision of the members and you will have the opportunity to fully understand where the project is located for them and allowing you, at the same time, to identify technical, political and financial issues that would not be expressed in COPIL.
Especially when there are undivided positions taken or significant disagreements between stakeholders who sometimes do not have the same power/influence in the company, we can miss key elements if this generates unsaid and frustrations.
Put in place The right tools to collect information, in many cases some of the information is not communicated because there is no suitable instance or appointment:
Whatever the support as long as it is anonymous and quick to complete, the important thing is that everyone fills it out. Use it sparingly in order to maintain participation. A typeform tool will do the job very well, and will give the project manager and the sponsor a very good idea of the position of the members on the project, but also, from time to time, it will allow to highlight information that is otherwise unsaid.
In order to streamline the stages of the project, the project manager, according to future needs, will make sure to integrate into the reflection, action or in advance, the professions relevant to the execution of the current or future project and the managers of the departments concerned when there is a need for resources. The sponsor will be able to take over with the top managers for resource needs, but the idea here is for everyone to know the needs before the steering committee in order to facilitate arbitration on COPIL day.
All preparation must revolve around these points, and make it possible to meet these objectives.
The more important role or influence the members of the steering committee have in the company, the more difficult it will be to find a free niche for everyone. And who says non-presence of all stakeholders, says additional risks of non-decisions or partial decisions.
For this, planning the Copil 45 or 60 days in advance should suffice, but remember to adapt to your organization and take more leeway if necessary.
Whether the project needs resources, business or third party responses as well as thinking about future decision-making, the project manager must give everyone enough time to be able to do what is expected of them before the steering committee. And as seen above, communicate the agenda to them at least 15 days in advance.
Be careful not to use presentation materials that go into too much detail such as project management tools, at the risk of losing a lot of employees during the meeting and if you want to save time without spending hours redoing a PowerPoint for each steering committee and giving visibility to the essential elements for a Copil: The AirSaaS tool was specially designed to solve these problems.
To go further on the subject, discover our presentation model for your steering committee.
Whether it is to value the work done or to share good results, it helps to avoid inertia in a project, disengagement and the feeling that the project is not progressing, or not as planned.
It is also the time to channel the more ambitious personalities by highlighting the work done that is in the direction and interests of the project, with rewarding good behavior and facilitate transversal management of these resources.
The project manager and the sponsor should not overlook the perception that the project gives to the stakeholders. The project must be a driver of positive change and a good communication plan It is to make sure of maintain a good dynamic For the rest of the project
As you will have understood in this article, the focus is on people and human relationships. They are so often the cause of project failures that they represent major points of attention in project management. With all the preparatory work laid out beforehand, the project manager must now know all the members' objections and prepare the right action plan with the sponsor.
For any objections during the steering committee that were not anticipated or that it was decided to rule out, you can always “be vague, precisely...” and use the fridge/parking trick developed in another article: Copil project: 5 tips for everything to go well.
