Steering team also known as executive team management

Steering team Also known as executive team, management team, leadership
team, operating team
 Consists of top person in org and their direct reports
 Collectively rep all major functions of org
 Large orgs have steering teams at more than one level –
steering teams at lower levels directed by decisions of
top-level steering teams
Duties are divided by creating project review committees and
delegating tasks to them
Duties revolve around following 5 activities
1) Overall priority setting
2) Project selection and prioritization
3) Sponsor selection
4) general guidance
5) Encouragement
 Sets overall org priorities with the CEO
 Then team agrees on criteria for selecting projects
 Selects projects org plans to execute during the year
 Help determine relative priorities of the projects to
determine which will start first
 Helps CEO decide who will sponsor projects
 Helps sponsor select project manager
 Decides which critical team members will be on the
project
From slide
• Top person in the
organization and his/her
direct reports
• Represent all of the
major functions of the
organization
• May be multiple
steering teams
13

Sponsor “Senior manager serving in a formal role given authority and
responsibility for successful completion of a project deemed
strategic to an organization’s success”
 Has major stake in project outcome
 Member of steering team
 Partnership between sponsor and project manager is
critical for success – sponsor should mentor project
manager so that they understand their role and has skills
info and desire to successfully manage project
 Understands corporate strategy
 Active role in chartering – create first draft of business
case and scope overview – if not project manager needs
to ask questions
 Insists on milestone schedule, prelim budget, risk id,
assessment criteria, communication plan, lessons learned
 Sets performance goals
Sponsors ensure staff are adequate in number and skill
 Includes training
 Negotiating for staff
 Sponsors let PMs arrange training and negotiating for
resources
What makes a good sponsor?
 Excellent communication and listening skills
 Ability to handle ambiguity
 Ability to self-manage
 Approachability
 Collaborative attitude
 responsiveness
• Major stake in the
project outcome
• May be a member of
the steering team
• Pick the project
manager and core team
• Mentor the project
manager
• Active role in chartering
the project
• Share their vision of the
project
• Financial & decision-
making authority
Sponsor ensures performance
of customer-related tasks
• All customers
(stakeholders) have
been identified.
• Customer desires are
uncovered and
prioritized.