Steering commitee risk
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How can a company mitigate the risk of having a steering committee with very senior people who have high experience but at the same time they are too far from the operational issues?
Hi Alessandro,
I believe the risk of having a steering committee that is too far distant from the operational business, can be managed by having more frequent meetings as business teams with the Steering Committee. The daily operational issues you encounter should be reported to them. You should also advise them what solutions you propose, so they have the possibility to agree or disagree.
If they disagree it is up to them to come up with a better advise.
And because they are distant from the business you might not agree to the better advise and you can ask them that in order to execute it successful you need him or her guidance. They should continue to own the problem and not put a monkey on your shoulder.
Also very important with a steering committee at a distance, is to agree on clear rules.
RACI should be very clear to all.Lack of Executive Engagement When senior leaders don’t actively participate or prioritize committee meetings, strategic decisions get delayed or made without proper oversight. This leads to misaligned priorities and reduced organizational buy-in for critical initiatives.
Decision Paralysis Too many stakeholders with competing interests can create endless debate without resolution, stalling project progress. Complex approval processes and risk-averse attitudes prevent timely decision-making when quick action is needed.
Scope Creep & Mission Drift Committees often expand their mandate beyond original intentions, diluting focus and effectiveness across too many initiatives. Without clear boundaries, they become catch-all bodies that struggle to deliver meaningful outcomes.
Communication Breakdown Poor information flow between the committee and operational teams creates disconnects between strategic direction and execution. Decisions made in isolation without proper stakeholder input often face resistance during implementation.
The steering committee is like a navigation team on a ship, they set the course, but if they don’t listen to the engine room or deck crew, the ship can stall or sink. I do believe that the key is not replacing senior voices, but augmenting them with the right visibility and operational grounding.
Hi Alessandro,
Very interesting question. Recognizable from previous processes. Many times the items that we, as PMO were hoping to get clarity on from Steering Committee with respect to a decision, seemed to us that are being brushed off, not being acknowledged.
As such, what we made some changes to how we prepared those meetings. The SteerCo decks had as first age, even before contents, the 1-3 decisions we were looking to get clarity on from SteerCo together with page numbers on where the context for these decisions were taking place.
The meeting was structured as such that in the first five minutes we would go over the decisions, then present the update from last time on DD findings and legal agreement progress, followed by the last ten minutes in which the decision were being taken.In this way, the SteerCo was a lot closer to the more operational items that would not surface at their level usually.
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