A Steering Committee or Steering Group is essential in a project’s directory. They usually consist of high-level management, such as directors, heads of departments, and key internal and external stakeholders. Their purpose is to act as a governance body by providing advice, feedback, and suggestions on a project’s status and answering your big, sticky questions.
As their name suggests, they are there to steer your project down a route aligned with the/their business’s values. If you are encountering blockers in your project or the project is approaching a major milestone such as a launch date, then this is an ideal time to conduct a Steering Committee meeting.
Clear and concise agenda
As with any meeting, an agenda should be created so that you and the attendees know the key topics of conversation. I typically add the agenda to the meeting invitation. I also create PowerPoint presentations and include the agenda at the beginning.
An agenda should ideally consist of no more than 5 key points that are key to your discussion. They need to be relevant to your project and a time estimation should be included for each topic – this is to help you keep on track with with your meeting.
Make sure that you are being authoritative in your chairing of the meeting so as not to stray too much off-topic. While meetings can over time, be sure not to stray too much over as to waste anyone’s precious time.
Create context
It is important to contextualise your project and the purpose of the meeting before you start diving into the ‘meat’ of your discussion with the Steering Committee. Remember, these are very important and busy people. They may have no idea or will likely have forgotten what you spoke about in the last meeting. It is something that I improved on as I have made the mistake of assuming they knew what the project was about.
Before you start your discussion, give a quick recap about the purpose of the project and the key deliverables so far.
Prepare
Good preparation is key to running a successful Steering Committee meeting. Some meetings don’t require a large amount of prep work, but a Steering Committee discussion is not one of those. As mentioned, it is ideal to create a PowerPoint presentation so that the attendees have something visual to see. Include your key milestones, a visual timeline of events, a RAID log and key achievements so far.
Prepare for any questions that the group are likely to throw at you. I have found that these are usually the following topics:
- Costs. Because you are dealing with senior management, they will want to know budget costs. It is in their best interest to know these figures.
- Performance data. These could also be financial numbers, or a predicted number of enrollments in the past year. Try to find out these numbers before your meeting, because based on experience they usually ask these.
- Risks and mitigations. Consider all potential risks and come up with viable mitigations for them.
- Alternatives. Regarding your suggestions, have you tried other solutions and what were the outcomes?
- What is the reasoning behind your problem and your proposed solutions, and why do you need their assistance?
- The deadline for a particular issue.
Conduct a thorough discussion
In addition to preparing well for the meeting, it is important to discuss your points and ideas confidently. Allow an open discussion with the group to allow diverse opinions. The group will most likely bring up topics that you would not have considered.
When presenting data and metrics, focus on the high-level decisions and the strategic output. Don’t focus too much on the granular detail. Such information can be left to larger presentations and reports. They are busy people and just need the basic and important data so that they can see the progress of the project and help inform decisions.
Create meeting notes and action points
As with any meeting you attend and chair, taking notes is essential.
Take notes throughout the meeting. It is wise to also record the meeting so you or anyone who missed it can watch it afterwards. Be sure to ask for permission before you start recording.
Send a recap to the Steering Committee and follow up with any queries they had that you couldn’t provide during the allocated time.
