Every project manager knows that milestones move quicker, smoother, and with fewer headaches when there is a single decision maker in charge of the approvals on the client side. Every project manager also knows that this is not always the case. When faced with a committee, board, or other group that must deliberate and reach a consensus before allowing the project to move forward, the pitfalls abound. If a decision cannot be reached quickly, we often face project issues such as:

Group-think: the need to reach an overall consensus produces the most neutral and safe decision;
Dissenters: lone holdouts that refuse to agree with the rest of the group;
Stalling: the inability to come to a decision extends the milestone beyond a reasonable timeframe;
Factions: groups within the group that take sides against one another, fighting over the correct conclusion;

Many others…

These issues usually arise for one reason: fear. Groups fear making the wrong decision for a number of reasons including failure, lack of complete acceptance by target audiences, and most of all because ultimately, the group must take responsibility for their decisions, good or bad. You’ll never be able to completely mitigate their fears, but it sometimes helps to remind them that individual decisions throughout a project are rarely written in stone nor will any one decision be likely to cause a project to fail.

The best strategy for dealing with a committee’s decision-making process is to be proactive and educational. Ideally, we avoid delays and infighting by preparing the group for all of the important decisions they will be making throughout the project. Lay out the important factors in each decision, explain their significance, and articulate the need to remain focused on the end goals of the project and its overall strategy, not the minutiae of each milestone. Act as a consultant and subject matter expert to lead the group through their decision-making process and hopefully you will be able to move things along on your terms.

Harris Eisenberg, MBA
Harris has worked in a project management role within both the marketing and music industries. Most recently, as Strategy and Business Lead for a small marketing agency in Virginia, Harris managed dozens of projects from individual brochure development to enterprise software development for the Federal government. If you wish to contact Harris, you may email him at harris.eisenberg@gmail.com.

Off Peak Training, a Reston, VA based company, offers public and private training classes to help prepare business professionals for professional certifications like the PMP®, CAPM®, PMI-SP®, CISSP®, CAPM®, CISA®, and is a Registered Education Provider for the Project Management Institute.