The project steering committee is a key governance body in any business transformation initiative. It acts as the link between the executive committee and the operational teams responsible for execution and delivery.
This committee brings together a group of individuals with decision-making authority to ensure alignment with strategic goals and drive accountability. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how a steering committee operates and the role it plays in overall project management.
We'll also outline industry best practices and provide actionable tips to help transformation leaders elevate their steering committees from status update sessions to high-impact decision-making hubs.
A project steering committee is a cross-functional group of individuals that includes the project manager and key stakeholders responsible for overseeing the progress and strategic alignment of a project. Its main purpose is to provide guidance, support informed decision-making and ensure the project remains on track in terms of goals, timelines, quality and budget.
To strengthen oversight and decision-making, the steering committee typically includes representatives from across the organisation.
The steering committee convenes regularly through formal meetings. These sessions serve as a governance checkpoint to review progress, assess performance indicators and make decisions based on data-driven insights. The goal: ensure the project delivers value and meets its strategic goals.
The project steering committee exists to keep complex initiatives running smoothly. It serves as a decision-making body that aligns all key stakeholders, clients, partners and internal teams on goals, responsibilities and next steps.
Steering committees are especially important for large-scale or high-stakes projects involving multiple contributors or strong interdependencies across departments or organisations. By overseeing progress and facilitating shared accountability, the committee helps mitigate risks and increases the likelihood of project success.
Above all, the main purpose of a steering committee is to make decisions. It is not an information-sharing meeting. In every organisation, steering committee meetings should focus on resolving key issues, approving priorities and making strategic choices that directly impact the execution of the project.
From setting goals to reviewing progress and making final decisions, the steering committee has a central role throughout the entire project lifecycle. Its purpose is to support and steer all strategic decisions related to the project.
Typical agenda items for steering committee meetings include timeline approval, budget allocation and high-level negotiations with suppliers or service providers.
Here are some of the steering committee’s main responsibilities:
The steering committee typically includes senior executives, business managers and key representatives from the operational teams involved in the project. The project sponsor is a central figure within this group.
Who sits on the steering committee varies depending on the size of the organisation. Regardless of structure, one principle must remain non-negotiable: the steering committee must have real decision-making authority. If decisions can be overturned by another individual or governing body, the committee loses its purpose.
In SMEs, the steering committee often includes members of the executive committee, along with the project manager and sponsor, brought in on a project-by-project basis.
In larger organisations, the challenge lies in scale. With so many ongoing initiatives, the executive team cannot join every steering committee. As a result, decision-making may become diluted, leading to political friction and unclear accountability.
In project management, there is often a blurred line between project execution and decision-making authority. This confusion can lead to delays, misalignment or even failure.
Project managers, especially in cross-functional environments, are rarely in a position to make unilateral decisions about resource allocation or deadlines that extend beyond their mandate. For decisions to be made, it is important to present regular reporting and key insights to the steering committee.
Many projects fail not because of poor planning but due to misalignment between teams and stakeholders. Too often, project managers spend their time chasing overdue tasks instead of focusing on what truly drives progress: continuous alignment. Their main responsibility isn’t micromanagement, it’s leadership. Strong leadership, not control, is what keeps projects on course.
The steering committee functions as a navigation system, ultimately responsible for choosing the direction the project should take. Its members hold genuine authority and are empowered to make decisions that shape the project’s outcome.
The committee is created early in the project by the sponsor, in collaboration with the project manager. It is imperative to include experts who possess both decisive authority and an interest in driving project outcomes to successful completion.
Typical steering committee members include:
A project committee is an operational meeting led by project managers. These meetings are typically held weekly, bringing together the client-side and vendor-side project leads, especially when external support is involved. The goal is to coordinate execution, manage timelines, resolve day-to-day issues and plan next steps.
Project committees focus on execution. They make sure the project stays on track and raise any unresolved matters that require arbitration or strategic input from the steering committee.
By contrast, the steering committee operates at a governance level. It convenes at milestones such as the kick-off, post-scoping or pre-go-live, to approve decisions, align on priorities and secure high-level commitments.
The executive committee, also known as the leadership team or management board, is composed of senior leaders with decision-making authority across the business.
This group of people meet periodically to review strategic initiatives and evaluate progress across departments. It supports the CEO or managing director by shaping the company’s long-term direction and providing guidance on critical matters.
The executive committee functions as a collective decision-making body, providing recommendations and approving strategic choices in the best interest of the organisation. While it may be involved in project steering committees, its scope extends far beyond: finance, corporate strategy, M&A, human resources and more.
The project manager is responsible for structuring the agenda and consolidating data from all relevant stakeholders and focus groups. The steering committee should not discover new information. By the time participants join the meeting, they should be fully briefed and focused on making decisions.
All materials must be prepared and shared in advance, ideally one week before the meeting. The agenda should be clearly defined, highlight key topics and be sent out at least 48 hours ahead of time. Supporting documents can also be shared to help participants understand context and anticipate decisions.
The project sponsor should be fully informed, especially about sensitive or important topics that will be discussed. In fact, preliminary decisions are often aligned beforehand between the sponsor and the project manager to ensure other decision-makers are informed, aligned and ready to approve them during the meeting
Project steering also involves diplomacy. The project manager should proactively engage with participants who may challenge certain proposals. The goal is to defuse potential conflicts, understand underlying concerns and align stakeholders ahead of time.
In many cases, the project manager must step into a negotiation role. Political acumen becomes just as important as delivery skills. Progress often depends on the ability to manage conflicts, build consensus and keep stakeholders engaged. Open conflict within the steering committee can jeopardise momentum and lead to disengagement, especially from business teams. Once trust is lost at this level, even other project governance bodies may struggle to regain control.
The first purpose of a steering committee meeting is to review project progress and ensure continuous alignment between technical and functional teams. These meetings are led by the project manager or project director, who presents a clear and concise project status using dashboards and structured reporting. Critical issues must be addressed openly and the sponsor formally approves the decisions made.
Steering committees are typically held on a monthly basis, though some organisations may choose a quarterly rhythm. Each session should be focused and on-time, lasting no more than 90 to 120 minutes.
Two key documents are used to support the meeting and ensure accountability:
In some organisations, the steering committee is within the executive committee. That’s not the issue. If you’re leading a project, your top priority is to ensure decisions are being made.
A steering committee isn’t a one-off meeting, it’s a recurring governance process. Regularity is key. Monthly meetings should be the minimum. Anything less and momentum fades, decisions get delayed and projects risk going off track. When planning your first session, block time in everyone's calendar for at least the next six months.
Every stakeholder with decision-making authority needs to attend each session. Our recommendation: manage participation proactively. If someone declines or consistently misses meetings, it may signal disagreement or disengagement. Either way, absence can damage both project performance and team dynamics.
Once a structure is agreed upon and proves effective, stick to it. Consistency allows participants to focus on substance, not structure. Take time before the first meeting to design a strong template, select the right indicators, colour codes and visual structure. This will become the foundation for every session and improve focus on urgent or strategic topics.
Time isn’t just money, it’s also a matter of respect and discipline. Steering committee meetings that drag on for three hours will quickly lose engagement. Assign a dedicated timekeeper (not the organiser) to manage pacing and enforce time limits. If each agenda item gets 10 minutes, then it gets 10 minutes, no more. The timekeeper is empowered to move things forward and maintain meeting discipline, which participants will ultimately appreciate.
The steering committee is not the place for public blame. If there’s a concern with someone’s contribution, raise it privately before the meeting. If a topic must be escalated, let the person know in advance. Surprise confrontations undermine trust and damage collaboration.
The best way to keep committee members engaged and informed is to maintain consistent communication. Share regular updates using simple reporting tools to highlight project progress. Frequent, transparent reporting helps stakeholders stay aligned and often prevents friction before it surfaces.
Bringing in a last-minute participant to a steering committee meeting is almost always counterproductive. They’re unlikely to be familiar with the context or decision history and may raise questions that were resolved weeks ago. Their presence often disrupts the conversation and adds little value.
If expert input is required, a better approach is to ask them to prepare a written recommendation ahead of the meeting and share it with the relevant stakeholders in advance.
Reminder: the steering committee is not a roundtable for open debate or unsolicited input. It’s a decision-making forum. External guests do not have voting rights.
If business expertise is needed to inform a decision, invite the relevant expert to the meeting directly. Delegating their voice to someone else undermines the quality of the discussion and your own credibility.
Bringing the right people to the meeting, when needed, builds a healthier governance culture. It also reinforces your leadership as project manager by showing that you respect expertise and transparency.
If a decision isn’t made within the allotted time, or even worse, if a half-decision is taken, it’s important to mention it clearly:
“The goal of this steering committee was to approve a decision on such topic. As no decision has been reached, the project will be put on hold and will result in delays as of today.”
What isn’t written down doesn’t exist. Including this statement in the meeting minutes helps ensure accountability later, especially during project reviews or escalations processes.
While the timekeeper has the authority to close discussions and keep the meeting on track, some conversations are worth continuing informally, especially when they enhance alignment. A practical tip is to schedule your steering committee meetings from 10:00 to 12:00. Not only does hunger help ensure the meeting ends on time but the informal conversations that can follow over lunch can often unlock conflicts and reinforce collaboration. As always, drink responsibly.
Let’s be honest, the real challenge often lies in the scalability of agility.
Every team has its own language… and in tech, the jargon can get intense.
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If you're serious about bringing stakeholders together in a shared, structured environment and want to build a culture of transformation without sending your teams on week-long training sessions… Try AirSaas !
Because yes, everyone talks about projects… But very few people actually talk about the same thing.
Take milestones, for example. One common mistake? Defining too many. It makes tracking confusing and damages focus.
A basic principle in steering and reporting: share the status of milestones not the status of tasks.
You don’t drive transformation by asking teams to manage projects task by task. You start by structuring the plan, communicating clearly and steering execution with purpose.
We’ve put together a no-nonsense cheat sheet covering five common but often misunderstood project terms: sponsor, milestones, project manager, key user, reporting, steering committee.
Because when you clarify what these words really mean and how they shape decisions, you bring clarity back into the process.
And yes, just to be clear: a REX isn’t just a dog’s name. 😉
A steering committee should never feel like just another weekly or monthly meeting. Nor should it be mistaken for a collaborative workshop. It’s not the place to resolve operational or functional issues.
Those discussions should have already happened, in smaller, focused groups. By the time the steering committee meets, both the project manager and the sponsor must have a clear understanding of what outcomes they expect from the meeting.
With proper preparation, the project manager can anticipate objections, clarify expectations and co-develop the right course of action with the sponsor.
From defining goals and managing stakeholder dynamics to handling disagreements in advance, aligning on priorities or even using anonymous forms to bring out friction points everything counts when preparing for a high-impact committee session.
And remember: human dynamics are one of the leading causes of project failure, yet they rarely get the attention they deserve. In steering committees, relationships are just as strategic as deliverables.
The preparation is done. The agenda is set. It's go time.
And yet, the unexpected happens: a stakeholder is missing, the presentation isn’t as nice as planned… and you don’t feel entirely in control.
Moreover, stress changes how we behave.
So how do you avoid the most common mistakes? How do you manage time effectively, handle conflicts, navigate politics, keep discussions on track and set the right balance between detail and overview?
All of these questions are valid and the answers are within reach. If both the meeting and the project manager are well prepared, running a successful steering committee is absolutely achievable.
To dig deeper into the subject, check out our post about running steering committees.
As we’ve seen, the steering committee exists to make decisions. That’s its main purpose. And in any organisation, decisions are what move things forward, or hold everything back.
But here’s the issue: most companies don’t actually manage by decision.
The truth is, the clearer and more transparent your decision-making process is, the more agile and responsive your organisation becomes.
Decision-making should be as frictionless as an API.
Without it, projects get launched, paused or extended with no strategic logic.
And everyone knows the type: the person who dominates the conversation for ten minutes… or the one who disrupts the discussion with a hyper-specific detail, pulling focus from what really matters.
As discussed earlier, the steering committee is designed to keep the project running smoothly. But what about the steering committee itself, how do you keep that engine running?
How do you ensure member engagement, resolve conflicts, reduce political friction and maintain long-term effectiveness? What are the most useful tools to support governance and decision-making?
Difficult personalities can jeopardise even the best-prepared committees. Managing conflicts is one of the most critical challenges in any group setting as it directly impacts working conditions, decision quality and overall engagement.
There are, broadly speaking, two types of aggressive behaviour. As in first aid, the first step is recognising what you're dealing with:
The second category is more common in steering committees: rude, disrespectful individuals who operate on the edge of acceptable conduct.
They may raise their voice, interrupt, get up mid-meeting or launch personal attacks rather than challenge ideas. This isn’t just disruptive, it’s toxic.
Ignoring it only makes things worse.
In such cases, the facilitator, or project manager, must step in and set the ground rules. In cases of verbal aggression or disrespect, calmly but clearly refer to the agreed rules of conduct and ask participants to adhere to them.
Congratulations! Your onboarding is complete! Through this article, you've acquired insights about steering committee fundamentals, governance tools and operational frameworks that directly influence project outcomes.
But we're just getting started. In another post, we've shared 5 advanced strategies to elevate your steering committee's effectiveness. These tactics are both practical and can be immediately put into action: consider the IT/Business/Sponsor alignment framework, for instance. You'll also discover a powerful communication technique in the precision-flexibility response model, invaluable for navigating challenging stakeholder dynamics.
