Leadership A-Z: K is for Kick-off Meeting

A large part of my professional work has focused on program management. I always describe program

management as "project management on steroids". As a former leader, director and manager who worked at the UN, and within other international development organizations, a large part of my work focused on creating, leading and managing multi-disciplinary programs from disaster management, through to health care, and education. Typically programs would consist of a multitude of discrete projects, involving dozens of experts, generalists and other stakeholders. I very quickly realized early in my career that one of the most important activities for a new project, program or initiative was the kick-off meeting.

Some considerations in pulling together an effective kick-off meetings are the following:
1. Who needs to be at the table or involved in the kick-off? Make a list. The RACI framework of stakeholder analysis can provide us with a useful framework to think through the multitude of potential players, partners and stakeholders. What happens if they are not represented from the start?

The RACI framework stands for:
R - Responsible: Who is responsible for executing the project?
A - Accountable: Who is accountable for results?
C - Consulted: Who needs to be consulted, and perhaps involved through the provision of knowledge, information, expertise?
I - Informed: Who needs to be informed - about the project, outcomes and results?

How are you involving a representation of these different players? What's the most effective channel for communication.

2. What needs to be communicated at kick-off?

3. What roles and responsibilities need to be identified or clarified? What other expectations need to be clarified?

4. Communication, Reporting and Evaluation  - What ongoing communicaton, reporting and evaluation processes will you create? Who needs to be involved and when? What are the major milestones going to be?

5. Checking in on accountabilities - Accountability in today's business environment has become a Pandora's Box at times. What are the specific accountabilities each person/party has and how will this be measured? Who are they accountable to? What's expected in terms of reporting? What happens if things go off course? Failure to discuss this from the start can set a slippery slope for any project or initiative.

6. Goals and Outcomes - Of course, clearly defining goals and outcomes is another critical factor of success. What is the common vision across all stakeholder groups?

What components do you want to make sure you include into your next kick-off meeting? Anything else that you would add?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author of Effective Group Coaching and From One to Many: Best Practices of Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Phone: (416)996-TEAM
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As an author Jennifer Britton is known for her thought leadership in the area of group and team coaching. She is also a former leader and team builder who spent the first 13 years of her career working within the United Nations as well as the international aid sector. From Boardroom to jungle, beach and forest to mountains, Jennifer has worked to develop teams and leaders in more than 18 countries, and virtually many more. She founded Potentials Realized in 2004 and focuses on leadership, teamwork and coaching skills training

Six Team Challenges for Project Management Teams

Six Team Challenges for Project Management Teams
by Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized
Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved.

By their very nature, project management teams are unique, and face unique opportunities and challenges. This article examines six unique team challenges facing project management teams, along with some questions project managers may want to consider with respect to their team.

Challenge #1: The Team’s finite timeline
Project Management exist for a finite period of time, with a fixed beginning and end period. This may be days, weeks, months or sometimes years. Teams outside of the project world, theoretically are forever.

Questions:
What challenges does your team’s finite timeline pose? What do you notice about the team process and their needs as you move from kick-off to implementation and finish?

Challenge #2: Different roles and responsibilities of different Team Members

Project teams often involve a fluid mix of different team members coming in and out of the project.

Questions:
How much time have you spent clarifying the different roles and responsibilities of the different team members in your project. Where is the overlap? What are the gaps?

Challenge #3: Different team members belong to a series of different project teams:

It is quite common for staff members to belong to multiple project teams at one time.

Questions:
How strong is the association/membership to your team? What steps can you take to boost team members association to your team?

Challenge #4: Possible Virtual Nature of the Project Team:

A very common challenge within project teams is their virtual nature, where members of the team are either M-Workers, or actually located in different venues. Virtual teams can pose a wide range of challenges as they may operate across time zones, distance and cultures. To see what else I've said on virtual teams, click here.

Questions:
If we have a virtual component to our team, who is on it? What obstacles exist due to our nature of the virtual team? What steps can we take to ensure that those needed are involved in our team process and communication?


Challenge #5: Unclear Vision for the team
Unfortunately, it can be common for the vision of a project to held tightly by a few members of a project management team, and not widely shared by all.

Questions:
Who has contributed to the overall vision of the project? Who shares this vision? What steps can you take so that all team members share the vision?

Solution:
Spend time with the team creating a common vision of the end result

Challenge #6: Unclear on the strengths of the team

Given the often transient nature of project teams, it is quite common for the time together to be spent on action (which can often be unfocussed) rather than preparation and planning. Remember, every 10 minutes of planning can save 60 minutes of unfocused effort.

Questions?
What strengths does each team member bring to your team? What are the strengths of your team system as a whole?

Solution:
Look for an assessment such as the Team Diagnostic Assessment to measure the strengths of your team system, or StrengthsFinder 2.0 to look at the strengths of individual team members.

Jennifer J. Britton is the founder of Potentials Realized. Jennifer works with teams, organizations and business owners to achieve the success and impact they desire in teamwork, business, and performance issues, through the provision of coaching, consulting and training services. She regularly facilitates team building and team coaching sessions and retreats (virtual, on and offsite) with governmental, nonprofit and corporate clients. As a performance improvement specialist, she works with leading edge organizations across North America and the Caribbean. Visit Jennifer online at http://www.potentialsrealized.com/ . Jennifer worked as an international project manager from 1992-2004, managing projects across the Americas, Caribbean and Europe.