Don’t Sweat the Steering Committee

Line Up Those Ducks!

The first thing you need to do to make sure that the meeting goes smoothly is to make sure your reporting and documentation is top notch. It should be comprehensive without waffling, not too long, and should always have a table of contents so it’s easy to find important information.

Include graphs and charts as often as you can, so the report is easy to scan, and make sure you print more copies than you think you’re going to need. There’s always a chance you will need them, and it’s better to have too many than not enough!

Be honest about progress, and if there are delays and problems, make sure you highlight what you’re already doing to address them.

Keep the Participant List Small

It can be tempting to invite everyone who has even the most tenuous connection to your project to a steering committee meeting. However, that’s usually counterproductive.

Not only do most people prefer not to attend meetings if they don’t have to, but in this case, it really is a case of too many cooks in the kitchen.

A smaller group of attendees with a definite interest in the project and knowledge of what it entails and where it is can get more done in a shorter time than a large group. If they need to take information back to others on their team, you can always schedule a follow up, but those people don’t necessarily need to be present.

So consider who you really need to put on the invite list, and keep it as small as you can, to save everyone time and really get through the action item list quickly.

Check Your Tech!

Too many people are left red faced and fumbling when their technology doesn’t work. Whether it’s a laptop that won’t boot up, a broken USB drive or a projector that won’t project, that’s the last thing you need to have.

Make sure you arrive at your venue early, get everything set up, and test every connection. Try to have at least one backup computer and various copies of presentations and similar on different devices, so if one fails, you can switch it out easily.

If you are presenting online, make sure you have your digital meeting space set up, close all other tabs, and run through it once or twice to check timing, sound, and other issues. Make sure you have a reliable power supply too! There’s nothing worse than a laptop that dies during your bit report!

Schedule Them Frequently

Ideally, on a large, long-term project, you should have two meetings every month. That gives you enough time to have progress to report on, but not so much that it’s hard to change course.

So while you shouldn’t take up everyone’s time with meetings that happen too often, you also don’t want to wait too long between meetings. Be sure to check your contract too – many projects have minimum meeting requirements built right in!

Remember, They’re on Your Side

Probably the most important thing you can do to stop worrying about steering committees is to remember that they are there to help you. Once the project is awarded and underway, everyone on the team of executives that make up the committee have a vested interest in the project being a success.

So be honest about where you are and what you are struggling with. Have a list of important questions ready and be ready to answer some of theirs too. Good governance ensures that you will deliver a better finished product, so embrace the process and make the most of it. You and the steering committee essentially want the same outcome!