Managing your Steering Committee
October 19, 2009 @ Better Projects from Craig Brown
Two key pieces of information that I took away from the post are that Boards will share better if they think they are solving some kind of factual issue as opposed to making a judgement requiring consensus.
Boards share information better if they use a structured discussion process, rather than just indulging in the usual kind of spontaneous conversation.
The idea here is that Boards need to be actively engaged in managing things. For me and you it is our project steering committees and governance groups. How do we get them more involved in the project?
By making board members participate in certain decisions they 'own' the solution more than if they just front up and rubber stamp a progress report.
Every report on project success or failure includes mention of close customer engagement as a key success factor. Frontline managers are not the customer. The sponsor and steering committees are much better embodiments of the customer, as they are the ones paying for the product your project is delivering. Getting your board members involved is a step in the right direction.
In order to help boards collaborate more, Tim endorses a McKinsey recommendation to augment proposals and recommendations with a 'red report' or the counter argument to the actual recommendation.
This is a common approach used in project management: the infamous 'three options' including or augmented with the "do nothing" option. Depending on the time and relationship you have with your board/sponsor, and the importance of your project what can you do to get them more involved in your next board (or steering committee) meeting?
Related Posts |
This article is syndicated from Project Shrink . The original article is available here. Read more in Project Management News, Project Shrink .
Reminder : PMToolbox has ZERO tolerance to copyright violation and agrees to follow strictly PMI's Professional Responsibility. That's why each post on this site includes a link to the original version at its source site.
Comments
Got something to say?
It White Papers
Application Development Methodology
Information Technology Planning
Risk Analysis
Cost Benefit Analysis
Deliverable Templates
portfolio management
templates
Systems Development
Scope Management
Issue
Cost
Microsft Project
Business Intelligence Tools
best practices
Project
communications
MS Project
Business Case
Risk Management Programs
Customer Relationship Management
Budget
project server
Knowledge Management Processes
Gantthead
Schedule
program management
Quality
Project and Program Management
wp
PMO
Project Office
Methodologies
PMP
ROI
Package Selection
Project Management
Program Management Office
Issue Tracking
Information Engineering
Articles
Resources
Tools
Crm Applications
Ganthead